The Phantom: Code Breaker

Chapter 22: My Fault

Markus' days continued full of fear and anxiety towards ORION and any other denominations of this company. He seldom went outside their house and if he does, he would stay at his ol' man Ned's house for company.

Graduation came but he did not attend the ceremony. He locked himself inside his darkened room and spent the day lying under his blanket, completely shutting himself from the outside world.

Every time that a fragment of what happened in Orion flashed in his mind, his heart skipped a beat.

Night came and Charlotte arrived from her work. She came from the front door and reached the switch on the wall. The living room is what she left before work, tidy and nice, and that made her heart felt heavy. She knew her son never used that place.

"I'm home!... Markus?" She greeted. She put her things on the couch and looked up the stairs, waiting for her son to come.

Markus heard his mom's voice and he crawled out from his bed. He slowly opened his door and looked around.

"Markus, are you there?" Charlotte called again.

The kid walked towards the staircase and saw his mom leaning on the wall, waiting for him.

"Where's my kiss?" Charlotte asked.

Markus went down and wrapped his arms around his mom's chest.

"Welcome home, Mom," he said in a soft voice.

Charlotte felt a chill.

"How are doing? How's your day?" she brushed his bed hair, leaned down to see her son's face, and kissed his cheeks.

"Nothing in particular..." he said in a coarse voice. His eyes looked tired and his skin looked pale. All this time he's inside his darkened room afraid to be seen by anyone.

"Soo... Let's have some dinner, I'll cook your favorite dish." Charlie said, trying to cheer him up.

"Uhm." Markus nodded.

They went to the kitchen to prepare their dinner when the doorbell suddenly rang.

"Hai..." she exclaimed. She went to the door to open it and she saw Cassandra and Dave smiling with excitement. "Ohh... you two.. what are you doing here? It's already dark and we're having dinner. Why don't you just join us? C'mon ..." she turned around and shouted, "Marky, Cassy, and Dave are here... come see them."

They followed Charlie inside and saw Marky in his pajamas and a bad bed hair sitting in front of the dinner table.

"Sup, Marky..." Cassandra greeted him with a cheerful smile. She sat beside her friend.

"Oss..." Dave placed his arms on his shoulders.

"Ahh... you two, what are you doing here?..." Markus looked at both of them.

"Hehe... look what we brought for you.." Dave said

"Hai... hold this.." Cassandra gave him a rolled paper

"What's this?" Markus asked, unrolling the paper.

"Happy Graduation!" The two exclaimed.

"We managed to get it from Mrs. Milton." Dave explained "We have it hard convincing her to release it, you know.." he added.

"That is why you should be thanking us, idiot." Cassandra said pushing Dave aside "Smile a little, you know. We've graduated elementary now." Cassandra gave a wonderful smile. "Cheer up Sweetcake," she said looking away.

Markus looked at them with a blank look. Cassandra thought it will not change but then, he gave a simple smile holding the diploma in his hand. It made her got teary-eyed.