The only one

Chapter 26

By this time, I have lost all of my hope completely. For a while I thought things were going pretty well. But to him, my image has changed because of my parents, and there was nothing I could do about it. I am hidden by the shadow of my parents, a shadow in which I will ever escape

I don't reply, I just sit it the frigid darkness waiting for something to happen. I shiver involuntarily. He moves a bit closer to me. I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. Thoughts clouded my mind, I really thought he was different. Without thinking I blurt out,

"I should've let you walk home in the snow. Just leave me alone!"

I feel hot tears slide down my cheeks, their warmth felt good on my icy face, and for that reason I don't wipe them away.

He sighs before he answers me.

"If you want me to leave, I will. But just so you know, I only look at you differently because you are stronger than I thought. The fact that you have had to deal with that your entire life and still show up to school pretending to smile, it shows me how strong you are" he pauses, " I'm sorry if I bothered you, I'll see you around"

He gets off of the couch and makes his way to the towards the door. He leaves me seated on the couch in shock. When I realize what just happened, I quickly get up and rush towards him. I can vaguely see him opening the door to leave. A gust of wind causes my hair to fly back after he's opened the door.
"Wait" I tell him, "please don't leave"
He sighs and turns around. He doesn't say a single word. I then realize how angry he seems to be. He breaths heavily as if he had just finished a marathon. But then he begins to talk.
"You aren't the only one going though things you know that?!" I have things to!" He gets louder. "I go through a lot everyday and you don't know about it" he's yelling now,
"if you don't want me in your life just say so. Don't pretend with me!" He hollers. His voice cracks and he pauses, then he adds in a whisper,
"I've had enough of that" I hear the sound of his hand going through his hair. I can't see him but I know he's standing in front of me, trying not to let the tears fall from his eyes. Without warning he pulls me into a long hug. I begin to cry because I know I've caused all of this pain.

"I'm sorry" I say between breaths.

"Don't be" he tells me, barely understandable.
We both stand there in each other's arms, crying.Two broken people, but maybe I can pick up his broken pieces, and he could pick up mine.

My chin rests on his shoulder, he's holding me tightly making some of my body ache. His arms hit a spot on my back with a huge bruise. My dad put that there. I involuntarily let out a groan. He automatically releases me.
"What happened? Are you okay?" He asks me panicked.
"Yeah I'm fine" I assure him. We're still standing by the door, it's cold here. I want to go back to the fireplace. I try to find his hand but instead I grab his arm. I pull him to the living room.
"OW" he yells than quickly pushes my arm away.
"What did I do?" I ask him almost embarrassed
"Nothing don't worry about it" he tells me calmly.
I sigh, "ok, if you say so, let's go back into the living room"
He follows me without a word. We sit where we had been sitting before. He wipes his eyes from the tears. I find his hand as it rests on the couch next to me. I hold his wrist and he winces.
"What is it?" I ask him truly concerned.
"Nothing" he said quietly.
He shakes, maybe from the cold or maybe from the fact that he's still crying. I interlace our fingers, which fit perfectly together. He sniffles, embarrassed.
"It's okay" I tell him squeezing his hand.
I wipe a tear sliding down his cheek, and my finger comes across a bump near his eye. He mumbles a complaint I can't quite hear. I remember about his black eye. I hadn't seen his face for so long I almost forgot.
"I'm sorry" I apologize. He mumbles an "it's ok" quietly.
We sit in silence for a couple of minutes. I finally build up the courage to ask him again.
"Can you tell me what happened to your eye?" Once the words leave my mouth a thought occurs to me, I still don't know what happened to him the day he called me for help.
"Marcus, what happened to you that day we went to the hospital?" I ask my voice shaking.
He doesn't answer. I scoot closer to him.
"Marcus what's going on?"
All off a sudden, he bursts into tears.