Adolescent Suicide

Bucharest, Romania

The lights flashed on, swooping over the thousands of teenagers that had shown up to see My Chemical Romance live in Romania. The guys were already positioned on stage, instruments at the ready. Gerard had his back to the crowd, smiling and talking quietly to Bob before turning to greet the audience. Her blue eyes watched him for a second, then flitted over to Frank, who was standing, feet a little more than shoulder length apart, his fingers messing with the strings of his guitar, attempting to get some last minute tuning in. The sound coming from the sea of people was deafening as they responded to Gee’s screams into the microphone. The atmosphere was thick with anticipation. Mercy hadn’t moved an inch, and already sweat was starting to form on the back of her neck, dripping down her shoulder blades to land at the waist line of her jeans.

The beginning chords of ‘The End’ blared from the amps that were situated around the brightly lit stage. Gee’s voice crooned into the microphone, making the crowd scream even louder. She watched as they jumped around, waving their hands in the air in time with the beat. It was almost surreal, and she felt like she was watching it in slow motion. Maybe it had been just the feel of the song itself, but she felt like she should be holding up a lighter with tears cascading down her cheeks.

And then, without a moment’s pause between them, ‘Dead!’ began to play. Mercy had always been the guys’ biggest fan. At the beginning, she hadn’t liked them as people much, but she had always loved their music. Her body rocked with the beat, losing herself within the music. Her lips moved as she screamed with Gerard and Frank, putting just as much emotion into it that they did. She stayed like that for the next couple of songs, losing track of time.

It wasn’t long before they were coming to the end. After they played ‘Famous Last Words’, Gee introduced one of their older songs as a finale. It made her smile grow even more wider, if that was possible. She didn’t even mind Max standing just a few feet away, staring at her like she had grown five heads or something. But that wasn’t what shocked her. What shocked her was that Gerard hadn’t introduced it in English. Oh no. He introduced it in Romanian. How he learned that, she would never know, but it gave him a few brownie points in her eyes.

“I fucking dragoste tu guys! Acesta este chemare ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’,” Gee screamed, moving his leg as the first riffs exploded.

Too much adrenaline, too much coffee, and too much love for the men’s music had Mercy jumping up and down, head banging, and screaming. Their older songs were by far her favorites. She wasn’t sure why, but damn it, they always got her going. Her body writhed and moved as she spun, her black hair flying in all directions. Her breathing began to shorten, like she knew it would. She wasn’t used to overexerting herself, remember? Yet, that didn’t stop her. She kept moving, kept letting the beats make her body twitch and convulse in a rhythmic dance.

In one second, she had been head banging to the chorus. In a flash, something seemed to wrap around her ankle and the floor seemed to rise up to meet her face. She hard just behind Frank’s amp with a crash that was easily covered up by the sound of their loud music. Mercy let out a grunt and stared down at her feet. Stupid fucking cords had wrapped around her ankle in her almost frantic movements. She felt like such an idiot.

Mercy’s face went bright red as she sat up, hoping that no one else noticed that she was sitting there, attempting to untangle herself from the mass of cords. In her desperation to be free, her hands began to shake, and she realized that if anything, she was merely making things worse. Mercy let out a huffy growl and slammed her fists onto the ground in frustration. The men around her continued to play with all of their hearts. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Max, poised to come after her, but hesitant about coming on stage.

She turned ever so slightly and saw Mikey’s confused eyes on her. “What are you doing?” he mouthed as he continued to strum his bass.

“I’m stuck!” she replied, gesturing angrily to her ankles.

You know what he did? That asshole laughed. He shook his head and laughed. Mercy narrowed her eyes, snarling as she moved to continue messing with the cords. She had no idea how they could get so wrapped up around her. But then, she hadn’t been completely in her right mind when it happened, so who the fuck knew? Slowly and tediously, she began inching one of her feet out of the bindings. The song was almost coming to a close and she didn’t want to be on stage when those lights went out.

Mercy let out a triumphant yell when with one hard tug, her foot came free. It was enough force to knock her backwards, but she didn’t care. A huge smile lit up her face and she pumped her fists in the air, quite pleased with herself. And then, the song ended. The silence from the amps made her ear drums echo as the lights cut off, making her squeal loudly as she sat up abruptly. She could vaguely hear the scuffling of foot beats across the stage, but she couldn’t tell where they were due to the insane screaming coming from the crowd.

She felt hands on her shoulders, making her jump and scream loudly. A chuckle was heard close to her ear, and then Mikey’s voice played softly next to her.

“Calm down. Come on, retard. Let’s get off the stage,” he said. Mercy could almost hear him shaking his head, making her narrow her eyes as he tugged her up off the floor. She kicked her other foot around, making the cords fall loose before she was able to make a few stumbling steps.

Her and Mikey met up with the guys who were just off stage, talking to Max, who was gesturing towards the stage, his bushy eyebrows furrowed together. Hearing footsteps, they turned, relief clearly etched on their faces.

“Mercy! What the fuck happened to you?” Ray asked, tilting his head slightly to the side as he peered at her, clearly confused as to why she was coming off the stage with Mikey.

She inhaled deeply, then began her little rampage about the killer cords. “I was just minding my own business, head banging and shit, when out of nowhere, those stupid fucking cords wrapped around my ankles! And then, the floor came up and BAM! I landed on my ass. Mikey, stupid piece of shit, just laughed at me!” she exclaimed, jabbing a finger into his shoulder.

