We Go Way Back

The Roof Is On Fire

        "Marshall, oh my God," I exhaled air I didn't even know I was holding as I knelt beside my best friend. He quickly stood however and yanked me up with him in one swift motion, pulling me away from my dad, who lay still on the sidewalk.
        I glanced back and immediately felt sick to my stomach at the sight of the thick red blood that was creeping out from under my father's head, and I immediately knew my father was dead. Marshall pulled me closer to him and slightly pushed me ahead a bit, forcing me to look forward.
        "Don't look back," he instructed softly but firmly. I nodded numbly, my stomach still churning.
        We walked away from the house in complete silence for a couple blocks before I had to stop. I collapsed on a nearby bus stop bench and put my head in my hands. I felt Marshall sit right next to me, but he did nothing but sit and offer me space.
        That's when I broke down.
        All the pent up anger, grief, sadness and frustration just flooded out of me through unashamed sobs and tears. At that moment I could care less that my dad was a piece of shit and treated me like I was, too. I will always remember that fun and loving part of him that died along with my mother all those years ago. But now that he's actually gone along with my mother... they were the only family I had left and I couldn't seem to grasp it.
        I flinched when I felt Marshall gently take my hand away from my head and hold it in his lap. He curled his other arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him, and I rested my head in the crook of his neck.
        The familiarity of his smell and comfort eased the pain in my chest almost immediately. I remembered, I still had him. But he was all I had now, whether he realized that or not.
        I wasn't sure if I could put that on him, as stupid as it probably sounds. I wouldn't want to hold him back from doing the things he wanted by being around him constantly. And I know he would always try to be there to take care of and protect me. I'm not doing that to him.
        But the thought of tearing myself away from him, especially after realizing my feelings for him were mutual, made my heart feel like it was being ripped to shreds. It was suffocating me and I haven't even said anything yet.
        I pulled away and looked in his eyes, such a piercing baby blue that stood out even in the darkness of night. They were full of concern and sadness, as if it pained him to see me hurt.
        Oh, Marshall.
        I bit my lip and looked up at the stars to keep myself from crying further. There were so few of them, not enough to let me marvel at their beauty. I was desperate to have a glimpse of beauty right now, there was too much ugly in this world.
        But when Marshall brought both his hands up to my face and pulled my head down so I could look at him again, my heart swelled with love and admiration. This boy right here was beautiful. And I'm pretty sure he was all I needed.
        "I'm here for you, Silence Grey. And I ain't goin' nowhere," he whispered. I blinked away a fresh set of tears and nodded, never taking my eyes off of his.
        He brushed his thumbs against my cheeks and pulled me into a strong embrace. I squeezed him tightly, desperately and he did the same.
        I wanted to tell him how much I loved him, and not in the best friend kind of way he's known all these years. I wanted to tell him I loved him like I haven't loved anyone before in my life, but I wasn't sure how he would take that at the moment.
        So I kept quiet, and took in his comforting presence, all the while hoping and praying that he wouldn't leave me in some way, too.
                          ***
        We stayed up all night, never going home.
        Whether we walked down streets, around unfamiliar houses, through parks, or just sat and chilled for a minute on bus benches, we didn't sleep at all. I guess too much had happened tonight.
        But we were currently sitting in a park, not knowing what time it was, just chilling and talking about past memories.     We were both sitting on the swing set, lazily swinging back and forth while laughing and talking about the stupid shit we had done throughout our lives.
        "Yo, remember when Lil' Mikey told us about that abandoned house? The one around 7 mile with the caved in roof?" he asked me and looked at me while he was talking, gesturing with his hands whilst doing so.
        I tried to bite back my smile and pay attention to what he was saying, but how had I not noticed the way he talked before? It was so fucking cute!
        "Um... yeah. The Ryder's house?" I asked. He nodded and looked back at the ground, rubbing his bottom lip and chin with his left hand in thought.
        I stretched my legs and swung left to right, bumping into him in the process.
        "What about it?" I asked him, still bumping into him.
        "I heard some crazy ass shit went down there before the place got fully boarded up and fenced off. Sounded like something you would wanna do," he shrugged and looked at me expectantly. I only looked at him in confusion.
        "Do what?" I asked.
        "D'you wanna break in and explore it?" he asked.
         "Oh fuck yeah let's go," I said excitedly, jumping off the swing and landing on the wood chips with a 'thud'.
         He laughed and swung harder. I looked at him, waiting impatiently.
        He went as high as he could go before jumping off and landing on his feet, stumbling and almost face planting right next to me.
        I laughed and linked my arm through his, and he pulled it out quickly.
