The Black Parade

I'd never seen anything like them before; black, faceless, formless. They were shadows, but they were seeping out of the trees like they could smell us, like we were prey.
My eyes shifted to Frank uneasily, and he was just standing there with a huge shit-eating grin on his smug little face.

"Wh-what is this?" I whispered, unable to keep the trembling out of my voice.

Frank's soulless black eyes flickered to mine and he tilted his head to the side.
"Gee, are you... Scared?" He asked, his lips slowly turning up in a sinister way.

"Stop calling me that," I snapped, my angst turning into agitation.

Frank barked a harsh laugh and skipped away from me without another word.
I debated calling out for him or following behind, but I dismissed both ideas and instead pressed my lips into a thin line.
As the shadows got closer, the temperature dropped. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself, trying to figure out just what I was witnessing.
The wisps of black smoke coiled around me, enveloping me in an inky dark fog that my eyes couldn't penetrate. Where the shadows touched my skin felt like ice burrowing into me. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what. I didn't know what this was or what I had gotten myself into. I wanted Frank to come back and explain things.

"Whatever this is, I am not afraid," I whispered.
The shadows flinched away from me and collected into one large mass in front of me.
"I'm not afraid of this," I repeated, clenching my hands to fists.
After all, nothing could compare to what my mind could conjure up. I wasn't afraid of the dark, I wasn't scared off by shadows or stupid phantoms. If my dad sent me here, I had to trust him.
A pale white circle began to swirl and manifest in the center of the black cloud, forming a face.
I swallowed back my surprise as the light, smooth features of a woman began to appear from the inky black.
She was naked, and she looked to be in her early twenties. She had long dark hair that flowed around her face and reached her shoulders, and big dark eyes that could see right through me. The only colour on her besides different shades of white and black was the deep crimson of her lips.
The woman smiled at me and as the smoke moved, she seemed to move.

"Oh, Frankie. I like this one," she purred, her voice soft and light in my ears.

"What are you?" I whispered, unable to keep my eyes from hers.

"I'm Jamia," she said, reaching out and brushing her fingers over my cheek. "It does not matter what I am- just that you're here."

"She's a ghoul," Frank's almost familiar voice chimed in my head. "She likes to pretend she's all mystical and mysterious."

"Oh, but Franklin, I am," Jamia giggled, her laugh like tiny bells. She winked at me before disappearing.

My initial fear quickly melted away as I realised I had nothing to be afraid of.

"Back off," I muttered, waving my arms through the smoke in irritation. Soon enough, the black tendrils were distanced from me, but not quite retreating. Simply floating around.

"Frank?" I called, spinning slowly to look for the boy. "Jamia?"
A giggle ghosted in my ears and ricocheted in my head, and I thought I saw something glint in the trees out of the corner of my eye.
I turned, determined to keep my eyes on the moving figure, but I kept spinning and spinning until I couldn't see straight and I fell flat on my back.

"Well, he looks a little confused," someone murmured close to my ear. "Very confused indeed. Can he open his eyes?"

I scrunched my nose up and slowly opened my eyes, my back a little sore from the fall I'd taken. When my eyes focused, I saw a boy no older than fifteen squatting next to me. His eyes widened like in the cartoons, and got to the point where I expected them to bug out of his face.

"Does he hurt?" the boy asked, placing his hands on either side of my face. "Can Ray help him?"
I looked at him, a little overwhelmed, when suddenly I felt calmness wash over me. My heartbeat slowed to its normal pace and I relaxed a bit.
"Is he better now?"

I rolled my shoulders and didn't feel any tension from my back, which made me wonder what had suddenly happened to make me feel perfectly fine.
"Um, yes, thank you," I said softly, tilting my head to the side at the boy who was sitting on my lap with his hands still on my cheeks.

"Good, very good," Who I assumed to be Ray said, his eyes darting all over the place, never settling on one thing for too long.
"Yes, yes, I am Ray, who is he?"

