Bully || Septiplier

Chapter Ten

JACK's head was in a rush as he walked home in the rain that he guessed has started sometime when he was inside. The storm that he'd started, technically both he and Mark, with their fucked up relationship/friendship. They weren't dating however. They weren't even friends. It was confusing to think about, so instead Jack reflected on the past moments that got him here, in the rain.

Mrs. Fischbach offered him dinner, but he turned her down - he didn't want to be eating with her in the same room. Mainly because he didn't want her asking questions about him, and somehow figuring out the truth - Jack was a terrible liar. But on the contrary, the also didn't want to stay because he hated Mark's parents.

Jack knew what they did to him. Or at least he thought he did. Sometimes in gym class, Mark's shirt rode up too high or hung too low, or even when they was changing and Jack accidentally glanced over, he saw the scars that littered his body. They weren't self harm scars - they were burn marks, rope marks, they were horrible. Mark wouldn't do that to himself. Mark wasn't like that. But Mark's parents were, and even if Mark had come to terms to forgive them for what they'd done in the past to him, Jack wouldn't. They were monsters, abusive parents, and Jack didn't want to be in the same room as them. He felt oddly protective over Mark in a way, although he had nothing to claim in the other man and he was too weak to protect him anyways.

He tried to maneuver his bag in a way so it was shielding his head from the rain, but gave up after a few minutes and let the rain devour him. He'd just take a warm shower later, he told himself, and deal with the wetness now. He didn't live too far away.

By the time he got home, the rain was starting to clear up - It was as though the sudden bad weather was meant just for Jack, as if it could make his day any worse. He opened his door and walked inside, and the first thing he saw was his mothers frown.

"Where were you this time?" Mrs. McLoughlin was standing in front of him. Jack closed the door behind him and faced her evenly.

"Well, I wasn't engaging in illegal activity," he said.

"I don't believe you." She raised an eyebrow, a habit he probably inherited from her, and he sighed.

"I was at a friends house."

"What's this friends name?"

"Mark."

She appeared to be thinking for a moment, and then her face paled and her eyes narrowed and Jack pressed his back against the front door. "The same one from middle school?"

"Yeah." Why was it such a big deal? I was in the past, this was the future and maybe they could move on from the middle school incident. Jack didn't like everybody suddenly bringing it up again, after such a long time of silence.

She began, "Jack, you know what happened last time-"

"We're just friends," he said, maybe a little bitchier than intended. She sighed and her blue eyes, much like Jack's, glanced away.

"Okay. But that boy isn't right for you, Jack."

"I know."

"There are a lot of problems he has from the past, and I'd imagine it hard to deal with."

"Okay."

"I just want what's best for you, honey. I love you." For a second she looked troubled. Jack frowned, but only slightly.

"Yeah, I love you too." She gave him a nod and offered a weak smile and walked away, but Jack was thinking. What did she mean, he had a rough past? Did she know about Mark's parents abusing him? Unlikely, because that wasn't public information and nobody else saw the scars. Nobody else cared to notice them, never cared to notice how quickly he changed his mind about being gay.

Jack frowned and set off, walking in the direction of his bedroom, opening and shutting the door behind him. He took out his laptop, sat cross cross on his own bed and opened Google.

It didn't take long to search Mark Fischbach into the browser, and he had to scroll down - past the social media accounts - to pull up a few articles. And eventually, he struck gold - until his face paled when he realized just what the news article was about, who it was about.

The headline on the site read: Fatal Accident in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was dated a few years ago, when Jack was fourteen years old (as was Mark). Around ninth grade, their first year of high school and coincidentally the first year Mark began to beat Jack up, push him around and generally treat him like shit.

As Jack read, his throat tightened and his face continued to pale and he realized his hand was trembling. He didn't know. God, he didn't know, and maybe if he did he would have understood Mark's change and would have tried to be there for him through the bullying, but no, he didn't know and nobody knew and maybe if somebody did know then Mark could get help. Fuck.

'A man and his son were victims of a fatal car crash in Cincinnati, Ohio on an early December morning.
On December 22nd, 2014 at 8:14 AM a pickup truck rammed into the front side of a SUV that was driven by a 27 year old man and his 14 year old son. The truck hit the front of the car, crushing the drivers section of the vehicle. It is said that the man died on impact. The son, however, whom was seated in the back of the truck only suffered minor injuries.
"A Christmas miracle," said an officer at the scene. "If the boy was anywhere closer to the front of the vehicle, he wouldn't have made it."
The son is temporarily being treated at a local hospital in Cincinnati, and the man's body is being shipped internationally to their family's home in Los Angeles.
The man's name is currently unavailable to the public, but the son's name has been released as Mark Fischbach.'

Jack had to read over the son's name a few times for it to finally register. This was an Ohio local newspaper, so it was unlikely that the news reached back to Los Angeles. So nobody knew, and Mark kept the trauma to himself. Until now. Fuck. Jack realized every part of his body was subtly shaking, heart beating fast and sweat pouring down his face. He felt like he was about to throw up. The truth hit him like a bullet to the back.

And then he got the text.

6:01 PM – Nov. 5th
Mark Fischbach
I kinda feel bad about sending you home in the rain so I'll make it up to you. Meet me at the park on Sixth Ave, ASAP.