Saturn County

Ten | Fireworks

She would need to tread water carefully; she knew less about Daisy's friends than she cared to admit. There was Emma, who she knew had spied on her, and Sebastian, who'd been drunk a few weeks back but didn't seem to mind her presence. They hadn't spoken since that sad excuse for a party, but he always gave her a slight smile when they passed each other. She'd met a boy named Benji as well—the lanky one with dark skin—but one conversation with him and she knew he wasn't the best ally. He let a little too much slip about their run-in with the Condor Street Gas Station Gang, but also revealed that he thought Emma was a harmless little kid. Benji was an idiot. He'd be no help. Sebastian was her greatest hope. Sebastian also had a habit of going to the roof of the mall at night. She'd seen him and Daisy sneak off to some supply closet at the party and had taken it upon herself to explore the very next morning.

She was gonna need a peace offering. Luckily, she was in that goddamn Hallmark.

Around sundown she saw him ascend. She spent thirty minutes thinking of every excuse possible not to speak to him, every other solution she could possibly imagine, but she always returned to this shot in the dark. She waited until she saw Emma leave their little campsite—she didn't want to be followed—and then she crossed the white linoleum floor of the mall, and followed Sebastian up to the roof.

He was seated near the edge of the roof, cross-legged just a couple feet back from the edge.
"Hey," she said loudly. "It's Mai from the Hallmark store." It was important to make her presence known, and she lifted her hands to show their empty innocence as he turned around. She had a knife strapped to her belt of course, but nothing in her hands. It was the sort of gesture she'd only ever seen on tv before the world ended. Put your hands in the air so I can see them.

"Oh, hey, Mai." He hadn't scrambled to his feet or reached to grab a weapon.

She approached him slowly until she was standing a few feet behind him to his left. He could turn over his shoulder and see her fully. "You're gonna get yourself killed like this, sitting on the edge, not jumping to defense."

"You don't think that's insensitive right now?" The expression on his face was wrong for the moment, almost something like a smirk. She wasn't sure if he was coping with humor or if he knew there was nothing to mourn.

"Should it be?"

"Come sit," he said. "If you were gonna kill me right now you'd get caught."

"I could make it look like an accident," she said but sat down beside him regardless. She hadn't noticed just how long his hair was before. It brushed across his forehead, nearly covering his eyes. He brushed it out of the way, but it fell back into place only a few seconds later. "It would look like you jumped."

"And my sister would see you leaving the supply closet." Sister. Singular. He had one in particular in mind. She figured he meant Emma—she didn't even know the older one's name—but it was good to think about regardless.

"Well it sure is a good thing I'm not planning to kill you." She handed him her gifts. "I brought you two cards. The one in the envelope is for your loss, the other didn't have envelopes in stock yet."

She could have sworn Sebastian almost laughed when he saw the holiday card. "It's the Fourth, isn't it?"

"Who's counting?"

"Thank you," he said and she almost thought he meant it. "Can I ask you something?" She nodded. "What was the deal with you and Daisy?"

"Damned if I know," she muttered. "We met once a few weeks back, before I came to the mall. I hadn't thought much about it at the time. I think she was defensive of her territory." Territory, she thought, What a stupid word to say in real life.