18. Pete, Gabe, and Brendon go into Gabe's basement.

Two days later, Gabe called me just as I was about to go to work. "Do you want to come over to my house?" he asked. "Brendon already agreed to stop by."

"I can't," I said. "I'm working until six. Besides, it's probably not a good idea to have all of us at your house at the same time. We might make your next vision come true."

"Pete, that vision will never happen," Gabe said. "Nobody is going into my basement."

"How many times have we said that?" I said. "We need to be more careful."

"You need to be less paranoid," Gabe said.

"I just don't want you to die," I said. "The hardest part of this is leaving you."

"I won't die, because nobody is going into my basement," Gabe insisted. "It's always been off-limits, and it always will be. So are you coming over or not?"

"I guess I'll come after work," I said. I still didn't think that this was a good idea, but there was no point in arguing with Gabe.

"Great," Gabe said. "See you then."

I hung up and drove the DeLorean to work. When I got there, Billie immediately gave me a long list of places that I needed to deliver pizza to, and I faithfully did my job. I may or may not have taken and eaten an extra box of cheese pizza, but of course, Billie didn't need to know about that. "Y'know, we're lucky to have employees like you, Pete," he told me when I returned to the restaurant.

"Thank you, Billie," I said as I wiped a bit of tomato sauce off of my face.

Somehow, Billie still didn't notice that I had already eaten a pizza. "Are you going home after this?" he asked.

"No," I said. "I'm going to my friend Gabe's house."

"Why don't you take a slice of pizza for the road?" Billie suggested.

Even if I had just eaten, I wasn't one to pass up free pizza. "You're the best, Billie Joe," I said as I took a slice of pizza and devoured it.

When I was done, I opened the door and headed toward the car. However, I noticed that Tea Monkey was having a special on green tea, so I poked my head into the shop to see if Patrick was there. Not only was Patrick behind the counter, wearing his Tea Monkey hat on top of a fedora, but I could also hear the Hüsker Dü song that Billie Joe was blasting next door. I focused on Patrick, admiring his handsome face. His eyes were fixated on a cup of tea, waiting for it to steep, even as I felt like I was going to explode at any moment. Oh, how the mighty fall in love.

My heart broke when I realized that Patrick was the best I'd never have. We would be bulletproof loneliness at best.

All of a sudden, his baby blues met my wide-eyed browns, and I sprinted back to the car, sweating in the ninety two degree heat. I couldn't spend any longer around Patrick without falling apart. I started up the DeLorean and drove to Gabe's house, carefully plotting my route so that I didn't drive past Patrick's house. I parked the car, climbed out, and knocked on Gabe's door, and he let me in.

"Hey Pete," Gabe said. "What's up?" Penny Lane suddenly ran up to me, barking loudly. "Oh yeah," Gabe said. "Brendon brought his new puppy. She's pretty cute."

I petted Penny Lane, and she slobbered all over my leg. As I played with his dog, Brendon came over and said, "Hi Pete. I've noticed that Penny likes to do that sometimes. We're still working on training her."

"So your parents are okay with having a dog now?" I said.

Brendon nodded and said, "Penny Lane's gotten pretty attached to the whole family. I think she likes Ryan the best though. She whimpers a lot when I'm around and he's not." The puppy whined softly. "Just like that," Brendon said.

I kept stroking Penny Lane's fur, but she still whimpered. Eventually, she stopped, but then she turned around and started chewing on my boot. "Stop that!" I complained.

"I told you we're still training her," Brendon said. He picked Penny Lane up and carried her into the living room. "We've been listening to the new Smiths album without you," Brendon said.

"That's okay," I said, thinking of the song that had led to the whole mess with the Neo-Nazis. "I don't really like the Smiths anyways."

"Whatever, Pete," Brendon said. As we headed toward the living room, I noticed that Gabe's parents had put up some new pictures of him from graduation. "Gabe, why do you look like you're going to murder somebody in every single one of these pictures?"

Gabe shrugged. "I was just enjoying one of my favorite hobbies: creepily staring at cameras," he said.

I turned back to Brendon when we got to the living room. "What else have you been up to?" I asked him.

