Day Twenty-Two
One day has passed since Frank has come into Gerald's world, and already he got used to it. The taste of freedom wore off pretty quickly, as he realised that, being in Gerald's body, he needed to start living like he did.
The sun was just rising at the moment, when Frank was lying on Gerald's sofa, while relaxing to the music in the radio. It took him a while to find a radio channel that he could actually listen to. With a toothpick between his teeth, he almost feel asleep again, but then the phone rang. He almost fell from the couch when he heard it. When he was able to think a slight bit clearer again, he moved up to it and, with vibrating hands, picked it up. „Hello?“, he asked nervously.
„Gerald? Have you forgotten it again?“
„Who is there?“.
The person on the other side of the phone sighed.
„Have you been hit with a brick, Gerald? It's me, Sebastian!“
It seemed to be a good friend of his. „Oh, of course. Say, what should I have forgotten again?“
„We wanted to meet in the bakery again. Did you forget again why you didn't turn off your alarm?“
„O-of course I didn't“, said Frank offended. „I was just... sunk in my thoughts.“
„I see. Your novel, isn't it?“
„Uh, yeah, the novel. So, shall I come to that bakery now?“
„That's what I'd recommend.“
After that, Frank only heard a beeping every two seconds. He put the phone down and went to the street to walk to the bakery. Thankfully, he already walked through the neighbourhood yesterday, so he wouldn't have to search everywhere for it.
As he arrived in the bakery, he had a new problem: He had absolutely no idea where he could find Sebastian. He didn't know how he looked. When he entered the bakery, he wandered aimlessly around, hoping that he would recognize him. Then he heard somebody calling him:
„Gerald, here!“
He turned around to see a blonde, long-haired man winking for him with his hand. He walked to him and asked: „Sebastian?“
„No, the Queen of England. Of course I'm Sebastian!“
„Oh, sorry...“
He took the place opposite to him, before the blonde continued:
„Say, is something wrong with you?“
Frank raised an eyebrow. „How do you come to that conclusion?“
Sebastian sighed. „You don't recognize my voice, you don't recognize the way I look, and it seems like you've never been here in the first place! You know that I always sit beside the window.“
„Oh, sorry, Sebastian“, Frank apologised. „I... I have a headache for a while... I'm not feeling to well, you know.“
Sebastian looked more and more confused by this situation. „Are... are you actually Gerald?“
Frank felt very offended by this question. „Why are you asking me that?“
„Because I have no idea when I heard you call me by my full first name the last time. Let me guess: It's the fault of your headache?“
„Y-yeah, it must be“, answered Frank, getting more nervous again.
But it didn't seem to help much, as Sebastian got more and more suspicious about the way his friend behaved. Frank could tell that by the way Gerald's friend looked more and more concentrated on him as the dialogue progressed. It got more and more irritating with every spoken word.
It then went to a point where Sebastian laid his hands on the desk and asked: „Okay, where is the real Gerald?“
„Haven't I told you that I don't feel too well?“, Frank tried to convince him so he would finally stop asking questions.
„Gerald isn't that irritated even when he's so sick that he can't get out of his bed“, Sebastian said. „So why aren't you tell me finally who you are?“
„For the last time, I am Gerald!“
„The last time I checked, Gerald didn't get so aggressive“... Sebastian said calmly. „Why won't you just admit it?“
„Because there is nothing I have to admit! You know that I am Gerald! That all is just some stupid joke to piss me off, isn't it?“
„Well, the „pissing you off“ part may be true, but I doubt that I'm joking right now anymore.“
„...anymore?“
„You're working yourself up too hard for this. I really thought at first that it may have been a headache all along, but now... okay, now say it.“
„When are you going to get that I am the one you're seeing right now?“ Frank got moe and more aggravated with every second.
„After you've said that sentence, never.“
Frank was really surprised by that answer, so he couldn't counter it.
