6 Chapter 6: Rain

Mark dashed inside, his father was more furious than he thought. He made sure to listen to his father. Maybe, if he started to obey his father more often then he’ll actually love him again. However, no matter how many times he thought it through, he knew it’d never be that way. No matter how many times he seeked his father’s approval, he’d never feel a father’s love. He sat on his bed, and remembered all of the times that he had tried to gain his father’s love. He stood and wiped his eyes whenever his mother came into his room. She barely ever came in there anymore. She normally ignored him, but there she was, her beautiful face looking at him in pity.

“Mark?” she asked, walking closer to him.

Mark backed up, against his bed, wondering why she had come into his room.

“Look, I’m sorry.” she sat down in the chair at his desk.

“For what?” he said, a little harsher than he had intended.

“For…” she stopped, she looked down at her feet, and slowly looked back up at her son, her face etched with regret, “for ignoring you.”

Mark’s face went soft, he could tell his mother was telling him the truth, but for some reason, he didn’t want to place hope in her again. She had failed him when he really needed her, but now, here she is, looking at him, with regret in her eyes. He wanted to hug her and tell her it’s okay, he’s fine, that she doesn’t have to worry. But he stood there, his feet glued to the floor, his hands frozen in confusion, and his eyes asking her if what she said was true.

She stood from her chair, and grabbed her son’s hands in her own, warming his confusion. She stared straight into his eyes, and noticed how tall he had gotten, “I shouldn’t have done what I did these past three years.” She looked at his hands in hers, and frowned, “I know it’ll be difficult for you to forgive me. I know that you don’t want to forgive me. I know that I haven’t been there for you when you needed me. I… I… I saw what your father did to you outside, and I came to realize that you needed a father. So, I’ll try to be both your father and mother to you, son.”

Mark looked at her, his eyes blinking back his tears. Without thinking he let go of his mother’s hands and pulled her into a hug. It’d been years since he felt her warmth. He could feel her hesitation before she hugged him back. She smiled, her little boy was still the child that she wanted him to be. However, she was too scared to tell him the truth, that she couldn’t be both of his parents, and somehow, she felt that he knew that.

Mark could tell from her hesitation that something was wrong, he let go of her, and held his mother at arms length, “Is there something wrong, Mom?”

“No, sweetie.” Brooke replied, smiling, “I’m just a little, sick, that’s all.”

Mark felt his mother’s forehead with the back of his hand, “It must not be a fever then.” he muttered to himself.

“No, just a little bit of stomach pains.” She replied, and hugged her son again, before she made her way out of the room.

Mark looked at his hands, “She isn’t telling me something.”

He was right though. Even though he spent the next two and a half months with his mother, in the middle of April she told him she’d be going on a trip with her sister, but will be back in time for his graduation. It was a lie, he could tell it was a lie. Just like his father telling her all those years ago that he didn’t hate him, he knew it was a lie. She never planned on coming back, and Mark knew that his father knew that.

The phone rang, he picked up the phone before his father could get to it, four days before his graduation. He was working on his Valedictorian speech, and it had interrupted his concentration, “Hello?”

“Hi, is this Mark Twilighz?” a man’s voice said on the other end of the phone.

“Well, this is a Mark Twilighz, if you mean to speak to my father then…” he was cut off.

“No, I mean to speak to you, Mark Joseph Twilighz, correct?”

“How do you-”

“Your mother.”

Mark was silent, he opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

“Brooke, right?”

“... Yes.”

“She…”

Mark couldn’t stand it, why was this man dragging everything out for so long.

“She won’t be coming home to you.” he finished.

“No, she said she would.” Mark stuttered, “You’re lying. Right?” he stated even though he knew the man told the truth.

“I’m sorry, boy, but, I’m not.” the man said.

“Is she…” he couldn’t bear to finish, he didn’t want her to be dead, but by the time he looked back at the phone, the man had ended the call. There was no possible way she was dead.

“Boy.” he heard his father’s voice say coming into the kitchen.

