Escaping the black parade

Laying low.

'You should get some sleep we cant move until the morning, you can take my bed' He said nodding towards the pillow.

'Technically I am asleep aren't I? In my world anyway....'

'I suppose so, I don't know how any of this works either. I can take the couch if you want to try?' He said standing up.

'Don't go, please. I'm scared to sleep I don't know where I'll be or if I'll end up in the city again.' She pleaded with him.

The thought of sleep was really messing with her, she couldn't figure out the logistics if she was technically asleep in her world and she didn't want to wake up back home and just leave them here.

'Ok, how about I lie here and if you sleep I can keep watch?'

'Ok but I won't sleep. Why don't you tell me everything about this plan' she said trying again to get some more information from him.

'I have a better idea, why dont I tell you the legend of this afterlife?'

'You want to tell me a bedtime story? OK go ahead but I won't be sleeping OK?' She laughed.

Gerard sat back against the pillow and beckoned her to do the same, being only a single bed though she had to move in closer to him. He lifted his arm and placed it around her shoulders giving her no choice but to rest against him. She noticed the other three guys all stop and stare at this before going back to a game of cards they were playing.

'Comfy? OK so the legend is there will always be one, the saviour of the broken the beaten and the damned. They lead the lost souls in limbo to join the parade. Its deeper than that though, more than just collecting people, more about giving them a sense of belonging, being part of something. These are people who have been very lost in life, treated terribly or those who are unfulfilled. We welcome them, show them kindness and protect them until they are ready to move on to their next afterlife. Before us the souls would wander forever in limbo, forever lost. We save them and help them get to their proper place.'

'And that's you?'

'Thats me, but I brought a few friends on board with me. We use music to help draw the souls towards us, help them find their way to us. There was ones before me who had their own methods and usually worked alone. I couldnt do that' He smiled and glanced over at his brother and friends.

'So it's just you four until your times over?' She asked curious.

'Pretty much, everyone else just passes through eventually destined for other places.'

'How did you know you were chosen?' She couldn't get her head around how wild this all sounded.

'I dreamed of the parade since I was a child, it was a constant throughout my life. I learned all about it through the dreams and when I died and came here it all made sense to me. Then one by one they turned up too.' He said nodding towards the others.

'So hang on, you had dreams of the parade? Were they like this, I mean like how I am now?'

'No, I did consider you were maybe like me but in my dreams I was always an observer never a a participant.'

'Oh' she said simply shocked at her own disappointment. I mean it's not like she would have ever been made for something like this anyway what was she even thinking.

'What's wrong?' He asked and she realised her face must have betrayed her and shown her thoughts again.

'Nothing, so why the grand entrance for the souls why do they need to get through that place, the one you showed me?'

'Wasn't always that way, the higher beings, the ones who run all the afterlife, decided souls were moving through too quickly and not learning enough. So they added it as a test.' His words were so matter of fact yet the whole thing was so alien to her.