They all stared at her for a few good seconds. She had had way too many cups of coffee before the show, and this was the first time they had seen her all hyped up like a crack addict. A huge grin was plastered on her round face, and she could almost feel the caffeine rush through her veins, speeding up her heart and making her breathing come out faster than normal. Yeah. Crack addict. That’s basically how she felt at the moment.

Then, they all started laughing. Hard. Apparently they thought her story very amusing. Mercy attempted to scowl at them, but she couldn’t do it. Instead, she joined them in their laughter. For the first time in awhile, she truly let herself go and laughed her ass off at something she had done. It was nice, and quite relieving.

**********Time Elapse**********

“Wha?” she asked for what felt like the gazillion time since she had been rudely awoken by Frank at six o’clock that morning. She was sitting up in the bed, one hand rubbing her eye as she yawned again. It was way too fucking early. The bright red numbers of the alarm clock read 6:33 a.m. He was out of his fucking mind. Plain and simple.

“I said, we’re going to see Count Dracula,” Frank replied, putting on a really shitty Romanian accent.

Mercy nodded, tossing the blanket off of her as she snorted in laughter. “Right. Just making sure I heard you right,” she told him, eyeing him out of the corner of her vision.

Frank stood at the foot of her bed, already dressed and ready to go. He looked like a fucking kid in a candy store at the prospect of going to see Dracula. The other guys were coming with, even though it was supposed to be just her and Frank. However, she knew that the others wanted to see this just as much as she did, so she didn’t complain. Besides, it had been quite some time when all of them had been together, just hanging out and not working.

She quickly got dressed, threw on some shitty makeup, and brushed her hair and teeth before leaving the bathroom. She pulled on some shoes, grabbed her purse, then turned towards Frank, who still had the damn giddy smile on her face. Mercy chuckled, shaking her head. He sent her a confused look, his brows furrowing together.

“What?” he asked, jutting out his bottom lip slightly.

“You’re just fucking cute, you know that?” she replied, wrapping her arms around his waist and tilting her head back slightly to look into his eyes.

That famous cocky smirk came over his face. “Of course I do. I’m Frank fucking Iero.”

**********Time Elapse**********

“I still can’t believe you got tangled up in the cords and fell onto stage,” Bob said, laughing as he shook his head.

Mercy shot him a glare, huffing as she crossed her arms over her chest. They were all piled into a van, heading through the country side of Romania. It was a fairly short journey, and all they had talked about was the fact that she had made a complete ass of herself the previous night.

“Oh ha motherfucking ha. It’s not that funny, dipshits. I fell on my face. Do you think you’ve laughed enough about it already?” she asked, irritated.

Gerard leaned forward in the seat behind her, resting his chin on the headrest near her ear. “Aw, is Mercy irritated because we’re making fun of her?” he cooed.

She turned and smacked him upside the head. He yelped and grasped at it, instantly sitting back. She smirked and turned back around, snuggling into Frank for protection. The van turned onto a small lane that was surrounded by trees on both sides. She could hear the end of the branches skimming across the roof, making an eerie scratching noise. Mercy had to admit that she was a little bit freaked about visiting Snagov Monastery. Well, not the monastery itself. The fact that Dracula was supposed to be buried here freaked her the hell out. Seriously, weren’t vampires supposed to be the undead? Did that mean that there was a chance that he would be roaming around the countryside at that moment? No, wait. It was daytime. Maybe he was sleeping in his coffin.

Mercy let out a little squeak, earning a chuckle from Frank as he squeezed her. “You okay?”

She nodded, burying her face in his shirt as the van came to a stop. The doors were opened and everyone piled out, Mercy being the last one. She kept close to Frank as an elderly man approached them, hobbling slightly on a cane. Next to him was a younger man who was by far the most gorgeous man she had ever seen in her life. Besides Frank, of course. But there was something about him that lured her in.

He had the darkest blue eyes and shaggy dark brown, almost black hair. His features were angular and strong, and bore a striking resemblance to the older man. Mercy couldn’t help but gape at his pale, flawless skin, the way that the wind blew one of the dark strands of hair in his face and he casually brought a hand up to wipe it away.

Mercy was broke out of her thoughts by the elder man’s voice. It was deep and raspy, like perhaps he was a smoker in his earlier years. However, there was a softness there that made her smile, despite the fact that she was so uncomfortable.

“Hallo, numele meu este Petre. Acesta este al meu nepot Lucian. Noi bun venit tu la spre Snagov Monastery.”

We all stared at him, confused. Thankfully, the younger man let out a small chuckle before translating. “My grandfather says ‘Hello, my name is Petre. This is my grandson Lucian. We welcome you to Snagov Monastery.”

We let out ‘ohs’ and nodded in understanding.

“As tu know , acesta este supposedly art.hot. ultimul examen pauză place de Dracula. Behind eu is art.hot. tomb unde lui corp is supposed la spre minţit. Noi voinţă a voi scrobeală acolo.”

“As you know, this is supposedly the final resting place of Dracula. Behind me is the tomb where his body is supposed to lay. We will start there.”

With those words, the older man, Petre, turned and began hobbling to the large marble and brick building that sprouted out above the trees. Mercy huddled close to Frank, her eyes on Lucian. He seemed to almost float over the dewy grass. His footsteps were soundless, his motions precise. It was like watching a god descend on the earth. It was breathtaking. As they stepped into the shadow of the building, one thought crossed her mind.

Was he Dracula?