40. Gabe dies in an explosion with his song playing in the background.
As it turned out, Sunday was not Gabe Saporta's last day on Earth. He called me the next morning, just to prove that he was still alive, but neither of us really knew what to say. Gabe's life could end at any moment. He could drop dead in the middle of the conversation, or he could live for another eighty years before meeting his fiery doom. Perhaps that was always true, but since all of the visions had run out, we were all more aware of Gabe's impending death than usual.
In the last few days before I was supposed to leave, I spent most of my time packing for college and working at Fall Out Bros. Pizza. Whenever I had free time, I spent it with Gabe. We went to visit Brendon on Monday, and I even had dinner at Vegan Square with Gabe and Patrick.
Gabe, of course, flirted with my boyfriend incessantly. "Anything you say can and will be held against you, so only say my name," he said. "It will be held against you."
Patrick just rolled his eyes. He may not have wanted to get involved in the visions, but even he wanted to be nice to Gabe in what might have been his final moments.
All of a sudden, Gabe's song started playing in the restaurant. Gabe and I suddenly began to panic, while Patrick just seemed confused. "We're all going to die!" I shouted, but Patrick still didn't get it.
However, the song just played, and nothing happened. There was no explosion, the apocalypse didn't come, and Gabe didn't die, but there was always a chance that this might happen again.
Two days before Gabe was supposed to leave for Rutgers, and one day before I was supposed to leave for DePaul, Gabe called me. "There's a block party tonight," Gabe said. "Do you want to go?"
"Sure, that sounds like a lot of fun," I said. I hadn't even asked my parents, but they would probably say yes, as long as I finished packing. I couldn't say no to Gabe anymore now that the visions had run out. He could have suggested that we kill all our friends, and I would have told him that I was killing before killing was cool. "Is Brendon coming too?"
"I wish," Gabe said. "Brendon's foot still hasn't completely healed. He's not up for walking around, so it will just be you and me."
I smiled and said, "Sounds good. What time do you want to go there?"
"Sometime this evening," Gabe said. "It's downtown, and I heard that they got a professional DJ."
"If the DJ doesn't play The Cure, I'm not going to be happy," I said.
"You're not usually happy anyways," Gabe pointed out.
"You're right," I said. "Should I pick you after work? I can even bring you a slice of pizza."
"That sounds good, although there will be plenty to eat at the block party," Gabe said. "See you then!"
I hung up, and after I was mostly done packing, I went to work. It was my last day at Fall Out Bros., but Billie still insisted on keeping me busy with deliveries. I did as I was told, driving all around town to deliver pizzas. I was still furious that Billie Joe had made me Employee of the Month. It was all his fault that Gabe was about to die.
When Joe and I finished delivering pizzas, I said, "It's been nice working with you this summer."
"You too," Joe said. "Have fun at DePaul, Pete."
I then went inside to say goodbye to Billie. However, he found me first. He enveloped me in a hug and then said, "Give 'em hell, kid."
"Thanks, Billie," I said.
"Here, I'll even give you one last free pizza," Billie said. He handed me a pizza with "Pete Wentz Is Going Down Swinging" written in cheese. I laughed hysterically and gave Billie another hug. I really would miss him a lot, even if he was the reason that Gabe was dying. I clocked out for the last time, walked out of Fall Out Bros., and drove the DeLorean to Gabe's house.
When I pulled into his driveway, Gabe immediately ran out of his house and got into the passenger seat of the DeLorean. "Hey Pete," he said as I drove toward the block party. "I still can't believe that you're leaving tomorrow."
"Me neither," I said.
"Are you as nervous as I am about college?" Gabe asked. I nodded, and Gabe suddenly noticed the pizza sitting in the backseat. "Pete Wentz Is Going Down Swinging," he read. "Can I have a slice?"
"Sure," I said. Gabe took a slice of pizza and ate it just as I found a parking spot for the DeLorean. I parked the car, and the two of us climbed out and headed toward the block party.
At least half of Shermer was gathered in the street, eating food from the various vendors that were there and socializing with their friends. There was indeed a professional DJ, but he seemed to be playing nothing but obnoxiously loud pop hits. It seemed unlikely that I would get to listen to my favorite band tonight. I soon wanted to leave, but Gabe walked off to a popcorn stand, and I had no choice but to follow him.
Both of us bought popcorn and wandered around for a while. My outfit caused a few people to stare at the two of us, but I didn't care what they thought as long as it was about me. I wondered if I might see Patrick again as Gabe started talking to some cute girl. It seemed like the sort of event that he might go to, but I knew that he would prefer a night alone listening to Elvis Costello or watching a movie or singing or learning Japanese or doing something else incredible. That boy had more talent in his pinkie finger than I had in my whole body, and I loved that about him. In any case, I didn't find him, so I followed Gabe to a bouncy house. It wasn't like I had anything else to do.
We got in line for the bouncy house, but when we were about to go and play on the inflatables, an event worker shouted, "Children under ten only!"
"Gabe and I are ten," I lied. "We have a rare genetic disorder that causes us to age faster."
The man gave us a suspicious look. "Both of you have this rare genetic disorder?" he said.
