(More trigger warnings: mentions of gang violence, some detailed torture, and death)

"I don't see why not?" Paul shrugged taking a swig from the bottle.

"Would you rather hear it in song and dance or .." He set the bottle down beside the bed before turning frantically, "Or would you like it performed like a Shakespeare monologue."

"I personally am all for song and dance," David started from behind, "but perhaps save the singing and dancing for the party. You can't exactly put on a good show for your story. Besides do tragedies even have dance numbers? Marko, do you know?"

"Typically they don't, Greek tragedies did but they were done by a chorus to explain to the audience what was happening," the cherub yawned lightly as he laid his head back on my stomach.

"Well, well, well we have a genius among us after all- got any more information for us?" Paul had rested his hands on his hips in a sassy manner.

"Not particularly- I just have a love for the arts," Marko paused, "besides shouldn't you be telling your tragic backstory?"

"I guess I should, it's been talked about too much. It would be a crime if I didn't tell it,"

"Since when are you worried about committing a crime?"

"I guess I was back in '68 or the summer of '69, that I last worried about crimes- I mean that's when I really fell for you," and like that I could remember exactly what Paul was talking about.

The summers in Crowne Point, New Jersey were almost tire melting. It made good business for the grease monkeys down at Merrill's Autoshop and Junkyard. However it almost made people revert to horses and carriages like they'd converted from almost less than ten years prior.

To say Crowne Point was a small town was an understatement. In towns like these, everyone knew each other which was nice if you liked the familiarity of small town life. However, it also meant everyone also knew everything about you too.

Everyone knew everything. Interesting gossip like things about Buck Van Winkle's affair with an out of towner to the strange appearance of a child whom everyone assumed to be his bastard was common knowledge for example.

The truth be told in this particular situation- Buck never had an affair. Juliette Van Winkle, Buck's wife, was gifted with other talents than being given the ability to be a mother. So when he came home with a baby and her music career took off, people began to conspire there'd been an affair. They figured the blonde child couldn't possibly been Juliette's; there was no characteristic similar to the dark haired woman's. And no one blamed her when she left to become Ms. Juliette Hitchhawke- The most popular country and gospel singer of the east coast.

Things like these, rumors, were like a sentencing chip in the small town I grew up in. It was just me and my father until I was fifteen. His sickness began fairly quickly and was over before we even knew what it was. The coroner was blown away by the quickness of the disease's evolution. It only took the disease two weeks to kill him.

He became sick, staying in from sunlight as it made him feint. Desiring raw meats and bouncing between an inibility to sleep during the night and day and becoming a night owl, staying awake until body exhaustion incapacitated him. The doctor suggested a brain hemorrhage but at the time no one understood what that entailed. So we all went along and accepted it.

I spend the next two years in the house he died in. The law hadn't found any family for me to transferred to. However I found myself emancipated from the system. I'll never know how that happened but I'm glad it did.

I spent my days attending school and my nights, afternoons, weekends waitressing at Big Al's Dinner or working in Pop's Soda Shop. I managed to support myself well enough without the little bit of money my pops had actually saved for us. I knew I had to save it because it had to be what would get me out of this county. I had to get out someday.

It was one of those hot summer evenings that I met him. He rode up next to me in a maroon and gold '52 Firebird with the top down and everything. His ride itself had me convinced of one of two things; he was one of those rich kids that lived up in the Highland Hills or that he had some crazy gig to have a nice car like that. If he wasn't a rich socialite that lived in the Hills to relax close to the country side then he had to have been one of Merrill's grease monkeys with a ride that sweet, and obviously customized. Or worse- he was one of Billy 'One Eye's' guys which would explain the mad cash for the wild ride.

Billy 'One Eye' had two eyes and surprisingly both worked considering the nickname. Despite the lack of obvious sense in the nickname, it was better than the original Billy 'One Nut'. No one dared to give him any kind of hard time about it, especially if you'd met the guy. Some said he was vile- others said downright psychotic and evil. And they were right. It was almost as if he'd made a deal with the devil to keep one of his two nuts and got possessed by something in the process. No one messed with Billy. He did the dirty work, he got results, and ironically happened to be the richest young man in town. I guess dirty work pays a helleva lot of more money than waitressing, dishwashing, or any other blue collar job.

"Hey babe, need a ride?"

I avoided looking anywhere but the sidewalk ahead of me. I knew he was coming- heard him anyway, his howling laughter was unforgettable. His voice wasn't much different than the howl, although less wild it was just as piercing in the right tone.

"No thanks," I kept my pace a little faster than normal and heavy.

"Where you heading?" He kept his car pulled to the side as he drove beside me. He didn't go any faster than I walked. He was very relaxed at the moment, wearing a kind smile, and brushing his blonde floppy Mick Jagger hair from his face.

"Home," I replied shortly, I thought about pick up my pace and just sprinting home but a crack of thunder and dark clouds started to roll towards the moon.

"I could give you a lift," he replied after the crack had settled. The air seem more humid and you could almost smell the rain coming.

In that light from the thunder I saw more of his face than I had before- he had fair skin that seemed to see only a little more sun than mine had. His crystal blue eyes shined in the blue hues I'd seen in the thunder.

He was good looking and he knew it. You could see it in the way he sat, the way he had his hand on the wheel, and the way he dressed. I could only see his slightly opened button up top from where I stood but something said he had way more of a fashion sense than he let on. He look like a rockstar by any and all means. The long hair, the cool car, and clothes- I bet he played an instrument or sang too.

"It's not too far," I felt like I was telling myself that too, however I knew home was a good six or so miles away. And it was up hill.

"It'll be faster and you'll get home before the rain really starts coming down."

I knew he was right and I hated it.

I stared at him hard in the dark and shook my head with a laugh, " You're very persistent aren't you?"

"Well what kind of guy would I be if I left a gorgeous gal like you out in the rain?"

"The kind that hangs with guys like Billy One-Eye,"

I muttered

"What was that?" He didn't look mad

"I said, Not a very respectable one I'd assume."

"Exactly. I'd feel better knowing you made it home safely. There are plenty of predators out prowling tonight," he said it in that piercing tone that reminded me just how right he was.

Old Howey's Billiard was ahead, on my way home. It was a place I hated going past. Billy 'One Eye' and his gang hung out there a lot. Besides that there was a lot going on in that place that was bad news. I tried my best to avoid it but sometimes you just had back luck and had to go past it. However, it might be better to go by it with someone else.

"I appreciate the concern but if I was worried I have friends I could call."

"Now babe, me and you both know that's not true."

"How dare you insult me!" I scoffed at the truth of his words in attempt to dull their sting. It didn't help no matter how much I denied it. He was unknowingly correct,I didn't have friends. I didn't have anyone to call.