The Savior

Chapter Four

|First half is Jackson's P.O.V.|

Jackson didn't sleep a wink that night, and now it was morning and he was standing by his car in the school parking lot, lost in his thoughts.

'Is Mark cutting?' He thought to himself, a deep frown set on his lips as he remembered the image of Mark's wrist last night in the car.

Normally, he wouldn't really bothering to think so hard about something like that, but it bothered him for some reason. Of course he didn't like it when anybody harmed themselves, but with Mark, it was an intensified feeling because he cared about Mark.

He sighed and cracked his knuckles, his eyes zeroing in on a figure that had just arrived at the school entrance. It was Mark. He could tell because Mark always wore baggy clothes and a black jacket with the hood up. Biting his lip, Jackson decided to just act like he normally did with Mark, not wanting him to know that he found out.

Going into the school, Jackson walked over to Mark's locker and cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"Hey, how'd you sleep?" He asked, leaning against the other locker to look at Mark, observing him slightly.

The red head had bags under his eyes, which was an obvious hint that he got little to no sleep. He was also looking paler than before, which triggered a reason in Jackson's head. He bit his lip and looking over Mark's skinny frame before staring into his eyes.

"I slept fine." Mark muttered, obviously not wanting to deal with Jackson first thing in the morning.

Not wanting to call him out on his lie, Jackson nodded and walked with him to class, deciding to go with silence for a while.

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Mark sat down in Mr. Wu's class and crossed his arms on the surface, letting out a soft sigh and laying his head atop them. He glanced out the window, noticing that it was going to be quite the rainy day. Great. Weather to match his mood.

He snuck his hand into one of his jacket sleeves and scratched at the gauze that was wrapped around his wrist, but the gauze was going all the way up to his forearm. He had a rather depressing time last night, like he always did, but he happened to cut a long line from his wrist all the way to his forearm. There was blood everywhere and he couldn't wrap his arm good enough.

That was when his dad walked into the room and saw what was going on. But, he was drunk, so he didn't say anything as he helped Mark wrap his arm. Being drunk caused his dad not to remember things, so Mark was thankful for once that his dad drank all the time.

He opened his eyes a moment later to look at Jackson, who looked away when he was caught staring. He had no idea what was going on with him, but he decided not to question it.

Letting out a sigh when Mr. Wu walked into the room, Mark lifted his head and got out his notebook, staring blankly at the white pages as he listened to Mr. Wu's assignment of the day.