Dark Secret

Chapter 10

Mark sat up suddenly in a cold sweat, his head aching and his breathing rapid. He attempted to look around, darkness greatly restricting his vision of the room, but he could still make out this was his and Jack's bedroom. He looked down to see Jack lying beside him on the mattress, looking peaceful. Mark let out a large sigh and lay back down and snuggled into Jack relieved it was just another nightmare. Recently he had been having recurring nightmares about Dark taunting him, hurting the people he loved and cared about, but never had they felt that real. He knew he should be concerned about his increasingly more realistic dreams and he was, but for now he just wanted to be with Jack and not have to worry for about it just one night. Mark was wide awake now and he wasn't planning on falling asleep anytime soon, not with Dark taunting and torturing him with the threats he was promising to deliver. He gently combed his fingers through Jack's hair, being careful not to disturb him. It felt strange, a large section of his fringe felt slightly wet and sticky to the touch, he examined at his fingers to see what it was but the room was too dark to make it out.

He tried smelling the substance, it gave off a strange scent, almost musty but also a slight hint of nutty. This just baffled Mark even more but he didn't want to turn on the light and wake Jack. Mark without thinking stuck out the tip of his tongue and licked it a small amount off his fingers. He scrunched up his nose as the taste, it was like he just put a penny in his mouth. Then he stopped, realizing he knew exactly what it was, and he had tasted it before, just a few nights ago. Mark reached out in attempt to find the bedside light switch but the bulb burnt out. He had meant to change it this morning but obviously he had other things to worry about. He felt a slight buzz go off in his pocket.

He reached for the phone out of his pocket and pulling out a phone that he didn't recognise but ignored it and turned on the flashlight, shining it down on Jack's hair and face. His parts of his hair had been turned from a faded green to dark crimson red, his beautiful thick hair being matted down by the thickening blood. Mark slowly lifted up the hair covering up Jack's face to reveal a large gash just above his eyebrow, the open wound still causing blood loss at an alarming rate and slowly painting his face red, this couldn't have happened more than a few couple minutes ago. Mark lost it and tried to jump out of the bed to find something to stop Jack frm bleeding out but instead yelped as he fell to the floor, his ankle cuffed to the bedpost.

'What the hell? I need to get these fucking things off NOW!!'

He suddenly heard a muffled shout and turned his head to see something moving under the bed. He shone the phone torch under the bed to light up Ryan, who was determined to shuffle further away. His shirt had been ripped away, his left eye was swollen shut, bruises littering his body and dried blood in and around his nose and mouth. He had his wrists and ankles bound by duct tape as well as a piece covering his mouth, its sole purpose to keep him from screaming. Mark became even more hysterical as he saw Ryan trying desperately to get away, his best friends were terrified of him, or technically speaking, they were terrified of Dark. "Oh my god Ryan!" Mark shouted frantically whilst reaching his arm out to Ryan, this just making him try harder to stay out of reach. "Ryan come here! Jack is bleeding out and I can't get out of this fucking bed!" Ryan paused, scanning Mark for any hint of dishonesty but couldn't find any. He was genuinely worried. Ryan slowly and cautiously shuffled his way back toward Mark, flinching when he moved his hands towards him to remove the tape. Ryan held his breath as Mark took the tape off like a bandaid, pulling away some of Ryan's arm and leg hair, his lip to bleed slightly as Mark ripped away the bit of tape from his mouth. Mark then quickly pulled himself back up onto the bed in order to let Ryan out of the cramped space, telling him to find something they could use to stop Jack's head from bleeding. Ryan stumbled to his feet and staggered hurriedly toward the door and looked back to see Mark holding Jack in his arms, using his hand to try and slow the blood loss. He looks up at Ryan, his eyes glassy and full of fear.