Clean: An Anthology

Dear Austin, Part Two

you always wanted to play football.
there was a brief flirtation with basketball
in the fourth grade, but you always dreamed
of royal blue helmets and cheering fans,
making these four years your glory days.

maybe it was the fame of it all.
the night sky, stars above your head
as you run down the field,
screams from the concession stand
all the way to the deafening bleachers.

you would shine, you thought.
that was it, wasn't it?
everything looks better under the lights,
everyone can drown out the screams of others
with admiration and blind patritotism.

so you launched your plan.
you got yourself a cheerleader girlfriend
the summer before high school
and worked out in the old gyms that nobody
else dared to be in because of you.

and then, suddenly, you had power.
a girl under your thumb, a keg of beer
split between you and the rest of the team.
and that was the moment, I think, when
everyone realized you were so far gone
that you would never return to the mortal world.

A/N: Hey, just wanted to point you guys towards a fanfiction that epichorn31 and I collaborated on called "The Day We Forgot The Guitarist." It's a comedy about what would happen if My Chemical Romance forgot Ray Toro at a truck stop and couldn't go back to get him, because we're seriously getting tired of seeing him glossed over all the time. So check it out, it's on her account!