FicWad

Riley woke up and groaned looking at the clock. It read 6:30am. Ughh. She rolled over and threw her legs over the side of her black bed, getting up and walking into the bathroom to take a shower. Her hand slapped at her Ipod to turn on some music while she was washed. She smiled when ‘Take Me Home Tonight’ by Eddie Money came on. She undressed and sung along.

"Take me home tonight! I don't wanna let you go till you see the light! Take me home tonight! Listen honey just like Ronnie said, be my little baby!"

Her body swayed as the water ran over her. She closed her eyes and imagined she was at a My Chemical Romance concert. She watched as Gerard danced around on stage, Frank did some crazy flip during the solo and Mikey just stayed put. She had never been to a MCR concert but whenever she was stressed, she would close her eyes and pretend she was at one.

Her eyes opened and she turned off the water stepping out, careful not to slip. She dried her hair and did her makeup before she walked back into her room wrapped in a towel. Her Ipod and changed to Ozzy Osborne's ‘Crazy Train’. She smiled.

"Maybe it’s not too late to learn how to love and forget how to hate! Metal wounds still screaming I’m going off the rails on a crazy train!"

Riley moved to her dresser and picked out her old Anthrax t-shirt and some torn up black bell bottoms. As she was lacing up her dirty white boots, she heard her mother scream.

"Damnit Dillon! Why can't you just clean up after yourself?"

Dillon was her father. Her parents never loved each other, she knew that. They were only together for her sake but sometimes it seemed better if they were separated. She hated hearing them yell. Riley flinched when she heard her father yell back then slam the front door. Riley sighed and walked downstairs to find her mother sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in her hands.

"Morning sweetie.”

Riley just nodded and walked over to the fridge, grabbing herself an apple and fixing herself a cup of coffee as well.

"I said good morning. Are you going to answer me?"

"No, you said morning sweetie. Not good morning."

Her mother set her coffee cup down and looked at her with a frown.

"Riley. I am your mother. There is no reason to talk to me like that."

Riley turned around and glared.

"If you’re my mother, please act like it! The only time you ever care about me is after a fight with dad!"

Her mother looked down at the table.

"You heard that?"

"All of New Jersey heard that!"

She stood up and walked over to Riley. She had no emotion in her eyes and her face was stone cold. Without warning, she backhanded Riley across the face, causing her to fall to the floor.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that young lady! Everything I do is for you! I’m with that man for you! I am not the bad guy!"

She screamed at Riley while standing over her in a threatening manor. Riley grasped at her cheek to dull the sting. She pushed herself up off the floor with a shove and started walking to the door. She turned to her mother and said one last thing before slamming the door shut. "Fuck you."

Riley shoved her hands in her pockets as she walked to school. Her boots crunched the snow and she clutched her jacket close to her chest, trying to keep warm. Her breath was ragged and her body still shook from the fight she had with her mother. Her mind raced as she thought about what had happened. It was the first time her mother had hit her. She knew her mother was bipolar and never took her medicine but she had never once hit her. Although, Riley never stayed long enough to give her the chance. Soon Riley stopped and realized she was almost to school. Her eyes shifted from the street to an ally.

"I can't go like this,"

She mumbled to herself and walked over to the ally, away from school. The ally was dark and colder than the streets. Her breath turned to mist in the air as she walked deeper into the darkness. Her eyes wandered from the trash bags over the beaten doors of the back of buildings. She frowned. Cries of pain suddenly drifted to her ears, like someone was going through something agonising. She could hear that the noise clearly came from one of the upper flats, but how could she help someone so far up? She knew, whoever this was, needed her right now. Maybe it was crazy, but she couldn’t just ignore such a desperate cry for help. It was time to push her own problems aside and do something productive with her life for once.

"I wonder..."