“Y-Yes.” Mark said nervously, not because he was scared of his father, but because he didn’t want to admit what he had heard.

“Who called?” he asked in his still hateful voice to his son.

“Someone informing me that mom wasn’t coming home.” Mark said, failing to make eye-contact with his father.

“Well, it’s about time. Good riddance. If only you’d leave too, everything would move along quite smoothly.” Mark, Sr. said, walking out of the room.

Mark returned to his writing. Right when he had gotten back on good terms with his mother, she left, and now, she isn’t ever going to be coming back. He couldn’t stand it. His tears started to fall, and he dashed out of the house. He wanted to run away, run as far as he could from that awful home. But he didn’t want to burden someone else with all of his worries. He ran past the crossroads where he would leave his brothers on his way to school. He ran past his own school. He wanted to continue running. He didn’t care if he was out of breath, he just wanted to run as far away as he could. His tears blurred his vision, and the wind blocked his hearing. Before he knew it he was soaking. The rain drenched his thirteen-year old body. With the rain hitting the ground, and his feet splashing in the water he couldn’t hear someone calling after him.

He just kept running, he soon found himself in a park. He picked up a small pin from the ground. It looked almost identical to the pin that his mother gave him when he finished third grade. It was newer looking, but it still brought tears to his eyes, tears he had thought he had run out of, and he fell to his knees. A hand was placed on his shoulder, and he turned around surprised. That’s when he noticed the rain wasn’t pouring on him anymore. Alexandria stood there, with a red umbrella in her hand, she was wearing rain boots, and a rain jacket. She just stood there, staring at him, not daring to ask what was wrong.

“Alex?” he asked, as he looked up at her.

“Are you cold?” she asked, handing him a towel that she somehow managed to keep dry.

“No, I’m fine.” he turned away, too broken to even wipe the tears off his face.

She knelt down beside him, and wrapped the towel around his shoulders, “I tried calling you, but you just seemed to keep on running.” she hugged him.

He flinched, “Sorry, I was just trying to get some exercise in.”

“In the rain?” she asked, still holding the umbrella.

“It wasn’t raining when I started.” Mark said, looking away from her.

“Someone as smart as you would’ve known that it’ll rain, though.” she scooched around to face him, their knees touching each other.

“I wasn’t thinking.” Mark replied, keeping his eyes on his hands.

“Is that why you have tear-stains?” she asked, lifting his head up.

“Sure.” Mark said, pushing himself away from her, the towel falling onto the ground, she caught it before it was completely soaked in the grass.

“Mark.” she started to say, before she saw him freeze, she looked at what he was looking at, and saw a car pulled up at the park. She watched as the man got out of the car, and Mark turned to run.

“I…we'll talk later.” he said, being polite, before he was out of her reach. The man chasing after him.

“Mark, get back here!” he yelled.

Mark continued to run, feeling bad for leaving Alexandria in the rain, but he had to get away from his father. He could hear his father’s angry screams, and could feel the ground slipping under him. His dream seemed to be coming true. The nightmare that he had experienced only all too often. His foot stepped on a loose stone, as he no longer was at the park, but near the running creek that rushed past the neighborhoods. He felt himself stumble, and roll down the rocky hill, the pin piercing the palm of his hand.

His father was probably there now, and his shins hurt from falling down the stones. He could see his father’s shadow loom over him, and he freaked out. He gripped his fingers around the pin that he pulled out of his palm, and his nightmare flashed before his eyes, as he waited for himself to wake from his dream. It never happened though, and he felt his father’s hands tightly grip his shoulders, and he screamed. He turned around to face his father as the pin he was holding no longer was a large ‘#1’ pin. He dropped the pocket-sized gun he held, and screamed again, as he ran off, slipping into the creek.

His father’s face was in horror when he saw a gun pointing at his face. His son had dropped the gun, and ran off, falling and wading through the creek, in pure terror. He had a slight smile on his face, but then he realized. He realized that a gun had just been pointed at his face. Mark was no longer the obedient little boy that he could boss around. He literally witnessed his son change. He wanted to end it. He had never hated that child more in his life than he did in this moment. He literally wanted to murder the child. So, he kindly ran after his son, who had now started climbing up the other side of the creek. When he saw his son slip for the third time, because he couldn’t wrap his mind around what just happened, he caught him.

