Marcus
I woke up on the floor.
For a few seconds, I didn't
move.
Didn't breathe or think.
The world felt….. wrong.
Like I'd been dropped into the
middle of a life that didn't belong to me.
Smoke still hung in the air,
faint but unmistakable. The house was quieter now- too quiet. The fire had
burned out into a dull, suffocating stillness.
My body felt heavy.
Like it didn't want to exist
anymore.
Then it hit me.
Not all at once, not like the
memory. But slower and crueler.
Rocco.
The name echoed in my head, no
longer distant or unfamiliar. It fit now in a way that made my chest ache.
It was mine.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"No…"
The word came out hoarse,
barely audible.
I pushed myself up, hands
trembling against the floor.
The room tilted.
For a second, I thought I
might pass out again, but I didn't.
Because I couldn't.
Not now. Now with-
My gaze shifted.
And everything inside me
shattered all over again.
They were still exactly where
I'd left them.
Mom, Dad..
It felt like the world had
just… stopped needing them.
A sharp sound tore out of my
throat before I could stop it.
I stumbled forward, knees
hitting the ground hard.
"No, no, no- "
My hands hovered uselessly,
afraid to touch, afraid it would make it real in a way I couldn't undo.
But it was already real. It's
been real the second I walked in and smelled the smoke and my heart knew before
my mind could catch up.
Tears blurred my vision. "I'm
sorry," I whispered.
I didn't even know what I was
apologizing for.
Maybe for not being there, not
stopping it or for surviving when they didn't.
My chest tightened painfully.
Because somewhere deep down-
A memory whispered; you
survived this once before. And somehow this felt worse.
Everything after that blurred.
Sirens, voices, Hands pulling
me back, someone asking questions I couldn't answer.
"Marcus? Can you hear me?" I
blinked slowly.
A man crouched in front of me,
his voice careful.
Police. Right, that made
sense.
I nodded, even though I wasn't
sure what I was agreeing to.
"Can you tell me what
happened?"
What happened?
The question felt…... wrong.
Like asking how rain worked
while you were drowning in it.
"I… "My voice cracked. "I woke
up. There was smoke. I came downstairs and-"
My throat closed.
I couldn't say it. Couldn't put it into words.
Because saying it meant
accepting it.
And I wasn't ready. Not even
close.
The officer's expression
softened.
"That's okay," he said
quietly. "Take your time."
Time?
Yeah. That was funny.
Because time felt like it had
split in two.
Before. After.
Rocco.
Marcus.
None of it fit together
properly.
None of it made sense.
Another voice cut in.
"Marcus?" I looked up.
Noah. Riley.
They were standing just behind
the officers, faces pale, eyes wide with shock.
Riley moved first like she
always does.
She crossed the space between
us in seconds and dropped to her knees in front of me.
"Oh my Gosh..."her voice
broke.
And that was the thing that
finally cracked through the numbness because Riley didn't break.
Not unless something was
really, truly wrong.
Her hands hovered before
finally gripping my arms gently.
"Marcus… I'm so sorry."
Sorry..
The word echoed uselessly in
my head.
I stared and her, then at Noah
standing just behind her, jaw tight, eyes red but controlled.
They were the anchors in a
world that had completely fallen apart.
"I remember," I said suddenly.
My voice sounded distant, like
it belonged to someone else.
Riley frowned slightly.
"What?"
"I remember everything." The
words felt heavy and wrong.
Noah stepped closer. "What do
you mean?"
I swallowed hard.
"Rocco," I said. "That's…
that's my name."
Silence.
Riley's grip tightened
slightly.
"Marcus-"
"No," I said quickly, shaking
my head. "Not just Marcus. Before. I-"
My breath hitched. Images
flashes again.
Fire, chains, father's voice.
Run.
"I saw it," I whispered. "All
of it."
Noah exchanged a look with
Riley.
Not disbelief but careful,
steady concern.
"Okay," Noah said slowly.
"We're not doing this right now."
I blinked at him. "What?"
He crouched down in front of
me, voice firm but not harsh.
"You just lost your parents,"
he said. "You're in shock. Your brain is trying to make sense of something it
can't."
"That's not-"
"We'll talk about it," he cut
in gently. "All of it. I promise. But not here.
Riley nodded quickly.
"He's right. One thing at a
time, okay?"
One thing at a time.
I didn't even know what "one
thing" was anymore. Everything felt tangled together. Past and present. Truth
and memory. Loss and guilt.
But I didn't argue because I
didn't have the strength to.
The rest of the day moved
without me. That was the only way I could describe it.
I was there physically, but
everything else was happening somewhere just out of reach.
Questions, statements, people
moving in and out of the house.
Someone talking about
arrangements.
Funeral.
The word hit differently now.
Heavier and permanent.
I sat on the stairs at one
point, staring at nothing while voices floated around me.
"… we'll need a statement… "
"… next of kin…"
"… someone should stay with
him… "
Stay with him..
It was said like I was
something fragile. Maybe I was.
Noah stayed.
Riley too.
They didn't say much, just
existed nearby.
Somehow, that helped more than
anything else could have.
At some point, someone asked
about Ella.
The question cut through the
fog instantly.
"She's not here," I said
quickly. "She's at a friend's house."
Relief flickered through the
room. Good. She didn't have to see this.
Not yet at least.
The thought made my chest
tighten. But eventually she would and I didn't know how to be the one to tell
her.
I didn't know how to be
anything anymore.
Night came too fast or maybe
not fast enough.
Time didn't mean much now
anyway.
I ended up back in my room.
Everything looked the same.
Unchanged. Like the house hadn't just lost its center.
I sat on the edge of the bed,
staring at my hands.
At the bracelet wrapped around
my wrist.
I lifted my arm slightly,
watching the faint reflection of light against the silver.
Rocco.
The name didn't feel foreign
anymore.
It felt buried, like something
I had been forced to forget.
Callie.
My sister.
She not just some mysterious
girl like I'd thought.
Family. Alive out there
somewhere.
A strange mis of relief and
anger twisted inside me.
She knew.
All this time and she didn't
tell me.
My jaw tightened. I dint know
if I wanted to se her or demand answers.
Maybe both.
I let out a slow breath and
leaned forward, elbows on my knees.
Two lives. Two families.
One gone and the other barely
understood.
And I was still here.
That thought sat heavy in my
chest because I wasn't sure I deserved to be.
I lay back eventually, staring
at the ceiling.
Sleep felt impossible.
But exhaustion didn't care
what I felt.
My eyes drifted shut and just
before everything fded-
One thought settled in, clear
and sharp;
This wasn't over.
It never had been and whatever
took my family was still out there.
Waiting.