Dear FanFiction Reader,
This is set up much like Reservoir Dogs is set up. The story begins with the end and has background information inserted here and there. I have also added a few new characters: Andy, Steven, Smurf and Anna; I've aslo changed Tunny's character and took out Will's. This is one of my myriad of interpretations of American Idiot. I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review if you like it.
THE END
"My heart is beating from me. I am standing all alone. Please call me only if you are coming home."
Homecoming
The house sat crooked on the hill. It had been a home to a hoarder, and after Anna died, Andy made no effort to clean it up. The twenty-year-old could barely handle himself, let alone a house, so it became even more of a mess with a growing number cockroaches and mice. It was disgusting and horrid and falling apart. Paint was chipping, shingles were sliding off of the roof, windows were broken, doors didn't close properly, but no one did anything to fix it.
Maybe no one noticed, or maybe no one cared.
That was the problem with everyone in the town. They never cared enough to notice, and they didn't notice enough to care. Sick of the bad hand life dealt them they turned everything off and laughed at their pitiful lives. To them, that was easier. So they didn't care about where they lived, what they wore, or how they made money. They managed to get by, and every day that they woke up on a park bench or in someone else's home, the only thing that mattered was that they woke up.
The town was also filled with impeccable liars. Their lives became an existence and not much more than just that. They knew that there was something bigger waiting for them; they just didn't know how to look and where to start. They pretended that they didn't care because they had to appear strong, and not compromise their appearance. But they all were liars, every single one of them. The rule was to only care if someone else did, but no one appeared to care, so no one openly did. They all lied and said that they were fine, and for some reason, everyone believed them.
Maybe they were all just idiots.
The boy stared at the crooked house and the steps leading to it. The day before, the house was a refuge. It was a place to go get away from it all, to take a deep breath and gather your baggage, to sort through a chaotic life. But now he realized how crooked the house really was. He made his way to the back and down the steps towards the basement. A giant spider sat in its web in the corner of the doorway. He kept his eyes on it as he listened to the voices inside the house. They were loud enough for him to hear, but dispirited enough to be distant. For a second the boy hesitated. Standing in front of the doorway, he desperately wanted to run away from everything that happened. He wanted to forget because that was easier than living with what he remembered. But there was one answer that he didn't have, so he sucked it up and swung the door open.
Inside, Andy eyed him, worried. Steven toyed with a string on his shirt, and the girl pretended like she was the only person in the room. She stared at the floor, refusing to make eye contact, refusing to acknowledge his presence, but that didn't bother him. There was a sudden chill in the room. It was some unexplainable cold that swept across them, stealing their words and breath.
"Where's Jimmy?" The boy asked.
No one answered.
"Does anyone know where he is?" He knew he was angry. He felt it boiling inside of him all day, but he didn't know why it was there.
Then Andy shifted in his seat and directed his gaze to the boy. He held it there for a few seconds then looked back down at his hands.
"You mean, he wasn't with you?" Andy muttered.
The boy sat down beside Andy in a rickety chair by the table held up with duct tape. Defeated, he dropped his head into his hands, fighting back the flood of emotions that sprung up on him out of nowhere. Everything just went horribly wrong so fast.
"We have to find him," The girl finally said.
He looked into her green eyes for the first time after he found out what she did.
"We have to stop him," she added. She was now standing, smoothing out her faded t-shirt. Her eyeliner was smudged around her eyes and spilled into her cheeks a little bit. He knew her well enough to know that she was crying. It was hard to look into them, though, so he looked away.
"You know we have to," she whispered a whisper that was meant for only him.
At that very second, the boy realized he despised her. He desperately wanted to get up and leave the room and leave her behind for good, because he knew she was right. She was always right, and he hated that. He hated her.
But he has always been a good liar.
The boy stood from the table and joined her by the doorway, towering over her. The girl looked up at him with her green eyes that were dripping with an apology he ignored. The boy placed his hand on the doorknob, and slowly turned it, fearful of what he will find once he steps outside and looks for Jimmy.
"Wait," Andy said. "Is Smurf really…" He couldn't formulate the word.
The boy turned around and looked at Andy. He felt the emotions swell.
"Yes… he's dead."
He and the girl left Andy and Steven swimming in the silence that overcame them.
