Specter

"AHHHHHH!" Markus screamed as he sprung up in his bed!

He could feel the sticky cling of his sweat soaked sheets against him as he shook. He looked at his alarm clock right as it ticked up to 8AM.

*Beep, Beep, Beep*

Markus jumped at the sound before hitting the black and brown alarm clock with his fist. He curled his legs up to his chest and took a second to think; to try to remove the fragments of the nightmare that still clung to him. Taking a deep breath he started counting "One", then another breath "Two", and another...

Continuing his breathing exercise he was able to clam down a bit. Markus could fell his shaking subsiding slowly. He counted as high as thirty before the tremors paused and his thoughts returned to some semblance of sanity.

The nightmares were getting worse, and he knew it. The fact was Markus hadn't had a solid nights sleep in months. The lack of sleep just seemed to add to his stress and made the nightmares worse, which made sleeping even hard still. It all seemed like a vicious cycle with no end in sight.

Worst of all, he could never fully remember what the dreams were. Sometimes it felt like monsters, other times, it just felt like darkness. Sometimes, he would feel like a tiny speck of light swirling in a dense mist, alone. The only common thing he remembered from them was the cold. The deep isolating cold that filled his veins even after he woke up. The hot showers he would sometimes take after waking up couldn't fully warm him from the icy grip and chill of his dark dreams.

Laying back down on the bed, he tried to relax further. He could feel the slight tingle as a single tear running down his face. Mornings like this made him wish that there could be someone there with him. Just someone whit whom he could talk to and hold, but there wasn't and in his heart he feared that there never would be.

For a second he could remember more of the dream, in the deep swirling mist, a slight flash of green light as another speck joined his loneliness. It was all so confusing so-

"You ok?" The voice appeared out of nowhere, and Markus nearly flew out of bed at the unexpected sound.

"What the hell!? Don't do that!" He yelled at the golden eyed specter in front of him.

Lyra splayed her ears against her head and looked down. "I'm sorry Markus, but I felt that you were in pain again. I got here as soon as I could. Are you ok?" She cocked her head slightly and looked up at him with watering eyes.

For some reason he couldn't explain, her gaze almost hurt. It was a numb tingling sensation, like the feeling of blood flow returning to a limb that had long ago fallen asleep.

"Yeah." Was Markus' only response as he rubbed his eyes; Stopping once he finally processed what she had said.

"What do you mean you 'felt my pain?'" he queried her with a deep look of skepticism on his face. 'She just in your mind you idiot. That's all it means.' He tried to tell himself.

Lyra continued to gaze at him, sorrowfully. "I told you when we first meet. We're connected Markus. I can feel what you feel. Twilight's machine lets me see what you see, and experience the world around you."

"Yeah, connected alright... you're just in my head." He tried to shake off her annoying comments.

Lyra tried to argue her point, but Markus would have none of it. Glancing to the alarm clock once more, he noticed it was already 8:15PM. He still had to shower and get dressed, and soon if he wanted to make his appointment today.

Brice, Markus' brother, had plans to meet with him for an early lunch today. Supposedly his brother was going to bring his daughter with him, Markus' niece, Samantha. It had been almost half a year since the last time he saw her. Brice had been keeping both her and himself away from other people while she went through therapy and treatment. Markus wasn't too sure of the details, his bother kept most of them hidden from him. Either he was too embraced or too afraid to mention them.

It was always hard to tell what Brice was thinking. He always kept his thoughts well hidden from his brother, and the rest of the family. A defense mechanism from when they were young.

Markus sat down on a kitchen chair. On the kitchen counter as small stuffed animal stared at him while he put his shoes on. It was a small stuffed unicorn he had bought for his niece almost four months ago. A now long since belated birthday present.

"Awww, who's this little guy? He looks sooo cute!" Lyra squealed as she tried to rub the stuffed animal against her face.

Adorable or not, if that stuffed animal had been a child or foal, Lyra would have smothered the poor thing with how tightly she tried to hold it.

"So, where are we going today?" The bubbly unicorn bounced next to Markus as he struggled to tie his shoes.

"I know you don't have to go to work, you said so yesterday." She stuck her tongue out in anticipation of his lie.

"I'm going to meet with my brother today, and look..." He stared into her golden smiling eyes. His willpower absorbed in their golden reflection and he could no longer tell her to just leave him alone. The way she stared made him feel so much less alone.

"What is it?" She asked.

Markus struggled to find something to say, "Just... don't make things difficult for me. Please."

The smile on Lyra's face waned slightly, and she nodded her response, yes.

