A New Brand of Redemption.

When Danny stepped into Marcus’ room, he knew something was very wrong. Marcus had gotten out of bed and he was pulling on rumpled street cloths like he thought he was going somewhere. He wasn’t, but Danny was almost sure Marcus wasn’t aware of that fact.
So he wasn’t exactly surprised when Marcus looked at him and said breathlessly, “We’re leaving.”
Danny was a little confused that it was “we’re” and not I’m. Why would Marcus want him to come too? Looking closer, Danny noticed the sheen of sweat on Marcus’ brow and realized the answer. Marcus was scared.
“Where do you plan on going?” he decided to ask him.
“Megan’s apartment. She’s in trouble. We need to go now!”
“Megan? Wait isn’t that the girl who-”
“Filed charges against me. Yes.”
“How do you know she’s in trouble?” Danny asked feeling more and more lost. Marcus explained the phone call in a rush of frantic words and he shouted, “You should have told me that in the first place. I can send someone. We don’t have to go!”
“I am going,” Marcus said with a look of complete determination in his eyes. “You need to decide if you’re coming too or not Officer Wyler.”
Then Marcus stalked past him. Danny thought, this is not a good idea, but he went to follow him down the hall. He probably hadn’t heard anything at all , right?

The sound of their footsteps seemed unusually loud to Danny. As he walked with Marcus down the hospital corridors the noise rubber made against linoleum echoed off the walls. It was a steady tap- tap -tap that put his already tense nerves even more on edge. What if Marcus really had heard Megan beg for help, Danny wondered uneasily as he tried to ignore it. What would happen if they showed up at her apartment and she was really in trouble? Or what if she was dead?
Tap-Tap-Tap
His eyes darted to the person beside him. If Marcus saw Megan’s cold lifeless body , it would destroy him. Any sanity he had left would crumble to nothing . Marcus would lose himself forever at eighteen.
It’s too young, Danny thought. He’s too young for me to risk anything happening.
Maybe if he was older Danny wouldn’t be worried, but Marcus was a kid. He was a messed up teen who did not need a reason to try to kill himself again. The second time he might succeed and it would be such a waste. Such an awful senseless waste. Like Joseph…
Tap-Tap-Tap
No, Danny thought fiercely as the past came flooding in. I won’t go there. I can’t be there.
But he couldn’t stop the flow of memories, and he soon found he was there. Danny was standing in the bright May sunshine staring at his brother Joseph’s coffin. He could hear his mother’s sobs over the droning of the preacher and all he felt was confusion. Why had Joseph done it? Why had he left them all on purpose? It didn’t make sense.
Tap-Tap-Tap
Danny was pulled back to the present with tears burning bright in his eyes. He blinked them away, but his voice was thick with emotion when he said, “I can’t let you come with me Marcus.”
The boy’s whole body froze as he asked, “Are you sure.”
Knowing how Marcus would react to his answer, Danny turned to check the corridor for a nurse. But as he did, someone hit him very hard on the back of the head.

After he knocked him out with a cane that was in the hall, Marcus took three things from Danny Wyler. His cell phone, his car keys and his gun. When he walked through the exit doors, Marcus used the phone to call the hospital. He told them Megan’s address and asked them to send an ambulance right away. Because when he reached her, Megan could be fine, but she could also be dying. Some faceless stranger could be standing over her unmoving body.
Marcus’ hand was shaking when he unlocked the black and white police sedan in the parking lot.
He felt like he had wasted to much time already. Every minute that passed seemed like the minute he was to late.
No, Marcus thought as he started the car. I won’t fail her. I was the monster before, but not this time.