Chapter Text
October 31, 2000,
Another year of my existence. Another winter, another spring, another summer, another fall. The leaves fall. Why do the leaves fall? The vibrant green leaves turn yellow, then orange, then the tree rejects its creation. Why do people celebrate the falling of the leaves? A once powerful vibrant tree gets stripped to sticks; its appendages pile on the dirt to become children’s playthings. Humans make carnival of the trees’ suffering. They crush its life force beneath their feet, only to satisfy their fleeting desire to hear it's bones snap.
What is this day, but a mark of the tree’s decline? Some say it is an opening between worlds, but why should such worlds open? Can the dead have no peace? Must humanity drag suffering back into the worlds of those who have escaped it?
-No one
“Mikey, it's been days since you’ve left your room. Please, could you come with me to visit Mrs. Toro?”
Mikey sat on the other side of the door, staring into the void that was his bedroom floor.
“Please? You don’t have to - its just, she worked really hard making a nice dinner and everything, and -”
“I’ll go.”
Mikey opened the door to speak and promptly sat back down on his bed.
“Wait, really?”
“Yeah”
“I know things have been really hard for you, Mikey, but I’m proud of you for coming… Take your time showering and everything. I’ll wait downstairs.”
Gerard tried to look at Mikey’s face around the crap that littered his room.
Mikey always said it was an invasion of privacy when Gerard looked at what he had in his room. Gerard never understood -- it was just trash. University work, scribbles, old food, old books. It wasn’t anything Gerard was unfamiliar with; his bedroom was much of the same when he was in art school...
Mrs. Toro welcomed the Way brothers into her home. She was a woman so full of love she couldn’t stand the thought of not having someone to receive her affection. Her husband loved her, and she loved him, but she needed the presence of a child, someone to take care of, to guide. Every holiday, every birthday, every day off from work she made it a point to make a meal for the boys. As children Mikey and Ray would play in the foliage. They spent the short autumn afternoons climbing trees, sword fighting with sticks, playing as pirates discovering the vast, unknown sea. When the sky began to fill with smoke, and the sun fell beneath the earth, they ran to Mrs. Toro. They were pirates fueled by spaghetti and meatballs.
Today, it was not so romantic. Playful laughs became blood curdling screams. Peter Pan’s lost boys grew into lost men, and eventually a lost body.
They never found his body.
That night the sun fell beneath the earth, and never traveled back around.
Mikey sat in the passenger seat of the car, the top of his head pressed against the window. He watched the raindrops roll.
“That was nice, wasn’t it?” Gerard asked, glancing over.
“Yeah, it was. Kind of like old times” Mikey responded.
Gerard flashed a grin as he looked at the road ahead.
“Ya know, the night is still young. And it's Halloween, afterall. We used to always have such an awesome time on Halloween. Helping mom sew the costumes. Riding our bikes to the big houses with all the name brand candy. The first time I took you on the subway was Halloween, remember? We went to that girl’s haunted house in the city.”
Mikey finally lifted his head and looked at his brother.
“What are you suggesting?”
“Well, there’s this basement show tonight, and the guys haven’t seen you in a while. They’re really hoping you’ll come. No-no pressure or anything. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I just thought it might be fun -- like old times.”
Mikey thought of the "old times". Usually any memory of the past just results in dread. I mean, how could things go so wrong? But today Mikey felt the best he has in months. And besides, it could be good to see the guys. He knows Ray would want him to go. He always got Mikey out of the house, even when he was at his lowest. Mrs. Toro has that same effect on him, seeing her was a kind reminder of all the love there is in the world, despite the shit. Mikey sat up and turned to Gerard.
“...why not?”
Gerard froze for a moment before quickly turning his head in delight.
“No way! TWO appearances of Mikey Way in a single evening?” Gerard teased holding up his fingers.
“Ya know, I do go out sometimes…” Mikey swatted Gerard’s hand.