The Flame with a Choice

The Funeral

A few days later we went to Marcus's parents' funeral. Even though they were angry at him, they left him $100,000 when they died. I never have seen him this sad and angry. His blood relatives came to console him and tell him that they were sorry. I rubbed his shoulder as I held Jenny.

"Baby, do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

"I-I don't know what to say." He replied in a broken voice. "I knew the Hoodlums were bad, but I didn't know they would do something like this." He added. I hugged him.

"The cops are doing everything that they can do to catch the bastard. This list is small as it is." I said. "I'd be out there searching my damn self but you and our daughter comes first." I added.

"You still aren't fully healed to go back, anyways. Besides, Nathan accepted your offer. No more gang fights." Marcus said with a little chuckle. I kissed his cheek. We stood by their graves for several minutes until two cops walked up to us.

"Marcus?" The first cop asked and he nodded.

"Yeah?" He said. The officer held out his hand.

"I'm Keith Powell, I'm one of the officers involved in your parents case." The cop said as Marcus shook his hand.

"What have you learned?" Marcus asked.

"It happened at 1:15 in the morning." Officer Powell explained. "They had the door locked, so they weren't able to get out in time. The fuel used for the fire was Kerosene and it was lit at the-" he tried to say but Marcus cut him off.

"No offense, officer but I want to know if there's anything new about the killer." Marcus said.

"I'm sorry. So far we have narrowed it down to two suspects. They belong to the Meaningless Hoodlums. One of them has been charged." Powell said.

"Who are they?" I asked as I grabbed Marcus's hand.

"Chris and Jordan, do you know them?" Powell asked. Marcus and I looked at each other. We didn't think it would have been Jordan. Chris was the only one who had motive. He probably thought that Marcus was in the house when he set it on fire.

"Yeah, we know them. Chris is my ex-boyfriend. Jordan is a friend of his." I said as Jenny started to fuss. I started to slightly bounce her.

"I'm sorry that this happened to the both of you. We will try everything to make sure your family is safe." Powell said.

"Thank you, officer." Marcus said as he shook Powell's hand.

"It's my job." Powell said. He walks away with his partner. We looked at each other before we headed to the car. We remained silent as we drove home. We pulled into the driveway as he broke down.

"Thank you for being there with me, baby." He said. "I don't know if I could do it without you." He added as he looked at me with tears in his eyes.

"I'd do anything for you, Sabor." I said as I hugged him. We went inside and walked straight to the nursery. I put Jenny to sleep and laid her in her crib. Marcus held me in his warm embrace.

"I love you, Jags." He said with a smile. We walked down to the living room and watching some old cartoons that we grew up watching.

Several minutes later, there was a knock at the door and mom ran down the stairs. I was hoping that we weren't receiving any more bad news.

"I got it." Mom said as she opened the door. It ended up being Colin. Mom let him inside.

"Thanks, Abigail's mom." Colin said as he sat down in the recliner next to us. We looked over at him.

Hey man, what are you doing here?" Marcus asked and Colin looked at him.

"I heard about your parents. I just came by to tell you how sorry I am. The Angeles de la Muertes are here, if you want to talk about it. Just let us know." Colin said and I forgot that he joined our gang when David did.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. It's just going to be rough for the next few months." Marcus said. I laid my head on his shoulder.

"You still have us, baby." I said as I loved on him. He smiled at me then kissed my lips.

"I love you." He said as he pulled away.

"I love you too, baby." I said with a smile. We all watched tv for a couple more hours. Jenny woke up crying. I went up to check on her. I changed her diaper then we sat down in the rocking chair. I breast fed her until she fell back to sleep. I put her back in her crib and walked back downstairs. They were watching SpongeBob.

"Did I miss anything?" I asked as I sat down beside Marcus.

"Nope." Colin said as Marcus yawned.

"Yeah, there isn't anything good on right now." Marcus replied. Just like they said, the new episodes of SpongeBob were really bad.

"These cartoons aren't like what we had growing up." I said. Marcus nodded and started flipping through the channels.

"We need something good to watch." He said. A few minutes later, he hit the news channel and we immediately see a picture of someone we recognized. The headline read 'Arson Suspect found dead in his home'.

"Chris?" We all said. Chris's mugshot was seen on the tv. We kept watching in order to hear the story.

"Today at 5 pm, Arson suspect, Chris Hatfield, was found dead in his house. He had a gunshot wound to his head. The suspects in his death are his fellow gang members, PJ and Jordan from Baltimore, Ohio. Hatfield was charged with arson and murder earlier this afternoon. More on this story at 11." The reporter said. We all looked at each other. Why would someone kill Chris? He was getting what e deserved. He was going to rot in prison for life. We tried to wrap our heads around it and analyzed every detail. Mom walked in.

"Someone killed Chris?" She asked and we all nodded.

"Why are we still in a gang, if they are killing each other?" Colin asked. I looked over at him and took a deep breath.

"We promised to protect our town, even if it's pest control." I said. Mom leaned against the doorway.

"He was an asshole but really?" Mom said and I looked at her.

"His friends killed him. Apparently, life in prison isn't what they thought he deserved. " I said and she shook her head.

"Friends don't kill each other. Was he the one who-" mom tried to say but Marcus cut her off.

"Yeah." He said. We started to figure out who it was when the story came back on the news. We were analyzing everything. PJ killed Chris. No one saw it coming. We all thought it was Jordan because the police also suspected him.

"Well, PJ is going to prison for murder. Wonder why." I stated as I rubbed Marcus's arm.

"PJ didn't want to fight us over Chris's bullshit. Once PJ realized that he killed two innocent people, he had enough." Marcus said, firmly. "Chris got just what he deserved and we didn't need to do any of it." He added.

I nudged his chest with my head as he held me. My life was perfect. Sure it had its moments but it had good things as well. Finally telling Marcus how I felt and having our baby girl were the highlights of the year. We got married a month later and we celebrated it with everyone that we loved. We didn't have to worry about the Hoodlums as much anymore. Life was going to be perfect for Jenny. For all of us.

Life was perfect, even in a gang filled town.