Painting the Roses Black

Lord Destruction

Helena found out that James's name in this dark realm was 'Anorexia' . That was fitting , considering...well, he was anorexic. They continued on the float with the guys. It was a band. One guy was at a drumset. one guy played the bass. The white haired boy was singing, and there was two guitarists. There was one guy that got Helena's attention. He was short, and had striped sleeves. He was playing the guitar like a madman. He occasionally flashed her a smile. Helena could feel herself slipping. This parade was fun, despite it being crazy and dark and scary. She sang along with the singer. People liked her here too. She actually liked the dark place a bit more than the colorful place. She could remember the name of the other realm. Wild land maybe?

The parade finally ended and the all climbed off the float. James went and was talking to a girl with black hair and a skirt. The boy with striped sleeves came up to Helena. His guitar was strapped to his back.

"Hi, I'm Destruction," he said. She felt warm.

"Hello. I'm Insomnia," she said. The people here had different names than they normally would. Destruction smiled at her. They were friends now. Just like that. Everything was so simple!

"Do you like it here?" He asked.

"Yes, very much," she replied.

"Do you want to come to the dead city with me?" He implored. He had big puppy eyes. She giggled.

"Okay," she said. He grabbed her hand and lead her to the dead city.

When the arrived, there was a few dark dressed people about. They bowed to Helena and Destruction.

"Why are they bowing?" She asked. He looked back at her and grinned.

"We're the leaders of the black parade!" He said. She nodded. They kept walking. There wasn't much to talk about, considering they both were leaders of the black parade and knew little else. They went into and abandoned building and sat down.

"What's in your bag?" Destruction asked. She shrugged and put it on her lap. She opened it and saw her books, her picture of James, her iPod, her jeans and sweatshirt. He pulled the picture of James out.

"This is really good. Is it your boyfriend?" He asked. She studied it.

"No, I don't have one of those. That's Anorexia," she said. Destruction looked at it.

"It looks different than him. How do you not have a boyfriend? Do you have a girlfrend?" He asked.

"Maybe it's just a bad drawing. And no, I don't have a girlfriend. I don't have a boyfriend because nobody likes me," she said. Destruction looked at her with. Shocked expression.

"But I like you!" He said. She smiled.

"A lot of other people don't," she said. He shook his head.

"If that's the only reason you don't have a boyfriend, will you be my girlfriend? He asked. She nodded.

"Okay, I'd like that," she said. he smiled and kissed her. He took her hand and lead her out of the city.

"Do you want to see something cool?" He asked. She nodded. He lead her to the edge of the dark realm, to the edge of the colorful land.

"It's very pretty," she said. He nodded.

"I wonder what it's like over there," Destruction said. She looked at him.

"Let's go over there," she said. He looked a little scared, but he nodded. They walked to the edge of the color land and jumped in.

"What is this place?" Destruction asked. Everything came rushing back to Helena.

"Oh my gosh, Destruction, we can't go back there," she said. He looked at her.

"My name is Frank, " he said. She nodded. So the names switched back when you re-entered wonderland...

"Alice! Are you okay?!" A tree asked her. She nodded.

"Yes, I think so," she said. Frank's eyes were wide.

"Wonderland!" Frank exclaimed. Helena nodded.

"Cal, what happened while I was gone?" She asked.

"Well. When you entered the dark realm, It got a little bit bigger, but it got smaller when both of you came out," Cal said. She nodded.

"Okay, I could try to go back in there and rescue people one by one, but once you get to the heart of the parade, you forget everything. So that's risky," she said. Cal was thinking. Suddenly, her alarm on her iPod went off. It was blaring 'Alice' by Avril Lavigne. Helena flinched, but stared in wonder as the darkness receded from her music. She grinned at Frank.

"I can play that," he said. He pulled his guitar off his back. She nodded.

"I can sing it," she said. She knew her iPod wasn't at full charge, and even if it was, she'd never be able to clear away the entire dark realm with it. That's why having an instrument was so important. She started the song over. Frank played along and got all the chords down. She began to sing and they walked into the dark land. Slowly clearing the blackened skies to their natural blue color.