The Black Parade

As we approached the city in awkward silence, I inferred that the white-haired man, who Ray told me was Gerard, hated my guts. Ray also told me the others' names, and that they were part of a band called My Chemical Romance, I was shocked beyond belief.

I had listened to their music night and day, to keep myself sane; I had never attempted to find out their names or what they looked like, for their own safety, in case I snapped, which I did when they disappeared three months ago. No ransom was offered, they just were no longer there, so their manager had released The Black Parade. I didn't tell any of them how much I knew about them, though.

"And without you, is how I disappear and live my life alone, forever now."

Gerard was humming a little to that tune, the song that made me kill the first one, a cop who had raped his little girl because his wife got shot by a drug lord. Just the mere sound nearly set me off, I wanted nothing more than to run away and never come back, almost like high school.

Without my noticing the float stopped, I just sat there, staring at my bloodstained hands, until Gerard came over.

"I can't get off of here until you do, Jane"

"They’re your stupid rules." I retorted

"The Elders rules, I don't want to be in this situation anymore than you do, believe me."

I didn't move an inch; he sighed glumly and sat next to me. Our feet were hanging over the edge, like my entire being had been for months. The chance of losing my morality vs. getting caught, I couldn't survive jail; I had listened to the MCR song Prison, far too many times. I laughed at the thought, letting two glistening tears fall gracefully from behind closed eyelids.

The others had already left for the main building of the city, which had an eerie gloom surrounding the topmost tower. I looked up again and the mist lifted, revealing a clock tower with a complex piece of ironwork steadying an hourglass the size of three people. A gruesome looking old man stood there, harsh glare focused straight on me, but he suddenly turned into a boy around three years of age.

"Father Time?" I asked quietly.

Gerard looked at me incredulously, "You've done your homework."

"I just had to live in a different world, to get away from the real one."

"Me too." He looked down at his hand, then mine, without hesitation he took my bloody one, and pulled me off of the float. Instead of going into the main building, he dragged me across a cobbled street, and into a cluster of connected stone buildings. We walked up a set of drafty stairs and right to a balcony. I stared out of the window, instantly overwhelmed by the change my life had made over a period of twenty minutes, I was going to get a chance at redemption.

This entire world was foreign to me, but I could tell that it was desolate and gray, compared to my world of murder, rape, and bloody massacre.

"Wait, if your bosses made it so that I can't go far away from you without being pulled back, then how do I shower and change?"

He glanced down nervously at our intertwined hands, "Um, I wasn't exactly paying attention; I think that they said, 'same room.'"

I gave him a glare that could sever spines if I wanted, I really didn't like him or his boss, but I had too many questions to ask so I kept my tongue.

"What is this world?" He looked up at the gray sky that was neither night nor day.

"I don't know yet, we help people, I think that we do damn well for only three months on the job. There are unexplainable things here; they will always remain gray to all."

"Cryptic enough?"

He didn’t seem phased by the sudden humor, he still hated me, I guess.

“Father Time isn't the only metaphorical anomaly here, there's Mother War, and she’s escaped from the previous caretakers' grasp before, causing the two infamous world wars. It has been my job to monitor her, Bob's taking over now."

"I'm guessing that you didn't vie for the serial killer babysitting job?"

"No, the others were too soft for it; they already like you, despite your past actions."

"And you don't?"

"No."

Gerard silently walked away, leaving me to follow him into the unknown.