Deadly Class imagines

The Beginning of the Downfall

(Might have two parts if requested)

Wrists and ankles strapped down to the chair. Blood dripping down my nose from the last two strikes. The room is dark and ominously cold. Lin paces slowly around me like a predator circling its prey. My fingers shake in place. "Where is he?" His raspy, dark tone is nothing that fazes me anymore. He stoops down to my level to assume my attention. "You act tough and you claim it's who you are. It's just a façade. I know the real you. You talk down to yourself every chance you get. You pretend you do not care about losing the people around you but I can see in your eyes. It's your largest fear." He whispers to me. I know he expects me to cave in but I can't. Marcus would kill me. Instead, I hold my head up higher without breaking eye contact. "You can beat me as much as you want. You aren't going to get anything from me. I don't know what happened to Chico." I turn my head and spit out the blood from my mouth. Lin faces away from me. I can tell he's thinking hard of ways to tear me down. The silence in the room creates tension. My head is throbbing and I'm certain my nose is broken. He spins around on his heels to face my direction. "Your friends. They're your weaknesses." He looks at the guard standing by the door. "Bring Bennett in here." Panic starts to kick in. "Wait no." I try to tear my hands from the straps but its unsuccessful. "Please don't. You want answers and I promise you won't get them from him. Leave him out of this." My voice starts to shake and he can sense my fear. Lin pulls up a chair to sit in front of me. "Tell me what happened." He is coming down to his end. I drop my head and stare at my lap. "We were in Vegas. Maria and Marcus. They had been flirting or whatever and Chico caught on. He followed us." I pause to catch my breath. "Who is we?" Lin asks. Every thought in my head is jumbled together, nearly blurred into one. It's difficult trying to find the correct thing to say. He wants to know who did it and that doesn't take much strength. "It was Maria. She did it. That's what you want to hear, right?" I tell him. The defeat is visible. He leans in closer to me and gently touches my face. "Thank you. However, I need the story in its entirety." Lin speaks in a soft tone. Rolling my head back, I let out a slight chuckle. I know that what I am doing is wrong but the thought of Lin doing to Billy what he's done to me is enough to get me to spill. Marcus should understand. "It was originally supposed to be me, Billy, and Marcus but Saya, Maria, and Willie tagged along. We went to go kill Billy's low-life father and that's it. But Maria, she comes with a bigger problem. Chico. From what I know, he busted Marcus and Maria together and he started beating him up in an alleyway. The rest of us caught up with them and Marcus was barely holding on. So she killed him."

Cutting the ties on both my arms and legs, Lin releases me. I gave him what he was looking for.

I knew I had to tell Marcus. Keeping it a secret wouldn't be safe for any of us. One stair after the other, I quickly make my way to the roof. Marcus, Billy, Lex, and Saya sit around in a circle with a Monopoly board in front of them. Their worried reactions remind me that I'm in bad shape. Billy stands up and rushes to my side but I gently place my hand on his shoulder to stop him from touching me. The last thing I want is for people to start poking at the bruises forming on my face. "I'll be okay but, Marcus, we need to talk." My breath is heavy and I can hardly speak. The pain is becoming more noticeable but I don't have time to focus on that. I need to tell him before the monks get to Maria. I pull him aside and start to explain everything to him. It's easy to tell that he is disappointed but he also knows that if he were in my position he would do the same. He reaches to touch my face but I turn my head to avoid contact. "I can't believe he would do that to you. I never meant for any of this to get this bad." His voice is a sympathetic whisper. "Pardon my bluntness but you had us covering up a murder. It was bound to get this bad. I'm just glad he came for me first." I sigh and shrug my shoulders before turning away to join the group with Marcus following behind me. "Guys, I'm okay. I promise." I reassure my worried friends that everything is okay. My battered face is only the beginning of the downfall.