Yesterday's Today

1; The Way

Lately, her parents have been getting on her case about life. Go get a job, Marilyn. Stop partying, Marilyn. Why don't you have a boyfriend, Marilyn. What happened to what's-his-name, Marilyn. She's 18 for God's sake! And about to graduate high school, too. All she wants to do is have a bit more fun before being forced to go to college.

Now don't get her wrong; Marilyn is a good student with not-too-shabby grades. Some of her teachers even like to brag a little bit to the other districts about how she's SO talented and smart. Not like she cared anymore. Life just doesn't like to go her way sometimes. And she accepted that. She just want to make her parents proud.

"AND GET OUT!"

Except now— when the sun is getting low and the families are just coming home from a long days of work, the orange-yellow sunkissed glow hitting all parts of the Earth, and all lifeforms are either about to go to sleep or party.

Marilyn is part of the ladder.

Afterall, her mom did just kick her out of the house for the billionth time this week, where else would she go? She takes out her phone and dials a number from her contacts.

"Hey, Mom's kicked me out again so Imma crash at your place tonight," Marilyn said into the mic. This was starting to become a common occurrence to the individuals involved: parents get mad, parents yell, Marilyn yells back, Marilyn gets kicked out, and Marilyn crashes at her best friend's house or goes partying.

"What?! Not again; girl, you gotta get your fucking life together before I shove it into your ass for you," groans Parker, rollering her eyes, "what time are you getting here?"

"Just about now. Come open the door for me," hanging up the phone, Marilyn puts it into her jean pockets and not a moment later, a short, blonde opens the door. Saying a quick hi to Parker's mom, the two girls quickly climbs up the stairs and hid in Parker's room.

Parker's room consisted of mainly shaded colors and the occasional red: two of her walls were black with the other two white; her blood-red bed sat in one corner of the room, in front of the closet, with another but light gray bed sat parallel in another corner; a black drawer acting as a desk was between the two beds with a lamp, a mirror, and a makeup set sitting on top; and a white shelf full of Parker's books leaned against the wall at the foot of the gray bed. Marilyn stayed over so much, Parker's family added a bed just for her.

"So what did you do now?" asked Parker distractedly, leaning against the black wall by her bed, looking at her phone. Giving a quick glance at the girl, Marilyn was quick to realized Parker was on the phone with her boyfriend, Ashton.

"Apparently getting a B on the history test is a no go to my parents," shrugs Marilyn. She flops back onto her bed, her curly black hair spreading across the sheets.

"That's it? Mari, I think that's one of the highest grade our class got on that test. Jesus knows I got a D," said Parker, pausing to look at her best friend for a second before going back to Ashton, "besides, it's not like you're throwing your entire future away. You guys need to chill out."

"That what I keep telling them, but they won't listen to me," sighs Marilyn, "anyways, it doesn't matter. Mitch's party is in 2 hours right? Let's go crash it."

"Fine, but we're not staying long," Parker continues to type on her phone, "I've got stuff to do."

---

"Parker," whines Marilyn, prolonging the second R, "let's go."

"Hold on, will you? I still need to talk to Ashton," Parker sat in front of the mirror, curling her lashes. Looking over, Marilyn takes in Parker's outfit. Her blondes were in waves, thick lashes surrounded blue eyes, and the girl was wearing a golden dress. Compared to Marilyn, Parker looked like she was going to some sophisticated party. "Maybe you should try dressing up a bit."

"What's wrong with my outfit?" Going over to the mirror, Marilyn stares back at herself. Black hair ran down her back, similar blue eyes looking right back, and a casual crop top and blue jeans covered her figure. "I look fine."

"No, you look like you're about to go to school in that outfit," commented Parker, "dress up a bit."

"Yea, no thanks," Marilyn makes a face, almost sour looking, "can we go now?"

"No."

Marilyn groans, heading face first into bed. Her voice muffled as she whines, "why?"

"Girl, if you want to go so bad, just take the fucking car and go," said Parker annoyed. She picks up the keys on her desk-drawer and tosses it towards Marilyn. "I'll just ask Ashton to come pick me up."

Scrambling to get up, Marilyn quickly picks up the keys next to her and ran down the stairs, cheering, "see you later, lovebird!"

Exiting the house, she takes no notice the darkness that surrounds her and climb into her best friend's small, gray car she got for her birthday a few months back. Putting the GPS onto her phone, she follows the way until she gets to a small club.

Mitch's family owned a bar, and whenever he wanted a party, it was reserved to mainly his friends and family. Marilyn was not one of them, but the guard didn't need to know that.

So parking a street away, she waited for the walk sign to stop blinking the stopping hand as people walk back and forth around her, the cars roaring past by, and the music from Mitch's bar so loud it can be heard from where she stands. As she was waiting, Marilyn suddenly lurch forward as someone shove their shoulders against her, nearly knocking her onto the dirty streets of Andor City.

"Hey, watch it!" Marilyn scowls, swiping imaginary dusts off her clothes, and glaring at the back of the hooded guy's head. The nerve of some people, she thought. Not even a sorry?

However, instead of seeing him continue down the street, she sees him walk into an alleyway. The sign in front of her switches to let them know they can start walking across, but Marilyn ignores it. Curiosity eats at her insides and she goes to follow quietly behind the hooded guy, into the darkened alley.

Looking around, she sees her target talking a tall, burly man with sleeves of tattoos and a nose ring for style, both standing in front of a backdoor for something. Quickly, she ducks down behind some trashcan near the two to eavesdrop.

"It was all I could do," said the hooded guy. His voice was scratchy and uneven as if he had a bad cold or he lost his voice. "I gave it a 10 minute wait."

"You better be right about this," gruffed the burly man. He slightly glared down at the hooded guy, arms crossed, "or it won't be good for either one of us."

"It'll be fine," waves the hooded guy, "how else would we have gone to this world otherwise?"

The man stays silent, not know what to say. Realizing that nothing else was going to happen, Marilyn slowly starts backing away confused, careful to not make any noise, when her foot accidentally kicks something fuzzy. Whirling around, she noticed a cat scrambling away. Looking up again, Marilyn freezes when she makes direct eye contact to the two guys she was eavesdropping on and pales. "Fuck."

Sighing, the burly man strides over to Marilyn and address the hooded guy, "get inside, I'll deal with the little girl."

"Hurry up; it's going off in a minute," the hooded guy walks through the door.

Wide eyed, Marilyn steps back from the burly man before colliding to the trashcans, trapping her in his clutches. He pulls his fist back and say, "sorry Sweetheart, but you've seen too much," before connecting it to Marilyn's temple and making her past out. Her head flies back from the force, hitting it against the trashcans and blood rushes quickly down her head. After swiftly checking her very slow pulse, he picks her up and throws her into the trashcan to hide the body, believing she'll die of blood lost, and goes inside where the hooded man was.

Unbeknownst to Marilyn, the world around her changes to one she isn't familiar with.