Chapter 20 Secrets In The Closest

Heading back into Eric's cabin, all eyes fell on them as soon as they appeared in the doorway. Julianna accepted it and moved on, quickly sitting down in the same place she had earlier. Marcus however, had a harder time coping with everyone staring at him. He shifted awkwardly in the door way.

"What now Eric?" He asked, slumping down in the corner, elbow resting on his knee with his cheek in his hand. He was not in the mood for much chit chat.

"You successfully rescued Joshua, poor Layla just couldn't be helped. You escaped the shadow realm just as the portal closed. Now I believe we have some cleaning up to do." Eric explained, speaking for the first time since they had returned.

Did he really just give them a summary of what had happened? What a complete waste of breath! He thought bitterly.

Joshua. At the mention of his name Marcus suddenly remembered the way his best friend had looked while in the shadow realm. This caused him to look straight at the blonde boy who was now leaning against the kitchen counter, his expression was unreadable.

It was as though nothing had changed. Unlike in the shadow realm where Joshua had red, almost demonic eyes, and seven tails protruding from his backside, he instead had his usual emerald green cat-like eyes and no tails in sight. His heart felt lighter as he felt slightly more relieved. If anything, at least Joshua hadn't changed permanently. It was a tiny shred of normal that he could hold onto, and would. With an air tight grip.

"Where do we start? For one we have to find out what the hell he is." Marcus began, giving a hinting nod towards his friend. Joshua just looked down, he felt almost like he was being judged, though he knew Marcus was just stressed out. Even still, he had to hold back, otherwise he might have cried at that statement.

"I also have to face my parents. Tell them I failed to save my little sister. Then there's also the problem of the possibility of those creatures returning and targeting us again." He finished as so many questions filled his head, too many to even begin to explain the while thing to anyone.

He dreaded that conversation more than anything else. It would be one of the hardest he would have to have.

"For now... go home. Get some rest. Work on telling your parents, then tomorrow we'll get to work on solving the mystery of Joshua and then figure out what to do about the shadows." Eric instructed, feeling equally as tired himself.

It had been a long day for all of them, not just Marcus.

"Yes. I suppose you're right." The raven haired boy replied, only now coming to terms with how exhausted he was. He felt as though he would just drop to the ground, that's how little energy he had and the only one who had noticed was his Julie.

Rising to his feet as Julianna stood up, and Joshua joined them, he said his goodbyes to his older brother, gave the pregnant witch a nod of thanks, and opened the door to leave.

As the three of them headed towards the cemetery, Joshua decided to ask Marcus the one question that had been nagging at his mind since they had returned. He could only hope that the answer would be one that would kill his doubt.

"Dude.. do you resent me? After what you saw?" He asked, fear present in his voice and his eyes. He was scared of losing his best friend. Over the years he had lost many friends, his father, not that that was much of a loss, and many more people. But he couldn't lose Marcus.

"What? No! Of course not. You're my best friend, more like a brother. I could never resent you. Why would you think that?" Marcus quickly answered, surprised by Joshua's doubt. Before all of the supernatural drama, they had never doubted each other. Not even once. This was definitely a first.

"It's just... the way you looked at me, when you said about solving the mystery behind my change in appearance... I thought.." he began to explain, but couldn't finish. Instead he just gave Marcus a look of regret for thinking what he thought.

"Nah I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry if I made you feel like that. My head's just a little messed up right now." Marcus explained giving the other boy a weak smile. Joshua returned the smile, he felt happier now.

For the rest of the way back to the town none of them spoke. All three of them were lost in their own train of thought. Well that, and they were all exhausted.

Marcus's heart felt heavier with each step they took that led towards the town. He had no idea how he would even begin to tell his parents. He didn't believe that he had it in him to face them after his failure.

His father especially would most likely disown him. His mother would disown him too. He would have no family. The thought alone made him want to cry again. Unfortunately, he didn't have the energy for that either. He felt so lost. So broken. How had he fallen so far? He never thought that his life would become this messy and complicated.

