“Hey Caroline?”

She yawned lazily from the comfort of her bed, glancing up from the pages of Fahrenheit 451 indifferently. “Yeah?”

Marcus was lying on the floor, studying his hands with preoccupation. He grinned, and turned to face her excitedly. “Do you think I could make it in the army?”

Caroline did her best to stifle a laugh. Failing miserably, she shook her head with a smile. “Hun, you couldn’t be dangerous if you tried…”

~

…The signs of a struggle in the darkened apartment were evident; broken glass was scattered on the floor from an old antique lamp, the coffee table collapsed where Caroline had fallen through it. She trembled as she cowered from her childhood friend in terror. The barrel of a loaded gun quivered inches from her face. “Marcus,” she whimpered.

In the darkness she could barely see his face, but his hard brown eyes almost glowed when set against it. “I loved you,” he muttered miserably, hot tears silently rolling down his cheek. A faked laugh passed his lips. “I’ve always loved you…”

~

Caroline’s memory again flashed back to her childhood, the deranged expression of her assailant replaced with the innocent smile he had donned at age eleven. They spent most of the summer by the river, swarms of colorful dragonflies flitting about, oblivious to the children watching them keenly.

The two of them lay side by side in the long, bristling grass. Laughing, they watched the large bugs swooping above them, reaching out to brush their legs when they flew near.

“Close your eyes,” Marcus commanded with a playful grin.

“What?” She giggled. “Why?”

“Just close your eyes,” he insisted. Nervously she obliged, and he kissed her lips softly, a soft shiver shooting up her spine…

~

“…and you used to love me.”

“Used to love you,” she shouted hysterically. Her arms trembled fiercely as she tried to push herself to her feet. Marcus kicked her back down angrily, and she yelped.

“And what about now?” he demanded. “Tell me about now.”

Caroline’s whole body shuddered, her disheveled brown hair falling into her face as she did. “I hate you!” she swore. “I hate you!”

Kneeling beside her, he looked her straight in her blurred green eyes. “I remember the last time you told me that,” he said coldly…

~

It was her seventeenth birthday, a day usually reserved for celebration but instead spent in mourning. Caroline’s eyes were red and swollen but refused to cry as she stood limp, watching the procession woefully file past the open casket. The boyish face staring up with empty eyes, so like her own, chilled her to the core, well beyond the stage of tears.

She buried her face in her palms morosely, murmuring repeatedly, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Caroline.”

She spun to see the pained expression of Marcus, his hollow eyes pleading with her silently. Finally the tears began to flow as she glowered at him with inhuman fury. “You did this.”

“Babe, please –”

“You killed him!” she cried. “You were the one behind the wheel! You were the one that drove us over that bridge!”

“It was an accident.”

“You made me lose my brother!”

“Caroline…” He moved to wipe the running mascara from her eyes, only to be met with violent recoil.

“Stay away from me!” she shrieked. “You killed him! You – you murderer!” Caroline shivered in the cold November rain, struggling to find the voice that had suddenly fled from her. “I hate you,” she choked finally. “I hate you.”

Marcus grimaced at the words, replaying them over and over in his head as if they were the last thing he’d ever hear. As Caroline walked off weeping, he stood numb amidst the many tombstones, his tears disguised by the downpour that soaked him to the core…

~

“…And that was the last time I saw you,” he recalled with a nostalgic yet bitter smile. “It’s such a shame it was a funeral. You always looked so good in black.”

All the emotions she had suppressed for years came flooding back all at once, accompanied by images of the accident, of the eyes of her brother staring up at her lifelessly. “It should have been you,” she spat. “It should have been your cold, dead face staring up from that coffin.”

Marcus laughed indignantly. “You could never live without me whether you wanted to or not.” His tone suddenly grew rigid, and he paused a moment before sneering, “It should have been Tina…”

~

The sun was just beginning to set, and the air was thick with the scent of maple and dew. Caroline and the redhead girl linked arms with a smile. “The day doesn’t have to be over yet,” she said warmly. “Come on, I’ll teach you how to play guitar.”

“Didn’t I teach you that?” Marcus asked offhandedly as he pretended to be engrossed in his opened novel. It was clear that Caroline did not pick up on the jealousy that filled his voice.

She only shrugged. “It’s just guitar, Marcus,” Tina laughed. “It’s not like the world will stop turning if she teaches me.”

Caroline smiled. “I’ll see you after the world ends,” she said jokingly. Marcus returned his attention to his book angrily as they left him behind…

~

“…Did you ever think that maybe my world stopped turning?” His voice wavered as he grabbed her hair furiously. “Did you?” he shouted. She yelped, and he continued quietly, “Because you didn’t love me.”

“Marcus,” she whimpered, her voice filled with a meld of fear and sympathy.

“Because you were in love with her!” He released her, his perfect, young face filled with dejection as he got to his feet. “Tell me. I dare you. Tell me you don’t love her…”

~

“Caroline?” Tina said nervously.

Caroline continued picking the wispy seeds off a dandelion, watching them float away in the autumn breeze. A freefalling leaf from the maple tree they were resting against landed softly in her chestnut hair, and she brushed it out without a second thought. “Hmm?”

“Can I tell you something?” She shifted so she was directly facing her, her face contorted with a mixture of a frown and a hopeful smile.

Throwing the remainder of the dandelion aside and rearranging her legs beneath her, Caroline gave Tina her full attention. “Anything. What’s up?”

“It’s sort of a big deal,” Tina said carefully. She paused, summing up the last of her courage. “But I really thought you should know.”

Cupping her hand gently behind Caroline’s neck, she leaned in uncertainly, planting her lips softly onto Caroline’s…

~

…Caroline clenched her eyes shut. “I can’t.”

She heard the gears shifting as Marcus flipped the safety off. He steadied the gun the best he could, his hand still shaking as he aimed straight for the heart…

~

“Close your eyes,” she said cheerily.

He laughed. “What are you doing, Caroline?”

“Just close your eyes!”

Marcus reluctantly closed his eyes, and she pressed her lips firmly against his in the same manner as he had over two years ago. A tiny piece of paper slid into his hand, and she smiled playfully as his eyes opened. She walked away as he read the little note:

“I think I sort of love you…”

~

…A single gunshot rang out, and there was a loud thud as the body fell limp.

Caroline’s tear-filled eyes snapped open in surprise. Before her Marcus’s unmoving frame stared emptily at the sky, blood pooling from the wound in his chest. “Tina?”

Her redheaded lover deliberately lowered her gun. “It should have been him.”

With a shudder, Caroline got to her feet and fell into Tina’s embrace. “This is going to be one of those things we’ll remember forever, isn’t it?” she murmured shakily.

“Afraid so.”

Caroline slid the gun out of Tina’s hand, staring coldly down at the lifeless form of her former best friend and lover. She tossed the pistol onto his bloody chest, and wordlessly clasped Tina’s hand in hers. Neither girl looked back as they left the disheveled apartment…

~

Lying on her stomach, feet kicking carelessly in the air, Caroline stared at Marcus intently from her perch upon the thick maple branch. “What are you thinking about?”

A freefalling leaf floated down and landed in his hair. He brushed it off without a second thought. “What if something ever happens to us?” he replied pensively. “What if you wake up tomorrow and everything’s different, and you don’t love me anymore?”

Caroline frowned. “That’s stupid. You and me – we’re going to last forever.”