CHAPTER 18 : THE DEAD BODY

Nat's POV

I stand there looking at Marco clean up the mess he made outside and I try not to throw up.

Never in my life had I ever thought that I'd have to do this but here I am.

I have reached an all time low.

This was not the first time I had seen a dead body but this something you can never get used to this kind of stuff.

I'm positive I will have nightmares of this for a long time.

This is all too much.

This had to be some stupid joke by Marco, just to scare me.

But somehow it didn't seem like it.

As soon as Marco dropped the bomb, he dragged the body back to Uday's house and writes a message on the floor with that guy's blood.

'stiamo sempre a guardare per te '

This meant that we are always watching out for you.

These guys are so messed up I can't even begin to start on them.

After writing this warning, Marco leaves and looks at me once before leaving. He just smirks in my direction and I do best not to take out my switchblade and kill him that very moment.

Marco better watch out for his life.

This just added to the seriousness and bloodiness of this situation.

All this made shivers go down my spine and goosebumps rise on my skin.

Tears streamed down my face and I sit down where Marco left me and I try not to cry.

I am about to cry over the death of this person who was killed to deliver a message and over the many deaths that would occur, including Marco's, including Leo's , including mine.

I thought I was numb to all of this but now that seems likely.

My sobbing in the middle of the night must have woken up someone as I heard footsteps approaching.

"Hey, are you okay ?"

I lift my face to see Leo standing in front of me with red eyes.

It looked like he had been crying.

I shake my head as no.

He helps me get up.

"Hey, are you strong enough to walk on your own ?" he tries to joke but fails to laugh himself.

This is all so miserable.

I shrug my shoulders cause I really didn't know the answer.

He lifts me up and carries me inside his house.

As I look towards his porch where the dead body had laid, it was no longer there and the blood was gone.

How long was I sitting there and crying?

Probably long enough as Leo has discovered the death of his family member and cleaned up the blood and everything.

As we step in, he takes me to his room and lays me on the bed gently and lays beside me.

I shift my body so that I am facing him.

He looks lost and so out of everything that I can't help but cup his cheeks in my hand and ask, "Hey what's wrong?"

"My cousin. I just heard he died. "Leo grimly says and shudders.

So that guy was his cousin.

"How did he die?" I ask and pretend as though I didn't witness that whole scene myself and mentally scar myself forever.

"By a heart disease, they told me fought really hard to keep his heart beating but he couldn't do it " he lies.

He sucks at lying and if I didn't know the truth, I would've seen straight through it.

I feel really bad that he lied to me but after all if I was a normal person this secret had to be kept away from me.

Too bad I'm not normal.

"Why were you crying ?" Leo asks me after a few moments of silence.

"I was having nightmares "I lie.

"Oh," he simply says and looks away.

He starts to reach out for me and pulls me against him.

We could both use some comfort so I let him.

It feels so nice to lay beside. Saying I feel safer than I've probably ever felt in years is cringy but it is true though. I feel his heartbeat against my head, reminding me that no matter what happens we're still human.

That's such a petty excuse for everything but the truth of it is surreal.

A few minutes I hear him breathing heavily and I realize he's already asleep and I try to fall asleep myself but it takes some time till sleep finally comes to me.

I sleep peacefully till a movement in the bed wakes me up.

My eyes shoot open instantly and I see Leo getting up.

"Where are you going in the middle of the night?" I ask him and he looks at me and says," I was just going to inform the rest of my family about the death of my brother."

"Were you guys close?"

"Yes, we were like best friends when we were kids," he says and smiles to himself and he remembers the times he spent with his cousin.

"You'll be fine. Maybe this all for the best," I say and try my best to comfort him.

All for the best?

What's wrong with me?

"He was brutally killed,"

"Killed?"

"I mean his death was brutal, fuck diseases," he says and I smile at him.

I wish all of us weren't as good as we are at hiding lies and feeling numb to everything that surrounds us.

"Come back soon," I say to him and he nods in return and leaves the room after stuffing his pocket with his phone.

I look outside the window and see Marco smirking to himself.

That sick son of a bitch will never let me be in peace or even let Leo be at peace. His pettiness makes me sick and somewhere along the line, I just pity him.

How sad it must be to be surrounded by people who just have hatred for you, nothing less, nothing more.

Marco looks at me and waves as though saying goodbye.

Oh, how I wish it was actually goodbye.