Disclaimer: Don't know, don't own, don't sue!

LOVE IT. OR LEAVE IT. YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND.

"Sister, I'm not much a poet, but a criminal," Gerard said to the slightly over-enthused fan. He signed the photograph for Piper, and quickly took a picture with her and Suzy before he was rushed away.

"So long and goodnight!" the duo yelled to him as they walked away, which was met with a returning, "we'll meet again-when both our cars collide," from Gerard.

Suzy and Piper stopped at a local hotel, since they didn't really feel like driving this late at night in an unfamiliar town. It wasn't the best hotel around -those were all booked up- but they would only be there for one night, and didn't think that the cruddy little hotel could change their fate too much. Boy, were they wrong. "Check into the hotel Bella Muerte?" the clerk asked in a foreign accent, as they approached the desk. The tag on his shirt read Vincent, in faded and worn letters.

The girls nodded, and were lead up a flight of stairs to a room on the seventh floor. There were several rooms on each side of the narrow hallway, and an elevator at the end marked with an "out of service" sign, though its lights were still on. They hurried into their room, simply wanting to crash for the night.

After inspecting the less-than-satisfactory room, Suzy discovered that there were no towels. She really needed a shower, too, but didn't really want to leave the hotel room. You never know what kinds of crazy murderers stay in hotels, after all.

"You'll never make me leave," Piper responded, when asked to go on a towel-seeking endeavor. She sat on the bed, staring at the picture Gerard had written his beautiful name on. Rolling her eyes, Suzy left, in search of the creepy-hotel-clerk-guy.

However, she wasn't even halfway down the hall when she noticed an all-too-familiar looking figure that appeared to be locked out of its room.

She walked up beside Ralph. Noting who she was, he didn't even look up, but just said, in a tone that failed to suppress his anger, "Don't stop; bury me, and fade to black."

Suzy held back the tears that were already threatening to spill over.

"I miss you more than I did yesterday," she said in an almost nonchalant tone.

"Don't look back," was the half-hearted reply from her ex-lover, who was still fidgeting with the stubborn door.

"I miss you so far," she pleaded, "and the collision of your kiss, that makes it so hard."

Ralph punched the wall in anger, resulting in a sickening snap in his hand.

"Brought you to tears again," he remarked sarcastically, noticing the vitreous streams running down her face.

"Can we settle the score?" Suzy asked. Ralph looked up in surprise. He had never heard her speak that way before, not to anyone. And that look in her eyes was unsettling. But what scared him the most was the .44 caliber in her hands.

"And if I had the guts to put this to your head, but does anything matter, if you're already dead?"

Suzy pondered out loud, and lifted the gun, contemplating the kaleidoscope of colors it reflected in the dingy hotel lighting.

"Your life will never be the same," was all he said in defense, as she leveled the gun.

The gun clicked, as a bullet shifted into its appropriate chamber.

"A pretty face, but you do so carry on."

He looked straight into her eyes as she pulled the trigger.

Click. But the chamber was empty. Fate wasn't done with Ralph just yet.

"Another line without a hook," Ralph sneered.

And for that cutting remark, Suzy's fist collided with Ralph's unsuspecting smirk, and Ralph lay sprawled on his stomach amidst the faded shag carpet.

"What's life like bleeding on the floor?" she inquired, kneeling on the floor near his face. "I'm trying, I'm trying to let you know just how much you mean to me."

The fingers of her left hand found their way onto his face, tracing the outline of his jaw, until they tangled in that beautiful auburn mess of curls. But those of the right had a different agenda, as they raised the gun to the opposite temple.

"Before I pull this trigger, your eyes vacant and stained," she said, leaning in to kiss him one last time. She knew the only reason that he let her was her metallic friend.

"The riddle of revenge, please understand it has to be this way," she said softly, running her hands through his hair again before she pulled them away.

"If this is what you want, then fire at will," he dared.

"For what you did to me, and what I'll do to you," she said, and pulled the trigger.

And the gunshot was heard through all the thin hotel walls.

She wiped her bloody hands on the carpet, as time began to blur. She just sat there, watching the hotel guests flee, and listening to the sounds of sirens and breaking glass.

She stood up as Piper ran to her side, gasping in shock at the bloody scene before her. She opened her mouth to speak, but the question was answered before it was asked.

"Come with your arms raised high!" was the command issued by an armed police officer.

Suzy simply pointed the gun at said police officer, who lacked a bulletproof vest, and nodded towards Piper.

"She won't stop me, put it down," was all she said in reply.

Neither party backed down, but they did all look up, when the ding of the elevator interrupted, and its doors slid open.

"Let me break this awkward silence," came the foreign drawl of Vincent, as he stepped out of the elevator and held its doors open.

"You're beautiful," Suzy said to the lifeless Ralph, and then turned to the police officer, once again. "Well, they're never gonna get me; I'm like a bullet through a flock of doves."

She shifted the gun to Piper, knowing that if the police thought that her friend was involved, she'd get arrested. She directed Piper into the elevator, and turned the gun back to the officer.

"This is how we like to do it in the murder scene," Vincent said dramatically, releasing the doors. They heard the policeman rush to the doors, fail to open them, and curse quite loudly.

"This elevator only goes up to ten," the foreign voice stated.

"Let's go down," Suzy said, pushing the faded button marked 'lobby'.

The elevator stopped, and dinged. Suzy hugged her friend, and nodded in thanks to the helpful clerk. "On your mother's eyes, say a prayer," was her only request, as she walked from the elevator, hitting a button as she went, to stop them from following her.

***

"And they found you on the bathroom floor," Piper sobbed, staring at the chunk of stone that seemed to mock her.

"Say goodbye," Gerard said, his arm around the saddened girl. Before he led her away, he placed a single red rose on Suzy's headstone, where it was so inscribed: