Identity [Gerard Way] *Completed*

Prologue

I am 8 years old.

I wake up, the sunlight in my empty room cascading across the walls, making shadows. I blink my young, tired eyes and sit up, a strange isolating feeling in the air. I know it's Tuesday, and I have school- but it feels late. It doesn't feel like it is 7-ish in the morning, and it sure doesn't smell like my mother is cooking breakfast. Not even the slight sounds of the T.V. on in the living room, or the multiple muffled footsteps rushing around the house. Everything seems dead.

And this isn't even the worst part.

The worst part, is when I realize my mother hasn't came into my room, smiling cheerfully like always, pulling up the blinds so the sun would greet me as I wake. I just woke up by myself, and that never happens. And then I swallow with a twinge of worry.

I slowly sit up, rubbing my eyes. I take a very shaky, nervous breath and step down off of my bed. My black, oversized pajama bottoms dragging on the floor and almost tripping me while I exit my bedroom. The sleeves of the dark, long-sleeved shirt I am wearing cover my small, worried hands, which are tightly by my side. My long, light hair is tied back back, swinging back and for as I walk down my eerily quiet hallway. My stomach is alive with butterflies- scared butterflies, that is.

I decide to check my mother and father's room.

I approach the white door, hand outstretched. I take another hesitant breath as I grip my shaking hand to the door knob. I close my eyes tightly and turn the handle, heart pounding furiously. And then the door swings open with a small creaking sound.

My eyes open.

The room is empty.

I let out an unexpected gasp of surprise when I see the state the room is in. The sheets on the bed are not perfectly made. The floors are not shiny and full of clutter, and the drawers of the dresser are not closed neatly. Everything is the opposite. The bed sheets and blankets are astray, the pillows on the floor. The dresser drawers are messily open, not a single one closed, all the clothes from inside... gone. On the floor, there is a blanket sprawled out, from the bed. And, when I look around, I notice all the pictures on the walls and dressers and side tables, are now gone, as well. I try to stop myself from crying when I see the haphazard mess. I start to think that, maybe, we were robbed, but then I notice the pictures gone, and know a robber wouldn't take those.

I can't bear to look at the room. I hold back tears with the best effort any 8 year old can, and desperately run into the living room. It's empty. The kitchen- also empty. I check every other corner of the house, heart heavy. My parents are nowhere to be seen. They're gone. I don't know where they are. I don't know why they've left. I don't know why they ever thought of leaving me alone. How could they forget me? How could they not tell me their plans? They didn't even leave a pathetic note! Nothing. There's no sign of their reason to leave. Whatever the reason, it must have been important. More important than their own daughter.

I sit in the middle of the living room, tears escaping my eyes. I pretty much explode there, the tears letting themselves go. I feel helpless and confused. I hope that it's all a dream, though I'm smart enough to know that it isn't. This is all reality. A terrible, terrible reality. A reality in which I want to leave. What will I do without my parents? What if someone realizes I'm alone? Who could I go to? Who could I go-

That's it- the neighbours!

I wipe away the mess on my face and stand up sadly. There is only a small splinter of hope left in me. Hope that someone can tell me what exactly happened. Someone who can speak in a gentle voice and tell me everything's okay. I rush back into my room and change blindly, then pull on my shoes and head out the door. But what is outside, is not what I expect. There are papers all over the streets, the sounds of sirens and people shouting. Cars rush out of driveways in some sort of panic- no- anger. I don't know what to do. I feel like crying all over again. Nobody is going to help me. I walk over to one of the papers on the ground and pick it up, hoping there's something on it about what's going on. I'm lucky.

It's the front page of a newspaper. The headline is "NEW GOVERNMENT TAKES OVER". I scrunch up my face, my young mind hardly aware of what the "government" is. I then decide to read the words underneath the headline. Considering my god grades in literature at school, I have confidence. "We would like to acknowledge that the rumour of the new government is not actually a rumour, and that every citizen in the country is going to be accustomed to a number of life changing rules." I pause, trying to process the information, and continue, "As of today, everyone must change their way of living. Every person, infant to elder, must become identical to everyone else. You must wear the same range of clothing style, adorn the same hairstyles, and live the same lives, with the same careers. If a single person disobeys these rules, and decides to be different, they shall suffer the consequences of arrest, where worse things are to happen. There is going to be a massive change in this country. This is groundbreaking. No longer will you all live your lives the same as you used to. We hope you can understand this situation, and cooperate. We hope you understand that if you decide against our rules, your life could be at risk."

I breathe, then hold back tears as I read the last sentence.

"This is how we eliminate all of the outcasts."

The splinter of hope fades.