Before I Go

 It was a night almost like any other. Marco and June were out and about scoping the place they had to hit next. They typically robbed three or four a night. There was always one place that their boss, known to them as Bossman, picks. Marco and June never really understood how Bossman picked out their next target, all they knew is that one of Bossman's sidekicks would send them a message. As they walked down a back alley way, June picked up a stick and started carving it with a knife she always carried. She was good with a blade Marco observed. June could knife throw, carve, and sword fight. A woman of many talents it seemed. ''Hey Marco, do you remember where this building was?'' asked June absent-mindedly as she carved.  ''yeah,'' Marco responded ''I have the address written down right here.'' and pulled the paper out of his pocket. ''It's two more blocks.''

 

  Marco Kellington, Twenty-Four, And June Simone-Weller, twenty-two. June ran away from home at the age of nine due to abusive parents and wound up in a shelter at the age of twelve.  They first met each other in an orphanage in a small ho-dunk town in the middle of Michigan. Marco, a long time tenant of the shelter, was lounging on the window sill, eating a plum when he saw a short, scrawny girl walk up to the home. Marco watched until she walked into the building, he shrugged and tossed his plum pit out the window, a few minutes later he heard someone hollering ''WHAT THE MOTHER LOVING FLIP ARE YOU DOING? YOU FREAKING PERV!''.  Curious, he slid off the ledge and slinked out of the small room, following the yelling. As he approached the door, the ten-year-old peeping Tom named Quincy, came running out of the room giggling. Marco popped his head around the corner just as the girl was pulling a shirt over her head, ''you alright?'' he asked? ''Yep.'' said the pissed of twelve-year-old. He laughed, ''I saw you walking up to the building, staying long?'' The girl glared ''Can you go away now? I'd like to unpack, and I just got done yelling at some random perv to get out of my room.'' Marco tilted his head, ''what's your name?'' June glared. ''why do you care?'' as she huffed across the room and started unpacking. She sighed. ''my name is June. And I'm twelve since that's bound to be your next question.'' ''Well June, it's nice to meet you, name's Marco, and I'm fourteen since you probably were never going to ask.'' He chuckled as he walked away. There was something about her that he admired Maybe it was her grumpiness or the fact that she was a nice change of pace for the orphanage.

 ''Come ON slow poke'', June complained.'' Help me get this door open.'' The main entrance to the building was solid steel and surprisingly hard to open.  As they got the door open, they looked around. The building was huge. Windows had boards over them and furniture covered with sheets. ''What is this place?'' June said as she looked up and saw grand chandeliers. ''Well, this paper says that what we need to grab is on the third floor.'' Stated Marco. Slowly walking to the stairs, they observed every detail of the place. The crown molding, velvety wallpaper, crystal chandeliers, and old chinaware. They both made a note of how dusty it was. 

As they ascended to the second level, they were surprised to see that it was much different from the first. More modern and less dusty. As Marco and June climbed to the third floor, Marco started to feel a chill go down his spine. Walking down the hallway of the third floor, Marco pulled out the paper one last time, ''okay, it's going to be the third door down.'' Approaching the door, the looked at each other and hesitantly opened the door. With just the light from the hallway bleeding into the room, they stood still for a second or two letting their eyes adjust to the darkness. Jill gasped. Empty. The room was completely void of any furniture or trinkets. 

''What the hell is going on?'' Marco whispered. 

 ''Marco!, Hey! You'll never guess what!'' An excited June came bounding up to meet Marco on the sidewalk. June got adopted the year before, and Marco was stopping by to visit. Though, unlike June, Marco never did get adopted no one wanted a teenage boy who had a record two miles long behind his name. ''We have a meeting with someone to start making some big money to get out of this awful place!'' Marco stopped. ''June...what are you saying?'' He asked. ''You know, that THING we talked about, to make money and get out......stealing things.'' ''June, that was just a crazy idea, I didn't mean...No!'' June pouted. ''But Marco, how else are we going to blow this joint? I hate it here; I want to find a home.'' ''June, you have a home, it's here, with the Wellers.'' June hid behind her hair and quickly rolled down her sleeves. Marco quietly observed her behavior and suddenly realised. ''June, what did they do to you?'' June sighed. ''It was nothing, I was being stupid and broke one of Mrs. Weller's priceless vases. I deserved it.'' Angrily Marco marched into the house and started packing June's things. He couldn't believe that a friendly family would do such a thing, but thinking back he realized that something never did feel right. Mrs. Weller was always a little too friendly when Marco was around. Sickly nice. Ms. Umbridge nice. As he left her room Marco was stopped by Mr. Weller, ''where do you think you're going with June's stuff, son?'' Marco clenched his jaw and made a fist ''Sir, kindly get out of my way.'' He growled. Mr. Weller was refusing to be disrespected by a mere kid and stood his ground. Marco brought back his fist and pulled back, and before he realized what happened, gave Mr. Weller the meanest right hook knocking Mr. Weller to the ground. Marco ran out of the house and grabbed June by the wrist, ''okay June, you want to live life on the edge? Well, here we go, let's do it.'' His heart soared when he heard June's childish giggle; it had been way too long since he heard that sound. 