"Nothing," Brendon said, but there was a goofy smile on his face. "I've just been hanging out with Ryan."

Brendon went on for a while about how fun it was to spend time with Ryan, but I didn't dare to interrupt him. For once, he didn't bring up Dallon Weekes, I Don't Know How But They Found Me, or their impending breakup, and for once, his affections were directed toward someone who might actually like him back. It was a small miracle.

I only wished that things were going that well with Patrick. As far as I could tell, he still thought that Gabe and I were together. I wanted to correct him, but I was too afraid, and at this rate, we would never get together.

All of a sudden, Penny Lane jumped out of Brendon's arms and went toward the door. "Brendon, get your dog away from the door to the basement please," Gabe said, too lazy to get up from the couch.

"Penny Lane!" Brendon exclaimed. "Come back here!" The puppy didn't listen. She went straight toward the door and nudged it open.

I don't even know how I could begin to describe what happened next.

A strange creature emerged from the depths of the basement, and Penny Lane ran away from it, howling. "What is that thing?" I asked Gabe, staring at the beast. It appeared to be humanoid, but its footprints didn't look very human-like. It had a white face with gaping holes for eyes and way more teeth than any creature should ever have. The creature was wearing a black cloak with a hood draped over its head, and it lunged straight toward Penny.

"I don't know what it is!" Gabe exclaimed. "My parents always told me to stay out of the basement, and that thing is probably why!" Just as the beast was about to grab Penny Lane, Gabe grabbed a rather large notebook from off of the table, ran toward the demon, and slammed the book against its head. It didn't appear to do anything other than distract the creature momentarily. It still picked up Penny Lane and dragged her into the basement. She whimpered as she disappeared into the darkness of Gabe's basement, and Brendon screamed.

"Fuck the visions!" he shouted. "I'm going to save my dog!" Brendon sprinted into the basement, and it was clear what Gabe and I had to do. Brendon couldn't go into the basement alone - who knew what would happen to him?

"I need some kind of weapon before we go in there," I said. "A sword would be cool, wouldn't it?"

"I don't have a sword," Gabe said. "There's a shovel in the garage though."

I rolled my eyes and left to find the shovel. When I returned, Gabe and I went downstairs into the basement - he was carrying the absurdly heavy book, and I had my shovel. I looked over to see what book it was, and I saw that it was The Cobra Factor. "You're still working on that?" I said.

Gabe nodded. "Garrett Santiago just nuked LA and then had some fun with William Beckett, my stunningly attractive Secretary of the Interior," he said. I had a lot of questions about all of that, but Gabe added, "There's no time to talk about that now."

We looked around in the basement, searching for any sign of Brendon, Penny Lane, or the creature. However, all we found were cobwebs and old furniture. "This place is creepy," I said. "I'm surprised we haven't found any dead bodies or torture devices yet."

"But it's warmer in the basement, isn't it, Pete?" Gabe said. He winked, and I rolled my eyes.

"Can you focus for just one second, Gabe?" I said.

That was when Brendon ran past us, screaming. "Gabe! Pete!" he shouted when he saw us. "Get out of here! I'm trying to distract the demon, but if it doesn't notice you, you might have time to escape!"

The creature sprinted after Brendon, and I whacked it with the shovel, but it barely seemed to notice. Gabe tried hitting the creature with the notebook too, but it started running after him instead. Meanwhile, Penny Lane whimpered in a corner, and I grabbed her and dashed upstairs, screaming and hoping that the demon wouldn't follow me.

Gabe's mom wandered by just as I reached the top of the staircase. "What are you boys doing down there?" she asked, staring at the open door.

"Mrs. Saporta, there's some sort of creature living in the basement," I explained. "You have to believe me - it's got this black hood, and..."

"You're all freaking out over the demon?" Mrs. Saporta said. She shrugged and added, "It's nothing to be afraid of. It will leave you alone if you leave it alone, but you clearly aren't doing that. Stay here, Pete." I stayed in place, just as Mrs. Saporta asked, while she went downstairs and shouted, "Gabe! Brendon! Come back upstairs please!"

"But Mom!" Gabe whined. "The demon will follow us if we go back upstairs."

