HALCYON DAZE
I still remember the first moment I saw him. The boy who never had cooties because he wasn't ashamed to be friends with a girl. He became my best friend the day I met him. That day when I was 5 years old, when I still let my mom braid my hair. That's how we met. The day I moved in next door, he came over my fence with a daisy and told me that he liked my braids. I told him that I liked his glasses. That was the day that Mikey Way and I became inseparable.
From that day, nothing came between us. We even made a pact at the end of 8th grade that we'd always be best friends. We carved it into the tree that stood between our houses. It read "Sally Halix + Mikey Way = friends till the end." And now here we are, almost seniors in high school, and still as tight as ever. Our nightly phone calls still take up at least 2 hours, even though we usually spend all day together. Even our windows face each other.
He knows everything about me, and I know everything about him. I don't think any other friendship I have is anything like ours. You'd think he was my brother. But it's funny how much I don't know about his actual brother, Gerard. I mean, obviously I know him, but not to the extent that I know Mikey. Hell, I'm at Mikey's house more than Gerard is. But many things have changed since the day Mikey and I met. My father died when I was 11, and that was probably the worst thing that ever happened to me, but just having Mikey there helped me more than anyone could understand. I don't even think Gerard knows that my dad died. The 3 years difference between Mikey and Gerard really has kept me from knowing exactly who Gerard Way really is. But after my father's funeral, not a day went by where Mikey and I didn't talk.
That's why when my mother told me we were going to Europe for the summer, I couldn't be happy about it because I knew it meant leaving Mikey behind. The days leading up to when I left were some of the hardest ones I had since my dad died. I don't know how many times I told Mikey that I would write every day. The morning I left, he woke up 2 hours early so that he wouldn't miss me leaving. And that was exactly 2 months and 4 days ago. Today was the day I was finally going home. And I knew Mikey would be there, waiting to welcome me home.
*
"Wake up! Gerard! Today's the day!!"
"Wha? Get the fuck off me, Mikey." Gerard shoved his brother off of his bed, knocking Mikey to the floor.
"Oof! Come on! Sally's coming home today!" Mikey jumped back onto Gerard's bed.
"Woo-fucking-hoo," Gerard looked at the clock next to him, it read 4 AM. "Dammit, Mikey. Go back to sleep. She's not home for another 15 hours."
"Sorry. I can't sleep." Mikey went to the door.
"Hey Mikey?"
"Yeah?" He turned around.
"Close the door when you leave," Gerard said as he turned over. Mikey narrowed his eyes and threw a nearby shoe at Gerard before bolting out of the door. "Dammit." Gerard sat up after getting hit, but soon fell back onto his bed and went back to sleep. Mikey ran back into his room and closed the door after making sure Gerard didn't follow him. He went over to his desk and opened the drawer. He took out a stack of letters and postcards that Sally had sent him. He looked through them and smiled. He had been counting down the days until she was coming home. He loved her like a sister, and he couldn't wait to see her after so long. He put the letters back into his desk and turned on his stereo, allowing The Ramones to flow through his speakers as he got back into bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.
*
Unfortunately, I did not have the luxury of a nice comfy bed. I had to settle for an airplane seat. Nowhere near as accommodating. But I didn't care, I just wanted to go home. Not that I didn't love being in Europe with my mom, who wouldn't? But, I missed Mikey so much.
In fact, my mom had already given me permission to spend the next week with him while she went back to work. Okay, so our houses are right next to each other, whatever. The important thing was that the second I got home, I was going to see Mikey! Words can not even begin to explain how ready I was for this.
But first, I had to sit through an extremely long flight in order to get back to see him. The last few days I was in Europe went by so quickly that I didn't have a chance to write another letter. I just hope he didn't think that I had forgotten about him. How could I? He is my best friend, after all.
"Are we there yet?" I asked my mom for probably about the millionth time. I think she was getting as tired of hearing it almost as much as I was of saying it.
"Not yet. Just go to sleep, we'll be back in Jersey before you know it." She patted me on my head and smiled. I sighed and looked out of the window. At least we were finally on our last plane. I don't think I could take much more of this. I closed my eyes and rested my head on the window.
"Are we there yet?" I asked again without opening my eyes. My mom looked at me and I grinned.
"No matter how old you look, you're still that little 5-year-old girl, aren't you?" She laughed and I shrugged.
"It's just my nature." I smiled and tried to go to sleep, knowing that in a few hours I would be home. The flight went rather quickly after I fell asleep. I didn't dream very much, mostly drifting in and out of sleep. But I do remember one very large dream that I had. It was so vivid, I don't think I'll ever forget it...
