Marked

Part One

I was running faster than I had ever run before. I'm not sure what exactly I was running from...I mean, yea there was a mob of people chasing me and yea they were trying to kill me but why am I running? I'm going to die either way...I just don't know that I'm ready quite yet. I bumped into someone. I was in too much of a hurry to see what he looked like, but I could tell it was a guy with short, chestnut hair. "Oh..I-I'm sorry..." I mumbled as I helped him up. "No, it's my fault.." He said, dusting himself off. His voice was...Silvery and slightly deep. A normal guy voice, I guess? "Wh-why are you running?" I asked him, noticing a mark on his arm...I knew I should get going now, but I was curious about the flowery, tattoo-like mark. "What?! I'm not..Running from anything..." he said, trying to casually cover his arm. "Aha.." I said, obviously knowing that was a lie. I looked behind myself to see how close the people were. They were nearly in spitting distance, "Well..I should go now.." Loud, gruff noises are heard from behind the boy. People were chasing him as well, "Um...I wouldn't go that way.." He said, pointing behind him. I grunted; could this day get any worse? I probably shouldn't say that though. In the movies, it always gets worse after you say that. He grabbed my wrist and sees an identical floral mark on my forearm, "Come on, we gotta get out of here..." he said as he drags me past the small buildings and into a dark, foul-smelling alleyway.

"Oii," I exclaimed having some trouble keeping up with him. He dragged me through the alleyway and up a street, "Where are you taking me??" I asked, slightly annoyed. "Umm..Well, I was going home.." he replied, nervously. "Oh.." I wasn't sure if I should go with him...But what the heck? I'm already dead. "Don't worry, I'm the only one that lives there," he explained "we should be safe as long as we lose the people following us..." "All right..." I replied. "I mean, you don't have to come with me...I..I just don't want to leave you..." He says as he turns around, meeting my gaze. You could tell he was a very kind, caring person just by looking at his hazel eyes. "I-it would be lovely, thank you..." He looks away nervously, "It's not much farther..." I nodded and followed him closely. We heard someone yell, "THEY WENT THIS WAY!" from behind us. "Can you run?" the boy asked me. I hated running. Due to my...Problem, I often had trouble with physical activities. Especially running. And I've been running for at least an hour now so I'm exhausted. But I nodded anyway, knowing I'd regret it later. He began to run down the busy street, dodging people with ease. I was running right behind him for about two minutes before I tripped on something and fell on my face. I wasn't sure what I fell on, but it hurt. The boy stops almost immediately to help me up, "Are you okay??" He asked, concerned. I nodded "I'm fine...But I'm not sure I can run anymore.." He looks behind me to see how close the people were. "Would...It be okay if I carried you?" He asked, obviously embarrassed about the question. I sighed and nodded. I wasn't super crazy about the idea, but if he was willing to help me than okay, "I suppose that'd be all right.." He picked me up bridal style and I had to put my arm around his neck, in fear of falling. He ran as fast as he could with the added weight, which wasn't very fast. We ran through the dark alleyway for a moment before we got to a tall building. He set me down and helped me up a fire escape, leading onto the roof of a fairly tall apartment building.

"I don't think they saw us..." He said when we got to the top of the building. There was sort of a makeshift tent with a tarp tied to a couple of...Poles, I guess? Under the tarp was a bunch of old blankets and pillows. It looked cozy. There was a small cooler sitting of the side of the entrance of the tent and he motioned me to sit down. "Th-thank you for helping me.." I smiled at him, politely. "No problem." he said, smiling back at me for a moment then looked down. We sat in silence for a moment then I ask him, "So...Why did your mark appear? What are you dead for..?" I asked him, trying to make a bit of a conversation. You see, for some reason, if you die of a natural cause such as an illness, old age, or even a bit more of an unnatural cause such as...Say, poisoning for example...You can't die. Well, a floral tattoo appears on your arm; we call it The Mark. If you are seen with that mark, it is the duty of every other person to try and kill you from a more unnatural cause such as a knife or a gun. "I don't know...I was just eating.." he says, somewhat quietly "I was sitting in the middle of a busy market place and a couple minutes into the meal, it just appeared..." I nodded, "Ah.."

"If it's okay to ask, what about you?" he asks, looking up at me.

"Brain tumor..." I mutter softly. I was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor when I was a young child. It's a miracle I didn't die sooner.

"Did it just show up for you too..?" He asks sympathetically.

I shook my head, "A couple days ago...I managed to hide it until just this morning..."

Awkward silence again. This happened a lot for me, as I have never been very good at keeping a conversation going. After a moment of silence he asked me, "So do you have any big plans?"

I shook my head, "Not really, no..."

Nothing? There's gotta be something you wanna do."

I shrugged "What about you?"

"Me? Umm...Well I don't really know...I never really had any big life plan to begin with. I threw it away a long time ago trying to help the people I care about...But now, because of this mark, I don't know how I could help them..." He said sadly.

I looked at the ground, not sure of what I could say.

"I mean, there's a good side to this, you know?"

Yea? What might that be?" I asked

"Well, you see, we can go anywhere or do anything cause I mean since everyone is already trying to kill us, we can't really get into any worse trouble," He said mischievously.

I laughed softly. It's been a while since I laughed... "That's one way to look at it, I suppose."

He looked at the ground and smiled shyly, it was adorable, "So, umm...What's the craziest thing you can think of?" He asked

"Hmm..." I thought for a moment, "We should steal a puppy."