"I'm Gerard," I replied, trying to decipher Ray's awkward way of speaking.

"Gerard," Ray repeated in a soft whisper. He nodded to himself, his wild field of hair moving with the motion.
"Gerard is new to The Parade, yes. Gerard has much to learn!" Ray exclaimed, abruptly jumping off me to hop up and down and clap.
"Frankie! Frankie! Gerard has much to learn!" Ray shouted excitedly.

"Ray, chill, man," Frank sighed, and I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked behind me and saw Frank standing there. He winked down at me and stood next to Ray.
"See, you're already making friends," Frank chuckled. "Jamia's beautiful, don't you agree?"

I stood up and wiped at the back of my pants for any grass and dirt from my fall.
"Yeah, she is," I agreed. "And I wouldn't exactly call them friends."

Frank laughed loudly, like what I'd said was actually funny in a way, and smacked Ray's shoulder. Ray looked at Frank with a confused expression and Frank just sighed, then walked behind me. I flinched when I felt him smack my ass, causing him to giggle.

"Relax, loverboy. I'm dusting the grass off," Frank insisted.
I sighed and let Frank dust his hands over the back of my pants.
I yelped when he hit me a little too hard.
"That was just for fun," Frank said mischieviously, then he grabbed Ray's hand.
"You might as well get acquianted with everyone," he sighed. "We'll be going out soon to the yards."

"The... yards?" I repeated, but Frank was already skipping away, half dragging Ray behind him.
"Why does he like to leave me alone like that?" I snapped, kicking at the damp ground.

"Everyone leaves," someone laughed. I looked up to see a face directly in mine, our noses touched. I stumbled back a step but managed to keep my footing.
"Bert McCracken. I'm assuming you're the new guy, Gerard?"

"How did you-"

"Everyone knows when there's a new guy that we didn't collect," Bert laughed, a hollow creaky sound. "Especially if Frank's ordered to get them. You must be some big deal."
His slitted yellow eyes traveled over me purposefully and I shivered at the intensity of the look.
"Allow me to introduce you to the others," Bert said, and as he did, figures began appearing behind him.

One by one, hundreds of faces came into view. My breath hitched in my throat as people filled the open space, some most sinister and others just as normal as humans like myself.

"What... How...?" I muttered in amazement at the scene unraveling before my eyes.

"You see, dear friend, we were all once human. But The Parade, it changes you. It's a good thing, believe me, but what we do is far beyond normal," Bert explained, still hanging by his feet on the tree above. His eyes, on the other hand, had moved to survey the scene along with me.
"There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of us. Fortunately, most of us were already dead when we were collected so we avoided the whole 'missing' ordeal."
Bert chuckled and I just watched the dark human-like forms appeared and looked at me.
"Everyone's gonna be kind of skeptical around you for a bit but don't panic, they're just curious is all."

"What do you mean you were all once human? You're not anymore?" I asked.

"Bertie, are you saying too much?"
Frank appeared behind Bert and clicked his tongue.

"No," Bert said briskly. "Just briefing your new pet. How about you introduce him to everyone, then?"
And with that, Bert snorted and climbed nimbly up the thin branch he was hanging from.

I gave Frank a curious look and he just smiled lazily at me.
"Well, let's go make friends," he said breezily.

Frank turned his back to me and started skipping away, but I'd expected as much since he'd left me stranded in the same manor a few times already.
So, I followed quickly behind so I wouldn't lose sight of the short kid, and he led me straight toward the crowd of colourless beings.
When we were standing directly in front of the first few, I got a good look at them. Everyone was so pale and depressed looking. Evil looking.

