Chapter 2: An Impulsive Rescue

*MARCUS’ POV*

Marcus was surprised to have pulled onto Karoline’s campus within the hour, but even more surprised by the fact that he managed to find a parking spot close to the dorm. Of all things he missed about his days at college, the lack of parking was not one of them.

Just as Wolfgang got out of the car, he received a message. He looked down at his phone to see a new text from his sister.

By the way, my roommate isn’t feeling too well so she’s laying down in the room right now. Try not to scare her, k? - Kar

Marcus rolled his eyes at the message. He never saw himself as scary, per say. Intimidating, perhaps. But he was forced into a position where it was better off being feared rather than admired. He needed people’s respect, not their admiration.

Although, there were some who tried getting close to him over the years. And, as usual, he would happily oblige, physically. But it would never progress beyond that. It simply wasn’t possible.

Once he finally got to her sister’s former dorm room, Marcus noticed that Karoline had already moved a majority of her stuff out. The man rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself. He couldn’t fathom how someone would want to willingly join a sorority. Perhaps it was all the poorly filmed horror movies he was mildly obsessed with that had led to this negative opinion.

The second he stepped into the room, he immediately bumped into another box. This one had to have been filled with glass because the noise rattled off the walls.

“Sh*t!” he cursed under his breath.

Across the room, Wolfgang saw a small figure lying in one of the beds, under various blankets. The text his sister sent earlier had completely slipped his mind. He swiftly pulled out his phone and reread the message again.

Marcus lifted his head up from the small screen when he heard a weak whimper slice through the silence.

“W-Who’s there?” she asked.

Wolfgang slowly inched himself closer to the bed, not speaking a single word.

“Marcy?” she called out. “Is that you?”

His brows drew together. “Who’s Marcy?” he asked out loud.

He heard the girl let out a sharp gasp and rustled under her blankets. Ever so slowly, Marcus saw a small, frail looking hand reach out from under the covers.

Instead of answering his question, the girl responded with another of her own. “Who are you?”

For a moment, he contemplated answering her question. He had become much too focused on the perfectly manicured hand that rested above the bed sheets. It certainly did not look like it belonged to the average college brainiac, or even the humble bookworm. It was dainty and feminine, making him want to see what the rest of her looked like.

The man was yanked from his thoughts when another strangled sound broke through the pile of covers. His whole face contorted into a scowl.

“How the hell can you breathe under all of that?” he questioned harshly.

Without thinking, Marcus reached out to pull away a few of the top layers of her mountain of blankets.

“No! Stop!” she pleaded frantically. “I’m not feeling well. So...can you please just...leave me alone?”

‘If you’re not feeling well, then why are you here?’ he wanted to ask.

His futile efforts to alleviate her self-inflicted suffocation quickly seized. His worry shifted into a rising anger.

Wolfgang couldn’t remember the last time someone spoke so jarringly to him. He found it both baffling and quite intriguing, like a breath of fresh air.

“Fine,” he said roughly. “I’m just here to move a few boxes out for my sister, and then I’ll be gone.”

He figured it was best to hurry moving what was left of Karoline’s things into her new place, while doing his best not to disturb the sick girl any further. By the time he placed the last of the boxes in his car, the afternoon was practically over and Marcus couldn’t keep from thinking about Karoline’s roommate.

Had she taken any medication to help ease her symptoms? What were her symptoms? Was she running a fever? Did anyone else know she wasn’t feeling well? Why was she alone?

‘Why do we even care?’ he asked himself.

Marcus hastily shook these unwanted thoughts from his head and got behind the wheel. It was none of his concern why this girl was choosing to weather this illness out by herself. But something in the trembling tone of her voice was sticking with him.

He drove Karoline’s belongings over to her sorority house. The second he got out of the car, he was greeted by a few of the sorority sisters who were already living inside. One of them wore a tightly-fitted top, purposely showing off her cleavage. The other two wore short sun dresses that reached the middle of their thighs, and stood sheepishly behind the main girl in the skin tight shirt.

All that Wolfgang could think of was how easily they’d be snatched up if they were to ever enter The Mad House. Marcus could recall on numerous occasions how he’d reprimand his younger sister for the way she would try and dress herself. He cared very little for the language that would come out of Karoline’s mouth, but when it came to her clothing, the man made no exceptions.

To put it shortly, Marcus just didn’t have the time to be keeping tabs on every boy that had the audacity to eye his sister up like some kind of plaything. Lord only knows how swiftly the male population on campus would decrease if he knew of the number of guys who had approached Karoline in the past. Yes, some things Marcus was willing to stay ignorant over.

“You must be Karoline’s brother. I’m Chelsea,” she said with a smile. The girl extended her hand which Marcus graciously accepted. His devilish smirk was enough to make all of their knees buckle.