“Let’s go home, so you can make dinner.” he stated, in the kindest way possible.

Mark stared at him, the terror of the gun still etched in his memory, and yet, his father had been the kindest he had ever been to him. Even though he told him to make dinner, it didn’t seem commanding, he couldn’t quite tell why he was being kind to him, when everything he had ever done upset him. He stood on his own two feet, still terrified of the gun incident and stumbled his way over to the creek to cross it again, so he could go home. He was almost too scared to run any further, and his legs burned from sliding down the rocky hill bordering the creek.

Once he made his way back onto the grass, he saw Alexandria still there, standing, as if waiting for him to come back. Embarrassed, from his escape earlier, and being with the one person who had made his life miserable, he lowered his head, as his father placed a hand on the back of it. He felt ashamed. Alex ran up to them, and tried to look into his eyes, her being a head shorter than him, it was easy for her to duck and look up at him. His eyes were spaced out. His face was stained with tears, his hand was bleeding, his legs were scratched up, and the rain mixed with the blood, causing a pink liquid to be rushing down his legs.

She tried to place the towel on him, but Mark, Sr. shook his head, “I’m sorry, we just don’t want to take things from others.” he said, his voice changed from before.

“I understand.” Alexandria replied, draping the towel across her arm, and using her hands, to try to lift Mark’s face to look at her. Even though his eyes were looking directly at her, she could tell he was completely blank on the inside. She could see that he was hurt, not just in his appearance, but in his heart. Something happened, but with his father there, she was too scared to ask what it was.

Once Mark, Sr. had got in the car to start it, Alex looked deeper into Mark’s eyes. He looked broken, there was no shine to his eyes anymore. Almost every time she had seen him previously, whether it be in a picture her brother sent her or the times she had talked face to face with him, she could tell he had some sort of sparkle in his eyes. As weird as it sounded, it always seemed to light up her day. She couldn’t stand it anymore, she wanted him to be happy again. He was always trying to make sure others were happy that he didn’t even pay attention to himself. Her tears threatened to fall out of her eyes as she looked at Mark who was completely hopeless. She hugged him. She hugged him so tightly her tears silently falling down her cheeks.

He was completely still. There was no movement whatsoever when she hugged him. He was stone still. She looked back up at him before his father dragged him into the now started the car. He was devastated to even cry anymore. His father must have finally broken him. He was going to graduate in four days, and he was so happy the last time she spoke to him, and now he was everything but the Mark she remembered. It’s like his father made him do a complete one-eighty.

She silently made her way home after the car his father drove him in had left. She dragged the towel, now soaked on the ground, as she lazily held the umbrella above her wet head. She didn’t need the umbrella anymore, when she hugged him she had dropped the umbrella. Once she got home, her brother asked her why she ran out. She looked down at her feet, and sighed, “Nothing.”

When Mark got out of the car, and made his way into his house, his brothers ran out to meet him.

“Mark! Where did you go? Why did you run out like that? Is something wrong?” William asked, holding his brother's arms, not caring that the rain was still pouring.

“Come on, Mark, you aren’t your usual self.” Joe said, standing next to his brothers.

“Mark, answer me!” William said, shaking the boy.

“Mark?” Joe said, placing his hand on his brother’s wet shoulder.

“Are you okay?” William asked, then looked up at his father, “What happened, Dad?”

“Oh, well, he just got a depressing phone call. It’s no big deal.” Mark, Sr. answered his son.

Mark didn’t budge, William shook him some more, but it didn’t break him from the trance he appeared to be under. He was different. He seemed shattered. William slightly bent down and hugged his older tripet, before Joe tried to wrap his arms around both of his brothers. Mark was still a statue. His fingers didn’t even twitch, but slowly, he pushed himself out of his brother’s embrace, and made his way inside to start cooking dinner. His father smiled, satisfied with the behavior.

