Chapter 21: Haunting Trauma

Hearing a male voice screaming, shrieking and crying out loudly into the night, Julianna woke suddenly. Her body was stiff from the position she had been in, despite this, she darted across the room to Marcus's side as he began calling out for his sister. Glancing at her phone to check the time, which read 3:45am, she put it aside on the floor and turned her full attention to him.

At first she tried calling his name, but he must have been so deeply asleep that he couldn't hear her. The next thing she did was gently shake him, as she continued to call his name.

"MARCUS!" She yelled, getting frustrated with failing to wake him.

Finally it worked, and his eyes flew open as he began panting for his breath. Marcus said nothing, for a few seconds, she almost believed he was catatonic. That was until his face creased up as tears rolled down his cheeks. Then he began crying, unable to stop. Julianna felt helpless, but she knew she had to at least try to comfort him.

"Hey... it's okay. I'm here. You're here. Everyone is safe." She began to reassure him, instantly kicking herself when she realised she had used the word everyone. That was a lie. Not everyone was safe.

"No! It's not okay! Layla.... she's... she's gone." He responded, clinging to Julianna as if she were the only hope he had.

"I know..." She began to respond when he butted in, adding to his previous statement.

"And it's all my fault." He finished, in a tone which told her that he wasn't finished hating himself.

"Listen to me. It is not your fault Marcus. There is nothing you could have done. She was half dead from the moment your father threw her into the basement. Even if we were faster.... I don't think she would have made it because of your father." She explained, hoping that this would knock some sense into him.

"Yeah... that's what I keep telling myself. But deep down I know it's not true. So does she." He responded. His crying had stopped, but his tone of voice was now flat as though he was void of emotion.

"What does that mean?" She asked, confused when he mentioned Layla.

"She told me herself. Just now, before I woke. She was taunting me, telling me that she blames me." He explained, sounding convinced.

"I don't believe that was her. I think the shadow creatures are still around and I think that they are trying to get into your head. Now I'm going back to sleep. You should try too. We have a long day tomorrow." She stated, growing impatient because of how tired she was. Walking back over to the bean bag, she quickly settled down and went back to sleep, leaving Marcus alone with his head.

He didn't know what to believe. All he knew was that he felt awful. Getting up out of bed, being careful not to wake Julianna again, he tiptoed downstairs into the kitchen. Opening one of the drawers that were partly open anyway, he pulled out the sharpest knife he could find. He needed to know that he could feel something, and this was how he would find out. Bringing it up to his wrist, he dragged it across his soft, tender skin. Straight away he gritted his teeth as the sliced area began to sting and blood poured out.

Good. He thought to himself. He could feel pain. He deserved that. Putting it back before he decided to give into the temptation to do more, he watched as his supernatural healing kicked in leaving him with only a blood trail down his arm and the once wounded area was now only a pinkish colour.

Heading back to his room, he laid on his bed, wondering why Julianna had chosen to sleep the other side of the room, and quickly fell back to sleep.

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Waking up to the sound of the door opening, Marcus once again crept out of the room, leaving his Julie asleep.

He entered the kitchen to find his mother dragging his father across the floor. He almost couldn't believe his eyes. His mother had always seemed so innocent. What the heck was she doing dragging his father around?

"Mum, what are you doing?" He quizzed, growing irritated.

"Oh... well your father decided to try to go start a fight with Eric. I secretly followed him and when he was least expecting, I hit him with the frying pan. He fell unconscious so I had to drag him back here." She explained, laughing slightly, almost sounding proud of herself.

"Right. Okay. Well... I need to talk to you." He responded, feeling more nervous than he ever had about speaking to his mum.

"Sure. What's up?" She asked, dropping his father down on the floor and walking over to him.

"I had to rescue Joshua and Layla from a very strange place. The only thing is, I managed to save Joshua but...... by the time I had gotten to Layla, it was too late. I'm so sorry mum..... Layla's gone." He explained, stuttering and stammering his way through his explanation. He felt sick just having to explain it.

For a moment the house fell silent and Marcus though his mother was going to cry or break down any second. Instead, her expression changed from loving to angry. No forget angry. Fuming. Enraged almost. She eyed him with a hate filled look, then did something he never expected from her. From his father maybe, but not from her.

She struck him across the face at full speed and in full force.

"In that case..... take your stuff and get the hell out of my house. You are not my son. By failing to save her you have lost all my love and respect. You are nothing to me anymore. I hate you Marcus Crescent. Don't ever come back, because if you do, I'll have you killed." She sneered coldly.

Taken aback by her actions, and deeply hurt by her words, without saying anything else, Marcus raced upstairs to his bedroom... or what used to be his room and began packing everything that was important to him in an old backpack he had.

"Marcus what are you doing?" Julianna asked, now wide awake and totally confused.

"I'll explain on the way. But for now, come on, we have to get out of here." He vaguely explained, leaving her even more confused. She followed him anyway. Out of the room, down the stairs and out the door.

Once they were far enough from the house, he threw his bag down on the ground and threw a punch at the wall, in the alley they had just entered. The punch was dealt with so much force that his hand went straight through. When he pulled it out, it was full of blood and deep gashes. He now couldn't move his wrist at all.

Julianna stood in shock. She didn't know what to say or do. She stared at his broken wrist in absolute horror.