Love Conquers All _The Sequel_

Chapter Five - Thug

Tex's POV:
Of course I joined a gang. Actually it's one of the most prestige gangs known in these parts, but getting in was easy for me. I work out twice a day, how could they decline me?

I'm not just gonna let Mary keep punkin' me like the little punk she is. No one can punch me and get away with it. I guess you could call this whole situation a form of rebellion...
Just the thought of it makes me smirk.

Teddy here is one of my chilliest homeboys, he's like a brother to me. We always straight up thuggin' together. I don't really know how he found me but it's chill I guess.

"Wassup dawg?" I ask him, bobbing my head, because I learned that was cool to do in gangs.

"Nuttin' much brah, yo, why you ain't saggin' yo britches man?" He points down to my pants. He speaks in a fairly high voice for a gangster, and I guess if he weren't in this gang he'd be considered pretty lame. But the thug life changes you, I know that know.

"Oh yahh man I dun fo'gat bout dat shi-" I say, then pull down the waist of my pants so my underwear is showing, because that's cool too. I momentarily glance over at Mary, and she's wearing a gaze of flame.

With her arms crossed and her mouth pursed, she asks, "What in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior is going on??"

"Chill out sis," I say coolly.
"Yah, chill out, brah," Teddy adds, backing me up. He's always got my back.

"Sis? What the heck? When did you start talking like this and when did you join a gang?" Mary yells, and I can tell she's getting extremely angry. Good.

"Ever since you decided to be a frickin' punk and to punch my nose!" I yell back, losing my chill for a sec.

"Oh, that's what this is about?! Oh my god Tex, way to sink low! Is this really just because you can't handle Michael's death?!" She screams.

"I can't handle it? I CAN'T HANDLE IT?! Mary, you scream and cry every night until the break of dawn and you carved his name into the bed frame and into the dining room tableand every day you chant curses against the existence of ET, and I can't handle it!?" My gangster voice has left me but I'm so mad I couldn't care less. As I tell at Mary, Teddy is behind me, making gang signs and crude gestures to help me threaten Mary.

"I never have and never will care about Michael," I say, barely above a whisper, and the second I do I regret it.

Mary clenches her hands in fists at her sides and lets out a piercing scream, and within an instance there is a ring of flames surrounding Teddy and me. As I look into the flames I can't help crying out fright, and Mary begins maliciously laughing.

"Mary! You know I didn't mean it!" I scream over the roar of the fire.

"THOSE WHO SPEAK CANNOT SEE," Mary screams in a low demonic voice which booms and shakes the house.

"Forgive me!" I yell.

"Forgive Michael," Mary yells back.

"K," I say, and Mary lets the flames down.

"Yah bruh that was close," Teddy says
I nod my head in response.

"I'll be going now," Mary says sternly, tears of blood streaming from her eyes.

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Mary's POV:

I look in the mirror, and I appear the same as I once appeared, on the day of the concert, many days ago. The same smokey eyes and black lace dress, the same curly hair.

I don't know where Tex is and I'm most likely gonna be making the trek to the theatre by myself. I think Julia at least is coming to the funeral...

I leave the empty room, and walk out I into the empty house. The only other one I was sharing this place with was Michael's body, and that's changing now that I'm going to his funeral.

I step into the freezing night air and instantly chills rise on my arms. The breeze in my face makes my eyes water and I shiver.

The walk to the theatre is short and uneventful, and when I enter the lights are dim just as they were before the concert.

Entering the room where the coffin is, I am suddenly welcomed by a massive group of people. There are men and women all around and none of them are dressed up. They look like they are about in their twenties. I stand in the doorway awkwardly. Everyone turns and looks straight at me and exchanges murmurs between each other.

I feel my face grow cold as Tex walks out onto the stage and begins to talk.

"My brothers," he says, "welcome..."