I can't Hurt You - Marcus Lopez Arguello

47

It was around 9:00 pm and I'd just finished getting ready for bed. Since classes ended today most of the teachers told me that because I'd been skipping so much I was behind as hell on homework. So I'd been doing a shit ton of late work for a couple hours.

Now I was tired as hell but I knew I couldn't exactly go to sleep in my dorm on my own. Ever since Marcus and I had been sleeping in the same bed I forgot how to sleep on my own. Aka I needed him in order to fall asleep. I had to go get him. It's strange that he wasn't here already though. He usually shows up at around 8:30, so what's keeping him?

I decided to make my way to his dorm to find out, because I was done waiting around. As soon as I stepped out into the hallway I looked down it, where the phone is. People are usually there at this time, saying goodnight to their families and all.

Tonight though, Marcus was there. Everyone he knows is at King's, so who's he on the phone with. He was sitting on the floor and seemingly listened to someone speak to him. He looked numb, scared even. I think he was so wrapped up in it that he didn't notice I was here. Within a couple seconds after that he dropped the phone. I'm assuming that meant the conversation was over between him and the other person, whoever it was. I started walking towards him and saw that he was hyperventilating slightly.

"Marcus?" I asked making him finally look up and acknowledge me.

"E- Emma. Hey, um, I- I was just going over to- you know- to your dorm." He said through his struggled breathing.

"Are you okay?" I said kneeling down next to him.

"Me? I'm fine. I- I'm just um- I'm tired." He stuttered clearly lying.

"Marcus you can't breathe, what's wrong?" I asked worriedly as I grabbed both his hands.

He looked down at our connected hands still struggling to breath as he started to shake. He looked back up at me with tears pooling his eyes.

"He's back. He's gonna kill me." He said with his voice cracking.

"Hey, no one's gonna kill you. You're okay. I promise you're okay." I said as I let go of his hands and gave him a comforting hug instead.

"No, no, no he wants me dead. I can't get away from him." He said with tears starting to come out of his eyes and his breathing becoming even more uneven.

In that moment I had a flashback to the night we killed Chico. When Marcus showed up at the hotel room earlier that night he said some shit about someone coming to kill him. Maria and I obviously thought it was just him high off those seven hits of acid but maybe it wasn't. Maybe someone genuinely wanted to kill him.

Regardless of what this was, weather he was high again or someone really was trying to kill him, we couldn't let anyone see us. They would ask too many questions, require too many explanations. I didn't want to have to worry about that and I'm sure Marcus wouldn't either.

"Baby, we have to get you to my dorm. You're gonna be okay but you need to get up." I encouraged him as I slightly let go of him.

"Okay, okay." He muttered as he nodded quickly.

I nodded along with him and helped him up.

"Okay, you're doing great. Let's just get to my dorm." I comforted him.

We walked to my dorm quickly and stepped in. I closed the door behind us as he took a seat on my bed. Then I rushed over to him, trying to make sure he was okay.

"Okay, calm down." I tried to help him.

He put his head in his hands and tried to steady his breathing as I rubbed his back comfortingly. After a couple minutes he seemed more stable, more okay.