Searching For Maya

Chapter 19

AARON'S POV:

What the heck?!

"You know who he is?," I asked her unbelievingly, wiping the blood from my face.

"He's Mark... My... Bestfriend?," Aurora said, although she seems unsure, considering the situation right now.

I mean, if I were her, and this Mark guy was Callin, I would have to consider it again... The guy is bullet-proof for godsake! Bullet-proof!

"Mark?," Aurora called him, "It is, you, right? Mark?,"

The guy stare at her for a moment before answering, "Yes, Princess... It's me...,"

"What are you doing here?," Aurora asked.

"My job," Mark answered.

I scoffed, "Which is what, exactly?,"

He shoot me a death glare, "Guarding one of the Gate,"

"That's what you called Gate?," I snorted.

"You haven't even see half of it," Mark spat out, "The gate was supposed to bring you to another dimension, the world where the lost souls chained inside,"

"Wait," Aurora interrupted, "So you know about all of this?,"

Duh, like that isn't obvu=ious already. For a smart girl, she surely could be pretty slow at times...

"... Yes," Mark answered hesitantly.

"Were you... Were you the guy who torture Maya in my dream?," She asked again, her eyes start to turn watery.

"... Yes,"

A bead of tears fall down to her cheek, rolling down her face, "Were you the one who... Who abducted Maya. my sister?,"

He didn't answer. But the thick silence yelled out the truth.

Aurora, however, doesn't want to believe it, "Answer it! Did you, or did you not abduct her12 years ago?, Answer me, Goddamnit!,"

I can see clearly that she doesn't want it to be true, she doesn't want to believe that her bestfriend could do such a thing. But life was never fair.

"... Yes... Yes I did," Mark finally answered.

"No... No, no, no... No!," She covered her face with both her hands, hiding the falling tears, "Why did you do that, Mark? You know how important she was to me! How could you do that? How could you, Mark?! How could you?,"

"I don't have a choice, Princess!," Mark shouted in anger, "It was my job! If I didn't do it, he would kill me, for fuck sake!,"

"Who the heck is he?!," Aurora yelled back at him.

"He's the one behind all of this! The one who controlled this whole chaos!," he replied harshly, frustratingly, desperately, asking Aurora to believe him, to not hate him.

"Can't you give me a name?," Aurora asked, her voice has calmed down a little bit.

"If I said his name, we all would be dead in a sec," Mark told her.

"Seriously, who is he?! And how does he have a great control over... over you?," I asked, getting fed up by this crap.

Mark rolled his eyes, "Fine, if you wanted to know the whole story," he said, "I was supposed to be dead a long time ago. I was ill, and at that time no-one has a cure to my illness. I never even sure what illness 'caused my death, until now. I was dying, suffering in pain,"

"A few seconds before my death, he saved me. He didn't let my soul gone forever, he took my soul, and give me a body to live in, another life, another beginning," he continued.

"But because the body I live in wasn't mine, it makes me a broken soul. Which led me to be vere depending to him and his power. Along with the other broken souls, we stole innocent soul, for his benefit. Either he will turn them into another broken soul, to let them go, or...," he trailed.

"Or what?," I asked.

"There were rumors that he... Eat some of the innocent soul to keep his power," Mark said, grimly. I gulped at his response.

"We, the broken souls, owe him a life. If we fight against him, we would die... He would know every rebellious attemps, everey rules that was broken, and by whom...," Mark shook his head.

"And the moment I take your sister's away... I saw you," he turned to Aurora, "How you cried, how you shout for her... Your struggle to help her... And then I fall in love with you," I feel like throwing up at this point, "I watched you from a far, before deciding to get closer to you,"

"So what exactly are you doing here?," I asked, cutting his anecdote - if you can even call it anecdote.

"To guard my Gate," Mark answered curtly.

"Your gate?,"

"Yes, my gate. Every broken souls like me has their own gate," Mark said, "Gate to the Other Side,"

"There's more?," Aurora asked. Mark nodded, and I wonder if there's a gate under the Eiffel Tower...

“What do you mean by ‘guarding’ your gate?,” I asked, incredulously.

“No-one is supposed to know about us. If anyone find out, we were meant to kill them,” Mark turned to me.

“So you’re going to kill us?,” Aurora asked, scared.

Mark turned to her, and his expression softened, “Not you, Princess… Only him,”

“You can’t do that! That’s not fair!,” Aurora move to stand between me and Mark.

“If I didn’t kill him soon, then he will take this matter into his own hand, and I will unable to protect you!,” Mark argued.

“I don’t give a damn!,”

“Really?,” Mark shake his head unbelievingly, “You’re going to be on his side?,”

“Yes,” said Aurora firmly.

Mark expression change again – I swear this guy might be bipolar – not full with anger, or that sickly adorning expression anymore, just… cold. Plain, and cold.

“Very well, then,” Mark said, “I might as well just kill you too,”

Oh shoot... What to do? What to do?

"And I'll start with you, first...," Mark turned to me.

This is it... This is the end of my life...

I closed my eyes, hoping that it will make the death process less painful.

"Wait!," Aurora shouted, "Mark, I love you!,"

WTF?