1961

Marcus

"You got the money, punk?" A shady voice came from the shadows of the alley. Marcus turned around to who revealed to be a figure in a black hoodie, pants, and shoes. Marcus on the other-hand had a long sleeve blue shirt, grey sweatpants and sandles.

"Yeah." Marcus responded in a cold voice. It was so cold outside you could see the mist being formed from his breathe. "Did you bring the stuff?" Marcus then asked the man, who seemed to be looking around, looking out for people.

"The stuff is to the left of the dumpster.." The man replied. He stopped looking around as if there was someone nearby. "Drop the money by my feet. Don't come near me. I don't know what you could be up to." He says, signaling where to drop the money by looking near his feet. He was too in the shadows to where you could barely see his face.

"Yeah okay." Marcus says even more colder than his last response. He then turns around and kneels to the left of the dumpster to look for the back. "Where is it? I don't see it..."

"Keep lookin' kid." The man says. But by the time Marcus realizes that there is no bag to be found, it was too late. He could hear something, that sounded as if a gun were to be cocked back. Soon after he felt the cold barrel touch the back of his head.

"Step one to this street life, is to never turn your back on someone you don't know. And step two, don't accept deals that takes place in a dead end alley." The man chuckles. Then the chuckles turn into laughs but they quickly stop once he snaps back into character. Marcus on the other hand was smiling. Why was he smiling? He then started to laugh. Almost as hard as the man in the shadows.

"Yeah... I could tell you the same." Marcus replies. They both heard another gun cock, this time the gun was behind the man in the shadow's head. Once he heard that he stood up and turned around.

"Bout' time you showed up, E, I was beginning to shit myself" Marcus laughed to himself.

"What? What is this?" The man asked in a nervous voice. "Y'all dont know who the fuck yall are fucking with. Just wait til-" BANG. The gun shot created a loud silence to be heard by people from a mile away.

"Whoops" The female had said. She had shot the man in the back of the leg. Marcus quickly took the bag of money, the man's gun, and even the $63 that was in his wallet.

"Now this is what I call pocket money, hehe." Marcus said. The girl and Marcus fled the scence, flipping the bird at the man, who was laying there in agony.

Later that night, Marcus was fighting some inner thoughts. He had no clue what he was doing in life. He went from 'Grade A Graduate' to thief on the streets. If his mother and father knew what he was, they'd put him to shame. But they wouldn't find out. Not any time sooner.

The female he was with earlier on in the night acted as if she was a vigilante. Doing some good in streets of Solime. But in a town so corrupted, any change would soon be covered and vanished. Good people turning bad in an instant. "Even satan used to be an angel." Marcus would often tell himself that, to make him feel better. But at what cost could he do better?

It's now 2am and Marcus is fighting with his thoughts in bed. The women no more asleep than he his. Marcus gets up to use the restroom, more to get some space than anything. He leans over the sink and turns on the water, cuffs his hand so the water flows into his palms, and rinses his face. The cold water against his warm face.

"You know you love her, Marcus." A voice comes from in front of him. "Why won't you tell her." Marcus looks up to see himself. But himself in the mirror had a shirt on, longer hair, and a beard.
The Marcus in the mirror was not his first appearance. Not in this bathroom. In fact, not in a bathroom at all. The first time he came across himself in such a manner, was on the day he killed his first person. He's had interactions with his others self a couple months now. But could not tell anyone because he would sound crazy.

The night of the first person he killed, he had a blade in his hand. One of those small ones you get from a sharpener. He put the blade to his wrist and cut. Cut deep, to an unsavable moment. "No Marcus, this is not how you die." He looked up to see a spitting image of himself above his feet. Blood gushing and dripping to the floor on both selves. The impossible happened. "This is not how you die Marcus, not like this."

"What- what are you..." is all Marcus could ask himself. The pain too intense to take, he passes out. His other self had said something but he was already out, before he could hear his words. Marcus did not see any "light" that people claim to see when dying. Instead in an instant Marcus woke up in an instant. It was the next morning. No cuts on his wrist or anything. Not a drip of blood in sight.

"You know I can't tell her anything." Marcus tells himself.

"And why's that, Marcus?" The figure says. His image fades back to the orginal Marcus. "Are you afraid" he says, but his voice comes from behind Marcus. Marcus turns around to see himself, the one from the mirror. This time he was in a suit.

"You know I am. I can't risk having feelings too deep. It'll jeopardize everything. Our relationship. Our friendship." Marcus says with his head down. He can't even look himself in the eyes. "She means absolutely everything to me. I just can't risk losing her."

His other self just laughs. A deep laugh. "You were always a softie. A sucker for the helpless girls." He says and continues laughing.

"You know. You never told me what- or who you are" Marcus says to himself.

"Well. Who I am, is pretty clear. I'm you, Marcus. But what I am" he pauses, and put his hand on Marcus' shoulder. Marcus then looked up. "Marcus, I am your demon." The silhouette paused for a second. "You see Marcus, most people have a demon and an angel, they sit on either side of your shoulder, but you... you don't have any angels. The reason I am here is because you killed yourself. There's no room for both of us, where I'm from." He took another pause. This one shorter than the last. "I left my world to come into your body. What I did was considered... illegal in my world. I cannot go back. So now I stay here. I don't expect you to understand but only with time will you see" he says to himself.

Marcus didn't know what to say. So he didn't say anything but nod his head. He did have one question though. "What is your purpose?" He asked himself.

"I am your judgment Marcus. Your eyes and ears. Don't abuse your power Marcus, there is only one of me, and one if you." He says to himself. "Your judgment day came the day your decided to kill yourself. I am here to prevent that happening again. Whether it's killing yourself, or someone else killing you. Like I said before, now that I'm in your world, if you die, I die." He said. "You see, there are other, more powerful beings after me. Things your human mind cannot imagine. Not all demons like me are good. Like you used to say, 'even satan used to be an angel'. And before you ask how I know, just remember, I AM you."

Marcus took a deep breathe. "What do I call you?" He asks.

"Sucram. It's Marcus backwards." Sucram says before knocks could be heard at the door. Sucram then disappeared in an instant.

"Marcus are you okay?" The female voice could be heard on the other side of the door. "You've been in there for awhile."

Marcus opens the door, "yeah.. I'm okay. Just was thinking." He said.

"Come back to bed, it's 2am, we have that job tomorrow." She said, walking to the bed and laying down.

Marcus then lays next to her, facing her. He looks in her eyes. "You know, I'm not good enough for you, Estella."