Part 1: http://www.mychemicalromance.com/blog/zone-specter/apocalypse-part-1
We spend a good portion of the evening alternating with the controllers and taking turns at fighting and racing games. I think at around ten Mrs. Toro comes down and tells me and Mikey that mom had called, and asking us to come home…now.
"Alright Mikes let's wrap it up here," I say as I heave myself out of the beanbag I was sitting in.
"One sec," he says, before pressing some complicated button combo Ray taught him.
"Damn! Never shoulda taught you that!" Ray laughs.
"Your fault not mine," Mikey says quickly before handing the controller off to Frank and dashing after me.
"See ya guys later," I say, then I catch Lynzie's eye.
She looks a little worried, wondering if I'll really sleep the night away and get up clean and sober tomorrow to watch the sunrise with her. I smile and wave to her, letting her know that I will. She smiles, feeling relieved I guess, but I can still feel her beautiful brown eyes on me as I climb the stairs after Mikey.
We walk through the kitchen and say goodnight to Mr. and Mrs. Toro as we pass. We walk out the front door and out the front gate. I careful scan the road as we pass, just out of habit…you never knew who could be hanging around the streets at night. I still don't feel easy until we're passing through our front door with mom looking mad as we enter.
"What happened to being home by dinner?" she asks, sounding irritated.
"Sorry mom," me and Mikey mumble sheepishly.
"Well did you at least eat anything while you were there," she asks sounding a little better.
"No," Mikey says.
"Well your father worked late, so you can go eat with him," she sighs.
"Thanks mom," we say.
While Mikey goes to the kitchen to start dinner with dad, I walk over to mom and give her a hug, "Sorry, guess we got caught up with everyone else."
"It's alright," she smiles, "Just glad you boys spent your Friday night with friends instead of pent up in your rooms."
"We can socialize," I laugh as me and mom walk towards the kitchen.
"I know you can, I just wish you'd try and make a smidge more time for me and your father," she sighs.
"How 'bout you and me try and plot ways to get Mikey to admit he likes Emily and get him to apologize?" I say teasingly.
"Get him to apologize yes," mom smiled, "But let the other one be, he'll admit it when he's ready."
"Alright," I say as I sit down to dinner with dad and Mikey.
It was probably one-in-the-morning, when I decided I'd had enough of it. I wasn't about to let my little brother screw things up with the girl I knew he loved. I pulled on some clothes and my boots and coat. I quietly walked across the hallway and opened Mikey's door.
I knelt by his bed and shook him awake, "Mikes," I whispered, "Mikey get up, we gotta go."
"Wuz the matter?" he grumbled, squinting at the faint glow of his alarm clock. "Gee is a quarter to one, why are you waking me up?" he groaned burying his face in his pillow.
"C'mon, you gotta go apologize," I say ripping his blanket off and going to his closet to dig up his coat.
"Apologize? For what?" he hisses grabbing his glasses.
"To Emily," I say tossing him his jacket.
"What?!" he yells as loud as he can without waking mom and dad up.
"You heard me," I say with a grin as I open his window, "No brother of mine is gonna suffer like this."
He sees me swing my leg over the ledge, and his eyes bulge behind his glasses.
I laugh, "Oh c'mon, like I'm really gonna take the front door."
He grins a bit then follows after me when I jump out. I help him down and close the window, leaving it open with a rock so we can get back in later. We start out for the gate, but I know from experience that it squeaks bad, so I help Mikey jump over the gate and we cross the street from there.
When we reach the first curb, Mikey whispers nervously to me, "What am I gonna say to her?"
"You could tell her how you feel for starters," I grin.
"She is just a friend!" Mikey groans, "How many times do I have to tell you people that no matter how much I love her she'll never-oh crap!"
Mikey covers his mouth with his hands in shock while I stare at him with my eyes wide and my mouth making an o-shape like I'm surprised.
"Oh-ho, so you do like her?" I say teasingly.
