Welcome To The Black Parade

Chapter 1: Welcome

John laid in his hospital bed. Nurse's in whit uniforms surrounded him. His body was in extreme amounts of pain. One of the nurses thought it was a good idea to turn on the t.v to keep him busy. They didn't chose anything good, just some man with his face extremely close to the screen. He was saying something, or maybe it was singing. The nurses told him it was some kind of sports game. John tried to tell them to change it but he couldn't speak. So he tried to point at where they set the remote but instead the nurse grabbed his hand.

"Try and think about something happy or memorable, it will make you feel better," a nurse said. 

Something happy? John thought to himself. Most of his memories felt faded. He couldn't remember but he knew they were still there. All of them but one. Once a week his father would make him play the same song that started with a "G" note until he could play it without making a single mistake. One day when he was waiting for him at his piano, instead of starting to play right as he walked in his father stopped him. John began to think, well, when I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a marching band. He said 'son when you grow up will you be the savior of the broken. The beaten and the dammed.' He said, 'will you defeat them? Your demons, and all the non believers. The plans that they have made."

John stared up at the ceiling, his breathing became more rapid. John continued to remember, what his father said. 'Because one day I'll leave you a phantom to leave you in the summer.'

The beeping sound of the heart monitor became more rapid. John raised up his hand as a cry for help. The nurses stared at him emotionless. 

'To join the black parade.'

All sound went out. Lights were flickering and John was rapidly moving his body in agony. He screamed, but only for a second. The nurses crouched down and the walls around him had fallen with them. As if they were just curtains. All the pain that was once going through his body was gone. Off in the distance he could see something very slowly moving towards him. It looked like some kind of parade. Or maybe. A marching band? John stood up and got off the bed and walked towards the marching band. The place he was in was different from his town. It was completely destroyed, as if multiple bombs had just hit. In front of this Marching band was a giant parade float. On top of it was 4 men. 3 were playing an instrument and one was singing. The man singing looked like the one who was on the T.V. 

This strange corrupted town reminded him of a black and white movie. Somehow however their was still a hint of color. Like the red on the parade float. When the float came closer to him the people who were marching behind it began to surround him. Most of these people had some kind of mask on. If they had no mask then it was very dark circles around their eyes. When the float was right in front of them the one who was singing had stopped. His white hair stood out from his black uniform and he moved his finger directing him to come up on the float with him. John did so and moved up. The white haired man pulled out a chair that wasn't there before and made him sit down. The man started singing again for about another minuet. Then he walked behind them and the other 3 men stopped playing. The marching band behind them started to play the drums. A metal was placed around his neck. The white haired man leaned his head over john shoulder and said "death will always return, and cannot be avoided." Then he pushed the chair forward and John landed face first on the dirty ground that was being sprinkled with ash from the sky. He struggled to get up then a hand was held out to him. A woman with a gas mask on who had a steampunk themed dress on and light brown puffy curly hair. She brushed off the dirt on his hospital gown. Something about her was familiar to him. She snapped her fingers and directed him to turn around. The  4 men on the float looked down at him. The white haired one then spoke, "John Tierney, welcome to the black parade." The sound of the drums faded away as the 4 men walked down from the float. 

"Don't be afraid John," he said. John didn't say anything. He had mixed feelings, he didn't know if he should feel scared. Or if he felt confused, because everything made sense in some weird way.

"You know you're allowed to speak right?" the one with the short black fringe said. John hadn't spoke in a while. He muttered "who are you."

"Well, let me start with the 3 men behind me," the white haired one said, he directed John to the one with puffy dark brown curls. "This is Ray, he died in 1899 from murder, terrible death. But it was almost quick and painless." 

The next one he directed to was the one with the short fringe from before "this is Frank, he's a good man. He would've been sent to heaven, but he was drawn to suicide, it was a real shame." 

Next was a man with dark brown and somewhat flat hair. "This is my little brother Mikey, he was always our parents favorite. But do you see me jealous. He died years later after me from a gun shot in world war 2, thus explaining why his medal represents the one soldiers get ," he jokenly saluted Mikey and turned around.

"My name is Gerard way, I died from drug overdose after being kicked out of my house when I was 17. I guess i'm like the composer of this little marching band, the one who leads. When it's really them who leads me, I hope you can find your place hear." He explained to john. John looked behind him at the crowd of people that stood there. The woman from before was gone. Gerard tapped on his back and told him "come with us John, we'll show you your new home." Then they started to lead him into the town as the crowd of people separated and the  marching band started packing their instruments.