Marked

Chapter 28

I blinked the darkness out of my eyes, my lids were heavy as if I had just woken up from a long dream. Deep down my heart beat rapidly, my breathing was agitated. It had felt like a dream but deep down I knew it wasn't, maybe not even dreams are that cruel. A pang of sadness filled my chest as I looked over to Terrence. His eyes were facing the ground, his eyes were lost, fully concentrated on the lively greens.

"I'm so sorry about your parents" I said, even though deep down I know that those words actually meant nothing after such loss, after such pain and suffering. "I know that they are truly no words that amount to the pain that you must have felt".

"It's ok, it was a long time ago" he said as he looked up and then at me. His eyes were filled with color, shifting, appearing, and disappearing over and over again. "You learn to live with it".

"The pain?" I asked, "Does it ever go away?".

"No" he breathed out, "but you learn to live with it, you become stronger from it. You can't just walk away from the moments that make you who you are or else you would be neglecting yourself entirely".

"Sounds much easier said than done though" I looked down at my arms. The swirls and lines seemed slightly familiar but only in the back of my brain. I could feel the memory rise, softly caressing the ideal of a complete picture but never really becoming anything concrete or real. I barely knew what they meant but after so long, to me they only seemed like painful memories. "To live with so much pain living inside, and also brandished outside".

"Not everything is pain though, marks can also represent a happy moment in our lives" he clasped his hands together tightly "an example would be the one that prints in after a love promise, its a sort of union one makes with another morpher. It kind of like human marriage but you can't get divorced from this. When you decide you want to be bonded for the rest of your days with someone, you swear a sacred vow. After that a mark appears on what would be your wedding band finger, it displays the heartbeat of the person you love. Its kind like the one that's on our chests"

Instinctively my hand went up to my heartbeat line, I looked up to Marcus again only to find him staring back at me.

"We all know the words, even if we were never taught them." he went on, "so you have to be careful, because after they are mutually said the bond cant be undone. Their sorrows are yours as much as their happiness, it's a powerful thing".

"I never would have thought that existed" I said. A bond of love, the thought of something so pure just seemed too distant nowadays.

"Well, not everything is dark and cloudy you know? And when the happy moments come, you feel them much more than the sad ones, that's why they are worth waiting for." he sighted deeply.

There was a moment of quiet, as if the whole world had just gotten still. It had been a long time since I had felt such peace, the flowing water, bushes and trees seemed somehow as a part of a bigger whole. Suddenly I was very much aware of my hand resting on Terrence's shoulder. I looked down at it and then back up at him. He had also suddenly become aware of my touch, glancing at my hand he looked up to me once again. His were eyes brown again and somehow the color felt completely soothing. My breathing was calm but I could also feel my heart beginning to pick up its pace, just a slightly bit faster with every minute.

His hand went up as he began to cup my cheek. His touch was warm and soothing, even though his hand were rough and callused against my skin. Slowly he started getting closer, his face inches from mine. His lips were parted. I closed my eyes, as I began to feel his presence becoming closer. Allowing my mind to dull I too inched closer, our lips were barely touching. It was the moment before the big dive, the shift that deep down I knew could either save or end me. He was close but at the moment it didn't feel like enough, yet his lips lingered, taunting me.

Suddenly he pulled me in, trapping me in his kiss. My arms went around his neck, afraid of letting him go. Touching him felt like fire on my skin, but he worth the blaze. My brain was empty yet my heart was full of feeling, I didn't want to think about this, a part of me only ached for his presence even if it was only for a moment.

He broke our kiss with a sigh. "Let's leave, go far away" he whispered, "I can teach you how to live a life worthy of how you are, so please lets go."

I opened my eyes, only to find his pleading. My heart shrunk in my chest as a name entered my mind. Marcus. "We can't just leave" I said.

"Yes we can" he pleaded, "we cant just stay, not after what happened".

"We cant just go either" I whispered.

The rims of Terrence's eyes were amber red. "What reasons do you have to stay?" he muttered stiffly, "if he did that to me he could do that to you too".

I shook my head in denial, "No he wouldn't" my voice was thick with emotion, I didn't even know what I was feeling. I wanted to cry, kick, yell and then kiss him all over again, but then again I also wanted to punch myself in the gut. Marcus, I never thought of Marcus.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked, his voice laced with anger.

"I just am!" I yelled unsurely, "anyways if you really want to go why don't you just do it?".

"I can't!" he yelled back.

"Why?" voice was exasperated, I could feel the tears in my eyes but held them back.

"Because-"

"Guys?" said a voice in the distance, "where are you? Skylar?" the voice seemed closer now. Suddenly I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. "God Sky I was so worried" Marcus said as he held me tighter, "You were gone for such a long time I grew worried. Im sorry, I'm so so sorry" his voice shook with his last words, "I don't what came into me I just-" his voice broke of into sobs, his body shook as he cried, but at that moment I couldn't help but notice a figure walking away from us and into the woods. As fog became to rise. His presence faded away while the ghost of his kiss lingered on my lips.