Regrets

Chapter 4 - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Song: Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

The tram was much quieter in the evening than in the early morning. Maybe this was due to no one drinking at this hour already, or maybe it was due to people still drinking in pubs and clubs instead of being on their way home. Either way, the volume was so low that you could hear someone cough. Not something that seemed extremely impressive for some people, but in the trams, it really was.

There were only a few trams in the city, so they usually were stuffed to the brim, but today, the tram was almost empty, causing an uneasy feeling to form in Marcus' gut. He felt as if the world was watching and judging him as he hopelessly tried to turn on his phone, which seemed to have given up on him completely ever since the accident with the boy.

And yet again, his thoughts drifted towards the boy he had met on the tram a few days ago. They seemed to do that quite a lot lately, and it disturbed Marcus how often he actually thought of someone whom he didn't know, nor did he care about him or even remember his name. Still he couldn't possibly shake the thought of the kid.

Suddenly, Marcus got shoved, his phone, which he had been relentlessly tapping for the last few minutes, slipping from his grip and falling to the ground, and he himself falling to his hands and knees on the dirty tram ground.

"Déjà vu much?", he growled quietly to himself before he got off the ground, not even bothering with his phone anymore. This surely had been its last straw, if there even had been any life left in it in the first place.

A small spark of hope was lit within him as he turned around. For some reason, Marcus was hoping, maybe even expecting, to see the little boy sitting on the ground there, but he was disappointed.

There were three youngsters, laughing and cackling as they pretended to look down on Marcus, who was in fact taller than them. Still, they had a very arrogant look on their faces.

Upon closer inspection, Marcus recognised two of them belonging to the group of kids that had shoved the young boy he kept thinking about.

Without second thought about whether or not James would tell him off in such a situation, Marcus landed a hit into the tallest boy's stomach, causing the air to leave his lungs, along with some spit coming out of his mouth.

Marcus wasn't really much of a trained fighter, but thanks to his work, he at least got daily physical workouts, albeit them focusing mainly on his flexibility and stamina rather than strength.

The boy Marcus had hit fell to his knees and hunched over while clutching his stomach, unable to process the pain he was experiencing all of a sudden.

Meanwhile, Marcus had already moved on to his next target. It wasn't in his interest to hit someone who already was on the ground, especially when that someone was at least five years younger than him. The boy should have learned his lesson by now.

"You. That boy you shoved into me a few days ago. Who is he? And more importantly, where is he?", Marcus hissed, grabbing one of the guys by the collar and lifting him off his feet.

"W-who?", he stuttered, he expression changing from fear to slight confusion.

"Brown hair and eyes, looks like the biggest wannabe in history, about this short", Marcus lifted his free hand to his lower ribs in a flat horizontal position to signal the teen the height, "you shoved him into me a week ago", Marcus growled his second sentence, sounding like he was seconds away from committing mass murder. He was angry, no doubt. Though why exactly that was, he wasn't really sure of. The only thing he did know is that he needed to see that boy again, to make sure he was okay, and if it only was so that he could stop thinking about him.

"T-tommy! You m-mean Tommy right?", the teenager was practically shaking, and although Marcus face showed no reaction to the name, the teen went on with his blabbering, "W-well, he's always at Pinwayes Station, I don't know him, I swear! He's just a weird kid! We think he ran away from home or some loser type of shit", the boy hastily scrambled to explain himself.

Marcus let go of the boy as soon as he had finished his sentence, causing him to fall on his ass.

"Don't shove me again, punk", Marcus growled before he moved a bit away from his current position a bit as he waited for the tram to stop at Pinwayes Station.

The boys on the other hand were quick to basically run to the other end of the wagon, making sure to stay as far away as possible from the brute.

Marcus however didn't concern himself with them anymore. There were other things on his mind much more important than those punks.

Pinwayes Station wasan ugly place. It was located in the red-light district so drunks and whoreswere attracted to it like moths to a light. It was everything but a place for alittle boy to hang around. What kind of parents did this kid have? Though,judging by the state his clothes were in and where he hung out, maybe he didn'thave any. In any case, Marcus was intoxicated by curiosity. He couldn't wait tofind out more about this weird boy- no, what was it? Tommy...?