Joshua felt reassured after asking Marcus that question. He finally felt the weight lift off his chest. Despite this, his spirits were still the lowest they had ever been. He felt so bad for his best friend. If Marcus had been on Layla's trail instead of saving him, then she may still be here. He felt guilty for being the one that got to live. It just wasn't fair, Layla was so young too. She had barely began to live. He shouldn't be up and breathing right now. He should be dead, and she should be here.

He also couldn't help but feel like a freak, only he knew what he was but he couldn't find the courage today to tell any of them. Of course Julianna would have to know because eventually it was going to happen to her. But how was he supposed to find the words to tell them that he, the clown kid, skater boy, was a fox with seven tails. A kitsune. Impossible. They would resent him for sure. There was no way they would continue to support him.

As much as he hated keeping secrets, it looked as though this might have to be one.

Julianna was still upset even though she would never show it. Yes, she had said she would give Marcus a chance to prove himself, but the truth was, his words were still echoing in her mind and each time she heard them it felt like a sting to her heart. It was the worst thing anyone had ever said to her.

She felt guilty for not being able to help Layla but she knew she couldn't hold onto that guilt, and she was kidding herself if she thought that she would be able to forgive him because deep down she knew that she couldn't. At least not yet. It would take a lot for her to get over the incident. Her only hope was that it was an isolated one.

She had been hurt so many times by the people she loved most and now Marcus was just another person to add to that list. Despite how much he had hurt her with what he said, she still loved him very deeply, though she wouldn't let him see that just yet. She only hoped that would be enough to keep them on track. If it wasn't then.... who knew how the loss would impact them both?

Once they made it back to the cemetery, Marcus paused for a moment, causing them to stop too. He had one last thing to inform them.

"I don't wanna be alone tonight." He admitted, the sadness setting in again. The thought of being alone was too daunting for him to handle.

"Well I need to go home and shower." Joshua said, flashing Marcus a look of sorry. Although the truth was that he couldn't be around them right now. He just needed to be alone. Especially after what had happened back at Eric's cabin. He just didn't have it in him for their usual shenanigans.

"I'll stay with you." Julianna offered, hoping he would accept.

"What?... After the way I treated you. No. I don't deserve the pleasure of your company." He objected instantly. If she stayed with him, he would feel even more guilty for the loyalty she gave him that he felt he didn't deserve.

"No matter what you've done I'm willing to give you a chance. I need to make sure that you're okay, I need to spend time with you to work things out too. Marcus please... don't push me away. Not again. If you do, you're in danger of losing me." She pleaded, looking him straight in the eye, hoping he would take her seriously.

Taking in what she said, and judging by the look on her face, she knew he was serious. He decided it was best not to deny her and quickly gave up any objection he had built up in his head. The one thing he definitely did not want to do was lose her, especially after losing his sister and after he had just gotten into something with her. His heart would break even more if that happened.

"Alright. That would be nice. Thank you." He replied. Then they continued walking, once out of the cemetery, Joshua parted ways with the two of them, heading off in the direction of his home and they headed off towards Marcus's.

************

Back at the house, everything was quiet. His parents were no where in sight. Julianna had headed off into the bathroom to clean up, meanwhile he took the time to get changed for bed, throwing on a black t-shirt along with grey pyjama bottoms.

He took off the cross that Layla had given him for his birthday and placed it carefully back in its box which was open. It was something he would guard with his life since it was all he had left from her.

Still thinking about everything that had happened in the space of just one day, he laid down on his bed, curling himself up in the fetal position for comfort. Within seconds he was sound asleep as his body gave into the exhaustion.

Julianna came in from the bathroom, hoping to speak to him before bed. Pushing the door open, she spotted him straight away asleep on the bed and decided to leave him be. He needed as much rest as he could get. The poor boy was worn down so much while they were in the shadow realm.

Not to mention that he was probably like a bear if he got woken up. The last thing she wanted was to end the night with drama, so she decided that it was best to leave him asleep.

She would get the chance to speak to him tomorrow. For now she needed her sleep too. Walking over to the bed, she bent down and kissed him goodnight on the forehead. Standing up, she walked over to the bean bag in the corner of the room, and laid down on it. Slowly but surely falling into a well needed slumber.