She smiled and got brave. Her hands grasped on of the fire escapes on the side and she pulled herself up. The old metal creaked at the newly gained weight as she climbed higher and higher up. She stopped at the 6 or 7th floor and peered inside through a broken glass window. She saw a figure lying on the ground, curled in a ball rocking back and forth. From what she could see, the figure was a man. He looked as if he had a suit on but she couldn't see much more than that. Part of her told her to turn back, to go to school and that who ever this person was, could hurt her. The other part, the dangerous and adventurous part of her said to open the window and get a closer look. She liked that part better. She quietly opened the window and snow fell from the top, landing on her head with a cold thud. She swung her legs over and into the room, shaking herself off like a wet dog.

She looked around the room and saw that there were lots of paintings. They were of dead trees with people hanging from them. Bats covered the red sky like they were running from something. She moved her feet slowly, trying not to scare the man curled in a ball on the floor. Once she was in front of him, she saw he had long black hair covering his closed eyes. His suit was all black with a loosened red tie around his neck. Her eyes grew wide and her breath hitched in her throat when she realized who it was.

"Oh my god...."

The man in front of her was Gerard Way. Singer of My Chemical Romance. He had his hands wrapped around his chest and tears streamed down his face. His eyes shot open when he realized she was there and began to yell.

"Who are you?!"

His voice was filled with pain and fear. Riley took two steps back, never taking her eyes off him. "Riley Frezuno...I didn't mean to scare you, I’m sorry."

He looked at her with anger in his eyes but said nothing. Riley didn't want to leave but she was scared to stay. After a moment of silence, he spoke

"How did you get here?" Riley swallowed hard and carefully thought about her answer.

"I skipped class and climbed up the fire escape because I heard someone crying. I saw you curled up and curiosity got the better of me....."

He eyed her for a moment, as if looking for a flaw. Riley got brave and spoke again.

"I wouldn't have come in but....you looked hurt and I thought that...."

He narrowed his eyes, clearly not believing her. Jesus, wasn’t he meant to be all grateful she’d found him?

"You just climb into people homes and think that you can barge in if they look hurt?"

His voice was harsh and when Riley looked into his eyes, she realized they were blood shot. His pupils were abnormally large, and his expression was vacant. He was stoned. She had caught him and he was being defensive. Her heart sank at what she was seeing. She had watched MTV and Fuse, she knew he was an addict but it was different seeing it on TV and witnessing it in reality. She decided not to let him know she knew who he was. She tried another approach.

"Did you do these?"

She looked up and motioned to the painting on the wall. He looked up and nodded. She smiled.

"They’re beautiful. So dark and twisted yet romantic."

She looked from the paintings over to him. He was still staring at his own work. Maybe she could talk him away from the drugs and get him into a conversation about art. She spoke again, looking back at the work

"Its like the bodies enjoy being in the trees. Like they belong there."

"They do..."

His voice cracked and she looked at him. It was working.

"People hang themselves to escape reality but they never think about how that makes the trees feel. The trees have to stand there, in front of the world knowing they helped in the death of a life. It’s not fair...."

He tilted his head back, resting it on the wall behind him, looking up. Riley looked at him, not sure what to say.

"I've never thought about it that way before."

He closed his eyes

"No one ever does. They’re so wrapped up in their own life; they don't stop to think about others. All the pain in the world exists because no one wants to stop it. No one can stand up and say they need help and they want a better life because they are afraid to be rejected, made an outcast." Riley sat there and looked at him. Her heart lifted and she knew that everything he sung about, was true. He cared about humanity even after what it put him through. He rolled his head on the wall to the side and looked at her

"What do you think I am?"

She was caught off guard by the question.

"What do you mean?"

He just looked at her.

"Am I crazy?"

Riley looked at him with sympathy.

"No. I think you see what is wrong and put everything you have into fixing it. Those who live in fear call others crazy, just because they think it’s not normal for someone to be brave. Like you." He looked back at the ceiling.

"So, They call me crazy, because I try to help. The thing is.....How much good am I doing?"

He closed his eyes and before Riley could think of a response, his posture slumped and he became still. He had passed out.


This story was edited by ChloesGreenDay :)