Danger Days: The True Lives of Ritalin Diamond and the Fabulous Killjoys

It’s been two months since Gerard’s rescue and Keelan’s death. In those few, short weeks we have through many claps with BLI but never have we seen Korse. I experimented with drugs and tried to drink my sorrows away. I even contemplated suicide but Frank and, surprisingly, Gerard were there to comfort me.

It took a couple of days to get Gerard to remember who he was and what he stood for. We all had to pitch in. I heard the guys tell stories of their past before all this BLI crap happened. I heard they used to be in a band. They were huge but it all came crashing down in 2019. It did help that Frank, Ray and Mikey started playing around Gerard again. Frankie told me during one of our nightly talks that it was the first time they have gone back to music. He felt so much more like himself just strumming to old songs on his guitar. It reminded him of good times and it let him escape the dirty world we live in.

“It felt so good, Skye to just pour my heart and soul into the music, into the crowds,” Frank said to me while we were lying on his bed.

“Why did you stop? I’ve heard you play and my god you are amazing. You all are amazing,” I said to Frank.

“We needed to survive. We had to think of our survival. I wasn’t thinking of music Skye. I was thinking of saving my friends and to get back at BLI for destroying my world and yours too.”

“What happened Frank? You all know my story so I wanna know yours.”

“Well it ain’t pretty love but here it goes. I was famous. I had money. Nothing could stop me and I felt undefeatable. Then I met her, Jamia. She was, for lack of another less cliché word, my soul mate. She was my anchor, my everything. We dated and I proposed. We were going to get married. I loved her so much. Once the takeover happened she was brainwashed into joining BLI. I saw her get taken away from me. I tried to get her back but it was too late. She was too deep in drugs and she wasn’t the same Jamia that I once knew,” Frank explained. He was about to continue when Gerard came into the room.

I looked over and motioned for him to sit with us. I moved over towards the middle of the bed and Gerard sat by the edge of the bed. He looked so tired and worn out. He finished up a mission with Mikey on the outskirts of Battery City and didn’t look like he came into contact with Korse.

He was staring out into space and I grabbed his hand to bring him back. He looked at our hands joined and then at me and gave me a half hearted smile. I knew he was tired of all this but he knew it would be worth it in the end. I went to give him a hug and could smell the faint scent of smoke and desert on his jacket. He whispered in my ear to follow him and I nodded.

I turned over to Frank to say good night but he was already sleeping. I went over and kissed him on his cheek and whispered good night to him. I followed Gerard out into the diner and went to his room. He entered first and I closed the door behind me.

I didn’t go into Gerard’s room very often. He was always out on missions or mostly locked up alone. He would come out and just talk to me in my room but I was never once invited into his. I looked around and found it fairly neat as opposed to mine which was covered in all my shit most of the time.

I saw Gerard motion for me to sit on his bed and he went into the bathroom to change. A few minutes later, he came out with a black sleeveless shirt and black pajama pants. His red hair was fading and I wanted to re-dye it again sometime soon. He took a seat next to me and pulled me into a hug.

I made myself comfortable against him and we went to lie on his bed. We still held each other for dear life. I felt better in his arms. This world we lived in disappeared while I was in his arms and I felt right at home too. I wondered if he felt the same but I was too scared to ask him and I still felt terrible for thinking of Gerard as something other than a friend when Keelan’s death is still so fresh in my mind.

I lifted my head from his chest and looked up at him. He was almost falling asleep but I asked him if he could sing for me. He nodded and then I heard his sweet voice singing me to sleep.

Where
Where will you stand
When all the lights go out
Across these city streets?

Where were you when
All of the embers fell
I still remember

There
Covered in ash
Covered in glass
Covered in all my friends are

Still
Think of the bombs they built

Is there a place where I can be
Then I'd be another memory
Can I be the only hope for you
Cause you're the only hope for me
And if we can't find where we belong
We'll have to end it on our own
Face all the pain and take it on
Because the only hope for me is you alone.