The Photo Album #1 - Before It Happened (My Chemical Romance)

The Pub

Mikey and I arrived at the pub. There were a few people there and half of the customers were already drunk. “Hey, can we have the usual?” I asked the man at the counter. Mikey and I were regular customers in this place. We always needed to clear our minds, after all. We knew just about every person who worked there. But the man I just talked to looked at me, confused.

            “Sorry,” He muttered. “I’m new here so I don’t know much…”

            Oh, he was new. Well, that explains the weird looks he was shooting at me. He was staring at me like I’m some kind of monster right now. It’s probably ‘cause I look too young or something. “Uh, okay,” I nodded. “Anyways, we just want a glass of beer.” The man nodded, disappeared for a few seconds and came back with our drinks. I gave him the money and we walked to an empty table. I smiled at Mikey and raised the glass. He did so too. “A toast to…” I started, and then paused. “Well, I don’t know what we’re toasting to. Um, let me think.”

            “A toast to a better life,” Mikey suggested. That sounded good. Our glasses collided with a loud clang and within seconds, they were empty. I stared at my little brother. He stared back. “Let’s get a second round.” He said with a cheeky smile. I just laughed and ran to the counter again, getting weird looks from the new guy. Mikey and I drank about four glasses dry. Oh boy, you should’ve seen us! We were like morning vampires sucking alcoholic blood. After the fourth glass, I felt pretty drunk. But heck, I felt amazing! I felt I could just fly… And I flew all the way to the counter for the fifth round.

            “Whoa buddy,” The guy said. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough? You already seem real drunk, man.”

            I scoffed. “You haven’t seen me really drunk yet, dude. Now come on, can I get the fifth round, please?” I asked politely, fluttering eyelashes at him. The man just laughed.

            “I don’t know, man.”

            “Aw, come on! Dude, you can’t keep me and my brother waiting forever.” I groaned. I really needed some more of that. I already knew half my problems were gone, burnt to ashes by alcohol. “What’s your name?” I asked him.

            “Matt Pelissier,” He answered and took off an imaginary hat as a greeting.

            “Okay, Matt,” I smiled. “I’m Gerard Way, and I’m gonna buy you a beer. Now shoo! Go get them.”

            “Gerard, man, I could get a free beer if I wanted to. You go home before you get too drunk and die or some shit.”

            “I want to die.” I said in a harsh tone that probably scared him a little. I still had the sober side of me acting like a suicidal bitch. Another glass would probably kill it, I guess. I just stared at Matt. Oh yeah, he was scared. Heck, I better do something before I lose a friend I just made. Wait…friend? What am I thinking? There’s no soul on Earth who wants to be friends with me. It’s like I’ve always thought – Mikey’s the only person I’ve got. “Come on, Matt, please? Just another glass and we’ll be out of here, I swear.” Matt just sighed and gave in. He returned with three glasses – two of them were for Mikey and I, the other was for him. He raised his glass and I did so too. I went back to Mikey. “Mikes, I got you another glass!” I told him. He looked pretty bad. He was hiccupping like crazy but he had a smug, drunken smile on his face. “Last round,” I warned him. “We’re out of here after this.”

            “Yeah, sure thing, bro,” Mikey smiled and hiccupped. We drained our glass dry and stood up. Oh fuck, I was dizzy and Mikey placed his arm on my shoulder. “Gee,” He groaned and we both stumbled over to the exit. We both laughed for some random reason and I started hiccupping myself. I had better not crash down on the side of the road. Shit, I wanted to fly home instead. Thankfully, we managed to walk back – or rather, stumble back – home. We collapsed on the living room floor. Unfortunately, Mikey fell asleep immediately. I was still half-awake. I couldn’t let our parents know we’d been ditching school and going out drinking.