Identity [Gerard Way] *Completed*

Chapter Thirty Two

I expected this.

I expected this huge uproar.

I'm not the only one to head out of the "ceremony" room. I'm not the only one in a massive hurry. As I find my way out of the room, I notice that there are dozens- an overwhelming amount- of outcasts in the halls. It's even crazier to think that there are more still locked up, soon to be amongst the rest. Some of them are regrouping, hugging each other, whatever. But they've got the same mindset as I do. They're smart, I can tell. They're planning on where to go.

Planning. A very common thing between all of us.

I think I'm the one whose the most desperate of them all. But who am I to know? Maybe there's another girl like me, who's looking for someone, too. Maybe their person isn't like Gerard. Maybe they are. There are too many things that I don't know.

Then there's a whole other group of them that are the complete opposite. They're running off into the halls, their desperation blinding their common sense. And then the ones who were regrouping and planning begin to follow, giving familiar submissive looks at each other, and they jog after them. I only stand and watch the hundreds of them disappearing, the sounds of their shoes against the ground becoming less and less audible. It's like watching a stampede of horses run away from you. Except, you're apart of the herd. And they're leaving you behind. I swallow.

I can't follow them.

They're all probably going to find the exit. Escape. Live the rest of what they never got to finish. Something like that.

But I don't get the same advantage. I mean, I could. I could leave here with them. But I wouldn't bring myself to do that, anyway. I don't even know why the thought of leaving crossed my mind. I shake my head.

As I walk a little farther, tons of hallways slide into view. They're all lined with cells. It looks endless. I sigh. I don't know how I'll do this. There's got to be thousands of cells in this place! I'll probably die of old age before I can cover every cell.

But, as I'm walking through the first hallway of cells, I notice something- all the doors are open. Really. Every single cell door is opened. I peer into one of the cells, into the dimness of it. It's what I had expected. No one's in there. And it's the same for the rest of them, too. Every door. Frank really was in a rush. He had someone help him open all the cells, obviously. But, wow, they really got busy.

It's still the same in every hallway of cells. All the doors unlocked. All of them empty. It's great news, and I'm glad that everyone's practically free. I can only imagine how different the streets are going to be with so many of us now.

I'm also getting sadder, though.

Because Gerard isn't in any of these unlocked cells. He isn't behind any of the corners, not running down the same hall, not talking to anyone, not giving them a submissive look of relief and escaping. No. I don't know where he is. The positive side of me (which I barely even recognize) is telling me that he's already made an escape- but the normal side of me, the one that always tells me that bad things are going to happen, the one that makes me worry about mostly nothing all the time- is telling me that he's still trapped. Or even worse, dead. But, yeah, I've already told myself that a thousand times. That he's dead. So much, that I don't even know how to respond to it. I just push it aside. He could be dead. Or he could be alive. Both possibilities are strong ones, and I just have to ignore my stupid emotions.