Shoulda gone to China. They give away babies like free iPods. They put them in guns and shoot them out at sporting events. 
-Diablo Cody

It was the time of year for Suicide, and almost every one of my crazy cousins were going to commit.

Suicide was a course of insane parkour, stunts and runs that a bunch of crazy crack heads put together and the prize was nothing besides respect and first pick at next years theme.

This year's theme is water and fire.

Eliza, of course, is participating much to her boyfriend's fears. Asher, of course, is here with his sidekick and who is now Eliza's brother, Link.

Link is a cool guy, I like him.

However Xander, Evan, Trevis and Mal are all competing, which dragged Cellie and the twins down to watch. And because Mal came, Duncan came.

And because Duncan came he spread his idiot lips and told everyone on campus that I'm going and for some fucking reason everyone wants to see what I'm capable of.

I asked Elle why, and she just laughed at me like it was obvious.

What I didn't expect at all, was for my Nonnie's group to come, all being privy to the gossip going around their small town's even smaller college.

Why the fuck am I even part of their gossip?

I don't go to their school, I'm just a random nobody who works at a mechanics shop and moved in the middle of fall when everyone had already moved. They act like there's something special about me -even though there's at least twenty guys everywhere that I am, who are my age. Then again a lot of the boys around here don't know how to be men, because their daddies taught them how to live through money instead of work through life.

The most amazing thing about me is that I know a few languages, and I only know a few languages because when you're stuck in a hospital and have a mute cousin there's nothing else to do other than to pick up a few things to keep your mind occupied and help people.

And to go insane, of course.

Suicide is relaxing for me, surprisingly, because it was the one place the fact that I am dying wouldn't matter be that day they were all committing, and they knew death wasn't something to shy away from. That's why it's got it's name afterall, because sometimes stupid people do stupid things like this and don't make it out alive.

But this is life.

And nobody makes it out alive.

Izzy always refused to go to these things, saying if we wanted to be stupid and get ourselves killed she wouldn't see it. She has a fragile heart, and when things go wrong it gets shattered so easily.

Which is why I don't think it's healthy for her to be around me.

"Elle!" I call out, able to see over the crowd I can tell the moment she walks in -only because of that blondie that's always hanging off her who also happens to be tall enough to meet my eye over a sea of shorter people. In fact Link wasn't much shorter either, just like Xander.

Seems like the Wolf pack is already together.

Why doesn't that surprise me?

"Yo, Thatch'." Someone catches my attention on the other side of the space next to the giant fire, that person being Dominic. He broke his hip the last time he committed, and hasn't shown up around here for a while. Suicide does happen once every six months, and he didn't come to the last one.

The only reason I know him is because I'm the one that drove him to the hospital, and ever since he always tells me things I don't need to know and everything that I do. He's another pair of eyes, and at a place like this it's always useful.

I'm one of the only guys here who everyone tends to respect, because I can police every one, even the Devil's daughter, and not many can say that. When you can beat everyone up, people tend to listen to you.

The Wolf's and Hilton's and everyone in between goes over to my truck where Eliza quickly claims a spot on the roof while her boyfriend and brothers pile into the bed. I wonder if Violet will want to be around me during this whole thing, or if she has another safe spot to be in a place like this.

If she doesn't I don't really care what she wants, it will be that she stays safe or she leaves.

"The guys from Lane's gang is here, including the leader, they're after that Wolf girl and the golden boy, maybe even the reddie too." Dom says, not even starting with hello. "He's over by the main entrance, surrounded. Lots of them got knives, a few have guns. I wouldn't recommend that you bring Diabla, they said they like a girl like her and not in the way a guy like you wants to hear."

"Are they just here to cause trouble, or are they actually committing?" I ask. What he's already told me is more than enough reason to pick a fight, but so far not enough to risk getting shot. And I don't really feel like having to get involved with a gang when my baby mama can come any second.

"For trouble," Is Dominic's cursed reply. "Someone said they'll wait till the Wolf girl is actually committing to move. I also heard that the blonde one doesn't like to fight."

"Yeah," My nod is distracted as I start to scan the space for the people I'm looking for. Lane isn't going to get off easy when he's threatening my family, and neither will the stupid so called gang leader. It isn't a gang, it's a group of boys who know how to play with knives. "I found them. Tell Trevis when he sees my girl to get her to my truck."

