Chapter Five: The Revelation
~Chapter Five~
Marcus spent the next two days in seclusion as much as possible. When not required to be in class or with the family, he was sequestered in his room. While in there, he drew and he wrote; drew landscapes and the birds that came to his window, wrote long essays of philosophical things like why emotions exist. On the second day, his mother came to inform him that Naomi had come asking about him, but Marcus asked her to say he was sick.
And he was, in a way. He didn't understand why, but whenever Marcus thought about what happened in the Crow's Nest he got a burning feeling of shame and guilt. He tried to understand it. After all, he was thirteen and knew all about "the birds and the bees" as his mother referred to it. He and Modest had even been given permission to go as far as kissing by their mother.
Marcus also ran the moment his sister went away, tears and cold anger in her eyes, two days prior. That was the last she had spoken to him or even looked in his direction. Marcus had a small group of friends. He could count on one paw the people, other than Modest, that he counted among his true friends. He never joined crowds for any reason and liked to be alone.
But this enforced isolation from his sister, his twin, the other half of his being, was crushing him. It was this that finally drove him from his room the evening of the second day scrambling down the stairs to find Modest.
"Mom," he said to his mother breathlessly, having ran down the stairs, "have you seen Modest?" A look of relief crossed Victoria's face and she nodded.
"She's in her room, honey," she said. "Go see her." So Marcus went running back up the stairs and to the door to Modest's room...where he stopped, uncertain.
"No pain, no gain," he muttered, and knocked on the door. When there was no answer, he opened the door and poked his head in. He didn't see her at first, her floral pajamas blending in with the floral room, but there she was, sitting on her bed in the lotus position, a meditation pose he had never been able to maintain for more than five minutes.
"Modest?" he said softly to her. She didn't respond, her eyes remaining closed. He went in and closed the door behind him. "Modest..." he tried again. There was no response. So he approached the bed. Before he got half way across the room her eyes snapped open and fixed on his, the expression chillingly blank.
Modest was known for her emotions. She had never mastered the poker face, and so people who knew her well enough could tell what she was feeling by looking into her eyes. It was why she kept her eyes down around her friends so much; not because she was shy, but because she liked to conceal her thoughts. But this Modest was different. This Modest had flat, blank eyes that perfectly hid everything behind them, and this frightened Marcus. He had never seen his sister this deadpan. And he stopped in his tracks.
"Are you okay?" he asked uncertainly. She blinked at him.
"You made out with my best friend," she said. "She spent the last few days trying to talk to you but you've ignored her. Go ask her if she's okay." Marcus sighed and sat on the floor. Her voice was not nearly as concealing as her eyes, and he could hear the anger.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt her feelings, honest. I've been trying to understand how I feel...." She shook her head.
"You haven't even tried to speak to me," she said with venom in her voice, "in two days, Marcus." She closed her eyes and there was silence for several moments. Marcus sighed again.
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I didn't like it either." She didn't respond, even when he got up to go give her a hug. She merely sat there, unmoving, as his arms went around her.
Marcus could not have known that because of what happened in the Crow's Nest she and Naomi had fought. Naomi went home that day with a black eye courtesy of Modest. Modest had told Naomi that she was angry because Naomi should have talked to her about her feelings first, and that was the truth. Naomi had apologized but Modest was too angry to accept, and told her so.
So the lupine girl responded in kind, yelling right back at Modest about rights and friendship, even saying (untruthfully) that she thought Modest was a bad friend for not supporting her. This is when Modest punched her in the face, and the wolf left crying; they had not spoken since. Modest was understandably bitter that Marcus's experience in the Crow's Nest had cost her a dear friend.
All this was going through her mind as Marcus tried to hug her. No, he could not have known that had happened. He was upset for reasons of his own. But she still held it against him, not responding when he apologized again and turned to leave, eyes still shut, posture rigid. She hated him as only a thirteen year old girl could. But she loved him as only she could also, and when the door closed behind him, his absence was like a knife in her chest; she was losing her brother. And only because she was upset over him kissing her friend.
"But it should have been me in his arms," she finally admitted to herself, tears breaking for the first time since it happened, and pouring over her face. "It should have been me."
~~To Be Continued~~