Gabe and I both nodded. "I'm dying because of it," Gabe added.
"I don't believe any of this," the man said. "Get out of here."
I groaned and walked away, and Gabe followed me. "They should make bouncy houses for adults," I said.
"That guy should have made an exception for us," Gabe said. "I really am dying!"
"I'm sorry, Gabe," I said. "I tried my best to get us in there."
We wandered around for a little bit longer, occasionally running into someone that we knew. I spotted Joe and Andy hanging out in front of one of the shops downtown. I didn't even know that they knew each other. However, I spent most of my time with Gabe. The music blared the whole time, and at one point, Gabe and I decided to go over to where the DJ was and request a song. "What should we request?" Gabe asked.
"'In Between Days' by The Cure," I suggested. "The DJ has to have that one."
Gabe wrote down that song and then wrote down "Heart of Glass" by Blondie below it. The DJ briefly glanced at the song request sheet and said, "I don't have anything by The Cure, but I can definitely play Heart of Glass for you." He then looked straight at us. "Wait a second, you two were in a video on MTV, right? It's so cool that you did that!"
That was when Gabe and I both sprinted away. We couldn't risk having the DJ recognize us and play Gabe's song. When we were far enough away, Gabe said, "I kind of want to check out that store over there."
The two of us walked over to the shop, but as soon as I poked my head in, I realized that it wasn't my style. "There's nothing gothic in here," I said.
"You can wait outside if you want," Gabe said. "I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead."
"Gabe! Don't even joke about that!" I shouted, but he was already gone. I stood outside of the building, waiting for my best friend, for a little while. The shop was sandwiched in between an ice cream parlor and the town hall, which was already closed. While I was waiting for Gabe, "Heart of Glass" started playing, and I watched everyone at the block party wander around, enjoying the music and the atmosphere. Not for the first time that night, I felt out of place.
The music changed, and another obnoxious pop song started playing. I poked my head into the store again, and I didn't see Gabe, but I also didn't want to disturb him. He was probably just busy trying on something, and he would come out of the store at any moment with an armful of new outfits.
That was when the town hall exploded.
All of a sudden, we were going down in flames. The party transformed into an angry and confused crowd, pushing me away from the crumbling building. Everyone was screaming and pushing me away from what was left of the town hall. The event workers tried to direct people away from the building, while sirens began to wail as police officers arrived, trying to figure out who had set off a bomb in the Shermer town hall during the block party. I followed the crowd and sprinted as far as I could from the town hall, even though I was still worried about Gabe. I still hadn't seen him, so I could only hope that he had gotten out of the shop on his own.
Where did the party go? I wondered once I was a safe distance away from the explosion. The Shermer residents who were so excited to go to the block party only a few minutes earlier were freaking out now, crying and calling their friends and family members and wondering what the hell had just happened.
The cheerful pop music was still playing, creating a strange dissonance. I might have even appreciated the irony of it all if I wasn't in the middle of a regular decorated emergency. After a few minutes, the song faded away, and a familiar voice sang over a guitar riff. It took me a moment to realize that it was Gabe's voice that was playing over the speakers.
I was far enough away to safely watch the town hall burn away, but when the fire spread to the shop next door and I still hadn't seen Gabe anywhere, I couldn't watch anymore. I ran straight toward the burning building, convinced that even if I had failed to stop every other vision, I could stop this one and save my best friend's life. I was going down, but I was going down swinging.
A police officer tried to push me away, insisting that it was dangerous, as if I didn't already know. "My best friend is in there!" I shouted, but he still tried to stop me. However, my years of playing soccer finally paid off. I ran past the officer, adrenaline rushing through my veins. I then took a deep breath and held it as I dashed into the burning building, searching for any sign of Gabe.
The smoke inside the building was so thick that I could hardly see, and the flames were licking every part of my body. It felt like I was inside the shop forever, fighting against the smoke and the searing heat to find Gabe. However, I found him lying on the ground next to the door, and I dragged him out of the building while his voice sang through the speaker outside.
When Gabe was finally away from the fire, I was able to get a good look at him. His brown eyes were still wide open, and there were some nasty burns on his skin, but that would heal. He had to be alive - he clearly hadn't burned to death. The part that scared me the most was that he wasn't breathing. I only sort of remembered how to do CPR, but I started to do chest compressions anyways, desperate for Gabe to live.
That was when I remembered something that Brendon had said two months earlier.
It's not the fire that kills you.
It's the smoke.
Just as I was about to give him a rescue breath, the same police officer who had tried to stop me from running into the fire in the first place pulled me away from Gabe. He put a hand on my shoulder and sadly told me, "It's not worth the effort. He's already dead."
The rest of the night went by in a blur. I held onto Gabe's corpse, unable to let him go. Even after they had finally taken him away in a body bag, I wouldn't stop crying. Tears gushed out of my eyes - it felt like my whole world had collapsed in on itself. Gabe Saporta, my best friend, was dead, and I was left by myself in front of two buildings that had burned to the ground, alone, awake, and afraid.
That stupid song was still playing in the background, like a mixtape for the end of the world.