„Okay, I see you've given up. Tell me now what happened to Gerald.“
„You wouldn't believe it anyway...“
„Well, I can only jugde that if I know what happened to him in the first place.“
Frank took a deep breath. „I'm the main character of Gerald's novel, who broke out of it thanks to the ritual. The real is probably still lying unconcious in my office.“
Sebastian had that look. It was one of those really hard to describe looks, but when you knew what he was meaning, it suddenly got a lot easier. In that case, it was a look that felt like it was „You just gotta be kidding me“.
„See, just as I predicted.“
Sebastian sat there for a while thinking. The longer he took, the closer Frank got to sitting again, as he knew that this could take a while.
„Hm... I see. We already reached that point...“
That answer surprised Frank. „It might be a nice idea to tell me what you're talking about.“
„You see, you were supposed to find this out yourself, but maybe it might be better to show it to you right now...“
Sebastian got up. „Come on. It's time to go.“
„Wait, where are you going to take me? And why are you believing me?“
„Follow me and you'll see what I mean.“
Frank didn't get it. It felt like Helena was controlling everything connected to him.
„Are you coming now?“, yelled Sebastian, who already stood at the exit.
„Uh, yeah, I'm coming!“
They left the bakery and walked to the left.
„Couldn't you at least explain it to me when we're at it?“, Frank asked, desperate for explonations.
„No. It would ruin the impact“; replied Sebastian. „And it wouldn't be worth it anyway since we're already here.“
„Can nobody I'm meeting recently talk in clear and comprehensible words?“, Frank asked, though it was more to himself.
„Look in front of you.“
Frank turned his head and didn't believe what he saw there. The street just stopped, with nobody but them standing at the end, and beyond that there is absolutely nothing.
„Wait... does that mean that-“
„Yes“, said Sebastian. „This place is fiction as well. We are all part of a story that has been written by a higher power.“
„But Gerald didn't seem to know anything!“
„That's because he doesn't“, Sebastian explained. „He is the only one who isn't aware of it, and for now, it should stay like that.“
„Doesn't he deserve to know it?“, Frank asked while pointing at the nothingness.
„He's going to learn it soon enough, when the time is ready“, Sebastian told him. „We're not telling him the truth because we aren't allowed to for now.“
Frank decided to sit on the ground while staring into the emptiness. „So I haven't achieved my freedom after all?“
„No, you haven't“, Sebastian said. „But who knows where the reality ends and the fiction begins. It's all subjective in the end.“ He was about to leave, before he turned around and saw Frank still sitting on the ground. „I guess you want to be alone for now. Or shall I accompany you?“
„No, it's fine, really“, Frank told him, not turning around to do so.
„Well, okay then...“
And then he left, leaving Frank alone, sitting on the street. He didn't want to think about it, he just wanted to sit there and feel miserable. But he didn't succeed, so he realised that it all made slightly more sense now. He had only one choice: He needed to visit Helena again so that she finally explained the situation to him. It was clear to him that now, she just had to tell him the entire truth.
At least he hoped so. Not that she started to sound weird and incomprehensible again.
Sebastian returned to the bakery again, as he drank his coffee and watched the people walking on the streets. It felt quite funny to him, the more he thought about it: All of these people know that it's all not reality. He wondered why that never really struck his mind, even though he knew it all along. Maybe it was the coffee making him more aware of his situation. Maybe it was because the man who looked like Gerald reminded him of that fact. It felt pretty weird that, even though he knew it all the time, there were moments where he completely forgot it or at least didn't care enough about it so that it actually matters.
But maybe this was all because he wasn't supposed to know it so that his performance seemed more realistic, but he couldn't check it because he didn't know what was supposed to be realistic outside of this fiction.
Maybe that was the way Frank felt at the moment: without any way of knowing what in the hell was going on, but still being supposed to just guess what he was supposed to do. He wondered what Gerald is going to think about this when he was going to learn it, but he doubted heavily that it wasn't going to be a very pleasant reaction of his. It was probably going to be a lot more... negative and confused, but he didn't know Gerald to predict this, so he just left it at that.
So he just sat there, drinking coffee as a giant chicken passed his way.
