Mark

***The following is an excerpt from Raina's Story **** 

He didn't used to be this way. She actually used to like Mark.

After her father died, Raina's mother was so sad. She could barely get out of bed, but the baby kept crying, and Raina could only do so much. She was eight years old when she started skipping school to take care of her brother. At night she'd crawl into bed with her mother, and plead with her to find the strength to move on.

Then one morning the doorbell rang. It was a social worker, and Officer Mark. Raina ran to her mother's room, and begged her to pull it together for her and Tam. At last she seemed to understand just how bad it had gotten. She jumped out of bed, pulled on her robe, and ran to meet the unexpected visitors. By the time Raina caught up, her mother had convinced the social worker that everything was fine. She prepared a pot of tea, but before Raina could join them the social worker offered to take her to school.

When she got home, Mark was gone, but he came back the next day with steaks. He cooked their family dinner that night, and nearly every night after that. That's when her mother began to show signs of life again. She started getting out of bed. Eventually she was even up before Raina. She took care of Tam during the day. In the evening, with Mark to help out, Raina got to spend time with her mother.

Gradually, Mark became more than just a helping hand. He made her mother happy. She giggled when he bounced Tam on his knee, and she hummed over the dishes while he helped Raina with her homework.

When she was 10, Mark asked Raina if he could marry her mother. When she said yes, he laughed triumphantly and twirled her in the air. Raina and her mother wore matching lilacs in their hair at the wedding. She danced with Tam, on her toes, and when it was over they all went home together.

Mark was strong, and loving. He never tried to replace her father, but he seemed to repair the hole left in her mother's heart after his death. Together they were a team. They supported one another, and neither looked happier then when they were in the same room.

Her mother's death was rough on them all especially after her father's inheritance suddenly disappeared. Mark didn't have time to grieve. He buried himself in his work.  He took extra shifts, and worked longer hours, but he couldn't support them on his own. Before anyone knew it, they were out of that house. They were practically thrown into their one bedroom apartment until they got "back on their feet."

Only they never did. Somewhere in there Mark started drinking. Just like Raina's mother had, Mark retreated from the world. He left them behind, and poured all his mourning into bottles. After work, Mark would disappear as the mean man slowly took over. He grunted and snapped at them before passing out on the recliner. Sometimes he was still asleep when Raina went off to school.  That's when she taught Tam to play The Quiet Game as they tip-toed around him. The winner, who was always her baby brother, got to choose which song they sang before she dropped him off with the lady downstairs. At the end of the day, Mark was back. He would be exhausted and depressed, but Raina could still see him in the way he tousled Tam's hair.

It wasn't great, but she thought they might make it through alright. That is, until Mark lost his job. He never came home after that. Raina only saw him one more time.

She was studying for a math test, when she heard the mean man stomp up to their apartment. She had completely forgotten to start dinner. He threw open the door and listed into the room. Upon seeing that nothing had been prepared, he knocked over his chair, and tripped into the kitchen. Before opening a fresh beer, the mean man threw the empty pot at the wall behind Tam's crying head. Raina rushed between her brother and this complete stranger. He grabbed her around the throat, and lifted her off the ground while yelling about how they had to work together to make it work. This apparently meant having dinner ready before certain time. Raina started to cry, and Mark dropped his beer on the floor. She knew he had let her go when she felt the wet glass shards touch her bare feet.

He looked her right in the eyes with a sorrowful expression, and whispered "you look just like her you know."

Then he left, and with that the man who loved her mother was gone.

To be continued...