Church On Sunday (ToMark)

Chapter 18

I appreciate everyone who is helping me through this, but I think I can take showers by myself. I sigh as my father has to help me into the shower, while he tells me repeatedly to keep watch of the plastic bags that are covering my casts.

"Thanks, Dad." I say before he leaves me alone finally.

I've been home for two days, and the only time I'm ever alone is during a shower, unless someone walks in to make sure I'm okay, and didn't slip and fall.

After my shower, I take off the plastic bags then get dressed. I hop to the other side of my bathroom to receive my crutches that my father placed against the wall beside the door.

These things are so annoying; They hurt my armpits, and my arms get tired of basically holding all my weight when I walk.

"Mark! Hayley and Avril are outside our front door! Let them in while I dry off the dishes!" My Mother tells me from the other room.

Avril never told us where she went when I was still in the hospital, and Hayley never did ask too much questions neither. Even if she did, she never told me what they talked about.

I limp around the house with my crutches all the way to the front door, I open it up only wanting to slam it shut. I hop to the side, getting ready to shut it again.

"Mark, please listen!" He pleads with a breathless voice, full of sorrow and sorriness that actually catches my ear. But should I really even care at the point?

Avril and Hayley stand behind him, looking at me with worried eyes. Why would they even bring him here?

"Mark, please just listen to him. I know he's in the wrong here, I know you're completely pissed at him and to be honest, we all have a good right to be. But, the other day he gave us some information that just maybe will make you forgive him." Avril tells me, rubbing my shoulder as she passes me to go inside with Hayley. "We'll give you some privacy. But before you decide to punch his head in, just listen first." She finishes before closing my front door quietly.

I stare at the ground, not daring to look up. "Mark, I'm a asshole-"

"Yeah. Say something I didn't already know, Tom." I bite back with anger, not giving a damn if I interrupted him.

"It was never meant to take it this far, you were suppose to be fine in the end." He whispers, in regret.

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" I yell, this time looking at him. He looks shocked, regretful, and sorrowful. "I'm so sick of this game, Tom. It's either tell me the fucking truth for once, or get the fuck off my property and leave me alone." I clench down onto my teeth.

He takes a seat on the steps that connects my porch to the ground. He pats the step. "Give your leg a break, and please sit down." He says calmly.

Now that I can agree with, so I do. We sit in silence staring at the ground until finally he speaks up.

"Remember at the party Mike said that I owed him?" I nod slowly. "Well, that created a deal between us, it was either I pay off the alcohol or he beats the shit out of you. Eventually, he made this plan. I told him to be nice to you, only because I didn't want you to get badly hurt."

"Why does he have a huge problem with me? What the fuck did I ever do?"

"To tell the truth, you didn't do a damn thing to him. He just hates Christians, and you took your religion by heart, and he wanted to destroy that. Me on the other hand, didn't give a damn if you had a religion or not."

I laugh bitterly. "Enough with the sweet shit, Tom. Continue, or leave." I pause. "What was the deal?" I ask, half wanting to know the answer while the other half of me really doesn't.

"I deserved that." He sighs. "I haven't had the money to pay him off from constantly leeching off of him for alcohol all the time. So, instead of money, he just told me to lead you into this trap. But, I did tell him if it worked, to at least take it easy on you. As you can probably guess, he didn't fucking listen to me." I don't respond, just let the tears fill up.

I breathe in and exhale slowly. "Was anything you told me before," I sniffle. "The truth or- A bunch of lies?"

"What?" He asks surprisingly. He takes a hold of my shaky hand carefully. "Mark, please don't think that. I meant every fucking word. Yes, it may not seem like that it now. But, please forgive me. I had to Mark-" He pauses to catch his breath that starts pacing, tears filling in his regretful brown eyes. I feel his heart beating through his fingers. "I had to, Mark."

He stops talking, and cries into my shoulder, with his arms clenching around my sides. I keep staring at ground, not exactly knowing what to do. Should I just forget about everything and forgive? Or not?

I squeeze my moist eyelids shut, and remove him from me. Grabbing my crutches and limp myself back inside. Ignoring his sobs fading behind me, and I shut my door. Also ignoring the many questions being aimed repeatedly at me from Avril and Hayley and I shut and lock my bedroom door.

I drop the crutches onto the room, and limp to my record player, and blast my record of Descendents to block out the pounding on my door that seems to get louder and louder each second that passes.