Red Roses ~Marcus Lopez Arguello

25~Die for.

Rooftop, Kings Dominion, December 18th, 9 pm

The usual group sat on the rooftop, each going about their own activity. Saya, Willie and Billy leaned against the water tower as Willie was confiding in them about his first girlfriend.  Maria was the only one not up there yet, minus Scarlett and Marcus.

They both walked out and onto the rooftop, hand in hand, before strolling over to the group. Scarlett let go of the boy's hand only to point at Willie's fancy attire.

Willie looks down at his outfit before staring back up at her confused. "What?"

"What are you dressed up for?"

"I'm gonna surprise my girl after her shift." He fixes his tie and Saya looks up at the boy as he continues, now looking and pointing at Saya, talking to her. "Taking your advice. Working on being more honest."

Maria had been up on the rooftop, much to everyone's surprise, and when she had seen Scarlett and Marcus walk out, hand in hand, back to what they were before Vegas, a pit grew in her stomach, and she had made herself more known. She took a seat on one of the many ledges on the rooftop, and pulled out a cigarette, the sound of the lighter flicking on, catching the attention of the group.

Saya stared at the girl like a predator stares at its prey. Saya takes a few steps towards the girl, somehow managing to snag Scarlett's blade from its slip, flicking it open. Scarlett doesn't even notice until she sees the blade resting in Sayas gloved palm. Scarlett makes no effort to stop her though, but Marcus does, trying not to create an even bigger mess than now. He places a hand on Saya's wrist, pulling her back. Saya's grip tightens on the blade, but Marcus continues, breathing out. "She-she did it to help us all." He refers to Yukio's death.

Saya pauses, turning to him, and pulling her wrist from his grip. "She did it to help herself, but that's not a bad thing." She looks over at the girl, who eyes are wide at not only Saya's deadly glare, but Scarlett's from behind her. "It's important not to forget that's the way people operate." She then turns back around, before placing the open blade against Scarlett's chest, handing it back to its rightful owner. As she's walking away, she mentions. "Less of a surprise later on." She walks to the other side of the rooftop, back to standing beside Willie and Billy. Marcus takes a breath beside Scarlett, who just places her blade back under her skirt in its strap, and she looks up, nodding at him, reassuring the boy.

He then looks to the Vegas group. "I got to talk to everyone about something. It's important. Secrets got us into this. Holding onto bad feelings, not being honest, not trusting each other. All this back-biting and shit-talking and drama." He stares at the ground, taking a couple of breaths, when Scarlett rubs a reassuring hand on his back. He looks down at her, lovestruck, before looking back at the rest of the group. "You guys are the only family I've had since my folks died. And I can't lose you."

Willie gets impatient. "Come on, man."

Marcus just decides it best to tell them now, before it's too late. "Yeah, well, in the spirit of full disclosure, I want to tell you all the truth about me. I didn't kill all those kids at the boy's home, but when I escaped, I let loose the guy who did. I had this roommate, a psycho named Chester. He followed us to Vegas and he found Chico's body."

Maria jumps off of the ledge, walking to the boy. "What?"

Marcus looks at the girl advancing towards him. "That's not the worst of it. He- he has this deadline," He sputters out. "And we're running out of time."

•••

Streets of San Francisco, December 19th, 12 am

Scarlett sat on the rooftop of a home, not sure of whose it was, but she sat there. Her camera lens zoomed in as she caught pictures of Chester in Shabnam's home. She snapped as many photos as her camera allowed, and she jumped from roof to roof, in order to get any and all entrance points of the house. The place had been littered with booby traps, and that was evident when she witnessed Shabnam's father running out of the house and into the backyard, attempting to escape wearing nothing but some faux doggy ears and his undergarments, before being impaled by some wooden spikes.