Mikey blushes a bit, but then barely loud enough for me to hear he mumbles, "Yes."
"Hallelujah! The boy finally admits it!" I say holding my arms up in a Jesus-Christ-pose.
"Yeah, I like her," Mikey says with a small smile. But then he frowns, "But she doesn't like me."
"That's what you keep telling yourself," I say pulling him down Emily's street. "You my friend fail to read between the lines," I say as I look down the row of houses for the right one.
"Which one's hers?" I ask.
"3525," Mikey says simply.
"The fact that you know that off the top of your head is amazing," I said.
"Shut up," he grumbles.
"Here we are," I say stopping in front of a house with tan siding and deep green shutters.
"It's one-in-the-morning Gee," Mikey sighs, "We can't exactly walk up to the front door."
"You were here a few times before right?" I ask.
"Yeah, to work on group projects for school, we always grouped together with Frank," Mikey says.
"Do you know where her room is?" I ask looking around the house.
"Well yeah," Mikey shrugs, "That's always where we work on our homework."
"Does it have a window?" I ask, leaning against the gate to try and get a better look at the side of the house.
"Yeah, looks out into her backyard," Mikey said coming to stand next to me.
I jump over the gate and turn back to Mikey with a slick grin.
Mikey just looks at me bug eyed again, "No, no, I'm not doing it!"
"You like this girl don't you?" I say crossing my arms.
"I just said earlier…" Mikey said.
"Mikey," I say warningly.
"Yes," Mikey says with a sheepish grin.
"You wanna let her know you care?" I say.
"More than anything," he says.
"Then we're gonna be doing the most corniest movie stunt ever so you can tell her," I say waving him over.
"What if she's still mad at me?" Mikey says hopelessly.
"That's why we're here," I say pulling him towards the fence.
"But what if she doesn't like me back?" Mikey asks sounding like he's gonna lose it.
"There's only one way we're gonna find out," I say as he climbs over.
He sighs, and looks a little nervous. I smile and put my arm around his shoulder reassuring him that I'll be there for him. We walk to the back of the house and it takes Mikey a few seconds to figure out which window was Emily's. After that I started to step around the corner and Mikey stopped me.
"Where are you going?" he hissed.
"Getting outta the way," I say like it's simple.
"What do you mean?" he asks.
"Do you really want me standing there while you confess your love to Emily?" I ask.
I can see him blush a bit before he's pushing me to get moving, "Go! Get out of here!"
"Alright, I'm going," I laugh. I get him to stop pushing me and start nudging him back, "Good luck bro," I grin.
"Thanks," he says weakly.
"Breath man, you'll get through this," I say patting him on the back, "Now go…sweep her off her feet or some other romantic phrase I can't think of."
That seems to give him some confidence. I duck down in the shadows so I can make sure I'm there for Mikey just in case this does go horribly wrong.
I hear him take a deep breath before he steps on a rock under what I guess is Emily's window. There's a light tapping noise and then silence before I hear the familiar sound of a window sliding open.
"Mikey? What the heck are you doing here?" that's Emily, sounding kinda shocked and a little irritated.
"You honestly think I was gonna leave things the way I did?" Mikey says.
"And the dead of night was the best time to make things up?" Emily said sarcastically.
"Look, I was an idiot to yell at you and I'm sorry, I didn't mean it and I was just mad because of all the things people did to you," Mikey says sympathetically.
"Jesus Christo Mikey," Emily sighs, "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."
"I know, but I'm not about to watch my best friend get pushed around like that," Mikey said, "I care too much to just stand by and watch you get hurt."
I think that's his way of working in an "I love you", not 100% sure.
"I'm sorry Em, can you please forgive me?" Mikey whispered.
I hear a slight breathy sound, probably Emily laughing, "Of course Mikey, you're my best friend, I could never stay mad at you."
"Thanks Em," I hear Mikey say, sounding relieved.