Nearly running out of his condo Markus was in a rush to catch the next bus. Normally it would arrive at 8:50ish and if he hurried he might just make it.

He caught his bus, and found his usual seat near the back of it, away from everyone else. Lyra had taken her seat next to him, sitting in a posture that actually looked quite painful for a pony.

Markus studied her for a moment, trying to understand the sitting posture. Lyra looked at him, and cocked her head slightly. "Lyra?" Markus queried her.

"Yes, Markus?" She fluttered her eyes at him. He couldn't help but smile a bit at her silliness.

With a slight head shake he asked her, "How can you sit like that?"

But, before she could answer, the bus stopped suddenly. A man in tattered rags walked through the front door of the bus. This man was filthy and it was clear he was mumbling to himself. The drive protested his arrival but the man deposited the required two dollars in the fair box before walking towards the back of the bus.

He sat down a few seats from Markus and Lyra. Mumbling and pointing at random things around him. As the ride progressed, Markus slowly became aware of a rather strong and foul smell about the raggedy man.

Lyra put her hoof up to her muzzle, "Oh dear Celestia, what is that? Is it coming from him?" She looked at the man.

'Even if true, that really isn't nice,' Markus thought, trying to hold his breath all the while. The man was clearly delusional, Lyra shouldn't just point it out like that, it was rude. He doubted that the man wanted to be... that way. Markus turned to speak to her, "Lyra, don't..." stopping mid-sentence as he realized just what he was doing.

All of a sudden Markus felt very sick to his stomach as he looked between the man and Lyra.

"Are you ok?" Lyra asked him, placing her hoof on his arm.

Markus' arm hair raised up slightly at her ethereal touch. 'No.' The thought, that word repeating though his head louder and louder, 'No. NO. NO!'

*Ding*

He pulled yellow cord next to him, signaling the driver to stop. As soon as the bus stopped, Markus jumped out of his seat. In a near sprint Markus left the bus, leaving Lyra and the man behind.

Markus just needed to think and to breath. He needed-

"Yo, are you ok?" Lyra asked more forcefully this time.

He couldn't help but jump again. Rubbing his hands over his face, he took a breath.

"Was it the smell from that man? I mean I know it was pretty bad." Lyra continued talking, trying to defuse a situation that seemed to boil over for no reason. "Like, hasn't he even heard of soap?" She laughed slightly.

Biting his lip, Markus tired to hold his tongue but just couldn't. "Lyra. That man... That man has some serious mental issues. He's probably not even aware of where he is. Much less that he smells." He spoke with a calm and smooth tone. Forcing all his bubbling emotions down. Seeing that man hit way to close to home for him.

"I ran because..." He shook his head at the absurdity of this conversation. "It's not important."

"Oh." Was all Lyra could respond with. She thought about what could be wrong with that man. "I-I don't understand."

Taking another breath Markus looked around. Making sure no one was around before responding, "What don't you understand?"

"Well if he needs help why don't people help him?" She asked with a shrug.

Markus thought about her question. It seemed so simple, so easy. He wanted to dismiss it as naive but he couldn't. "It's complicated. That man needs some mental health care. Even then he probably needs to be watched to make sure he... doesn't hurt himself or anyone else. The resources don't really exist in this city. It's all very..." He looked for the right word, "Complicated." he repeated.

"Oh," Lyra looked confused. Like she didn't really understand. "So is that why you ran off the bus? Because it's complicated?"

"Yeah." He shook his head. He didn't really want to explain this to himself.

Taking another look around Markus tried to get his barrings. He took that bus to work every day, so he was aware of most stops along this road. By the looks of it, he was only a few blocks from the center of downtown, and the place where he was supposed to meet his brother. He could still make it in time if he walked fast.

After a few minutes of silence and fast paced walking Lyra finally spoke up, "So... where are we going exactly?"

"Some Italian place I've never been too..." As he spoke, he realized he didn't know exactly where he was going. This would be the first time he has ever been to this restaurant. Stopping, he pulled out his phone and started searching for a map.

He typed the restaurant’s name into the map app, "Garden Green's - Italian Restaurant." According to his phone it was right around-

"Hey Markus!" a loud voice called out to him.

Markus put his phone down and looked around. Waving to him from across the street was a balding and mildly over weight middle age man. By the middle aged man's side was a little blond hair girl, not much older than 10. She had a vacant expression on her face, and she didn't quite look like she was all there.

A smile spreed over Markus face and he waved back, "Brice, Sam!" Noticing the lack of traffic Markus ran across the road to meet them, ignoring Lyra's protest all the while.

"MARKUS!", Brice yelled.

