NO WORDS | MARCUS LOPEZ ARGUELLO

20

"Excuse me, Sir, any spare change?" Edith's eyes widened once she heard that voice. She hadn't heard it in years.

"Thomas?" Edith said running up to him.

Thomas turned to look at the girl and wrapped his arms around her waist locking them around the small of her back.

"Edie?" Edith felt tears form in her eyes.

She pulled away and cupped his face. He hadn't changed one bit, apart from he was dirtier now than he was when she first met him.

Marcus watched jealously as Edith talked to the stranger.

"E? Who is this?" He questioned going to stand beside her.

Edith removed her hands from Thomas face and placed them in her jacket pockets.

"Thomas. I lived on the streets with him for a couple of weeks."

Thomas smiled, he couldn't believe he was seeing Edith again.

One night she just left, he thought about her every day, but he just assumed she wanted nothing more to do with him.

"Before Lin took me to Kings Dominion, my fathers orders, legacy and all." She mumbled. Marcus nodded.

"Well, we need to get inside." Marcus said placing his hand on the small off her back, trying to guide her way from Thomas.

"Billy, do you have a spare ticket?" Edith questioned.

"Yeah, it was meant to be Willies but he didn't come." Billy mumbled pulling out an extra ticket.

"Great." Edith smiled and handed the ticket to Thomas.

Saya bit her lip, Edith obviously didn't know about Willies plans to leave.

"You can come with me." She grabbed Thomas hand and lead him into the building. "I'm gonna talk to Lin, see if you can stay at Kings. Stay with me."

Edith smiled up to Thomas. He brown hair, falling in front of his face.

"Edie, I don't want you to go to so much trouble for me." Thomas mumbled looking down at his feet, his converse were falling apart.

At the minute any money he had was going to a new pair of shoes to keep his feet warm.

"Tommy, I want you there and Lin will accept you." Edith smiled up to him.

"Who are we looking for?" Marcus questioned Lex, but he couldn't help but look at Edith.

"Oh, you'll know him when you see him." Lex laughed.

~

"Oi, Cactus Jack. Bit overdressed, aren't we?" Lex said to the supplier. Edith grabbed Thomas' hand. He obviously had no clue what they were doing here.

"You foreign grommet. You couldn't meet in a seedy parking lot or a crack squat. Had to be at this freak show?" He grumbled.

"You two must know each other really well." Billy commented.

"Oh, meet Cactus Jack. Uh, hard to tell by looking at him, but Jack runs an Army Navy surplus store and really likes blowing things up." Lex summed up.

"But I don't deal with people I don't know. Strange people." Jack said looking at the others wearily.

"So, Jack's a little uptight. Hard to believe. Best give me the cash and I'll get the stuff." Lex said turning to face everyone. Edith rolled her eyes.

"Mm-mm." Saya nodded.

"What am I gonna do?" Lex questioned.

"Buy a bunch of drugs and booze." Petra summed up.

"Yeah, your suspicion is rightfully warranted. Take it or leave it." Lex shrugged, it wouldn't affect him in any way if they didn't want the explosives.

"Fine. After you get everything, stash it in the comic shop. Back loading area." Saya said handing him the keys for the comic shop. "The rest of us, meet there tomorrow. 8:00 p.m." She said reluctantly handing him the money.

"Let's get closer." Petra said pulling Billy with her.

"You know my position on that notion. I think I'll head back. Gonna get some rest before we go commit suicide tomorrow." Marcus said, Edith turned to face him.

"Are you crazy? The goddamn Adolescents are playing!" She said pulling him back by his arm. Marcus held back a smile. She wanted him to stay.

"I-I'm not interested." Marcus stuttered.

"Come with me." Saya said pulling Thomas away from Edith and Marcus.

"It might be your last night on Earth." Edith mumbled drinking the vodka from her flask. "Let's have some fun." She handed him the flask.

"We have to prep, I-"

"We've done everything that we can do. The rest is out of our hands." Edith cut him off.

Marcus knew he probably should've gone back to Maria, like he promised he would, but he wanted nothing more than to stay with Edith.

"I mean, I just don't want to get beat up by strangers." Marcus said finding any excuse not to stay.

"Slam dancing, it's not like that. It's a pure expression of their enthusiasm and joy for music. It looks violent but it's not. It's play fighting." Edith pointed to the crowd.

She could faintly see Thomas and Saya laughing with each other.

"Mm-hmm." Marcus glanced at the crowd.

"Quit being so goddamn judgmental and you might actually enjoy yourself." Edith paused, turning to face him. "Contrary to what you seem to think. Life is supposed to be enjoyed."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the crowd. They were getting pushed around everywhere, the pair couldn't stop laughing.