         I glanced at him, feeling hurt and confused until he put his arm around my neck and pulled me close to him. I could feel my face heat up and I looked at the floor to hide the color, even though he probably couldn't see it.
        After walking for about 15 minutes we ended up in front of a badly tore up house, the roof caved in and boarded up windows giving off a creepy vibe.
       For a minute we just kinda stood there, staring at it. But then I reached into my bag to grab my pocketknife and lighter and made my way to the gate, Marshall following closely behind me.
        "Gonna have to jump it," I told him, staring up at the gate. I glanced at him and he nodded.
        I shoved the knife and lighter in my pocket before curling my fingers in the fence holes and pulling myself up, Marshall right beside me. Right when I lifted my leg over the fence, my pant leg got caught on the stuck out piece of fence and I fell forwards.
        I yelped and hit the other side of the fence before landing on my back on the ground with a loud 'thud'. The impact knocked the air out of my lungs and left me wheezing and gasping for air.
        I could hear the fence move violently as Marshall scrambled to make his way to me, and I turned to my side and tried catching the air back into my lungs to laugh.
        It first cane out weak and raspy, wheezy even, until I began to full on burst with a crazed amount of laughter. Marshall knelt beside me and just looked at me until he shook his head and laughed right along with me.
        He stood up and offered me his hand, and I gladly took it. He yanked me up as if I weighed absolutely nothing and I once again wondered how he could do that.
        "Man, I thought I was s'posed to be the fucking dumb ass in this relationship," he chuckled. I laughed again and shoved him.
        He stumbled and almost fell but his fingers latched onto the fence at the last minute, saving him from falling on his ass.
        "You are," I stuck my tongue out at him and ran up to the porch, squealing when I heard his heavy footsteps thudding behind me.
        His hands gripped onto my waist and he pulled me into his body where he wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me tightly. The whole time he was chuckling and I was giggling like a dumb schoolgirl. It was pretty fucking ridiculous but at that moment I couldn't have been happier just hanging and messing around with my best friend.
        He let me go and I looked around the creaky wooden porch for a way to get in. The door was obviously locked, a large rusty chain and padlock securing it against intruders.
        I dug in my pocket for a spare bobby pin and hoped I remembered how to do this, otherwise we'd have to find another and noisier way to get in.
        I pulled it out and messed with it a little before shoving it into the lock and working my magic. While I was working on it, Marshall poked around, looking for anything interesting.
        "Yo what the fuck is this shit doing here," he sounded baffled before his voice cracked and he started laughing. I turned to look at him and squinted my eyes in the darkness.
        I could vaguely make out some sort of magazine at first, but as my eyes scanned over the pages, my face burned and I burst out laughing along with him. It was a porn magazine, and from what I could see, there were only 2 and a half pages left. Yes, somebody actually took half of a page out.
        "What the hell does that tell you about this place Marshall," I snorted and our laughter quieted down.
          "Nah but seriously, is that a gasoline can?" he whispered as soon as the lock popped open. I tossed it in the overgrown weeds and let the chain fall to the floor before I turned to look at what he was talking about.
        I once again squinted in the darkness as Marshall grabbed what looked to be a gasoline can and held it up for us both to examine. He wriggled it around to check how much was inside, and listening to the sloshing liquid there was enough to create a pretty big fire if we played our cards right.
        He looked at me, and I could vaguely make out the mischievous glint in his bugged out baby blues. I smiled wickedly and we entered into the house.
        Immediately the smell hit me like a rolling wave and I gagged. It smelled like something died and then pissed all over itself. It made my eyes water and my nose burn, and I could hear Marshall coughing beside me.
        I reached into my pocket and brought out my lighter, flicking it to life. My eyes traveled from the walls to the floor and I shrieked.
        On the floor was a dead opossum, but this thing was huge like the size of a medium sized dog. Its mouth hung open in a terrifying snarl, and its lifeless empty eyes stared at me. Marshall laughed beside me and I glared at him.
        "Shut up, asshole," I mumbled. I made my way to the end of the empty living room where the creaky wooden stairs were, not bothering to go into the kitchen or other rooms. I wanted to see the caved in room upstairs.
        I left Marshall downstairs with little light but at that moment curiosity was eating away at me, I could almost care less. I reached the top and looked around, there seemed to be only 3 rooms up here.
        I went into the closest one and looked around. There wasn't any furniture anywhere, and the floor was extremely dusty. This house had been empty for years.
        There wasn't anything in there besides the 3 giant spiders I saw scurry into the tiny closet so I left and went into the second room. Nothing in there either.