"We gotta make this quick, I have things to do and I have to show you to your room before we leave," Frank announced, clasping his hands together.
"This is Michael, JJ, Angelo, Chris and Brooklyn," Frank began, pointing to a little group of gangly, red eyed people. "This is Gerard." The only one that smiled was the girl, Brooklyn, and it wasn't exactly a welcoming smile.
"Alright. Moving on," Frank sighed, sounding absolutely bored, and he grabbed my hand to lead me past the five people.
I gripped Frank's hand and felt my nerves calm a bit. I never did well with meeting new people, definitely with people I didn't know when I had no one I was acquainted with. Frank happened to be the closest I had to a friend.
"Aaand, halt," he shouted, causing the people we'd paused by to look up. They had glowing green eyes and I swallowed thickly.
"Zacky, Maxwell and Candace, meet Gerard."

"He's very pretty," Zacky said in a low voice. He stuck his hand out to me but Frank glared at him and he quickly retracted.

"I um... Thank you, I think," I said, startled by the compliment and not sure what it meant, and by Frank's warning look, also unable to decipher it.

"Continuing," Frank said sweetly, pulling me along.

"Stop dragging me," I snapped, which was unusual for me since I never usually got angry so quick.

Frank stopped and slowly turned to me, his eyes turing that sparkling honey colour. He unlatched his hand from my wrist, which I rubbed at with my other hand, and he smiled.
"Sorry, sugar," he said softly. "Something just told me that you like following."
His eyes flashed dangerously before they were black again, and he turned without touching me again.

I followed closely as Frank led me through a throng of people, and I noticed we were passing a ton of them, not stopping for introductions. I didn't dwell on the matter too long, dropping it when we stopped at a group of almost thirty people. They were surrounded by the familiar black cloud of smoke from before.

Frank took a dramatically large breath and opened his mouth wide.
"Lacey, Corey, Mitchell, Taylor, Kurt, Marilyn, Emilie, Jared, Amy, Ricky, Lzzy, Daniel, Hayley, Jenna, Billie..."
The names started to blur and I just stared at all of the people Frank was taking the time to name. I felt bad because I wasn't really listening, but then again, I couldn't care less.
"...and you already met Jamia and Ray."

Ray looked up at the mention of his name and his eyes widened at me.
He stood up slowly and cocked his head to the side. He shook a little bit around the edges.

"Gerard," Ray said with a nod. He smiled as he said my name and nodded again.

"Yeah. Hi Ray," I said fondly, offering a small smile in return.

"Gerard," he repeated in a soft sigh, and he sat down again next to Jamia.

Jamia stood up gracefully and walked over to us on translucent legs. She reached us within seconds and she smiled at Frank and I with her ruby red lips.

"Hello, lovely," Frank purred. His voice was smooth and confident, as usual, but somewhat deeper and sultry.

"Frank," she replied, nodding in his direction.
Her eyes remained on me, that warm smile on her lips. And she waited.
Frank nudged my shoulder and I swayed to the side.

"U-uh... Hi, Jamia," I said softly with an embarrassed blush, then looked to the ground.
Why didn't I take the hint that she was waiting for me to greet her? I was such a fucking idiot. Supid, stupid, stupid Gerard.

Jamia giggled and I glanced up again.
"Gerard, don't be so hard on yourself, honey."
I furrowed my eyebrows and opened my mouth to ask what she was referring to, but she placed a finger over my lips and I shut up.
"I can hear you," she whispered, using her other hand to tap on her temple as she winked.
I blushed again and tried to stop thinking, because really, who would want someone reading their thoughts?

"Jamia," Frank said sternly, and she turned to him. "I was thinking you could tell Gee about The Yards, we'll be leaving shortly and I have a quick meeting to attend. Oh, and make sure Ray stays close to you two. Ray likes Gerard."
Frank walked away as he said the last few sentences and I glanced at Jamia who was smiling and shaking her head in amusement.

"Does he always do that?" I asked. "Leave like that, I mean."
Jamia nodded and Ray fidgeted, then timidly closed the few feet between us and latched onto my arm.
"Hi, Ray," I said softly, and when he looked up I smiled.

Jamia glided over to my other side and took my arm. Her skin was soft and I looked at her nervously.
"Come, let me show you the yards."