It felt kinda nice to be back in dance class. Even though I wasn't permitted to do any dancing, it was still nice to see everyone. Seems like traditional dances might be okay for me - there isn't very much intimacy, so much as it is...platonically romantic? Is that a thing? Anyways, the only thing I see a real problem with is footing. It's easy to be guided by someone when it's by the hip, but for some reason I can't be lead by the hand. Oh well, we'll see how it goes.

-Mark

 

"Jackson? Are you okay?" Mark whispered through his closet door, careful that his parents wouldn't hear him. "What's wrong?"

"I have no idea." Jackson said, phasing through the door looking at his arm. "My runes have never done that before." he mumbled, running his fingers over the glowing flesh.

Mark furrowed his brow as he picked up his phone, his eyes widening and face burning red when he found a potential answer. "Is this a thing?" he whispered. "Ssupposedly when a demon's runes begin to glow, it's the first signs of demonic proclamation." he read, looking at Jackson's still glowing arm. "What's demonic proclamation?"

Jackson rolled his eyes, looking around Mark's room. "Your ring. Where is it." he asked, his voice cold and authoritative. He began to throw pillows and sheets from the bed and paper and books from Mark's desk. "Mark, where's the ring?" he asked again.

Mark took a sharp breath, looking toward Jackson before pulling the ring from around his neck. "Here." he took the ring from its chain before holding it out toward him. "What's this have to do with the ring?"

Jackson snatched the jewelry from Mark, looking at its exterior. "Here." he mumbled, holding it to Mark. "Watch it."

Mark looked intently, noticing the same runes glowing on the ring that were still glowing on Jackson's arm. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're stuck with me for a long time." Jackson smiled. "A very, very, very long time." he whispered, winking suggstively.

Mark swallowed passed the dry lump in his throat. "So...what does that mean?" he asked again,  picking at the hem of his shirt.

Jackson chuckled, falling onto Mark's bed with a sigh. "Well, let's see. You summoned me because...why, you were bored?"

"Well, I didn't think it'd work, but it was initially a visual model for my class project..."

"Okay, so- wait, you summoned me for a class project?"

"No- I mean, yes? Well, it wasn't intentional. I've never really believed in anything like demons or ghosts or that stuff, but I needed a visual model. So I found a book that had the spell and stuff in it and used it in my project. That's when I guess you saw me cleaning the classroom." Mark recounted, sitting beside Jackson.

Jackson looked toward Mark, his runes beginning to glow again as he noticed the ring on Mark's finger. "Where did you even get that?" he asked, scooting away from Mark as the runes began to glow brighter.

"My dad gave it to me when I was a kid." he smiled, looking at the ring. "It's kind of like my security blanket." he layed back, staring intently at the ceiling.

"What happened?" Jackson asked, pushing himself onto his side to look at Mark, his runes beginning to glow brighter the closer they got.

"It's kind of a blur now," Mark sighed, sitting up. "but if I remember correctly, I had a doctor's appointment and had to get a shot, which triggered a panic attack like most stuff did- well, does..." he mumbled with a sigh. "Anyways, after I got my shot dad took me to the store to get ice cream, but I saw this in the jewelry stall and told dad that I wanted it, so he bought it for me." Mark smirked. "Had it ever since. besides the chain, it's the only other piece of jewelry I own." he smirked, twisting the ring around his finger.

Jackson looked at his arms, the glowing runes beginning to fade as he thoguht of his own childhood "Why did you cry about shots? Why did you need to get a shot, isn't that illegal?" he asked.

"What? no, not with a gun or anything, with a needle." Mark chuckled. "Sometimes people have to have medicine directly in their blood so it'll work faster. I had to get a shot so I wouldn't get the flu. Soon enough, I'd be getting shots for my anxiety..."

"Anxiety?" Jackson asked, his head almost on Mark's lap. "What's that?"

Mark's face turned bright red as he looked at Jackson. "Well, imagine being paranoid about everything to the point where you're paranoid about your paranoia." Mark explained, leaning back on his shoulders. "You don't want to stay in the house because you go stir crazy, but you don't want to go outside because you might die. Every single little thing could go wrong, or every person in the universe hates you, and instead of talking about it, you don't say aything because you don't want to burden anyone with your problems. It's torture."

Jackson sat up, looking deep in Mark's eyes, his face showing the fear and sorrow he felt for him. "Mark..." he whispered, his voice low and almost sultry.

Mark felt a chill run up his spine, making the hair on his arm stand up. "Jackson?"

"That's torture?" he asked, his runes began to glow brightly. "That's what you feel all the time?"

Mark nodded, letting out a deep breath. "You feel completely alone, no matter how many times people say they're willing to help you." he fell back onto his bed, arms stretching outward as he lay sprawled across the bedsheets. "Sometimes, you want to just disappear into nothing. You feel like it'd be better for the people around you if you just didn't exist to them." Mark jolted as Jackson phased into him,  making it hard for it him to breathe. "Jackson, what are you doing?"

"Helping you. You'll thank me later."

 

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a good day, ate well, and had a nice hot shower!

I apologize for the holes in the plot, but it's almost time for me to go home which means a more regular schedule for all my updating. Unfortunately my Tumblr is down, so we're back to the old days of A/Ns at the bottom of the chapter! Anyways, I'm really feeling this chapter for some reason. There's a good chance I'll rewrite this to be a just because it has so much potential to be one. Okay! About the story:

This chapter really got to me - I don't like to bother anyone with my problems, so it's hard for me to talk about how I really feel even if I'm talking to someone who was trained by [insert deity of your choice here] to listen to my problems, so I can relate to Mark. However, I'm very willing to listen to other's problems if it means they'll feel better, so I can also relate to Jackson. Well, I can't possess anyone to help them, but I've been told I'm a good listener.

Well, that's about it for this chapter. I'll work on getting Tumblr up again, unless you like author's notes being here. Let me know what you guys think! See you soon!

Saranghae,

~Marzie♥