The show was over, and the band was just about to step offstage when Gerard stumbled toward the microphone and screamed, "WE'RE PLAYING DROWNING LESSONS!"

The fans cheered, but Frank looked back at his boyfriend, confused. "I thought we weren't going to play that song anymore," he whispered.

Gerard was barely listening. He was drunk, he supposed, and he couldn't even remember how many different pills he'd taken before the show. It had been nearly six months since his grandmother's death, but knowing that she was gone forever still hurt like hell. The drugs were just enough to numb the pain, just enough to keep him from falling apart completely.

"We're going to play it," he said. "I don't care if it's cursed. We're going to fucking play Drowning Lessons."

Frank turned to Ray, Mikey, and Matt and shrugged, and soon, they all began to play. Gerard moved to the beat, wondering what would happen next. Drowning Lessons was cursed, after all. Something had to go wrong.

Maybe the equipment would fail. Maybe the microphone would cut out. Maybe the stage lights would go dark. Maybe the building would collapse. Maybe he'd drop dead.

Just for a second, Gerard thought things might be better off that way.

"It's the tearing sound of love notes, coming out these rusted windows..."

"Gerard," Ray muttered as he continued to play. "Those aren't the lyrics."

"Really?" Gerard said, confused. He then sang, "This night, walk the dead, in a solitary style..."

"Still not it."

"Life is but a dream for the dead!" Gerard screamed. "And well I, I won't go down by myself, but I'll go down with my friends!"

Ray simply sighed and shook his head, while Frank and Mikey switched to playing You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison in a desperate attempt to salvage the performance. Gerard yelled incoherently into the microphone, screaming until his voice was raspy and hoarse, waiting for the Drowning Lessons curse to come and take him, just like it had taken his grandmother. He'd die in a blaze of glory, in a hail of bullets.

Yet, much to his frustration, he kept on living. One of Ray's guitar strings snapped, and no matter how hard he tried, Gerard couldn't remember the lyrics to Drowning Lessons, but he was still here, still standing onstage in front of a crowd of bewildered fans. He closed his eyes, wishing that he was somewhere else, anywhere else.

Eventually, the song ended, and as soon as they made it backstage, Gerard collapsed onto the floor. As the room spun around him, he heard the voices of his bandmates.

"We can't play Drowning Lessons again," Ray said.

"Yeah, it's obviously cursed," Mikey said.

"It's Gerard's fault, really," Matt said. "He was the one who thought it would be a good idea to play Drowning Lessons as the last song of the show."

"And then he was too drunk to remember which song that was!" Mikey exclaimed.

"It wasn't all his fault," Ray argued. "My guitar string broke in the middle of the song. It sounded awful." He sighed and then said, "Let's just forget this ever happened and never play Drowning Lessons again."

All of a sudden, Gerard saw Frank crouching down next to him. "Gee, are you okay?" he asked.

"What do you think, Frank?" he responded bitterly. He went back to staring at the ceiling, wondering why the drugs never worked, why he was still breathing, still alive.

This was what rock bottom felt like.