William watched, disappointed, as his older brother went inside, he looked at his father, as if to ask if Mark was really okay. Mark, Sr. nodded his head as if to say yes. Since William and Joe weren’t hated by their father, they believed him, and headed on inside, to try to prank their brother. Mark started to boil some water, when William and Joe ‘snuck’ into the kitchen. Mark didn’t notice, as they tip-toed behind him, and threw a paper bag over his head. He just stood there and let it happen.

William was confused, he looked over at his brother, “What just happened, Joe?”

“I have no clue, did we actually get him this time?” Joe asked, teasingly.

Mark named no response, he just simply grabbed the noodles off the counter, with the bag still on his head.

Joe looked under the bag, and Mark didn’t even have a smile on his face as if he were the one pranking them, which had happened before. William removed the bag from his brother’s head, and positioned Mark in a position that the noodles would actually land in the pot, because they would have scattered all over the floor.

Joe stared intensely at Mark, before coming to a conclusion, “He’s heartbroken.”

“Heartbroken? Mark?” William questioned, confused.

Mark was destroyed, to be honest, not even a thought was running through his mind. It was as if he was a robot, and he only did what he was told. He didn’t answer any questions, he didn’t ever finish writing his valedictorian speech, and in short, he wasn’t the brother they grew up with.

A knock was heard on the front door, “Mark go and get that.” Mark, Sr. said, without removing his eyes from the newspaper.

Mark came out of his bedroom, and answered the door, he opened the door, to see John and Alexandria.

“Hey, bro.” John said, weakly.

“We just came over to make sure you were okay. You did get time to finish your speech right?” Alex asked.

“Mark, are you okay?” John asked, observing the thirteen year old. Mark didn’t even nod, “You know graduation is tomorrow right?”

William came up to the door, “Mark has been in an entirely different world since he came back in the rain three days ago.”

“Yeah, we tried to prank him to lift his spirits multiple times, but he just had a blank response, like right now.” Joe continued, squeezing in between his two brothers.

“Okay, well, Mark, we brought Amy here. She’s wanted to see you like crazy.” John said, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, yeah? That’s cool. Who is Amy, Mark?” Joe asked, eyeing his brother.

“Mark?” Alex asked, walking up to him, she placed a foot inside, before Mark pushed her out, “Mark!?”

“Please leave, my father doesn’t want any of my classmates or acquaintances to come inside, I am dearly sorry.” Mark responded on autopilot.

“Mark?” Amy said, getting out of the car, “Are you okay? I came here to jump on you, like usual, but you seem different.” she said, genuinely concerned for her friend.

“That was the first thing he said since we came here.” John said, looking over at her.

Amy hugged him for a split second before he pushed her away and said the same thing as before. She was confused, and looked at John for confirmation on what he just said, “You are coming to graduation, right?”

“Of course he is going to graduation.” William responded, and pushed Mark out the door, “I think he should hang out with you guys for the day.” he decided.

“Yeah, and maybe you could ‘talk’ with him, if you know what I mean.” Joe said to Alexandria, winking.

“Yeah, sure.” she replied confused.

Amy sighed, “I’ve just never seen him like this.”

Mark turned to face his brothers, he looked as if he was going to say something, but his mouth never budged. He shook his head at them and then said, “I cannot leave the house unless my father tells me I can.” and walked back inside.

“Well, I am deciding for Dad,” William said, grabbing Mark’s arm, “I’m tired of seeing you like this, Mark. Quit it. I don’t know what happened out there in the rain, but you need to stop.”

Mark’s eyes widened whenever William said ‘rain’ and he shook his head, and shrunk to the ground, placing his hands on his head, shaking. William was shocked, Joe was shocked, John was shocked, Amy turned away in fear, and Alexandria reached a hand out to calm him down. Mark, Sr. who saw the whole situation, got up from his seat on the couch and made his way to his bedroom, trying his hardest to ignore his youngest sons’ yelling at him.