"Oh yeah," Dominic drawls out, slapping my upper arm. "I heard you got one on the way. Congrats man, that's good right, need to get at least one kid before you die young."

He has absolutely no filter.

I walk away with a sigh, glaring straight at the leader of the gang -Leroy Phillips. Before I even get there they all have their knives out, and I have a feeling that guns are one step away. As I try to get to Leroy I'm stopped by some idiot and merely grab his arm and throw him on his back. "Leroy." I say, pretending not to see all the weapons around me. "A word."

"Thatch." Leroy greets me, a smirk set deep into his features. "I'm so glad you've heard everything. I have plans you know. The blonde boy will mourn, the red one will finally get a few scars and this is the best part, that blue eyes bitch will-"

Before he could say more, hell before he could even react faster than to grab my arm as he chokes, my hand is wrapped around his throat and I slam him back into the wall, earning a deep groan. Using my strength I dig my fingers in and lift him up onto his toes, letting him know that even if he kicks me or crumbles it won't be enough to get me off him.

It was an expected sound when two guns got cocked at my head, one of them pressing metal into my temple but I don't flinch and focus my attention solely on the pathetic leader. "I'm going to tell you something and I'm only going to say it once. Okay?" When Leroy doesn't respond I tighten my hold and bring my other hand up to slap him on the side of the cheek. "I said okay?"

Now he nods, and I let a cruel look spread on my features.

"Finally some fucking respect," I laugh but there's nothing humorous about it. "You're going to leave my family alone. You're going to leave my friends alone. You're not going to touch a single person until you know I haven't even heard about them or I swear to God that I will find you and you're going to wish you will be dead. And if you do it twice, I will kill you. Look at me," His green eyes flick up to mine, and his entire body flinches away from me as he starts to choke more, face going a deep red as I refuse to let him breathe properly. "Do I look afraid to die?"

Leroy shakes his head, fingers clawing at my arm.

Desperation.

Ugh.

"Do you understand what I'm saying, because I won't say it twice and you're going to want to memorize my words." This gets a nod. I slap his cheek again, tauntingly. "Good boy. Now, don't make me come back for you."

I might be related to the Devil but everyone knows I'm a monster all on my own.

Turning to walk away, just looking at one of the members with a gun is enough to get him to drop it. I roll my eyes and don't even look back as I walk away, and almost turn back and beg them to shoot me when I realize that Violet is staring at me wide eyed not even ten feet away from me with Trevis standing next to her like a guard dog.

Wincing I wave at her, dropping my eyes as I feel all my confidence go straight down the drain only for a bit of it to gurgle back up as Mal is standing besides him too, looking between me and Xander to decided who to go to. 

"Mal!" I exclaim, making the decision for her as I quickly wrap her in my arms and spin her in a fast circle. Mal went to high school with me and the twins until our Senior year when she moved here, which is where that moron Duncan comes into the equation. "You said you'd be here later, when it was time to commit. You never come to Suicide early, you say it does depress you."

"A lot of things depress me," She doesn't even hesitate to say, grinning at me as I set her back on her feet, poking me in the abdomen. "Can I just say that was really fucking hot, and I can speak for the entire female population here when I say that any of us would willingly fuck you. But I will also say that it's quite disappointing how much of a gentleman you are, and how nerdy you truly are like holy fuck, you could be playing the field and do us all a favor but no! You just have to have manners and treat us with respect when all we want from you is some good old d-"

"Mal!" I scold her, scoffing to myself as I try not to flush at the things she's saying. "That's simply not true. And you're doing a disservice to yourself every time you think like that, you need to find someone who's good for you. Not just a 'hunk' like you're always complaining about finding."

"But you're a respectable hunk who's good for me and could service me in multiple ways." She chirps, making Trevis burst into laughter when he joins the conversations. "See, he agrees with me."

"He's laughing at you because that's how absurd you are." I deadpan, nearly flinching as she grabs both my shoulders but give in and help Mal climb up to sit on my shoulders like she started to try- -and fail- -to do. Mal loves heights, and apparently sitting somewhere only six feet four high is enough for her. "If you fall I'm not catching you."

This, of course, is a lie.

Like always, we place high, a few of us win but we mostly just pointlessly get ourselves hurt while having fun.

Fuck whoever made this game.