        I walked into the third room and my breath hitched. It was the room with the hole in the roof. But that's not the thing that shook me. It was that all the furniture and things in this room pointed to the fact that this had been a little girls room.
        There was a little twin mattress on the floor with pink fleece blankets and a single pillow, and on the other side of the room there lay a small white dresser with little flower stickers all over it. There were a few pieces of paper that had a child's drawings on them, and there was a single Polaroid picture that caught my eye. I picked it up and examined it closely in the light.
        I tried to swallow the lump in my throat as my eyes grazed over to stained and dirtied picture, focusing fully on a little girl no older than 6 years old. Her eyes were bright and full of life, a wide grin on her dark face. Surrounding her was what I assumed was her mom and dad, both equally as happy.
        The family was at a park bench, in front of the little girl was a birthday cake. There were no clues in this picture as to what had happened here.
        "That's the little girl that lived here," Marshall spoke quietly behind me and I jumped, almost dropping the lighter and the picture.
        "You know what happened?" I asked him, frowning.
        He nodded solemnly, his eyes staring at the picture in my hand.
        "Mikey told me all about it. I didn't wanna tell you though because of all that's been going on tonight," he told me, finally bringing his eyes up to my face. I nodded and gestured to him that it was okay to tell me.
        "Apparently there was a family that lived here, but the mom had lost a baby which really fucked up the family. The mom OD'd and ended up dying and the dad became a drug addict. He started abusing the little girl so she ran away, but she ended up getting kidnapped. They found her body a few blocks away from here in a crackheads basement," he said quietly. My bottom lip quivered and I bit it to keep from crying.
        I looked back at the picture and felt a heaviness in my heart for this family and that little girl. I held the picture to my chest and searched the floor for her drawings. I began scraping every single one of them up off the dirty floor and cleaned them up best I could. They didn't deserve to be in this dark disgusting house full of bad memories.
        I folded them neatly before putting them in my pockets along with the picture.
        "Let's burn this shit to the ground," I whispered to Marshall, looking him dead in the eye. He smiled softly and nodded, opening his arms so I could hug him.
        As soon as I was in his arms I squeezed the life out of him, and he petted my hair gently. We stood there for a few minutes in the dark, underneath this giant gaping hole in the roof that made us vulnerable to the cold night at and the few twinkling stars.
        My head was pushed up to his chest right underneath his chin where he rested it on top of my head, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat soothing me. It was comforting, along with his smell and touch. I realized it was just him that comforted me.
         I sighed and pulled away reluctantly, relighting the lighter and pointing it at the gas can Marshall carried. He nodded and began to douse the ground and walls in it. We'd probably be able to set the whole house on fire because of how old it was, and because the house was all wood.
        I found a spare piece of paper on the ground and held it up as Marshall went downstairs to use up the rest of the gas on the living room and other rooms. I inspected the paper to make sure there weren't any drawings or sentimental writings on it so I could use it to light the gasoline.
          "Light it up baby!" Marshall yelled from downstairs and my heart skipped a beat at the pet name. I smiled and lit the paper, then dropped it on the ground.
         My eyes widened at how quickly the gas lit on fire and I looked around the room for the doorway.
        Shit, the fire had already enveloped the walls and ground. There was no way I could go through there without getting my ass seriously burnt.
        I looked for any windows and cursed loudly.
        "What kinda house doesn't have any fucking windows are you kidding me," I yelled to no one in particular.
        "Silence! Where the fuck are you?!" Marshall yelled worriedly from somewhere in the house.
        "Marshall get the hell outta the house! I'm climbing onto the roof and jumping down from there," I screamed at him over the roaring blaze of the growing fire. The smoke started getting heavier and thicker so I used my shirt to cover my mouth and nose.
        I dragged the dresser over to the center of the room where the hole was and climbed on top of it. I grabbed a jutted out piece of wood and hoped to God the rest of the roof wouldn't fall in if I hauled myself up on top of it.
        Right when I was about to pull myself up something in the corner of the room caught my eye. I would have missed it because of the thick black smoke that filled the room if it weren't for the bright baby blue color. I debated whether I should see what it was or not. I mean, my life was in danger.
        Well, I'm pretty fucking dumb sometimes.
        I climbed down from the dresser and blinked the watery tears out of my eyes from the smoke. I bent down and picked up a stuffed animal I had missed earlier, a bright blue bunny that had a bracelet around it's neck.
        I tucked it in my waist band and climbed back on top of the dresser. I grabbed onto the wood again and used all the upper body strength I had to haul myself onto the roof. I pulled myself up and yelped when my pant leg got caught on a sharp piece of wood. I yanked my leg up and hissed in pain when it tore into my skin but kept climbing anyway, my arms shaking at the amount of weight I was pulling.
