I woke up to the sound of rain pattering against my tiny window. A streak of lightning temporarily left my room with a faint glow. I've always loved thunderstorms, so I was mesmerized by the simplicity of what was happening. Until I heard mom call from the other room.
"Gerard! Your breakfast is done! Get up!"
"Okay mom!" I yelled, still half asleep.
I quickly got dressed in my usual black skinnys, black tee, and black jacket. And just to make people stare and wonder more, I put on a little makeup around my eyes. Nothing major. I walked into the kitchen to eat something before I left for school. Unfortunately, mom didn't like my appearance too much.
"Really? Black again? And what's with this makeup? And you didn't even brush your hair!" she said, slightly tugging at my shoulder-length jet black hair.
"Mom, it's fine! In truth, I want people to think I'm strange. No, scratch that. I don't give a fuck what they think!"
She stared at me a bit, then sighed and nodded her head.
"I know, sweety. It's just…wouldn't you like a girlfriend some day? You're going to be a senior soon, and you haven't asked any girl…"
"Mom! If no one wants me looking like this, they won't want me at all!"
With that, I grabbed some toast and left for school. I met up with Frank in my first class, art. I was a bit late, so we couldn't talk much. He passed me a note.
"What's with the makeup?"
"I felt like wearing it," I wrote back.
"It looks cool," he replied.
Suddenly, I got another note. But not from Frank.
"Stop passing notes, and pay attention to my class."
I looked up and saw my teacher standing in front of my desk with a glare.
"Detention. Now, Mr. Way," he demanded, pointing to the door.
I sighed and slowly rose from my seat. As I was walking towards the door, I felt someone watching me, as if they were sorry that this happened. But it wasn't Frank. I quickly threw it out of my mind and headed to the study hall, improvised to be detention.
"What're you in for?" a girl asked me.
"Passing notes," I replied.
"That all? Damn, they're getting more strict every day…"
"Why, what did you do?"
"Oh, nothing much. I was cutting myself in the girls' bathroom."
"Oh."
As soon as I was about to ask her why she was harming herself, the bell rang. She immediately leapt out of her seat and headed to her next class, as did I. My next class wasn't too exciting, though I still showed up. It was biology, something I'm not quite fond of. I sat in my usual back spot, hoping to get the class over with. But something caught my attention as I sat down. A note. A small green Post-It note. I unfolded it, then read the chilling words.
"Wanna come with me to the Black Parade?" it read.
I knew it was from that girl, as I looked over and saw her motioning me to write back.
"What the hell are you on?" I replied.
When I passed the note back to her, she gave me a quick glare, then wrote something down in red.
"I'm on life. Now are you coming with me?"
"Tell me what it is first."
"It's a parade. Of the dead. You coming?"
As I read these words, I felt a spine-tingling sensation crawl down my back. Was she asking me if I wanted to die?
"No way…like I wanna die…"
"Suit yourself. But will you help me get there?"
I quickly hid the note in my jacket pocket as the teacher walked past me, eyeing me suspiciously. But she ended up trailing back to the front of the classroom, and sitting in her desk. Another note was passed.
"So will you?!"
"…How so..?"
"Meet me at my house tonight.. 264 Katland Boulevard"
I sat in my desk in shock. Did she have the address wrong? I know that address, and it certainly wasn't a house.
"Is this right? This is a mental hospital."
She gave me another of her quick glares, then wrote back.
"Yes, it's perfectly right. I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay, I guess I'll be there."
The bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. Frank met me outside of the classroom, obviously surprised to see the girl that was following me.
"Who's that?" he asked in a mumble.
"This is Helena Fables. Uhm…I'm helping her go to the Black Parade tonight," I replied with a sheepish smile.
"You do know what that is. Right?" Frank asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," I sighed.
"Come on!" Helena belted, running out the large high school doors, only to end up caught in the pouring rain outside. I ran after her, with Frank following behind me. She obviously didn't mind the rain as she ran barefoot across the road, trying to dodge cars along the way. Frank and I waited for the cars to stop, which gave Helena a great advantage of beating us to the asylum. Once there, Frank hid behind me as we walked up to the front doors. Helena had shown the guard her identification card, and told him we were her visitors. We walked through the overly large hallways, fearful of the blood stains and nail marks on the walls. We finally came upon cell Y4, in which the inside looked like a regular teenage girl's room. She invited us in, and we sat on the carpeted floor. She then went rummaging through a bin, and eventually emerged with a rope.
"Can either of you tie a knot?" she asked, strangely smiling.
"Uhm, I think Gerard can," Frank admitted, slowly backing out of the room.
"See you later Gerard!" he continued, running out of the institution.
I stared at Helena, hoping she would somehow change her mind.
"A-Are you sure you wanna do this?"
Under the given circumstances, she started singing the strangest song.
"And if your heart stops beating, I'll be here wondering 'Did you get what you deserve?'- the ending of your life! And if you get to heaven, I'll be here waiting baby, to get what you deserve- the end, and if your life won't wait, then your heart can't take this-- "
"Uh, are you okay?"
"Have you heard the news that your dead! Yes, I'm fine, why?"
"Um no reason."
I listened to her song a little more, and was intrigued by the lyrics, but I still didn't think she should kill herself. She fastened the knot to make a loop, and looked at me for a bit. She stepped away from the hanging rope and wrote on a slip of paper. She walked over to me and slipped it in my pocket. She only slightly smiled, but I could sense mixed emotions in her eyes. She finally walked back to the rope, fit it around her neck, and jumped off the bed with a single tear gliding down her face. I was completely speechless until I remembered the note she gave me. I slipped it out and unfolded it.
"You do realize that they'll be after you. They won't stop until you're in The Black Parade. Run. Run now. Out of the asylum, before it's too late."

Notes

The writing is a bit choppy, I understand if it gets hard to read. This was one of the first fanfictions I wrote a few years ago. xo