42nd Country Road

New Places

I woke in a new environment. A bedroom with ripped curtains and an old bed frame barely keeping the bed together. Mark had his arms tightly wrapped around me. Jack was nowhere to be seen. I turned to face Mark. His eyes were shut and his black hair was covering his eyes. I brushed it out of the way with my hand. I cuddled closer to his chest. I was happy, no guns, no running, just silence with the faint sound of Mark's breath. I closed my eyes for a minute until I heard blood curdling scream. I crunched into a smaller ball. Mark jolted with the scream.

"Mark, what the hell was that?" I said into his chest. He stroked my hair.

"I don't know," He answered. The darkness came alive in me and I straightened out and stood up.

"Come on Mark, Jack wants to play," I said. I sounded like a stranger in my own head. Mark's eyes turned black and he smiled. I walked out of our room and into a large open room. Jack was standing in the center with what looked like a taser.

"What is this thing?" He asked

"A taser," I said. I didn't want this.

"It's so much fun to play with," Jack said coming up to me and hitting me in the stomach with it. My body was flooded with electricity. I jolted, then I laughed. I started to grasp desperately for my old self. Jack kept on shocking me and I kept on laughing. Finally, I got out of it. I touched Jack's arm and he went back to normal. Mark was behind me. I grabbed his arm and touched him. He didn't turn back. I pulled the collar of his shirt towards me and kissed him. He was back now.

"Where are we?" I asked Mark, his face still so close to mine.

"We are in apartment 54 on the thirtieth level," Jack interrupted. I looked over at him, Mark's breath, brushing off the side of my neck. His hands gently resting on my forearms.

"How long have we been here?" I asked

"About four days, you've been dark and drunk so I wouldn't expect you to remember it all," Jack replied. I was less surprised with how many days I couldn't remember now, it seemed... normal. I looked back at Mark, his brown eyes meeting my green. I smiled weakly at him. He pulled me into a hug.

"Oh, I've missed you," He said into my neck. I hugged him a bit tighter.

"I'm going to talk to the girl across the hall now," Jack said leaving the apartment.

"Hey, Jack?" I called after him. I was still holding Mark.

"Ya," He said, half way through the doorway.

"She hurts you, I'm going to beat her into next week," I said

"Oh.... that's nice to know... Thanks," With that he left. Leaving me and Mark alone. He grunted a bit. I looked at his shoulder.

"Mark you need to rest," I said

"No... I... c-can't," He said

"Mark," I pulled out of the hug and looked at him. He looked tired. I looked around the room. There was an old couch in the corner with a blanket and some pillows. I walked him over and laid him down on the couch. I took his shirt off and inspected his wound. It was really bruised. I went into the other room and looked for my bag. I found it and grabbed some bandages out of the med kit from the clinic. I walked back into the living room I straddled him for more leverage. I started to wrap his shoulder when he stopped me.

"Leave it," He said. I looked at him. He smiled weakly at me. He sat up, his lips meeting mine.