Quitetly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself. He couldn't help but think of the past. He and his brothers were only eight or nine at the time, but it was the events at Darnold's Mill that instilled the hate within him. It was what he lived for. And now it was all about to come down on his brother's heads. He wasn't afraid though. If anyone got in his way, there would be bloodshed. Quiggly felt the blood pumping in his veins. He knew there were only a few streets in the old neighborhood. That thought was a source of pride for him, since his brother was the least intelligent of the five; he hated the little shit the most. The lights were beginning to go on. The houses looked more abandoned, more run down. Quiggly looked at his gun in his hand, his other hand inside his jacket pulling the trigger. He had never felt so free. "They'll pay," he said, as he passed one more house. "That bunch of dirty ass motherfuckers." Quiggly kept on, until he was finally in front of his own house, which he would soon be burning down. He walked up the driveway, looked to see if his family was awake. They were fine. They could sleep through a war. He looked around. He was going to see his parents and make them pay for what they did to him. He was going to finally get a chance to kill that bastard Darnold. For all the crap that he put his family through. Quiggly knew that they must have been hiding in the basement. He put the key in the door and opened the lock. He looked at his hand, expecting to see some blood. But nothing. "They didn't fucking move," he said. "Bunch of assholes." Quiggly reached for the door, and was about to head inside, when he heard someone coming up behind him. He swung around fast, and was about to fire, when he realized that it was his father. Quiggly dropped his gun and ran past his father. "I told you not to come here," said his mother. "Sheila," said his father. "I just want to talk to you for a minute." "I don't want to see you anymore," she said. "Leave me alone." "Listen," said his father. "I'm not gonna say it again. I'm done with this life. I love you all, but I ain't gonna do this no more." "You better leave now," said his mother. "Before he gets here. He gets upset when you're around, and he'll kick your ass. Don't stay here, he ain't here yet. You just wait until tomorrow, and then we'll talk about it. He'll want to go see his friend, but it'll just take some time. I told you that, remember?" "Yeah, yeah," said his father. "I'll be back before tomorrow night." "Stop fooling around," said his mother. "Get outta here." His father shook his head. He turned around and opened the door. He looked back once more, not knowing what was about to happen, but knew that there would be hell to pay. But for now, he was going to end this life and try again in a new one. Quiggly watched his father leave. He then went back inside the house. He went into the basement, and saw a sleeping form. He approached the figure and took it into his hands. He placed his hands around the head of Darnold. Quiggly looked at his own hands, now covered in blood. He loved this moment. He loved this moment, but it didn't change the fact that Darnold was going to pay. Quiggly looked at his own hand, noticing it wasn't shaking. He then leaned down and took a seat on the floor. He leaned down and smelled his hands. He was going to get high. **** "I thought you didn't like Darnold," said Kev. "Well," said G-Money. "It looks like it's time to go back to square one." "You serious?" "I don't see how you can say no," said G-Money. "You're in enough trouble as it is. It seems like you always have a problem with that fucking white boy, huh?" "Shit," said Kev. "You told him all that?" "Yeah, he was pretty interested. Now all he wants to do is get Darnold," said G-Money. "I just don't see how that shit's possible." "What did he want?" "The same thing everybody else wants. He wanted to know why Darnold and I were so close. And why we kept getting picked up. Why was it we got put back in the pen? Why was it we got out? I told him a few different stories. To tell you the truth, I don't even know the real answers. I don't know why I was working in the first place. I was in a gang since the first time I turned eleven. It was either die or be a punk. I didn't know any better." "You want to quit?" "Are you serious?" "Yeah." "I want out, but I don't know if I can," said G-Money. "Darnold was the closest thing to my father I had. Now he's gone. I don't want to quit, but I don't think I can get through this without him. I've lost so much already, I don't know how much more I can take." "I'm with you," said Kev. "I guess we'll get used to this stuff if we stay here too long." "I don't want to stay here too long," said G-Money. "What's it like outside of all this?" "It's shit, believe me," said Kev. "You won't believe the things that they put me through. If we get out of here, you should see it." "I don't know how far Darnold got," said G-Money. "I don't know what happened to him. It seems like he fell on you at just the right time." "It's kind of messed up," said Kev. "I don't know why I can't see him. He didn't have any relatives, so what's with that? They just threw him in here with some other dead bodies." "Whatever," said G-Money. "Just make sure that you take care of business, so he didn't die for nothing. Just take the risk, and you'll be set. Now you have me, so no one's gonna mess with your punk ass. And I don't give a fuck about you. I'm gonna kill you with the same energy that he killed me. I'll do whatever you want. Just don't tell me anything." "You're gonna have to do the right thing," said Kev. "Darnold's out there and I'm in here. You can't be out here alone." "So I'm a fucking gangster now?" "You're better than that," said Kev. "It's a fucking mess out there, man. It's bad. I saw one boy running into a bar and killing a bunch of people. They got weapons everywhere. It's messed up." "It's a fucking war," said G-Money. "Things are just getting worse and worse." "Listen," said Kev. "We're trying to get out, right?" "I think I lost track." "We're trying to get out, right? We're trying to get out." "We're getting out, that's the best thing to do," said G-Money. "I've been here for a while now, but I really want to see the outside world. I want to see how life works on the outside." "You're gonna have to talk to a lot of people. You're gonna have to convince them you're not the same type of guy you used to be. You're not that guy anymore." "Fuck that," said G-Money. "That's why I came to talk to you." "And they're just gonna see that," said Kev. "They're just going to see that. They're going to want to use you. They're going to see how old and weak you are. I don't know how they're gonna react." "I don't know what I'm doing. I'm going to have to look up all these people. You're right. That's what's going to happen." "They'll just use you," said Kev. "They'll take everything you got. They'll just take it from you and destroy you. You're going to have to do more than just use that energy. That's it. All you can do is keep your mouth shut." "There's always a way out of something," said G-Money. "But this is different." "How do you know?" said Kev. "You never been in this situation before." "