Mind's Echo

Mark

Mark had a bad feeling about Shelly testing out the stairs and really wished she would let Alex do it. When he saw her take a tumble and heard her scream out in pain, he knew his bad feeling had been right. He rushed toward her, not caring about his own safety when there was a fair damsel in distress. Sure, she'd been making eyes at Alex, but she was still pretty, and Mark was a sucker for the pretty ladies. Even the ones that cuss like a sailor, he thought as Shelly let out a few expletives. 

"Shelly!! What happened?" he called as Alex yelled the same thing. 

He shined his light on her face when he reached her, grimacing at the gushing blood. He might have been a sucker for the ladies, but he was also squeamish around blood. Still, he wanted to help her. She looked pitiful, and more than a little pissed.

"I'm so sorry, Shelly. What can I do to help?" 

Feeling helpless, he sat back on his heels as he watched Alex pull out a makeshift first aid kit and attend to Shelly like a professional. He held the wet cloth when asked, but made sure to stay out of the way otherwise. Alex seemed so sure of himself, unlike he had been the last hour or so. Mark began to wonder if the boy had any medical training. He hadn't mentioned anything like that. 

As Mark pondered the situation and waited on Alex to finish his doctoring, he decided to take a gander through his camera lens. Just as he brought it to his eye, he caught something moving out of the camera's range, just to the right of Shelly. He pulled the camera away to make sure it was recording. He played the last few minutes back, and, sure enough, a misty figure moves away from Shelly. It almost looked like it had come out of Shelly and moved away, but ... no. Surely not. 

Mark sat the camera aside. He looked at Alex and Shelly. Alex was packing his supplies away and Shelly was holding an ice pack to her broken nose. 

"Alex, Shelly," Mark began. "You guys, there's something I think you need to see."