"You should go Mikey, it's really late," Emily says calmly.
"Right," Mikey laughs, "Night Em."
"Buenos Noches Mikey," Emily says.
"I forget sometimes you and your dad are Hispanic," Mikey says, probably smiling like a fool.
I hear Emily giggle, and say one last goodnight to Mikey before she closes her window again. I quickly run for the front and hop the fence and try to look like I've been waiting around when Mikey shows up, looking pretty happy and giddy.
"You tell her?" I ask, even though I already know the answer.
"She forgave me," he said happily.
"But did you tell her?" I ask again.
He frowns a bit, "No, I don't think I wanna tell her just yet."
I guess I can see where he's coming from, he's young and not exactly sure if Em even likes him back the same way. They'd been friends a long time too, I guess he just didn't wanna ruin that by telling her too soon.
"Well at least you're good with her again," I say, "That and I got you to admit you like her," I smirk.
"Just don't tell her alright," he says with a small smile as he jumps over the fence.
"You gonna tell the others?" I ask as we start heading for home.
"What's the point?" he says, "They obviously already know and they know not to say it in front of her."
"Point taken," I say.
Suddenly I catch a glimpse of someone in the dark…and I push Mikey into some brush nearby.
"Hold still you little punk!" some drunk shouts, pushing me down.
"Let me go!" I growl.
He kicks me in the gut and I yelp from the pain. He grabs my hair and pulls me up to my knees, and pulls out a .357 Magnum in front of my face.
"You see this?" the guy says, breath reeking of alcohol. "You don't gimmie your money and it's gonna give you the worst feeling of your life," he slurs out.
"I don't have any money!" I yell.
"You lying son of a…" he doesn't finish before he turns and vomits all over the sidewalk. He spits and sniffs a bit before turning back to me and shoving the gun between my shoulder blades. "Gimme your god damn money!" he shouts at me.
"I don't have any!" I say, "Just let me go!"
"You're lying to me!" he spits, "Gimmie your money before I blow your god damn brains out you no good piece of shit!"
"I don't have any!" I scream out.
Where the hell is anyone?! Can't they hear me? or the loud obnoxious drunk threatening to kill me? Oh well, if I have to die now, at least I saved Mikey…
"I'm gonna give you to the count of three to hand over you money," the drunk blurts out.
"One…" Dear lord forgive me…
"Two…" I'm so sorry everyone…
"Th-uh…"
I gasp out when I don't hear the gun, and I turn back to see that the drunk lies unconscious at…Mikey's feet?!
"Mikey?" I gasp out.
"Are you alright?" he asks breathlessly.
I take in the broken glass bottle in his hands…he must've hit the guy over the head with it.
I spring up and grab Mikey's hand and we go sprinting back home. I don't stop when we reach our street. I don't stop when we reach our house. Don't stop after we go flying over the fence or when Mikey scrambles back through the window into his room.
As I stand there, holding on tightly to the window frame, panting and sweat pouring down my face…the full force of what just happened hits me.
"Gee, are you alright?" Mikey's voice says through my haze.
"I-" I don't finish before I suddenly puke and go down on my knees gasping for air.
"Gerard!" I hear a thump as Mikey jumps back out the window and puts an arm around my shoulders.
I blindly push him aside and take off. I run out the back gate and into the field, Mikey calling after me the whole time.
I keep going until I see the dark shape in the distance that is the hut. I stumble into there and quickly feel around for the little lamb I left in here. I find it and turn it on with trembling, sweaty fingers and set it on the little wooden table in the corner of the hut. I look around me at the comforting scene of the hut's interior. The small little cot I'd moved in here for either me or Lynzie to use if we ever just needed to get away from our houses like I did now. Other than the table, it was the only thing in here.
I carefully crawled over to the cot and pulled out a box from the dark shadows beneath it. I open it up and found a few bottles of beer I still had left in here. I pulled one out and popped it open…
"I'm sorry Lynzie," I whispered.
