Little Notebook of Horrors

My mind was pacing back and forth from ‘I need to go after them’ to ‘I’m so fucking screwed’.

Good news, there was no longer a body. Bad news, the cleanup crew was on the loose.

And this clean up crew; was from a different world. The same world Boo was from, the world in my head. The world where people died all the time and there weren’t any consequences.

Boo running away would be one thing, but these guys didn’t even look remotely human. All they’d have to do was attack one person and the government would lose their shit, all hell would break loose.

There would be a search in every inch of the country; I could already see the headlines. “The cannibal-serial killers dressed as monsters kill 10 children.” I couldn’t let that happen. Not 1, not 10, not 20. I couldn’t allow even a single person to die because of me again. The nameless girl’s blood on my hands was more than I could even handle right now; imagine an entire city?

So let’s say the government catches them, they’ll find out they aren’t human. And that’s a whole nother shit pot that will be stirred. It would make headlines worldwide. But that’s not the worst part.

No; definitely not the worst part.

The worst part would be when they’re interrogated, the part where they’ll be asked where they came from. You what they’ll say? Gerard. Gerard Way. I came from Gerard. The same exact way Boo said it.

Then, there’s the bounty on MY head. Worldwide. My life will be over. Fucking done, obliterated. There’s already the evidence that points to them in my comics. I’d be responsible for all the damage they did and all the lives they took.

“GERARD!” Boo screamed in my ear. I jumped back startled, a small scream escaping me in response.

“WHAT?!” I screamed back.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past 5 minutes! We need to go after them, get your head in the game!” Her eyebrows were furrowed and her face had gone serious. Had the situation not been so dire, I may have even giggled.

Boo, who didn’t have a serious bone in her body; was putting on such a scary front. Eyes round, lips puckered, those tiny yet powerful hands clenched. I wanted to ruffle her hair or something like this. Tell her she was cute.

“What are you staring at?! C’mon, we’ve gotta go! You need to bring Michael and Archie here!” She began tugging my sleeve, pulling me towards the door.

This made me snap out of my procrastinating daze, I gasped.
“NO! No no no! No more bullshit, I’m not bringing a single more person to this world!”

“But we need them! To get rid of Jerry and Janice!” She pleaded.

In the comic world maybe, but here we didn’t deal with things the same way. Destroying a city just to fight the bad guy was how they did it in this imaginary place. They’d do more damage than help if I brought them here.

Michael and Archie were the two other main characters next to Boo. Michael, the investigator, and Archie, his shape-shifting assistant (and a bit of a nutcase). But a brilliant nutcase, the kind that is essential to all great investigations. In the story they’d solve cases, with the help of Boo, to have a big face off with Dillon and his henchmen (Jerry and Janice) every now and then. Never completely saving the day.

“I can’t risk it. We’ll have to deal with them on our own. They don’t belong here, neither do you.”

“We can’t do it on our own! They’re dangerous! And this place is like a cafeteria for them, they’ll keep getting stronger and-“ She began to rant but I cut her off.

“No. That’s final. We’re doing this my way or no way at all.” I snapped. Her face dropped, as if I’d severely disappointed her.

“I’m sorry. But no, we need to go, NOW. Grab a coat it’s cold out.” I had already begun putting my jacket on, grabbing my phone out of the pocket. I’d have to borrow someone’s car. I couldn’t afford a rental or taxi right now, shit; after losing my job I couldn’t even afford to keep this apartment.
“Grab a coat?” She flashed me a worried expression.

“I have no belongings in this world, and from the looks of it, you don’t have many either.” She added.

This made a light bulb go off in my head. Not go off, more like explode. I was so stupid; I don’t have a single thing to worry about. I could conjure anything I wanted. I sprinted over to the notebook, flipping to a new page frantically. I drew a huge lump of cash, and two thick coats, in pencil. I made a mental note: New rule; draw everything in pencil. Except people. Don’t even draw people.

Then I had a new thought; we were scarce on time right now but better now than never. I tried to focus on a certain spot for the objects to materialize on.

I focused on the couch, thinking about the cushion, it’s texture and the objects being placed on it. Within a minute it was there, in all its glory.

“Damn I’m good.” I grinned for a split second. Yeah, I was proud okay? I was proud of myself for staying sane throughout this clearly insane situation. I was proud for managing to work with this notebook without even knowing anything about it, even if I did make a few errors.

I snapped out of my daze and grabbed the stuff from the couch, stuffing the cash and notebook in a messenger bag with a couple pencils. I threw Boo her coat and put mine on, trading it for the flimsy 15$ jacket I’d been using for 3 years.

I grabbed Boo’s hand and ran out of the apartment, not even bothering to shut the door behind me. Anybody who comes by can steal whatever he or she wants. It doesn’t matter anymore, nothing does.

I could practically feel the adrenaline kicking through my veins. I was on a mission. We stepped out of the apartment complex and onto the busy street. I pulled the notebook and a pencil out, studying my surroundings carefully.

I was going to draw a car.

But I needed to do it carefully; I wouldn’t want a car just materializing in the middle of the street, possibly killing several people.

