More weird stuff

Here's a bit more of the "Gerald" story.

Gerald found it hard to sleep that night, his thoughts drifted back to the man in the grey jumper. Why would he vanish like that? Once Gerald managed to sleep, he had another dream. He found himself walking along a street near his house that he knew well. Something told him to stop walking and he did. Looking around Gerald saw a house that he had walked past many times. The old red bricks were faded and moss grew around the base of the house.
A strange sensation flew through Gerald, telling him to go into the house. Although he had walked past it many times, he never knew who lived there. He never found himself paying any attention to any of the houses on his walks.
As he walked up onto the front porch Gerald saw the curtains flutter. The little motion sparked his curiosity and he stepped over to the window. Despite the curtains being heavy and drawn, Gerald leant against the window, trying to see into the house. His hands never made contact with the glass, instead he lurched forward and fell into the living room.
'Gerald? What are you doing here?' Sally said. She sat on a large couch surrounded by piles of books, a notepad in her lap.
'I don't know,' Gerald answered still sprawled out on the floor where he had landed.
'Come here,' Sally tapped the cushion next to her curled up legs. 'I want you to see this.'
Gerald picked himself up from the floor and sat down on the couch next to her. She had a large hard-cover graphic novel open on the floor. Gerald saw the image of a masked hero perched on a menacing gargoyle. His eyes moved to Sally's notepad. She had replicated the image with incredible accuracy.
'I thought you were supposed to be writing an essay on this stuff?' Gerald stretched out and put his arm around her shoulder.
'I know,' she sighed and leant into him. 'I'd rather make it than write about it, you know?'
'I know.' Gerald stroked her hair.
'You hungry?' Sally looked up at him.
'Hmm?'
'I said, are you hungry?' She laughed and patted his stomach.
'Sure Sal.' Gerald watched as she placed her pad down on one of the piles surrounding her, his hand stroking her back as she did.
She got up and walked over to the kitchen, 'Come on. Let's see what we can find.'
Gerald stood and followed her into the kitchen. He sat down at the table next to his mother who was staring out of the window, a cold piece of toast sitting on a plate in front of her.
'Is she always like that?' Sally asked as she dug through the refrigerator.
'Yeah,' Gerald said, picking up his mother's toast and taking a bite. 'I wish I knew what she was thinking.'
'Just ask her, Ger.' Sally found a birthday cake in the fridge and cut two slices.
'Yeah,' Gerald chewed the cold toast. 'Maybe next time.'

The next morning Gerald found a scribbled note resting on his chest. Red ink ran up his arm, the paper was scratched and torn as if he had tried to write on it while holding it in the air. After turning on the lights Gerald flattened the note out on his desk and tried to decipher what it read.
“Sal's got a (something) happy birth... ask Mum.”
Gerald wondered who Sal was. His birthday was a few days ago, maybe he dreamt about that. He had no idea what he was supposed to ask his mother about, or how he was supposed to do that. Gerald eventually gave up and threw the note into his waste basket.
Chewing a piece of toast at the kitchen table, Gerald stared out of the window. The orange leaves fluttered around the trees, but no men appeared this time. After breakfast Gerald grabbed his jacket and walked out the front door.
He wandered aimlessly around the streets until he spotted a familiar looking red brick house. Gerald made his way up to the front door and rang the bell. After about ten minutes, Gerald rang the bell again. The door opened a fraction and Gerald saw a familiar face peek out at him.
'Hello?'
He had trouble remembering where he had met her before. 'Hi,' he said.
She opened the door wide and a confused look crossed her face, 'Hey.'
Gerald smiled, he didn't know what else to do.
'The guy from uni, right?' She said, her hand resting on the doorknob.
'Yeah, medicine,' Gerald smiled.
'What's up?' She looked bothered.
'Can I come in?'
Her eyebrows pulled together and she tilted her head slightly. 'How did you know where I lived?'
Gerald wondered the same thing. 'I didn't,' he answered truthfully.
She pulled the door closer to herself, and stepped back a fraction into the house. 'You didn't?'
'Is this a bad time?' Gerald asked. 'I could come back later.'
'Why would you come back?'
'Can we talk?'
'I guess so,' she held onto the door. 'What's up?'
Gerald realised he looked like an idiot. He didn't know how he found this house. He had no idea who this girl was, except she studied at the university. 'I'm sorry, this is going to sound weird.'
'Go on,' she said.
'A guy disappeared the other day. I don't know who he was.'
She smirked. 'Yeah, guys around here will do that.'
'No, I mean he was just gone.'
'Happens all the time,' she frowned. 'You need to find yourself a nice guy who won't run off on you, okay honey?'
Gerald didn't understand.
'I hope that helps,' she said and closed the door.
Gerald made his way home, his head spinning.