Sacred Madness

XXIII. Clusterfuck

[What do you guys think of the new cover? Is it ok or should I just stick with the usual moodboards?]

***

"Come out you motherfucker." Mark shouted as he started kicking the iron gate. He had rang the doorbell too many times but nobody's answering or opening so now he's more than pissed.

"Im gonna break your whole fucking gate if you still won't get out of there." Mark continued shouting in frustration. He kept on kicking and punching the solid iron gate even though it hardly budge.

"Excuse me."

Mark whipped his head back in an instant when he heard the voice of a lady. He thought it was Gun's stepmother and was disappointed when it was just a random lady who was just passing by.

"The owner of this house hasn't come home in more than a month now." The lady informed as he looked at Mark sympathetically. The cut on his eyebrow, the dried blood on his face and the bruises he had on his fist made the lady a little bit worried.

"Are you sure?" Mark asked.

The woman nodded. "I'm certain. I live at the house next door."

"W..why did they left? Do you know anything?" Mark asked again.

The woman took a step closer towards Mark as he made closer look at his cuts and bruises. "Are you ok? Let me treat your wounds for you." The lady offered but Mark declined.

"Its fine. Im fine." He answered. "Can you tell me what you know? I need to find them as soon as possible," was Mark's desperate reply to the woman's offer.

The lady nodded in understanding before he began telling him what she knew. "It was last month when the wife went out and stripped off her clothes before running naked on the streets. It seems like she lost her mind. She was lucky that their guards was able to catch her before she could ran far away and get lost."

Mark was shocked with the woman's revelation, almost not believing her, but eventually did when he remembered how delusional Gun's stepmother was. She really had the potential to go insane.

"Maybe her husband admitted her to a mental hospital since it wasnt the first time that she acted crazy. "

Mark's eyebrows knotted together and the woman took it as a sign to continue.

"She allegedly abducted teenage boys and kept them inside their house. Although she would eventually let them go after a week or so. People also said that they would threaten the victims lives so they won't call the cops or they would pay them money so they could move away from this neighborhood. Maybe that's why with so many allegations, she's still not arrested." The woman finished narrating.

Mark nodded as he inhaled deeply. "Thank you for telling me." He uttered.

The woman gave him an understanding smile before talking. "Make sure to treat your wounds. It might get infected." She reminded.

Mark just nodded once again before heading back to his car. He was frustrated, so frustrated to the point where he doesn't even know how to react, or how to feel. He just sat there, lost with his clusterfuck of emotions.

But Mark has no time to deal with these feelings. He needs to find Gun. He needs to see him quick because what if Gun attempted another suicide? And what if its because of what he did to him that night? What...what if he lost him forever? Mark wont accept that.

Mark was ready to search every corners of the universe just to find Gun, from the endless sky above to the deepest parts of the sea. And you might think that it's an exaggeration, but to Mark, it was still just an understatement. Because with all that being said, it was still not enough to measure the dept of Mark's love towards the boy.