She led the group out the back door and down a neglected alley. The leaves crunched as they walked along, their footsteps making unusual plodding sounds along the brick road. The towering buildings wore their shadows like a Gucci suit, causing everyone to clutch their coats tighter against their bodies. Occasional pieces of skin - wrists, ankles, necks - were exposed as they followed Liz. She stopped in the middle of the alley and took a deep breath before turning to face them. "Alright, lay it on me." The group was silent. Michael crossed his arms casually and leaned against a dumpster, slightly separating himself from the group as if he no longer completely agreed with the actions of the others. Liz stood there waiting for the harsh comments and spiteful words, but none came. "Fine. Fuck this, I'm leaving." She pushed past them but Max's hand caught her arm. She turned her face to look at him and her eyes were wild, feral. "Get your hands off me," she bit out, seething. He loosened his grip but didn't let go, so she yanked her arm from his grasp.
"Why?" Maria's voice cut through Max and Liz's stare down, and Liz turned to face her. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"
"There are a lot of reasons." Her voice was quiet and calm. "Which one do you want?"
"All of them."
Liz nodded and cleared her throat. "If I had told you, you would have wanted to come and that would have defeated the point. Because I wanted something in my life that I didn't have to share or give up for everyone else. Because I didn't want to be judged for some emotion I felt for five minutes in the middle of a convenience store. Because I didn't want anyone to think I regretted knowing them. Because ignorance is bliss, and because there are things you shouldn't have to know. Things I haven't even told you, Maria. Do you want me to continue?"
"I don't think that's necessary," Isabel answered briefly.
"Any questions?" Liz rested her hands on her hips and looked around the group.
"I just don't get why you didn't tell me you could sing like that! Or write those songs! How could you ever think I would judge you for something like that?" Maria asked.
"Because you're you Maria. You've got problems of your own, and you love singing. I didn't want you to think I was trying to steal your thunder. Besides, you don't need to hear my 'woe-is-me' speech twenty-four seven." Liz's smile was gentle, but it conveyed how rough the past year had been for all of them.
"I want to hear it," Maria stuttered out, tears glittering in her eyes like diamonds threatening to spill down her vibrantly flushed cheeks.
Liz shook her head and wiped a stray tear from her face. "Liar." Maria laughed.
"You still should have told us." Max's authoritative voice cut through their moment. Liz pulled away from Maria and walked up to Max as if she were challenging him to some unspoken duel. And his rigid stance gave the impression that he had accepted the challenge.
"Max, your mother may have left you a message putting you in charge of Isabel, Michael, and Tess, but you are not, nor will you ever be, in charge of me. I will tell you what I want, and I will go where I want. The only times I ever do anything that you remotely agree with are because I support the cause and am willing to make the sacrifices. I have never once followed you because of the sole fact that you were the 'leader'. I'm sure as hell not going to start now." Liz through up her hands in frustration and began to storm off, when the cell phone in her jacket pocket began to ring. She answered it, her aggravation slowly dissolving as she heard the strangled voice on the other end of the line. "Hello? What? Who is th- mom? Calm down, just relax. What? No, it's ok. You're wrong... well, then they're wrong. I'm not going to argue about this." Click. She hung up the phone abruptly, her face pale. It took a few shakes and Alex's "Liz, what's wrong?" to break her from her reverie. She looked at each of them, their faces nervous and anticipatory, and felt like she was going to be ripped apart. "N-Nothing," she muttered. "Nothing important." She started to walk down the alley but nearly collided with Max who was in her path.
"I'm sick of your deceiving. I want the truth. Now." His voice was laced with acid, ready to eat away at anything it came into contact with.
"Truth. What do you know about truth? Let me ask you a question, Max. There are two scenarios here. One: I live above the Crashdown, always a phone call or five minute walk away, but you never know the information you so desperately search for. Two: the lying stops, you know everything you wanted to know, but you never see me again. Which would you choose?"
Her question was sincere and fragile, but Max hesitated. He didn't know what to say. His heart would go to the ends of the earth for her, but her question had made him stop short and filled him with doubt. The fact that he hesitated with his response was enough of an answer for Liz. She closed her eyes, a tear trickled down her cheek, and she sucked in a haggard breath. Nodding, she turned to Maria and said in an empty voice, "I can't even be surprised. I'm not sure who I blame more – him, his destiny, or the man he was to become." Maria shut her eyes and prayed that this had all been a dream. The finality in her statement rippled through the group like a drop of water hitting a pond. The buildings around them seemed to shudder, as if fate were trembling under her statement.
'This was how it was going to end? No, I refuse to believe that.' Maria didn't know how right she was. Not until she watched Liz mutter "Something's not right" as she walked away, then fell to her knees clutching her abdomen. The blood gushing from the gunshot wound Liz had received the year before reminded Maria of the crimson-black colored cranberries her mom threaded on a string like intestines each year to hang on their Christmas tree. Liz's skin glowed and swirled like liquid silver, the same hue of the handprint Max had left behind after he healed her. It looked like moonlight. As Alex reached out to try and catch Liz's falling form, that was all Maria could think about. Intestines and moonlight.