        As soon as my body was all the way out I breathed in the fresh air greedily, but I wasn't done yet. By the sounds of the creaking and groaning wood underneath my exhausted body, I might end up falling into a pit of flames if I didn't hurry and jump down.
        So I shakily stood up, ignoring the stinging pain in my leg and quickly jogged over to the porch overhang. I corrected myself when I was about to jump down on top of it, the force could make me fall right through.
        So I climbed down and jumped off from there, a sharp pain shooting through my ankles and up because of the impact. I shook it off and limped to the gate, but Marshall was no where in sight.
        Fuck.
        Where was he?
        "Marshall!" I screamed as I frantically searched my bright surroundings. Smoke was billowing up out of the house and I would have been celebrating if it weren't for the fact that Marshall might still be inside.
         "Oh my fuck," I exhaled again in relief the second time tonight once I saw him come running out of the house covered in soot. I ran to him and jumped in his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck and holding on for dear life.
         "I told you to get out of the house you fucking dumb ass," my voice cracked. He had his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, and his body was shaking.
        "I thought you were still inside. I fucking... thought you were hurt or passed out. Fuck, you have no idea what was going through my head," his voice was hoarse as he pulled away and held my face in his hands. He brushed away my tears and brought my face to his, where he pressed a kiss to my forehead.
        I closed my eyes in bliss and relief. I don't know what I'd do if I lost Marshall, too. 
       I opened my eyes and grabbed his hand, motioning for us to hop back over the gate. He nodded and sighed out through his nose. I patted his arm and he chuckled softly, shaking his head.
        We hopped over the fence without falling and just stood on the sidewalk, staring at our dangerous handiwork. It was actually a pretty sight now that neither of us were hurt or in danger. So we stood and admired the way the glaring orange flames lit up the night sky, and how the charcoal black smoke billowed out of the hole in the roof and nearly covered the stars.
        "The roof, the roof," Marshall began. I grinned and began to jump around, all previous worries forgotten.
        "The roof is on fire!!" I finished it, both of us dancing goofily around.
        "WE DONT NEED NO WATER LET THE MOTHA FUCKA BURN! BURN MOTHA FUCKA, BUUURRRN!!" we yelled into the night air, hyped up on a random burst of adrenaline.
        "Marshall we just fucking set a house on fire," the realization dawned on me before I threw my head back and laughed loudly, said adrenaline getting to my head for sure.
          "Fuck yeah we did," he laughed with me.
        "We should probably get outta here before the cops show up," I kept staring at the house.
        "Hold on a minute. Lemme just stay like this for a minute longer," he whispered, suddenly serious. I turned to look at him and blushed when I found him gazing at me.
        He grabbed my hand and interlaced our fingers together, electricity shooting from his touch to the rest of my body. He never took his eyes off of my face. The butterflies in my stomach were wilding out on crack and my heart was about to burst with intense and raw emotion for this boy.
        "I love you," he whispered again. My jaw dropped and he smiled boyishly, then leaned in to my face.
        My body was going numb, my brain to mush and my heart was going a hundred miles an hour. When his lips brushed against mine, everything seemed to snap out of it and intensify all my senses, especially touch.
        My eye fluttered shut and I kissed him back with as much longing and passion as he had. His other hand was wrapped up in my hair and my own was clutching his hoodie tightly as the kiss deepened and got more intense.
        We pulled away for air and just stared at each other with grins on our faces, the burning house beside us no longer the center of our attention.
        "Can you be my girl Silence Grey?" he whispered, brushing his thumb against my cheeks softly. I bit my lip and nodded, overwhelmed with emotion.
        "Of course you fucking dumb ass," I told him and we held each other once again. And I gotta tell you, each time we do, it feels better and better.

        **Well then! This chapter is finally finished and I'm feeling pretty damn good about that. Cause guys, there was a time when I just did not want to continue with this book. But, everyone seems to have that problem sometimes, and I eventually got that spark again, some new ideas and here I am with another chapter for y'all. And another thing I just wanna say real quick, I've noticed there are a lot of stories with the abusive parent cliché. I absolutely did not know it was a cliché until after I fucking posted this shit. So my bad, guys. Maybe when I'm finished I'll make some major changes. Oh, and have y'all listened to that song before? The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Is On Fire!!! I like it, and you might too if you're into old school rap/hip hop. And yes, this chapter was slightly inspired by 8 Mile, and I've always wanted to set a house on fire - not with people in it, of course. *Maybe* Lol, anyway, on that note, lemme know what y'all think, okay? Alllrrriight, bye for now Stans!
             *ColoredEyes*