Friends

ROOFTOPS! Don't you just love a good rooftop?

No place like home, I whisper to myself.

Maybe because sometimes all you ever need in life is a breeze and a view.

That's not my reason but I just thought I had to give a few. Skipping class, doing something illegal or even confessing your undying love… for cats… to one another, can be done once you have a good rooftop.

P.S, I have no shred of tolerance for any kind of animal, just to be clear.

Qualities of such rooftops include being highly impervious to unwanted interference, like nosy teachers, nosy students, anything nosy really, those metal bar thingies... um, guardrails I think they're called and space, lots of space.

Fortunately, my school building isn't one of those quality rooftops. This would normally be a bad thing but today, it isn't because today, is the day I jump.

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The wind wasn't particularly strong that day and neither was the heat considering it was a half past noon.

Marcus had come to school since he didn't have to babysit Xavier's latest project, don't forget the 'h' and this was because of the strange boy's outburst an hour after they had arrived home the previous night.

Xavier was then forced to admit him somewhere before, as he thought, the boy's delusions worsened.

Marcus was now somewhat accustomed to his father bringing back strangers to their home and therefore the previous night's incidents didn't shake him as much. Still though, there was something about the stranger that remained with him, something he couldn't quite figure out.

Looking down from the edge of the rooftop of his school's four storied building however, his face indicated that he had bigger issues to deal with or more accurately, to run from.

"Aiiishh! You couldn't have picked a less cliché way to die?" a familiar voice echoing a strong sense of disappointment from behind him. Marcus turned his head slightly.

"Oi! Focus before I kick you off myself!" whispering with a slightly crooked smile, "You were jumping, weren't you? Get on with it then."

Stepping back from the edge a bit, Marcus ran his fingers through his hair as he sighed in exasperation. Under his breath yet audible enough for the figure in the back to hear, "Who's to say I wasn't gonna fly?"

His face folding in amusement, "Ahhh! So you're on official hero business huh? My bad."

Playing along, Marcus replied, "I was gonna go with 'Zero Gravity' but 'Space boy' has a sort of ring to it, if you know what I mean." Hearing his fingers fidget with a lighter, Marcus finally turned around to notice a well-built light skinned boy with a fairly large afro.

In sudden surprise, "Ah! You're that guy! The one with the kid!" Marcus snapping his fingers slightly with increasing speed as he tried to remember the universal name for this individual.

A universal name, more commonly known as a nickname was called so because it was given on the basis of outward appearance and not necessarily any noteworthy characteristic. These are basically the same thing which only shows I know just as little about this as you do. Universal name my foot.

As though offended by Marcus' assumption when he replied as though he knew him, a menacing stare that seemed to snap Marcus back into the moment radiated from the boy's sullen eyes.

Giving up on the lighter that had resisted his every attempt, he came closer to Marcus and as he did, it appeared as though he towered over him in many more aspects aside from height. Looking down at him, he placed his hand gently on Marcus' shoulder and with an emotionless expression said, "Yo, It's Jack," with a voice that sounded a bit too deep for his age.

 Looking up at him with a gaze worthy of a main character in such a situation, "Yo, Jack!" and in that moment a staring competition began which, although short, revealed more to each party than a thousand words ever could.

If you didn't notice that subtle joke, I might have to start highlighting them. As if staring into another dude's eyes could actually do that.

However, if this staring standoff revealed anything, it was that Marcus had the feeble, feeble heart, of a side character, despite outward appearances.

Tightening his grip, Jack in a confused tone said, "I literally, I just said that," Marcus fumbling with his words a bit, quickly countered, "I know, I… I just, was repeating it," smiling awkwardly.

"What are you two doing here!?" was the strong male voice that echoed the necessary fear required to return these hormonal teenagers to their senses.

This, I repeat, was not a good rooftop but I guess in more ways than one, good visited Marcus that day.

Dragging them by the ears, the male teacher continuously grumbled about the adverse effects of smoking and addiction as he led them to a fit punishment, having found Jack with a lighter.

These two who didn't look like they were listening at all continued their staring match which was really back and forth expressions geared at throwing blame at each other.

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In a desert quite far from anything referred to as civilization, was a man clad in a black cloak looking up at the Sun. With the discomfort on his face, one would've thought that certain thoughts were crossing his mind, thoughts like, 'Damn, should've brought the white cloak instead.'

He continued staring directly at the Sun as though he was about to curse at its brilliance. His eyes were overwhelmed. Clearly, this fellow had forgotten his sunglasses as well.

"Tch, that geezer thinks I'm his errand boy now," kicking the sand from his sandals, he groaned loudly, shaking his head. He had that look. That 'One of these days…' look of frustration. Maybe his pants were a little too tight, who knows?  

Looking around for a bit, he came to the unfortunate realization that there was indeed no bus stop where he was and thus he had to walk quite the distance to find signs of life.

Whoever sent him, clearly didn't have enough for the premium package but judging from the look on this man's face, that was not the issue. It wasn't the pants either.

With his face twitching in great discomfort, he slung the small bag he had behind his back and started walking eastward. Yes, even bad guys need a change of clothes or cloaks, in this case.

A bad guy is also in this case, a relative term, considering the fact that from his point of view, he was sent to do good. A lot of bad guys are never really clear on where they stand, it's always a 'necessary evil' kind of situation. However, the cloaked man's arrival would soon blur the line drawn between good and evil, most especially for those tasked with playing the part of 'good.'