Chapter 6 - Marco
I barely slept last night. The image of those bloodstained pages haunted every attempt at closing my eyes.
I tossed and turned in my small bed, the sheets twisting around my legs like restraints.
Every creak in the house made me flinch, convinced he was there, watching from the shadows the way he had for an entire year.
When I finally drifted off, it was into fitful dreams of green eyes that followed me no matter how fast I ran.
In the morning I dragged myself out of bed.
In the kitchen, Mom was already bustling around in her faded apron, the scent of fresh herbs from her little garden filling the air. She spotted me immediately and pointed firmly at the table with a wooden spoon.
“Sit, Marco. Pills first,” she said, sliding a small plate in front of me with fifteen different pills arranged neatly in a row. I stared at them for a moment, hating how dependent I was on them just to function. But I knew better than to argue. She wouldn’t let me leave the house without them.
I swallowed them one by one with a glass of water, the familiar lump in my throat rising each time. When I finished, I stood and kissed her cheek softly. “Grazie, Mamma.”
She beamed and immediately pushed a full plate of breakfast toward me, scrambled eggs with herbs, warm toast with strawberry jam, and fresh fruit. “Eat, tesoro. You are too small. No leaving until the plate is clean. You think I don’t see how you pick at your food? Mangia.”
I smiled weakly, the sunshine mask sliding into place even though my stomach was in knots, and sat down to eat. She wouldn’t budge until I did, so I took slow bites, trying to force the food down despite the anxiety still sitting in my gut.
Luca appeared from the living room, his eyes lighting up when he saw me. He signed quickly and excitedly about his new art project, his hands moving fast with the markers Rei had brought him.
“That sounds amazing, Luca,” I said, signing back a little. My voice came out soft, the way it always did when I talked to him. I loved how innocent he was. I hated that I might one day bring danger close enough to touch him.
He grinned and leaned over to ruffle my hair, messing up the ribbon I had just fixed. I let him.
I finished breakfast, hugged them both, and headed out for the long bus ride to the academy. I hoped I could slip through the halls unnoticed today.
I was wrong.
The moment I stepped into the academy’s side courtyard after getting off the shuttle, trying to cut through to my first class, a large hand suddenly wrapped around my throat from behind. My feet left the ground for a second as I was yanked backward and slammed against the brick wall.
Brad. A new football player. He had only been at Bloodburn a few weeks but had already clawed his way into popularity with his loud laugh and cruel jokes. His face twisted into a sneer as he pinned me there, easily lifting me onto my toes with one meaty hand around my neck.
“Well, well. If it is not the little scholarship faggot,” he snarled, his breath hot against my face. “What the fuck are you even doing here, huh? This school is not for charity cases like you. Should be scrubbing floors instead of pretending you belong.”
I clawed weakly at his wrist, my fingers slipping on his skin. My vision started to spot at the edges. I hated how easily he could do this.
“And what is with those stupid fucking ribbons in your hair?” Brad continued, tightening his grip.
“You trying to look pretty for someone? Pathetic little queer. Bet you spread your legs for anyone who looks your way, or maybe just for that silver-haired freak you hang around with. What is his name?”
“Leave him alone!” The words tore out of me before I could stop them. It was one thing to insult me. I was used to it, I deserved it. But the moment he dragged Rei into it, something protective snapped inside my chest. “Don’t talk about Rei like that. Just leave us both alone!”
Brad’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Oh? You got some fight in you now, little shit?” He tightened his grip on my throat and slammed me harder against the wall.
Pain exploded in the back of my skull. “Maybe I should teach you some manners. Or maybe I should find that pretty-boy friend of yours and teach him too. Bet he would look real nice on his knees—”
A hand shot out from the side, grabbing Brad’s shoulder and yanking him backward hard. Brad stumbled, releasing me instantly. I slid down the wall, gasping for air, coughing and choking as oxygen rushed back into my lungs.
Rei stood there, eyes blazing. “Get the fuck off him.”
They started fighting.
My eyes widened in shock. Rei was fighting for me. Again. But all I could feel was terror. I couldn’t move. I just sat there on the cold ground, watching as Rei landed a solid punch to Brad’s jaw and took one in return. Blood sprayed.
Students started gathering, phones coming out. I wanted to scream for them to stop, but my voice wouldn’t work.
Security eventually pulled them apart. Brad was cursing and spitting blood. They dragged Rei away while I stayed on the ground, shaking.
***
I sat on the edge of my bed later that afternoon. All I could focus on was my phone pressed tightly to my ear. Rei had already been taken home and officially suspended for the rest of the week. Because of me.
Tears streamed silently down my cheeks. I kept apologizing over and over, my free hand gripping my knee so hard my nails left marks.
“Rei, I am so sorry. This is all my fault—”
“Marco, stop,” Rei’s voice came through the phone, tired but still gentle. “It is not your fault. That asshole was hurting you. I wasn’t going to stand there and watch.”
“But you got suspended because of me,” I whispered, voice cracking. “You always have to protect me because I am too weak to do it myself. I hate it. I hate that you get hurt because I can’t defend myself. I am sorry. I am so sorry.”
There was a pause on the other end. I could hear him sigh. “Hey. Sunshine. Listen to me. You are not weak. You stood up for me back there. You told him to stop when he brought me into it. That took guts.”
I shook my head even though he couldn’t see it. He continued, “Suspension is just a week. I will be back before you know it. Just… stay safe until then. And text me if anything happens.”
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “Okay. I will. I just…”
“Now go eat something with your mom. She will worry if you skip dinner again.”
I was so used to letting things pass. Back in Italy, in every school before Bloodburn, it had been the same.
Dragged around, shoved into walls, hit in the hallways, called every degrading name imaginable.
I had learned early on to keep my head down, endure quietly, and wait for the storm to blow over.
When I moved to New York with my parents after being offered the scholarship, I had braced myself for the exact same treatment, expecting to become an easy target because of my size, my ribbons, my scholarship status, the way I looked.
But strangely, it hadn’t been like that.
Not really. There had been stares and whispers, sure, but no one had laid hands on me.
Not until today. Brad’s sudden attack had been the first real violent incident since I started here.
It felt off. Unusual. Maybe it was because Rei had always been right beside me, acting as a protective presence that made others think twice.
Or maybe… maybe it was something else.
I glanced at the notebook still on my desk, the one with the blood-smeared pages. Alexei’s blood. I hadn’t told Rei about it. I couldn’t. The thought of involving him more than he already was made my chest tighten with guilt.
What if Brad attacking me today wasn’t random? What if Alexei had something to do with it? What if he was tired of waiting and decided to push me into the open, to see how I would react, to remind me that even when he wasn’t touching me, he could still control the world around me?
The idea made me sick.
I pulled the blanket tighter around myself and whispered into the empty room.
“I am sorry. I am so sorry.”
But I didn’t even know who I was apologizing to anymore.