The Angel And The Youtuber

9

Two months have passed since then, and Mark hadn't seen Jack. He never appeared in the cafeteria, and was never in his room when Mark walked past. Mark felt alone and upset- it was his fault that Jack was no longer talking.

It was during the lunch break when Mark finally heard something about Jack, although it wasn't pleasant.

"Life or Death!" Someone screamed in the cafeteria.

Felix's head shot up. "Life or Death?"

Mark stared at him. "What does that mean?"

"When someone breaks the rules in here too many times, they're given a choice to pick between life or death." Marzia explained. "If they choose life, they stay in here for the rest of their life. If they choose death, they must kill themselves using a gun the professor gives them. Everyone is given the opportunity to watch, but it's usually boring. They always end up choosing life."

A young boy approached the three at their table. He took Felix's arm and pulled. "Come on! It's Life or Death! You promised we would watch!"

Felix rolled his eyes, smiling as he stood up. "Alright, alright. Who is it?"

The kid was silent, until suddenly he widened his eyes. "On second thought, nevermind-"

A female scientist walked into the room. "If anyone is willing to watch the Life or Death event of Sean McLoughlin, please follow me."

Mark widened his eyes and quickly stood up from the table. "No. No, it's not true."

The three adults followed the scientist closely to the outside grounds. Mark's eyes filled with tears as he saw Jack, sitting on the grass with two other scientists standing behind him and the professor in front of him, smirking.

"Sean. You have broken the rules of this facility one too many times. You escaped once and attempted three times after. You attacked two scientists. You refuse to listen to any of us." He leaned down to look Jack in the eye. "You're much better than this. What has gotten into you?" Jack ignored him, and he sighed. "Fine." The professor pulled a revolver from his pocket, loaded it, then threw it in front of Jack. "It's your choice, Sean. Life or death?"

Jack stared at the gun for a long moment before looking up. "I've been here for twenty-six years. I lost my best friend to you. The man I love doesn't love me back. I want to have my life back." Jack took the gun. "I choose death."

"No!" Mark screamed, running to Jack. He ripped the gun out of Jack's hands and threw it away before hugging Jack tightly with tears streaming down his face. "You can't. You can't leave me. You're the only person here I can trust."

Jack pushed him away. "There's nothing you can do to change my mind."

"Jack, please!" Mark begged. "Please, don't do this. Don't to that to us. We all need you here."

"Are you sure about that?" Jack snapped. "I told you that I loved you, and you took it like it was nothing. I fell for you, Mark, and I got nothing in return. And I'm the only reason why you're in this place. I'm the reason why Dark is here in the first place. If you had never met me, you wouldn't be in the position you're in right now."

"I don't care about that." Mark sobbed. "All I care about is you. You never even let me explain what I said the last time we talked."

"And you don't have to. I get it. There's no way you could love me back. I was only setting myself up for heartbreak. I get it. You don't have to explain yourself." The professor kicked the revolver over, and Jack pushed Mark away again before picking it up. "Don't try and convince me otherwise-"

"Sean, I love you!"

Jack froze at the use of his given name, spoken by the wrong person. He stared at Mark, whose eyes were wide. "...what?"

"I love you." Mark repeated. "I do. I really do. I've wanted to say it for weeks now, but I never got the chance. I was too afraid that it would ruin what we already had, or you never felt the same way, or something. I know now that I should've, because if I did then we wouldn't be here. God, Jack, do you even know how much you mean to me? I had just lost one of my best friends when you literally fell out of the sky in my backyard. You've already helped me so much, in so many little ways. You're, like, my savior. My... my angel."

Jack still stared at him. "Mark..."

The professor looked at his watch. "Well, Sean? Are you going to decide? We don't have all day."

Jack looked around at everyone, before his eyes landed on Mark again. His hands started shaking, and he dropped the revolver. "No. I can't."

The professor smirked. "Of course." He thought for a moment. "You did make a good point earlier- you've been in this facility since you were born. You may have chosen life, but I think we can tweak the rules, just this once." He snapped his fingers. "Take Sean to the operating room. There is one last test we must do." Two scientists led Jack inside the lab, and he followed closely, staring at the ground.

"And Mark." Mark's head snapped to the professor, who had stepped toward him. "I believe we no longer have use for you. I don't even remember why I had kept you here for so long. Say your goodbyes now, and someone will bring you home tonight."

Mark choked. "I... I'm going home?"

"Yes. Now hurry up before I change my mind." The professor hurriedly walked back inside the lab, looking eager with a sinister look in his eyes.