The survivor

Chapter 7: Heavy Burdens

I played the rest of the evening cool until I woke up the next morning and standing in my room was older me. He smiled and said" I'm your subconscious and I'm here to tell you that you're stuck in a flashback until you defeat your past "and I said "how do I do that?" and he said, "think on it and you'll know what to do." I got dressed and head to school and before I left, I crossed the day off on my calendar: March 11, 2014. When I got to school I walked in there like I was a new man and the weirdest thing happened; as I confronted each and every person, they disappeared and I aged more, I started by telling my current crush Morgan that I was done trying to please her and then I walked to Josiah, Steven, Genesis and many more; shook their hands and said "I forgive you and thank you for making me the man I am today "the rest of the day I walked through that building as a proud, confident, man and eventually I grew up and everything flashed until I was at my desk at southern high school in 2015.

It was my freshman year but that didn't mean anything, I still walked through that school as proud as I would my senior year until I woke up to Kayla shaking me fiercely and screaming my name in a panicked tone. I grabbed her hand and told her "I trust you... let's do this". After she calmed down, I told her what happened and she told me I was out for 5 minutes and I laughed and told her it felt like a lifetime to me. She kissed my cheek and said" I'm glad you're okay and that you finally came to terms with your trauma now let's finish it.

For the next few weeks, I and Kayla spent time together after work when I was happy and she comforted me when I was sad and she even helped me put Marco's things in storage and move my office furniture back in there. We began to get closer and I didn't mind it because she was really a nice girl and just like me, I loved our time together so much that I asked her to move in with me just as friends but secretly, I knew much more was going to happen. She smiled at me and said "yes as if I had just asked her to marry me. After a few more weeks passed I had felt happier than ever, with her but still, there were days when my mind went back to Marco and wondered how he was doing.

Marco had just gotten in from his old school and sat his bag down and went to lay down until his dad busted into his room and told him to walk down to the store and get him the beer Pablo saved for him. He told his dad he was tired but his dad yelled" now" and off he went. When he got back he asked what was for dinner and his mother told him to go dig for something; not telling him that she took the last of the food. After looking abd finding nothing, he went out and stole some beef jerky and bologna from the local store and hid it in an icebox in his room in a pile of clothes on the floor which was his bed. As he sat there all he could think about was Andrew and what he had said to him 3 months ago. "I'm proud of you Marco"..."you're smart". It all echoed through his head until he began crying and his dad came in and said "shut up, crying is for wussies as he began to hit on Marco. After a few minutes,his dad quit and left out of the room.

It had been 2 months now since he had run away and he was more miserable than ever.He hated having to steal food and clothing to wear,he hated how even after 3 years they still treated him as if he never left. But this is his life he thought to himself. He might as well be what everyone expects him to be; trash.In truth he missed Andrew and the friends he had but he just couldn't take it anymore,he was tired of it yet in his overthinking he realized one crucial thing.Noone does things all alone,you have friends and family to help you but when they tried he pushed them away.In that moment,he wished andrew would appear and make it all better but he knew that wasn't going to happen.For all he knew Andrew could've moved on and adopted another boy,one who was more deserving than him.Regardless,he decided he would still try until his drunken father kicked his door open again and tried to hit him once more.Marco had enough and ran out the house. His dad screamed "get back here!!!" as he continued to run.

[Andrew's Pov]
Meanwhile, I had sat in my car and watched from across the street in my car and I immediately had flashbacks myself of my sisters fighting to kill each other and the nonstop arguments between my mom and dad. I remembered how divided our house was and what a mess it was and how scared I felt every day that something would give and my life would be over but I survived.I snapped out of it and Quickly started my car and drove in the direction that he had ran,trying to find him to no avail. I circled the block and searched all the streets in that direct but found nothing". After another hour I gave up the search and drove home and sat up in my office worrying about him.It had begun to rain on the way home and I didn't want him to get sick or freeze out there.