Marks

Chapter 11: The man.

Max watched out his window. He watched the full moon, he watched the millions of stars, he watched as people walked passed his house. His face was sore from the fight, which happened just a few days prior. Max hadn't been able to sleep. After he and Glen walked on his old road all of the memories from his childhood came rushing back. Who know's what would have happened if Max stayed with his parents.

A man stood outside Max's house, staring at it. He looked up at Max's window and made eye contact with Max. It was too dark to make out any discernible features but what was made out was that the man was large, with dark hair. It felt wrong, the man. Max got up from his bed and walked downstairs quickly. He walked over to the front door and made sure it was locked. It was, obviously, David made sure it was locked all of the time. Max tested every window on the lower half of the house. All of them were locked. That eased Max a bit. He walked back upstairs and to his room. He tested his own window to make sure it was locked. It wasn't. He pushed over the window lock and made sure it wasn't able to open. It wasn't.

Max stared down at the spot the man stood. He was gone. Perhaps it was all in Max's head, or someone was there, watching him, watching him watch him. Max turned over in his bed and hugged Mr. Honeynuts close to his chest. At some point he fell asleep.

He woke up to the sun shining in his eyes. He sat up in his bed and stretched. He stood up and walked downstairs to be greeted by David.

"Good morning Max!" David said in his usual happy tone. Max rolled his eyes and sat down at the table. "Oh Max, breakfast won't be ready for a little while."

"That's okay, I actually wanted to talk to you about something." Max said. David turned around to face Max.

"Anything!" He said. Max felt a wave of relief wash over him when David said that one word.

"Well, last night I couldn't fall asleep and I saw someone staring at the house." Max said. "I know it was probably all in my head but it scared me."

"Well what did they look like, if you don't mind my asking." David asked. Max shrugged.

"It was too dark to see, he looked like a bigger guy, and he was tall, and he had dark hair." Max said. David thought for a minute.

"Let me know if you see him again, alright?" David said keeping his usual upbeat tone. Max nodded and watched out the window.

"Okay breakfast is ready Max!" David said, putting a plate in front of Max. It was egg in between two pieces of toast. Max ate his food.

"Do you think we could go somewhere today?" Max asked. David looked up from his plate, he wasn't expecting Max to ask to go anywhere in the entire time they were living together.

"Of course! Do you have anywhere in mind?" David said. Max shook his head, in all honesty he just wanted to get out of the house. "Well in that case, we could go to the arcade at the mall, I know you wanted to go last time but we didn't have enough money."

"Sure." Max said dully. David smiled.

"Okay so be ready in, say an hour?" David asked.

"You got it camp man." Max smiled as he walked away to put his plate away. He walked upstairs and to his room. He checked his phone and saw that Neil texted him.

Good morning The text said. Max smiled lightly at his friend.

Morning Max said.

Are you doing anything today? Neil asked, Max rolled his eyes at his phone.

Yeah, Dad's taking me to the arcade at the mall. Max said. He quickly sent the text without reading what he said.