To the Smelly Boy Apartment It Is! (Story 2 of Sev & M)

Chapter 21

Severine continued staring at his phone reading the message over and over again.

If you had just come home, none of this would have happened. You have no one to blame but yourself.

He heard Marcus and Evanora calling his name but it felt like he was at the end of a tunnel. The message on the screen the only thing keeping his attention. He felt Marcus come behind him and gently take the phone, reading the message.

"Are you shitting me!" he exclaimed.

"What? What's going on now?" Nora asked.

He saw Marcus toss the phone to her and watched her face go red with anger as she read the message.

"This is bull shit!" she said.

They both turned to look at him again. He hadn't moved, his head was still hung down. He couldn't look at either of them. He knew what his father said in the message was true. All of this was his fault, if he hadn't fallen in love with Marcus none of this would have happened. He would still be miserable but he wouldn't be hurting Marcus and Nora like he was now, he wouldn't be putting them in mortal danger. His head was starting to hurt.

"I have to go home," he said quietly.

"NO!" they said together.

He looked up, "Don't you guys see? If I go home he'll stop. That's all he wants is for me to go home."

"You are not going back there Severine," Marcus said and he could see Nora behind him nodding.

"We can figure something out. There has to be someone that we can go to for help," Nora said.

Marcus looked at him then, they weren't part of the agency anymore, and normal law enforcement had an agreement to let agencies deal with their own people, there wasn't anyone they could go to and they both knew it.

"I have to Nora. I have to keep the two of you safe," he said.

"But if you go back, you won't be safe," she said. He looked at her and could tell she was trying not to cry.

"I'll be fine. He won't hurt me anymore than what he did before."

"You aren't going back Severine," Marcus repeated.

He stood there looking at both of them. Why wouldn't they just let him go? It would make everything so much easier. His head was pounding and he felt like he was losing focus. There was too much going on inside him, so much guilt and worry. If he just went home it would all end. He could feel his breath getting short.

"Sev," he heard Marcus start, "Sev, it's okay. It's going to be okay. Try to calm down."

How could it be okay when he was the cause of all of the pain to them? And if he went home, he would still be hurting them and himself. There was no way to win. He grabbed his head which felt like it was going to explode and felt himself start sinking down, before the darkness took him he felt Marcus's strong arms go around him.

He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the backyard of his home surrounded by the trees he used to play hide and seek with his mom in. He had been counting and needed to find someone but couldn't remember who. He heard himself shout ready or not, here I come! Then he started running through the trees. He was looking behind the second tree when he heard a branch snap behind him. He spun around quickly and saw his father.

"What are you doing?" his father asked.

"I'm playing hide and seek, I'm looking for someone," he responded.

He heard another twig snap and looked to his other side. Issac was standing there. "Who are you looking for?" Issac asked.

"I...I'm looking for my...friends," he said slowly.

"What friends?" his father asked.

He thought hard for a moment. He knew who they were, why couldn't he remember! He kept thinking. He closed his eyes and in his mind he saw a pair of chocolate brown eyes looking back at him. Marcus! How had he forgotten?

"What friends?" Issac asked, echoing his father.

"Marcus and....Nora!" he exclaimed. How had he forgotten Nora as well?

His father and Issac started laughing and he looked at them confused. 

"Where are they? What have you done?"

"It's funny," Issac started looking at this father, "no one ever thinks to look up when they play hide and seek."

"If you had just come home none of this would have happened," his father said.

He watched his father follow Issac's line of sight then slowly looked up as well. Hanging from the tree was Marcus and Nora. There was a vine around each of their necks. He opened his mouth and screamed.