Disclaimer: The only person in this chapter that I don't own is Jade Puget of AFI. But I might… possibly… just MAYBE own a small piece of his soul in a jar. ; Just kidding. He's only mentioned here, anyway.

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Chapter One: The Great Disappointment

Quiet. That was all. No one moved, no one spoke, no one existed. That was how I liked it. Sleep would only consume me in the early hours of the morning when it was deathly quiet. Sometimes I went to my window and gazed out onto damp lawns and barren streets. I loved it when no one existed but me. There were breaths, but no one could be seen. I could feel how I wanted to feel and all the pain I would experience in the day would dissipate.

There was something, though, about this place that unnerved me. After moving here two days ago, I hadn't stepped foot outside my front—or back—door. I don't know what made me feel uneasy about this town, but I wasn't about to let curiosity get the best of me. I knew better than that.

One moonlit night, I decided to sit on my front porch. Notebook in hand, I started to write. The words still came as they used to: freely and without fault. At least the atmosphere of this place won't have any effect on my writing, I thought. Suddenly, I heard something. I strained my ears to hear.

It was a guitar. I could hear chords, but no words. I followed the music toward the house to the right of mine. The music was beautiful, I couldn't resist. When I reached a point where I could hear the music clearly, I stopped. I peered onto the deck, where I thought the playing should be coming from, and my mouth dropped.

There, sitting on the deck in front of me, playing the guitar, was the most beautiful boy I had yet to set my eyes upon. He was skinny, but tall, even when he was sitting. His eyes were closed, apparently off in his own world. His fingers moved fluently up and down the neck of the guitar as his other hand strummed in related fluent motions. The music was from his heart, I could tell. He was expressing his deepest emotions.

Well, great job, Captain Obvious! I shouted inwardly at myself.

As I shifted my weight to my right foot, the music stopped, but the boy still sat there with his eyes closed. As soon as he opened them, I could see the shimmer of a tear fall from his eye. He wiped it away as soon as it fell to his chin.

I debated on whether or not to talk to him.

He took the strap off his shoulders and was about to stand up.

Better decide quick!

I took a step forward and a leaf beneath my foot crunched. How ironic, I thought.

"Who's that?" the boy called out to where I stood, standing completely frozen to his spot.

"Uh… H-Hi," I stammered. Smooth, Benson. Very smooth. I stepped from my place and into the dim light.

"Who are you?" he asked me, running his fingers through his below ear-length black hair.

"I'm Tyler Benson. Just moved in a few days ago. That house," I said as I pointed in the direction of my house.

"Oh," the boy said simply.

"I'm sorry. I was on my porch writing and I heard you playing. I couldn't resist. It was beautiful," I rambled.

The boy ran his fingers through his hair again, this time leaving his hand rest on the back of his neck. "It's cool," he said finally.

He walked down the three small steps of his deck to me. "Sorry, I didn't introduce myself." He stuck out his right hand and said, "I'm Reese. Last name's Snyder. And… thank you for the compliment. It's just something I wrote." We shook hands. I noticed that his fingers were painted black, like mine, but his pinkie was pink.

I laughed.

"What's so funny? Never met anyone who paints their… Oh, you do, too," he stated quietly, examining my nails. I stopped laughing.

"No, no, sorry. I was laughing because the way you paint your nails reminds me of—"

"Jade Puget," we said in unison. We both started laughing.

"Yeah, he's pretty much my idol," he pointed out. "I had the same hairstyle as him for about a year and a half, but the bleach was assassinating my hair. So I retired to my natural color," he continued, twirling a piece of his jet-black hair in his fingers.

"Lucky you and your natural black hair."

"Hey, kid, you're pretty cool. Why don't you chill out here with me for awhile?" he invited. "Maybe you can show me what's in that notebook?" He nodded in the direction of my piece-of-shit notebook that I've had for years.

"We're not that close yet," I said, hiding my spiral behind my back. We both smiled.

We sat on his deck for ages, it seemed. We talked about pointless things, like how we both never really slept unless it was deathly quiet, and how we were both straight edge. The next time I looked at my watch, it read 5:06am.

"Look, Ty—can I call you that?" I nodded. "Why don't you come inside for breakfast? And maybe you can use some gel, for that lovely faux-hawk of yours seems to be falling down," he said, pointing to my head. My hand instantly went to where the top of my faux-hawk should be, but it was lower.

"Ah! If you don't mind, I would absolutely love that!" He laughed and lead me inside.

This boy really was something. The way he walked was with pure confidence. The way his eyes shone with complete happiness and mystery. The way his lips perfectly formed words and the way he pronounced everything the correct way. He continued to amaze me.

I was falling for this boy and he seemed perfect… except for the fact that I didn't know whether he was gay or not. My "gaydar" hadn't been pointing things out to me much except for when he laughed. Then again, he wasn't exactly dressed to go anywhere except his bed.

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The chapter was named as it is because listening to that song (The Great Disappointment by AFI) inspired this. I don't know how or why. Music does this to me.

And don't worry, there's more to come. :