“Hey did you see those weirdos earlier? Is there some kind of festival going on?” A pedestrian walked by us; talking to their friend.

Weirdos? Yeah, had to be them. And this meant I had to fucking hurry. I looked over to the parking garage for the apartment complex I lived in, I’d almost forgotten about it because I had no car and never had a use for it.

“This will have to do.” I mumbled. I began sketching, being careful not to make it too unrealistic. Before I knew it, it was starting to look like a sports car. I frowned and shrugged, “Might as well.”

When I was finished I focused as hard as I could on the parking garage, I could feel a vein popping from my forehead.

“What are you doing?” Boo raised an eyebrow.

“Focusing; shut up.” I felt my face go red and squinted my eyes harder.

“You look like you’re trying to poop.” She whispered to me.

I gasped for air, not realizing I’d been holding my breath.
“Boo, what the fuck!” I hissed back.

“Gerard-“ Her eyes widened and she pointed across the street. I looked over, cursing under my breath as the car started to materialize on the sidewalk. I grabbed her hand and ran across the street, earning several honks and a couple of middle fingers.

“Shit, Get in the car.” I swung the door open and rushed in, ignoring all the shocked faces and pointing fingers on the street. They would just have to deal; I didn’t have time to worry about the couple dozen people that have no idea what they just saw. They’d have to go on thinking it was some sort of magic trick or stunt.

I drove off the sidewalk and onto the street, speeding down the direction Jerry and Janice ran towards. You know what? I could afford to get a speeding ticket now. I could do whatever the fuck I wanted. I could post my own bail if I went to jail.

Then common sense kicked in; yes I could do all this. But should I is the real question. Wouldn’t getting arrested or pulled over just slow me down from finding Jerry and Janice? Right now that was more important than anything.

I gripped the steering wheel, unsure of where I was going to go.
“Boo, turn the radio on. Maybe we’ll hear something about Jerry and Janice.”

She reached forward and played with the knobs till sound started coming out.
“Put it on scan,” I told her. She looked up at me confused.

“The button that says scan.” I rolled my eyes; she had a Eureka moment and finally pressed the button.

I looked up and down the street, driving moderately fast and anxious to see any activity. I made sure to take note on the mannerism of all the pedestrians, looking for signs of distress or panic.

“Citizens of Ocean City, New Jersey please take care while out and about tonight, stay indoors if possible. A 4 year old was just attacked by a man and woman, presumably on drugs. These suspects are dressed in Halloween apparel and appear to be portraying monsters. If you see them or have any news on their whereabouts please contact the police department or this news station.”

My eyes widened and I unclicked the scan button to stay on the station.
“Boo, write down this news station’s number. We’ll need it later. It’s 98.9.”

She reached into my messenger bag and pulled out the notebook and a pencil.
I meant to stop her from writing anything in that damned book but the radio captured my attention.

“The 4 year old victim found approximately 10 minutes ago went into shock and is hemorrhaging severely, paramedics are trying their hardest to revive him. Stay tuned for more news.”

“Shit!” I punched the steering wheel, evoking a loud honk. Tears welled up in my eyes; that’s another person’s blood on my hands. And a 4 year old, an innocent kid.

I pressed on the gas pedal harder; I was going over the speed limit by 30, but I didn’t care. I had to find them or I would lose my mind.

“G-Gerard, I think you need to slow down.” Boo panicked, one of her petite hands tugging at my shoulder.

“No, we’re running out of time.” I growled lowly, clenching the wheel and looking straight ahead.

“The 4 year old victim, Henry Baker has been pronounced dead at 2:54 PM.” The radio blared. My heart sunk and my foot pushed even further on the pedal.

“You’re going to kill us!” She hissed. At that moment I caught glimpse of something out by the shore, two large bulky figures running up the coast line. I sped up to get a better look, it was them. My eyebrows furrowed furiously and I was pushing as hard as I possibly could on the gas pedal now, the tires screeching.

“GERARD!” Boo screeched at the top of her lungs. It all happened in a split second, but I almost felt time slow down all around me. I could see something falling from the sky; at first it was small then it gradually got bigger. MUCH bigger, each object the size of a building. My eyes widened, they were like ginormous building blocks, the kind children play with in puzzles. Each object was a number, it registered within half a second. 98.9 The station Boo wrote down in the notebook.

A couple feet in front of us the numbers crashed onto the street like meteors or falling buildings, causing the earth to roar and shake beneath us. If I’d been going slower maybe I could have stopped the car. Maybe.

The brakes screeched but because of how fast the car was going we were flipped almost instantly. Everything went black, the last thing I heard being Boo’s screams.

Notes

Sorry for such a short chapter! I'm getting super busy :( which is why I also regret to inform you the next chapter won't be out for a little while. This was originally a much longer chapter but I decided to cut it in half because I was having trouble writing the ending and wanted to update. Please do comment and tell me your thoughts! This story is special to me and comments would really speed up the next update!

P.S. my Don't Stand So readers, look forward to an update very very soon!