Quietly Suffering

Chapter 3- Other Problems

Jack's POV

Mark looked horrible. I was honestly scared for his safety. But why did Bob know about this before I did? I'm going to get to the bottom of this one way or another.

'Hey Bob. How come you knew about this before me?' I skied Bob on a private message.

'The truth?' Bob replied instantly.

'Nothing but the truth.'

'Well Mark was at my house about 2 years ago and I accidentally walked in on him taking his shirt off. He was crying and when I saw the scars he made me promise not to tell anybody.'

I didn't even bother replying. When we get to the summit she'll have hell to pay. It's not fair for Mark to suffer. He's too important to the world to be sad or abused. An entire life ahead of him while all I do is scream into a camera and hope people like me. Or that's what I've been told.

I look down at my phone which had a new message from an unknown number.

'I heard your friend has an abusive girlfriend. Guess no one saw that coming.'

This guy has no idea who he's messing with. How would this person know that unless...

'Who is this and how do you know that?'

Before I had time to react, the same unknown number called me. Might as well answer.

"Hello?" I asked as I heard a deep giggle from the other line.

"You know me better than you think Jack!" The voice was deep and I couldn't recognize him.

"I he vent heard your voice before." I said, creeped out.

"That's good... Now you won't have a clue who's behind the mask." He said as I look around the living room and kitchen, which was connected to the living room.

"What mask? Let me guess. You're gonna play the horrifying Ghostface killer and I'm gone be the pathetic first victim? Unlikely." I said, trying not to be paranoid as I went to lock the front door.

"You guessed it..." I heard a thump upstairs.

"You don't even know where I live!" Now I'm paranoid.

Thanks a lot Wes Craven.

"Then how come I can see a scared little boy locking his door?" The voice asked and I felt my entire body tense up, looking around nervously.

"Uh... I-I'm calling the cops!" I ran the kitchen and took a knife from the drawer.

"Oh but Jack. They'll never find your body!" He laughs as I almost drop the phone and knife when a door slammed upstairs.

The stairs were right beside the front door which was locked now. Nice Jack! Now you're dead! There was a back door but it only led to woods with fences too high to climb. I have to think fast. The back would trap me and the front would take longer. I chose the front because there was a house across the street.

"Fuck this!" I hang up the phone and sprint to the door, quickly unlocking it.

I glance up the stairs and saw a person in a black suit and a clown mask running down the stairs with an axe in hand. I let out a yelp and slam the door behind me, running a few feet and turning around. He was gone. How?

I run over to the house anyway and slammed my fists against the door. She opened the door and I was panting from running.

"Jack. Are you ok?" Lizzie asked as I closed the door and locked it.

"Yeah. C-call the cops!" My breathing calmed a little but the sight of the clown guy still squirmed in my mind.

2 hours later

I sat in the police station talking to Lizzie quietly, when the sherif comes over to us.

"Come with me." He said, bringing me to the interrogation room.

Yeah, so for the next hour we talked about the "clown" and decided to stay with Lizzie and her son Rob. Whoever that guy was, he sure wasn't kidding. Wether he just wanted to scare me or not, he was still creepy. And how did he know my name? Maybe he was just some crazed fan trying to get me attention. Well it worked! Except... How would a fan even know about Mark being abused? He had to be someone who knew Mark personally, or was on the group chat this morning.

I should call Mark and tell him what happened.

"Hey Jack." Mark sounded like he had been crying.

"You alright?" His feelings were more important right now.

"Yeah. It just got heated between me and Amy... So what's up?" Mark sniffled and I didn't want to pry further.

"Uh. Someone broke into my house with a clown mask and an axe, called me, threatened to kill me, and apparently knows what Amy does to you."

"Are you ok?" I could hear the fear in his voice.

"I'm fine, but I think this guy was either snooping through someone's or knows you personally." I reply, hearing Mark sigh.

"Probably... You're not alone in your house are you?" Mark asked worriedly.

"No. I'm with Lizzie at her house until the summit. She's coming with us... And can we talk about this later? There's a lot more to this guy." I said.

"Ok. Good night." Mark giggled.

"Good night." I hung up the phone and laid on the couch, eventually falling asleep.

The clown haunted my dreams the entire night.

(Never any offense to Amy. She's a wonderful person)