The Marked

Secrets

-Really quickly before we get into the story, I just want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my story so far, and I hope that you're all really enjoying it. Now, let's get into the story!

That day, the roof of the school had only received practically no damage, even though the glass doors had exploded inwards. After about thirty minutes of sitting in the shelter, being shushed every time I tried to ask a question, they let us out to resume our normal classes.

They said that the tornado had lifted up to rest over the school for a minute or so, and that somehow that had caused the glass to shatter. The teachers had a hard time keeping the students from talking for the rest of the day, because a rumor was going around that Ms. Stents had received a call about a family emergency, and left after making sure all of the students got into the shelter. She would not be coming back.

As for me, no one had even seemed to realize that I had been the person outside the door, banging on it and screaming for help. In fact, no one had even realized that I wasn't in the shelter. Perks of being in the background. The teachers tried finding out who it was, but when we they counted us all present as we left the shelter, they realized that it couldn't have been a student.

So this caused another rumor to be spread, something about how a ghost of a former student had once been locked out of the shelter and died in a tornado. There was no evidence to suggest anything like that had ever happened, but the rumor spread like wildfire anyway. Needless to say, with all this excitement in one day, the student were talking to one another in class while the teachers tried their best to just control the chaos.

As for me, I wasn't sure how to react. I had almost died today, then I was saved by Shea, then I summoned a shadow sword, seemingly from thin air, and then I traveled underground and through a wall. It was enough to make anyone's head spin with the ridiculousness of it all.

We were in the last class of the day now, and I hadn't gotten a single word out of Tom, Shea, Mike, or even Ryan. Not that he wasn't speaking to anyone else, however. He was currently discussing how exactly the ghost that had banged on the door had been killed with another classmate.

I wasn't focusing on their exact words, but it seemed like Ryan was saying that Sheldon (this was the name for the fake ghost) had been sucked up into the air by the tornado, and hit his head on the wall, dying on impact. The other student was arguing that Sheldon couldn't have been picked up by the tornado because our school had two floors above the bottom one. They continued arguing for the entire class, while I silently lay my head on my desk, feigning sleep.

In reality, I was trying not to vomit. I had once again been helpless when faced with danger, and this time it would have cost me my life. I couldn't get over how I had given up at the end, deciding to just let her kill me. I had promised myself again and again that I wouldn't be that same scared little boy who had lain on the floor while taking the beating, but what had I done to stop her?

The face of my two attackers swirled inside my head, taunting me for being so weak, so worthless. "Pathetic," they said in unison, again and again, laughing at me. I clenched my eyes and grit my teeth to try and force them out of my head, but they only laughed louder.

"Useless."

"Pathetic."

"Worthless."

"You don't deserve to live."

Tears threatened to spill down my eyes, but I held them back with strength that I wasn't sure I had. I'm not worthless! I  wanted to scream this back at them, but I couldn't think of a single reason to back up my claim. I was just like the other students, believing in a rumor without any proof, while knowing deep down that it wasn't true.