Squad Goals: Part 1

Fall Out Girl Backstory

It was a beautiful afternoon spent indoors during the summer of 2005. I was perched on my small bed with my boney back pressed up against the wall listening to the latest Fall Out Boy album patiently counting down the days until I was to go to their concert. I was scrolling aimlessly through my MySpace filled with much more awkward teenagers like me. I was so engrossed in my pointless scrolling and wonderful music that I barely even bothered to notice my door slam into my poster filled, dark blue walls.

I pulled my headphones half off, hoping that I wouldn't miss any background vocals. "Yeah?" I asked, not bothering to look up from my laptop screen that was now on LiveJournal searching for some frerard fic an internet friend recommended to me.

Heavy footsteps thundered closer and I finally glanced up to see a dark cloaked man approach me, his black hat shadowing his face. I instantly filled with fear that buzzed like bees through my shaking, pale body. My hands began to sweat pools and I hesitantly and very slowly paused the song I was on and shoved the MP3 player into the pocket of my black skinny jeans. Through eyeliner rimmed eyes I frantically searched my room from where I was for anything that could possibly help me in this situation only to come up with a blank result.

The last thing I remember hearing was ugly chuckling as gravity left me and strong hands threw me out through my shattering glass window.

---

What the hell? Even with closed eyes I could feel bright lights burning into me. I squeezed my eyes and found that I couldn't move any part of my body as I tried to shuffle into a comfortable position. Is this what death was? Death wasn't that pleasant, actually. I know that if I was dead though, that I was satisfied. No life to deal with and no assholes to deal with anymore. The unfortunate thing about being dead though, is that I'll never see Fall Out Boy in concert again. No more My Chemical Romance, no more Green Day, no more Blink 182 or Panic! At the Disco or Evanescence. I won't be able to be the killer awesome lead vocalist for the punk band me and a few buddies were going to do.

If the dead could cry, I'd be doing that right now. I'm not so sure if it'd be of happiness or sadness, though. You see, I wasn't suicidal, but I wasn't the biggest fan of being alive either. I mean like, really? What did I even have to live for? Nothing. I wasn't going anywhere in life and I only had about three friends and two family members who knew I existed so.

My eyes were ripped open and I took a look at my surroundings. It was all the bland whiteness that forced itself blindingly into my vision that made my eyes hurt instantly. I realize now, taking a look at the silent monitor beside me and test tubes all around that I was in a science lab of some sort. A simple wooden desk was the only colour to this small room with a middle aged man sat in the black office chair facing me. He had scruffy brown hair and a respectable amount of stubble around his chin and thin lips. His hair was sort of toned and he had thick eyebrows creased in concentration above deep green eyes with longer lashes protruding. His nose was a bit larger than commonly known, clearly thickly boned underneath the flesh.

"How do you feel?" The man had a deep and rusty voice.

My mouth felt dry and unused. I blinked at him, unsure what to say. I had no idea why I was in a science lab or what tests he had done to me. I thought I was dead. This isn't what normal people do after they die, is it?

"I resurrected you on the condition that you will not tell anyone anything and you will not leave this lab until you have completed all tests. You, dearest Subject Two, are a prototype for a new science experiment I'm working on." The man explained, but it all went through my head. Where am I and how did he find me? What is going to happen to me?

The scientist man got to his feet and slowly strode over to me and unlatched many straps from my body and removed the IV and whatever other things that were injected into me. I noted one thing though, and that was that the heart monitor that I was hooked up to previously was silent despite being plugged in and on. I slowly raised my jelly-like arm painfully up to my chest to feel for a beat but found nothing.

"You may notice now, that you aren't dead nor are you alive, Subject Two. And that your movements may be delayed or slow thanks to the lack of a pumping heart and zero need for oxygen. That's because your brain has been replaced with a computer system that carries thoughts and still holds all of your key information. Your brain has been completely downloaded into the system and your skeleton has also been replaced with an expandable wiring system that replaced your nerves and muscles. You may find your flesh somewhat rubbery too because I added an expandable matter to your skin so it could adapt to the music that for some reason won't stop emitting from your body. Also, I've been watching you long enough to know that you're passionate about your music so I've synced your MP3 player to your new brain."

---

Three and a half long years of this training and testing and I was already sick of it. I was left isolated and alone and was barely let out to do anything. Free time wasn't given and the only thing I could do was sit around and watch the news to keep me updated on what was going on in the outside world. I've been thinking a lot and plotting a way to escape through the air vents which were actually sort of large.

Maybe I could do it now?

I will do it now. The security camera was dead in this room so I was safe to ram my uncomfortable wooden chair and my bed against the white door before making my way over to the vent at the floor. I maybe spent fifteen minutes tops working at the screws before I could crawl into the small space. It was a time like this where I could feel my claustrophobia itching at me. I tried pushing down the feeling and pressed onwards until I found a few turns before looking up to see grass. I rolled slowly to my back and kicked up at the vent until it popped off and I could crawl through to the open world.

Fresh air hit me and although I didn't have lungs anymore nor a need for oxygen I took in a sharp breath of the air I could not taste. The soft grass felt beautiful under my feet and I smiled for once, quickly taking in my surroundings. I was still on the run, though, so I had no time to bask under the sunlight that heated my forever-cold body. All I could do was run until there was nowhere left for me to go and it was right now I was thankful of being lanky and being able to expand the length of my legs to make larger steps. I was free at last.

Or so I thought.