And I started to chug down the sour contents.
Within ten minutes I've downed two bottles and am working on a third when I hear the sounds of someone running towards the shack. At first I think it's the guy with the gun again, but I don't care this time-I've had enough of this ugly world.
"Let him come," I say to myself.
"Gerard! What are you doing?!"
I sit up on the cot and look to see Lynzie staring at me in the doorway.
"Trying to get out of this ugly screwed up world," I say in slightly slurred tones, but I'm not quite drunk yet…just a little stoned.
"Put that down right now!" Lynzie says walking up to me and ripping the bottle out of my hand.
"Give that back!" I yell.
She steps away from me looking horrified, "What's wrong with you?"
"The world is my problem Lynzie!" I yell. "Now answer my question, why are you here?"
"Mikey came over and knocked on my window," she whispered, "He told me what happened…"
"Well good for him," I say as I pull another bottle from the box.
"Enough!" Lynzie says taking the bottle from my hand and throwing it against the wall, it shatters and spews its contents all over the wall and dirt floor. "I almost lost you to some desperate drunk Gerard!" she says, tears streaming down her face, "I don't want to lose you to a drunk you!"
"Why would it matter," I mutter, "There's nothing to stay here for."
"What about your family?" Lynzie asks sounding hurt. "Your brother? All your friends? What about all of them?" she says backing away from me. "What about me?"
"What?" I can't really fully register what she's saying…but I think…
"Gerard I love you," she whispers through her light sobs.
"Lynzie?"
"Forget it," she says, "Drink yourself to death for all I care!" she yells, running out.
"Lynzie wait!" I say getting up and running after her. "Lynzie hold on!" I shout after her.
"Leave me alone Gerard!" she yells back.
I may have been slightly tipsy, but I was still sober enough to know I couldn't let this happen. I caught up to Lynzie and wrapped my arms around her waist, not letting her get away.
"Lynzie stop and listen to me for Christ's sakes!" I say turning her to face me.
"What do you want?" she says icily, hitting my arms to try and get me to let go.
"Did you really mean what you said Lynzie?" I ask, looking her in the face and not loosening my grip on her the slightest.
"What does it matter now?" she says, tears running down her face again. She looked me in the eyes then, and saw why, "Oh…"
"I love you Lynzie," I whisper, looking her in the eyes and letting ever bit of my heart out to her, "I've loved you from the start, since we first met, since I first laid eyes on you. I was only ten but I knew right away that I loved you Lynzie."
She's still crying, and I start to wonder if she's sad by what I've said, that she thinks I'm too drunk and don't know what I'm saying. I start to worry that she'll never believe me but then…
"Gerard, please tell me you actually mean that," she says in a trembling voice.
"I mean ever last word Lynzie, I love you, always have and always will," I whisper.
I feel Lynzie's arms slide around my neck then and I tilt my head forward. I gently rest my forehead against Lynzie's, and just stand there, letting this all sink in. I'd nearly been killed today, and had tried to drink myself to death in the process…but Lynzie saved me, and now she was mine.
"I'd kiss you right now," I say, feeling my cheeks burn a little, "But I doubt you'd want to after I've been…" but I don't finish.
I feel Lynzie shift in my arms as she goes up on tiptoe and gently presses her lips to mine. The world spins for a moment, but then it all seems like it couldn't be any better. I ever so slightly tighten my embrace on Lynzie, pulling her closer, feeling as though it will never be enough. Feeling the warmth of her soft lips pressed to mine, feeling how perfectly they fit to my own. The dizzying sense of sweetness of her that seems to wash away the pain instead of numbing it with sickness like the alcohol did.
I feel the corners of Lynzie's mouth turn up, like she's smiling, and I can't help but think, "Everything is right now…"
Part 6: http://www.mychemicalromance.com/blog/zone-specter/apocalypse-part-6