*Screech*

Instinctively Markus stopped in the street as the car skid to a halt, barely a hair's width from him. The driver of the car punch his horn as Markus stood their wide eyed. Hearing the horn blast Markus shook of the shock and quickly moved the rest of the way to the side walk.

"Damn, I didn't see that car." Markus declared more to himself than anyone else.

"Dude, how could you not see it. You need to be more careful." Brice's attention became split as his daughter started to struggle by his side. The loud noise apparently scaring her back into reality. "Sam. Sam, calm down."

Markus leaned down next to his niece, "Hey Sam. You remember me right?" He gave the most disarming smile he could.

The young girl stopped struggling for a second as she studied him. She slowly calmed down, and nodded to him. Samantha looked up at her father, "I-I'm sorry daddy I thought I heard something."

Brice forced a smile, "It's ok honey. We were going to get lunch, remember? Your uncle Mark was going to come with us."

Markus reached into the small bag he was carrying and pulled out the small stuffed unicorn. "I remember you liked horses, so I bought this for you. It's actually a unicorn, nor really a horse. But still he's kind of cute isn't he?" He handed the small animal to the young girl who hesitated.

"Samantha, why don't you take the present your uncles offering?" Her father spoke to his daughter with a genital forcefulness.

Samantha nodded again before taking the small doll from Markus, giving a very tiny almost forced smile as she did do.

Markus felt Lyra leaning on his shoulder watching the girl intently, "She seems so shy." Lyra whispered. For the briefest of moments a twinkle could be seen in the young girls eye, as if she could almost see the minty unicorn by Markus' side.

Markus flicked Lyra's horn.

"Oww. What did you do that for?" The unicorn cried. He responded by just shaking his head at her.

"Is everything ok?" Brice asked.

"Oh, yeah, just thought I saw a mosquito. Their buzzing in a people's face can be so annoying you know?" He glared at his green specter who had a slight scowl on her face. She responded by scrunching her muzzle and sticking her tongue out at him.

"Anyway, where exactly is this place?"

Brice pointed to the street ahead, and the small group started walking. It was a short walk, the small restaurant was literally around the next corner.

The restaurant had some vines growing at the base of the building, but was otherwise unremarkable. A single sign hung up on outside the building, "Leonard's Garden Green's, Italian Restaurant."

The inside of the restaurant was far more posh than the outside. There were numerous tables each with a lite candle in the center, a small bar was against the back wall made with some kind of dark, and likely expensive wood work. All around restaurant’s interior people wore fancy suits. It wasn't quite what Markus had expected.

"Good afternoon sirs and madam." The matradee greeted them.

Brice smiled at him, "Hi, we're the Chomsky party of 3."

The matradee looked at his log book and grabbed three menus. "Yes, you wanted an outside table?"

The small family followed the matradee out to the back patio area and sat down at a small table, which also had a small candle in the center of it.

Handing his menu to Markus, Brice gave a slight chuckle "I thought you might like it here Mark. The menus aren't even in English. So I have no idea what's they actually have."

As Markus opened the menu he smiled and let out a small laugh himself considering all the options. 'Hmm, I could tell Brice to order the snails in cream sauce,' he chuckled to himself at the thought.

While he considered all the different orders to make Brice's dinning experience interesting, Brice began to talk to his daughter about his brother. "You know your uncle Mark was able to read French and Italian before he was even in High School, Sam?"

Samantha gave a half hardhearted shrug before turning to focus on an empty table next to them.

Frowning at his daughter behavior, he to look at his brother, "Well, I think it's interesting." Markus examined his brother for a moment, noticing the subtle lines and few gray hairs coming through on his head. Speaking of his hair, it was obvious his brother's hairline was pushing even further back, before long he wouldn't have any hair at all on the top of his head. Markus couldn't help but think that his brother looked so much older than he did just a year ago. All the stress of dealing with his daughter's illness must have really gotten to him.

"So, what I am I ordering You're not going to make me order something weird again are you? The time you ordered something in a different language I had a goat's head on my plate with a side of some sh- I mean crappy cheese." Brice tried to joke around with Markus, laughing a bit as he spoke.

Markus smirked at his brother, in the back of his mind he couldn't help but think how different he had become over the past year. A year ago he could have taken a joke like that, but now, all the stress of Brice's life was taking its toll on him, physically. As much as Markus may have wanted to mess with his brother, it was probably not the best time. "How does shrimp and spinach Alfredo sound?"

Brince nodded, and smiled. Turning his head, Markus smiled to his niece, "And I think Sam wants some spaghetti and meatballs?" She just nodded her response before going back to the nothing going on at the other table.