Mrs. Saporta sighed and went upstairs again. When she returned to the basement, she had a flashlight with her. She shined her flashlight directly at the demon, and it froze, allowing Brendon and Gabe to escape safely. On her way out of the basement, Mrs. Saporta slammed the door closed. "You three all need to be more careful," she said. "Don't go into the basement ever again."

"We won't, Mom," Gabe said. Mrs. Saporta left us alone, and I handed Penny Lane back to Brendon. "That was insane," he said.

"I'm just glad that I have my dog back," Brendon said as he petted Penny.

"By the way, it's kind of disappointing to know that you value your dog's life over mine," Gabe said.

"You still have a lot more visions that need to happen before you die," Brendon said.

"Yes, but we haven't stopped any of them from happening yet," Gabe complained.

"We'll find a way," I said.

"I hope you're right, Pete," Gabe said.

I drove home later that night, still unable to believe everything that had happened. On my way into the house, I checked the mailbox, and to my delight, there was an envelope addressed to me. I immediately opened the letter and read it.

Dear Pete,

Ten of Gabe's visions have come true already?! That's just insane. You need to find a way to stop this before Gabe's visions kill us all.

I'm glad to hear that you've met someone that you like, Pete. From what you've told me, Patrick seems like a really nice guy. As for me, there are no shortage of cute girls in New Jersey, but none of them seem to be interested in me. I guess I'll just be lonely for the rest of my life.

Gerard took me to see his latest musical obsession: Bon Jovi. The concert was pretty fun, although I'm still holding out for Anthrax. Ray also came with us, along with Gerard's boyfriend. I hate to admit it, but I think that the only hope for Gerard is Frank. He actually gets Gee out of the basement sometimes, which is a truly miraculous feat. However, Frank has approximately 137,897,936,422 dogs, and he has an annoying habit of jumping out of lockers at the most inopportune times, so I can't praise him too much.

Anyways, I attached a picture from the concert. Let me know what you think.

I've also been working at Barnes and Noble a lot, and Ray accidentally stuck his hand into a cupcake. That's all that's new in my life - please let me know if Gabe's visions are coming true, and don't forget to send me that picture from the Cubs game that you mentioned in your last letter. I can't wait to see you, Gabe, and Brendon in real life next month!

Your detonator,

Mikey Way

Inside the envelope, there was a photo of Mikey, Ray, Gerard (who had apparently dyed his hair radioactive red), and his boyfriend, an extremely short young man with more tattoos than anyone else I had ever seen. They all seemed to be having a great time, unlike my friends and I.

It broke my heart when I thought of everything that had changed since my last letter. Even more visions had come true, and I had ruined everything with Patrick. Part of me didn't want to tell Mikey about all of that, but I never kept anything from my pen pal, even when I was keeping secrets from my closest friends in real life. I took out a pen and a piece of paper, and I wrote a reply to Mikey.

Dear Mikey,

It's gotten worse. We've made eighteen of the visions come true now. I agree - we do need to stop the visions, but we've tried everything, and nothing has worked. We haven't lost hope yet though. We'll still stop the visions from coming true before the apocalypse comes.

I went on to explain everything that had happened since my last letter. I told Mikey about Brendon, Ryan, Dallon, and the iDKHOW breakup. I told him about how I had made out with Gabe at the Sunshine Riptide, and how the Neo-Nazis had beaten me up for it. I told him about how Patrick thought that Gabe and I were together now. I told him about Brendon's puppy and the demon, even though I suspected that he might not believe me. Then again, he had believed me when I had told him about Gabe's visions - maybe he would believe that demons were real too.

That concert sounds like it must have been fun. Maybe we can go to a concert together when I come to New Jersey. I also look forward to meeting you, Ray, Frank, and Gerard. I can't wait to go to New Jersey!

Ready for another bad poem,

Pete Wentz

P.S. I attached the photo from the Cubs game.

I slid the picture into the envelope, sealed it, and left it on my desk as a reminder to bring it to the post office the next day. I wished that my life was going better, if only so I would have some good news to give to Mikey, but I had nothing. From Gabe's visions to everything that was happening with Patrick, I was trapped in a downward spiral.