    As they looked around the room in awe, Jane heard the click of a gun cocking. ''Hey...Marco? Did you hear that?'' she asked. But it was too late, as she turned to look at her friend to see if he was even paying attention, she heard a noise that sounded like a cough, and then a body thump. As her eyes got to where Marco was supposed to be standing, she saw nothing, feeling sick, Jane looked down and saw the crumpled body of her beloved friend. ''MARCO!'' She screamed, she couldn't believe it, ''MARCO!'' she screamed once more, but this time, her voice was much more broken as the tears started streaming down. June approached his body,  and she ever so faintly heard him say ''J you are the greatest, don't you ever forget that; but I gotta say it now before I go,  I- I-'' He sputtered and coughed up some blood ''I love you. June Simone-Weller, I freaking love you.'' June started sobbing. '' as he took his last breath, he looked at her and smiled. The only face he ever wanted to see, and he got to gaze upon it one final time, the last face he would ever see was the face of the only woman he ever loved. ''Marco! Marco!" She shook his lifeless body, ''Marco, this isn't funny, wake up!'' It couldn't be real she told herself, it just couldn't, Marco and June had been a team since they were twelve and fourteen, and she couldn't imagine a day without him. June turned to the assailant, ''How could you?'' she managed to choke out. Wiping her face, June stood up, stopping suddenly. It was Bossman. ''Sir, why?'' June managed to croak out. The bossman slowly walked to Marco's body, and heaved it up onto his shoulders and started walking away stopping before he reached the door. ''Because dear June, Marco was a liability, you would have left if he had asked you to, and you're my best employee, I can't afford to lose you.'' As he closed the door, June fell to the floor sobbing.  

   

    Four days later, it was a grey and gloomy day as a handful of people stood around a closed casket. June was still in shock over the whole ordeal. He loved her. She tried grasping that fact; he loved her. June couldn't figure out why, and as she thought back over the years, they had together she could feel her heart sinking.  She tried listening to what the preacher was droning on about but her focus just wasn't there, and before she even realized it, the service was over, and people were starting to leave. June felt a hand on her shoulder and slowly turned around. It was Quincy. ''Quincy? wh-what are you doing here?'' She asked through her tears. Quincy frowned and gave her a big hug. ''J; Marco and I were good friends, ever since the day he came after me for peeping at you on your first day in the orphanage. First, he gave me a good what-for and then we sat and talked for a while. And we never lost contact. But here, I have a feeling Marco would want you to have it; he was saving it for you, hoping one day you guys might end up together.'' Quincy handed her a small velvet box. June slowly reached out and took it from Quincy's hands, and carefully opened the lid. As she opened the box she gasped. It was a white gold diamond ring, with a princess cut center stone and six tiny diamonds, three on each side. The one that June had always wanted, she would stand outside the jewelry store for hours just staring at it, and one day it wasn't on the rack anymore. So Marco was the one to buy it, that sneaky b*****d. June smiled as she lifted the ring out of its cushion. ''Thanks, Quincy, I'll never take it off. As she slid the ring onto her finger, she gazed at her hand, looked over at the casket and whispered ''Marco you fool, I love you too.''

Reviews

[Inject Positivity]

This is a really good write, the story is something very catchy and you did very well while telling it... This was presented with simple wording... Now talking about the setting of the story, it was really good and I loved how you gave so much description in the story... By telling the characteristics of the two main characters you let the reader to get an understanding of the story...

Now about the minor changes you should make and I have full confidence in you about that, frnd I would recommend you to make the dialogues more clear by using comas after them and try to make short sentences, which I believe will keep the reader very much interested in the story. Do not hesitate to make short sentences. And I would recommend you to make the dialogues in bold or italic fonts, this will create more catchyness in the story...

Your story touched my heart, and the ending was really heartbreaking.... I really loved and enjoyed it... I promise to keep an eye on your page for your new works...

Sincerely
Dhiman

[Usman Muhammad]

You are a talented writer.
End was very impressive. Coming to negative points, first of which is Grammar
You should try to improve your grammar and use of capital words between sentences is not good, it can cause bad impact on writing skills.
secondly i couldn't understand the use of "June could (knife throw), carve, and sword fight". Instead you should have used specific terms for these skills.
In the end i would like to tell you that your way of depicting a scene and giving its description is very good. Keep writing, looking forward to your next writing.

[Randi Beatse]

Thank you so much for your feedback! I didn't do much on the editing. I'm my worst critic, and it would never have gone up had I kept re-reading it. Will make sure the next one is better.