I was walking slowly down a hallway. It wasn't dark, but it wasn't incredibly bright either. There weren't very many things on the walls, except for one big red line on either side of me. It continued all the was down the hallway, even though I couldn't see the end. Suddenly, I felt like I was being pulled forward as a huge gust of wind blew towards me. It was a very awkward feeling, being pulled forward and pushed back at the same time. The wind became stronger, blowing my fair into my face, covering my eyes. Then I was jerked forward by my wrists, almost as if someone was pulling me. Whoever it was had a lot of strength. So much that I started running. Once I started running, the wind slowly died down. I was able to push the hair out of my eyes. When I did, I was able to see the person who was pulling me. It was Mikey. Or, at least it looked like him from behind. When I tried to say his name, he stopped and slowly turned around. Then I realized it wasn't Mikey. But I couldn't figure out who it was. His face looked so familiar, the black hair, the lip ring and those green eyes. But I just couldn't put my finger on it. I really didn't have much time because as soon as he turned around to face me, he smiled. Then the dream faded away and I woke up on the plane...
After realizing that it had been a dream, I quickly opened my notebook and wrote it all down. This was definitely something that I had to share with Mikey. After finishing writing down everything about my dream, I turned to look at my mom. She was fast asleep. I smiled and reached into my bag, taking out my CD player. I popped in The Ramones and put on my headphones. For the rest of the flight, I stared out of the window, thinking about my dream.
*
"What time is it?" Mikey asked, looking at Gerard.
"Same as when you asked 10 seconds ago," he answered, not looking up from his sketches.
"Damn. It felt like longer." Mikey turned his back and slumped onto the couch, staring out of the window.
"Not long enough," Gerard said under his breath.
"What the hell is he so anxious for?" asked the guy sitting across the table from Gerard, eating a sandwich.
"Uh, someone comes home today." Gerard looked up from his sketch. "You know her, Ray. Um, the girl next door...what's her name..."
"Sally?" Ray asked as he swallowed.
"That's the one." Gerard returned to his sketches. "He's been like this all day." Ray turned to Mikey and shrugged.
"Where was she again?"
"Europe," Mikey answered, not looking at Ray.
"Right. When does she get back?" Mikey looked at the clock behind him.
"In about 4 hours." He sighed and put a pillow over his head.
"Right." Ray turned back to Gerard, who had given up on drawing for now. "Wasn't Frank supposed to be here like an hour ago?"
"Yeah, probably." Gerard looked at the clock, it read 3:57.
"Dammit. That fucker is always late." Ray took another bite of his sandwich. Just then, the front door slammed shut and in walked Frank. Upon hearing the door, Mikey jumped up. But after seeing that it was only Frank, he fell back onto the couch.
"Thanks for the welcome, Mikey," Frank said as he walked by, smacking Mikey in the head.
"Lay off him. He's impatient," Ray said as Frank sat down next to him.
"Impatient for what?" Frank asked, scratching his head.
"His best friend is coming home today," answered Gerard, crossing his arms.
"Who, Cindy?"
"Sally!" Mikey shouted from the couch.
"Anyway." Gerard looked at Frank. "Where the hell have you been?
"Hey, I would've been here on time if my mom hadn't freaked out...again."
"What was it this time?" Ray asked as he finished his sandwich.
"Eh, it was nothing. Just complaining about my piercings again." Frank shrugged. "That, and she wouldn't let me take the car."
"Sucks for you." Gerard rolled his eyes.
"Why didn't you call? I could've picked you up," said Ray, looking at Frank like he was an idiot.
"Well, I kind of left halfway through the rant, and I didn't exactly want to go back in to use the phone. So I thought, fuck it, I'll just walk."
"Alright, whatever." Ray sat back in his chair.
"So what are we gonna do?" Gerard asked the both of them. Ray shrugged.
"I don't care," he said.
"Neither do I. Can I stay here tonight? I don't feel like going home anytime soon," Frank added.
"Yeah, sure," Gerard said.
"Cool," answered Frank. Mikey sat upright on the couch and rubbed his eyes.
"What are you guys doing?" he asked.
"Nothing yet," Ray answered. "Any ideas?" Mikey and Gerard grinned.
"Horror-fest?" Gerard asked. The 4 of them nodded and ran into the living room, where they spent the next 3 hours.
I'm calling all my friends, the boys are going out tonight.
Title credit: My Chemical Romance Skylines and Turnstiles
rate/message/c-box