“It’s nice to meet you. Is Karloine here? I have the rest of her things in the car.”

For a long moment none of the girls spoke. It was as if each one were hypnotized by the deep, honeyed-tone of his voice.

“Uhh...y-yeah. She’s umm...uh—”

“Right here!” Karoline called from the front steps of the house.

Marcus turned his head to find her sister bouncing with excitement. Her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, showing off her own set of hazel eyes. It was truly the only thing the two of them had in common.

Other than that, both Karoline and her brother were complete, polar opposites in nearly every way possible.

Karoline rushed down the front wooden steps of the porch and stood at his side.

“Jesus, took you long enough,” she stated dryly.

He rolled his eyes once more.

“Yeah, yeah. Just come and get your stuff out of my car, I have other things I need to take care of,” Wolfgang hissed. He turned his head back to the group of girls who had not moved an inch. “It was nice meeting you, girls.”

“Uhh...”

“...Yeah...”

“You too...”

Karoline and Marcus shared a look between themselves before heading their separate ways. While his sister began lugging the last of her things out of the back seats, Wolfgang ran his eyes over the house where his sister would now be living.

This two-story, white painted house with black shutters was the perfect cookie-cutter place. It even had a matching picket fence with a gate and the iconic red door in the front. Minus the Greek letters that hung over the doorway, this was the sort of home that he would consider investing in one day.

Unfortunately, such a dream would never see the light day. At least not for him.

Marcus knew where his true place was in the world. It would never be surrounded by green oak trees and neighboring houses that all shared the same cushy values. His fate was tied to four cold, cement walls in the soulless city surrounded by heathens, hiding in plain sight.

‘This place is exactly what Karoline deserves,’ he thought softly to himself. ‘A real house. Living with morally correct people…She’ll be safe here.’

Safe…

The word rang out in his head like an alarm. Wolfgang felt a sharp twist in his chest. His brotherly concerns for his sister’s well-being had faded to the back of his mind and something else had slowly weaved its way to the center of his focus. Someone else was drawing his attention.

Marcus was pulled from his deep train of thought as soon as he heard his sister’s voice. Carrying the last of her things from his car, Karoline turned to face him.

“So, are you headed back to the city now?” she asked.

For a moment, Marcus froze. His eyes dropped to the ground before unknowingly, turning up in the direction from which he drove in. He gripped his keys in his hand and whisked past Karoline.

“I actually forgot something back at your dorm room,” he muttered under his breath. “I’ll let you know when I get back home.”

With a curt nod to the three girls who hadn’t stopped ogling him since his arrival, Marcus rounded the front of his car and slid into the driver’s seat. Every nerve in his body was telling him to leave things alone, but his gut was screaming for him to run back for her.

The girl whom Marcus didn’t even know. The roommate that still remained nameless and faceless to him was preying on his instincts. Whoever she was, Wolfgang was prepared to find out.

. . .

Marcus threw the car in the first available spot he found and rushed to through the dormitory doors. He sped down the various hallways, capturing the attention of any and every other student who happened to be walking by, but he paid no mind to their curious stares.

He finally made it to the dorm room. With his lungs slightly burning from the rush he made from the parking lot, he gave himself a few seconds to catch his breath. Marcus curled his hand around the small doorknob and quietly slipped inside.

Wolfgang saw that the girl was still lying in bed like she was when he had left. However, unlike before, stranger noises were coming from across the room. Strangled, muffled panting echoed from the far end of the room.

‘She sounds like she’s suffocating,’ he thought.

Marcus cautiously moved further inward to find the girl tangled up amongst her bed sheets. Hesitantly, he pulled back a little bit of the blanket to reveal a small portion of the girl’s face. Her cheeks were deeply flushed, and beads of sweat lined her forehead. He leaned in close to find that her breathing was horribly labored.

“Jesus Christ,” Wolfgang hissed. “You’re burning up.”

He tried pulling back the blankets but the girl struggled to keep them on her.

“No,” the girl moaned. “Too...cold. Too cold.”

Marcus brushed the girl’s hair back, revealing the rest of her face. He froze for a long moment. His brows drew together in question as his hazel eyes stared at the young woman laying in front of him. ‘Beautiful’.

Yes, amongst the alarming, ghostly hue her skin had taken, along with the dark circles around her eyes, she was oddly beautiful.

“Why do you look so familiar?” he asked out loud.

The man could have sworn that he had seen this girl before, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Well, regardless of whether he knew who she was or not, he wasn’t about to let her remain ill in this place. She needed a doctor. Now.

Wolfgang carefully scooped her up in his arms, while still keeping the blanket wrapped around her as securely as possible. Her body felt so delicate pressed up against the plates of his chest, he was worried the girl would fall apart if he held her too tightly.

He leaned in close and whispered, “I’m gonna get you out of here.”