Skye didn't know why but shortly after Alex left she had broken down crying but then after composing herself she found herself knocking on Marco's door.
She wanted to make sure he was okay.
He wasn't a monster and he wasn't evil. She saw that now. She saw he was just a broken boy who hid behind his pain behind his anger.
She heard shuffling and then the door opened. Marco had a glare on his face but it dissapeared when he saw it was Skye. He didn't say anything but he walked back into his room leaving the door open. She took this as a signal to come in.
"Shut the door" he muttered once she had entered.
Skye hesitated slightly but shut it.
"I don't think your guard dog would approve of you being here" Marco said not even bothering to look her way as he sorted his room out a little.
"I don't have to do as he says" Skye said but as soon as she said it fear and guilt crept up on her.
Fear....Alex never made a decision that wasnt in her best interest.
Guilt....he always told her to hide or get behind him when they came.
He protected her.
"It's alright Skye, he's only looking out for you. You said he watched that happen to you, he's not going to react well to seeing someone he barely knows asleep in the same bed as you" Marco understood Alex.
"Come down for breakfast?" She asked changing the subject.
"I'm not hungry" Marco knew he would only throw up if he ate.
"Fine can I stay with you today" Skye dared ask. She half expected him to kick her out.
"Why" Marco asked suspicious of her motives.
"Because being alone isn't good" she didn't really know how to word it as she was still quite scared of him.
"James and Alex always helped me. After it happened I always wanted them. I know that being alone in your own thoughts is never good" she continued.
"Don't you want to be with James and Alexander " Marco asked.
"Alex and I had an argument and James will take his side" she said.
"Why will James take his side"
"Because they don't really like you"
"You shouldn't fight with your brother's because of me"
"So can I spend the day with you" Skye asked going back to her original question.
Marco nodded not wanting to be alone, he felt a sense of relief now he knew Skye didn't blame him.
"So what are we doing" she asked.
"What do you want to do " he replied.
"Anything you want" Skye didn't want to make him uncomfortable.
Marco sighed. He would rather spend time in his room but knew Skye was trying so he had to try too.
"Ok fine let's go get breakfast first" he gave in. He hadn't eaten in a while.
Skye was happy with this and the two left to go downstairs.
Again Skye was clumsy enough to trip and nearly fall down the stairs but thankfully Marco grabbed her. His actions were almost identical to last time. Worry and concern. But his words were drastically different.
"Do you need a doctor Skye, you keep tripping. It could be a symptom of something" he asked.
"No I'm fine. Just a bit malnourished still so I'm still weak making tripping more common I guess" she explained. The doctor had talked about feeling weak and tired ect but she simplified it.
"They fucking starved you. I'm going to kill them" Marco snapped but then he saw the look on Skye's face and he dropped the anger.
"I'm sorry Skye my anger got the best of me. I'm just angry about how you, James and Alex were treated" he explained.
"It's okay" Skye said.
Nothing more was said and they continued down the stairs only this time, Marco made sure he held Skye's hand so she didn't fall.
When they reached the bottom and he let go of her, skye missed holding his hand although she didn't admit it.
They entered the dining room to see, Nico and Alex talking sports. James and Leo talking about science and Rafeal and Lorenzo quietly discussing what Marco guessed was work.
Everyone looked up, no one had seen Marco out of his room so they were a little shocked to see him.
He took his seat in his normal spot and Skye took hers.
Alex was glaring at Marco as he grabbed some breakfast from the assortment of items in the middle just like Skye.
"Don't start Alex" Skye whispered.
For a couple minutes everything was fine, the boys were happy to see their brother out of his room. Rafael was pleased and hoped he wouldn't isolate himself.
No one fussed everyone just continued.
Alex was still pissed though. And he decided to disturb the peace.
"So Marco do you always sleep next to little girls and touch them"
"What an earth are you talking about. Marco what is he saying" Rafael asked.
Skye was annoyed. This was a private matter and she didn't like how Alex told everyone.
