Calibrations

New Jersey 1992

It was a perfectly normal day in Belleville: the clocks were ticking, the streets were bustling, the Smashing Pumpkins were on the radio, and Gerard Way was in the basement. He'd been there ever since he came home from school three hours ago, and now, he had a pencil and a sketchbook in his hands and a million ideas bouncing around in his head, too many for him to ever put on paper. He wrote down what he could, and he tried to sketch the vivid pictures in his head. Sometimes, his characters felt like they could burst through the pages and come to life at any moment.

Then again, Gerard wasn't sure that the comic he was working on would ever go anywhere. No matter how many hours he spent working at the local comic book shop, or how many overly long fan letters he sent to his favorite writers, or how many times his little brother asked for just one peek of what he was working on, Gerard was still fifteen. It wasn't like anyone was ever going to publish his work.

Someday, Gerard would be a hero, but today, he was just a boy.

Gerard's life was simple. During the week, he went to Belleville High School, a hellish place for a kid who couldn't swim, couldn't dance, and didn't know karate. Most of the time, he dragged himself from class to class. He sat in the back of the room, hardly learning anything as he tried his best not to fall asleep during lectures. As for his fellow students, he had a few friends, a few more enemies, and a lot of people that he didn't know and didn't want to know. He never went to football games or pep rallies, and he longed for the day when he could finally be free of cafeteria food and math homework.

After school, he always came straight home and retreated into the basement. Most days, he would work on his comic. Sometimes, he would dye his hair or experiment with his mother's makeup. He'd turn his music up loud, and he would stay there for hours on end. Sometimes, he forgot to eat, even after his mother had told him dozens of times that dinner was ready. Other times, he forgot to sleep, and he'd struggle to keep his eyes open the next day at school. He never regretted it though. He was proud of the progress that he had made on his comic, and he knew that it was all because of the time that he had spent in the basement, perfecting his art.

He spent his weekends in the comic book shop. He'd practically grown up there, so it wasn't much of a surprise when the owner hired him to run the cashier and make sure that all of the comics were in their right places. When Mikey wasn't busy hanging out with his friends, Gerard would drag him along, and he'd share some of his old favorites and new finds with his younger brother. Sometimes, they played Dungeons and Dragons together. Gerard always insisted on being the Dungeon Master, much to Mikey's chagrin.

Gerard's life wasn't perfect, but he got by. He rarely thought about what the future could hold, and when he did, he never thought beyond his high school graduation. For Gerard, the world consisted of school, the basement, and the comic book shop, and for now, that was enough.

That was how Gerard found himself in the basement, furiously writing a comic book, on what would turn out to be one of the strangest days of his life so far. He drew panel after panel, trying his best to ignore what was happening upstairs. Mikey had invited his friend Geoff over, and the two of them were playing video games, screaming at the top of their lungs every time they made it to the next level. Gerard tried his best to focus on his work, but it was impossible when Mikey and Geoff were making so much noise, so he decided to give them a taste of their own medicine.

Gerard searched through his CD collection, eventually selecting Gish, one of his favorite albums. He stuck the album in the CD player, and he turned the volume up as loud as it would go. Then, he went back to work. As Billy Corgan's voice drowned out all of the noise coming from upstairs, Gerard wrote page after page. His mind was racing, his hands were cramping, and his ears hurt, but it was worth it.