She couldn't tell her father she suffered nightmares.
"He is just annoyed that I asked Marco to stay with me last night and I cuddled up to him, sir" Skye replied.
"Why did you need someone with you Skye, is everything okay. Are you ill? Do you need a doctor?" Rafael said continuing with several questions.
"I'm fine. Just Marco and I talked and I don't think we hate each other. Or do we?" She directed the last part to Marco.
Marco shook his head "never" he said.
"So what changed" Leo said.
"We talked" Marco said not wanting to explain right now.
"So no one is bothered he was touching her" Alex said.
"Skye wanted him to stay and said she cuddled up to him. I don't see the harm in that" Rafael said
"But" he tried.
"Shut up Alex. Marco isn't the bad guy" Skye defended.
Alex got even more annoyed "whatever. You defend him over me. It's fine. It's not like we are living with gang members" he snapped. "Again" he whispered so only James and Skye heard.
"What are you talking about " James asked.
"Our so called family is part of a gang. They are just like the gangs we saw on TV. They are monsters" Alex was projecting his fear into anger.
He was terrified for his siblings.
He was terrified of being forced to do drug runs.
He was terrified.
Lorenzo snickered "a gang? You think so little of us" he said. To the brothers and Rafael, gangs were petty and useless, they were the Mafia and they ran the city.
Marco who knew what the triplets had been through looked at Skye with concern. He saw fear.
"The gang you saw on TV and at the police station were bad people. They did terrible things. I can promise you we are not like them" Marco said looking at the triplets.
Skye saw how Marco looked and felt guilty for thinking the worst. He looked broken.
"See they aren't denying it" Alex snapped.
"We are not in a gang" Rafael said. It was technically true but a lie at the same time .
He knew they would need to sit down and discuss the Mafia.
"Excuse me" Marco said not feeling well.
Skye quickly went after him.
"I'm not him. I promise you Skye. I swear I'm not him. I'm not him" Marco whispered after throwing up his breakfast.
He was breaking and Skye hated seeing it . She simply wrapped her arms around him "I know" she whispered.
Ok so this is a terribly written chapter but it's after 4am and I have a migraine meaning I can't sleep so I decided to write. Might be a few mistakes too.
The Mafia talk soon!
Alot of you wanted realistic. I always try to make the reactions realistic, like some books the character heals in a few days but I like to show how long trauma lasts. Especially mute characters. Obviously no hate to any book but I don't like how the character has been abused all their life then 2 days with their family they are talking about everything and it just seems not alot of books actually show the trauma
I'm currently studying child abuse ect and alot of it is too much to write into this however I might include some genuine things when I go into the background. A lot of human trafficking they use kids as drug mules so I might relate this too Alex.
One thing that I always write about is trauma. And their is alot of trauma I'm this book. I'm trying to make it realistic.
ACEs. (Adverse childhood experiences)
This explains the 4 behaviours of the siblings.
So just a quick explanation in case you don't know and don't want to research.
So adverse childhood experiences occur when a child is physically, mentally or sexually abused, or neglected.
There is a correlation between a high number of ACEs and mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, behavioral disorders, and suicidality.
Smoking, alcohol and drug use is common too.
So For Marco. He suffers as he was Sexually abused and witnessed the kidnapping... because of this he developed anger issues, smokes drinks ect. His anger issues and violent outburst are also due to the trauma. I'll probably develop This further
The triplets have been abused ect so they ll suffer too. Mostly their mental health which I will explore at some point. I haven't really gone on to explore much about them yet so I don't want to spoil to much .
Alex is terrified but protective of James and Skye. He has behaviour issues such as anger at the moment this is because he has been in an environment with anger projected on him so all his anger had built up over time.
James, he's never been out of the basement so he's shy, more closed off and again mental health ect but I will explore his character more.
Skye, she suffers bad mental health ect. I don't want to write too much in case I add something about her.
I didn't want to put to much about the triplets but for Marco his actions are childhood trauma related.