"Samantha. You should answer your uncle." Brice tried to gently scold his daughter, but she ignored him. "Samantha..."

Reaching his hand out Markus gave Brice's hand a tap. "It's ok. Let's just have lunch." Brice frowned a bit before turning his attention to his daughter once more

"Hey what about me don't I get to eat?" Lyra protested from the side.

Markus leaned over and whispered "You don't need to eat."

Miss hearing what he said, Brice asked "What was that about feet?"

"Hmm?" Markus' gears started to turn, 'what to say, what to say?' he thought in a panic. "Oh, just saying how much they hurt. Had to walk a ways, got off a few stops to early."

"Oh, why did you do a silly thing like that?"

Markus glared at Lyra, remembering why he so quickly ran off the bus.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" She protested.

Refocusing his attention on his brother, Markus cleared his throat as he thought about the bus ride. "Well you see, there was this homeless man. Guy smelled like he hadn't bathed in months. I feel my stomach lurch up, and well, I had to get out of there."

From there, the conversation drifted between topics, moving from the homeless problem, to city politics. All the while Sam ignored the two men, and Lyra tried, unsuccessfully to interject her opinion every chance she got. The unicorn seemed to be slightly agitated at Markus ignoring her.

When the food arrive, Lyra attempted to “sample” each of their plates. Markus tried to whisper to her that such behavior was inappropriate, but it was losing battle, and ultimately an irrelevant one. Every bite Lyra took was still there, it was all just in his head. Or at least that what Markus said to himself.

"Mark, I need to go use the restroom. Watch her while I'm gone." Brice got up and walked away from the table. Leaving Markus, Sam, and Markus' specter alone.

The silence between the three was almost palpable. Shifting his eyes around, Markus tried to spot something, anything that might snap his niece out of her trance at least for a few moments.

"So, how's school been, Sam?" Was the first question he asked, and it was meet by silence.

"Got any hobbies?" Again there was nothing.

*Fomf*

A burst of light and heat flashed from a neighboring table. A small white dessert that had been covered in warmed brandy explode in a large blue flame. Both Lyra and Markus turned their heads to see the source of the flame. However, Samantha just continued her empty staring at the adjoining empty table instead. On the surface it seemed as if she didn't even recognize the fire next to them. Yet, out of the corner of the young one's eyes, she did see or at least she thought she did. She just choose to ignore it all.

"Ooo... I want to try that." Lyra's eyes were nearly glazed over as she stared at a small flaming desert a few tables over.

Lyra got out of her chair and wandered over to it. She began to study the flaming dessert, recalling that it had been called "Baked Alaska". She waited until the flames burnt itself out before taking a large bite of the dessert.

Her eyes went wide as she exclaimed with a mouth still full of food. "Oh wow, this is amazing!" Or at least that's how it sounded, Markus couldn't be sure since her words were garbled by the large amounts of food in mouth.

Shaking his head, Markus had all he could do not to scold the unicorn. He just had to keep reminding himself that she wasn't actually real, that she didn't just take a bite of someone else's food. It was all in his head, and so long as he kept it there no one would ever be the wiser.

The couple at the dessert's table were certainly unaware as they began to eat the same portions Lyra appeared to have bitten off.

What Markus didn't know, was that he wasn't just being watched but also studied by the little girl sitting next to him. For a moment, she had a sudden surge of clarity as she saw her uncle doing the same things she used to.

Her eyes twitched before she turned to face her Uncle. "Uncle Mark..." Samantha spoke in a soft voice, nearly a whisper.

Turning to face her he could only blink a few times, he wasn't sure Sam had actually spoken. His niece hadn't spoken to him once so far. "Uh, yes Sam?"

"Do you see things too?" She asked in a whisper.

Markus looked to Lyra who was now trying to devour the once flaming dessert at the next table. "I..." He thought about what exactly to say. "I don't know what I see Sam."

Samantha looked at her feet, she whispered. "Sometimes it's hard for me to know what's real or not. I know I'm not normal. I know it hurts daddy."

Samantha felt a hand on her shoulder. Her mind screamed and yelled at her to do something, that her personal space was being violated. "Sam, you father loves you very much. He doesn't hate you, he doesn't blame you. He just wants to see you get better."

She looked at the hand on her shoulder. For a second she thought about biting it, but she couldn't. Instead, she pulls his hand off her shoulder and got up. Markus began to worry that his niece was going to run away or maybe have some kind of fit, but instead she did something else entirely. Walking over to him, she placed her arms around his body and squeezed, she was hugging him.

"You don't have to worry about them uncle. They aren't really there, they can't hurt you." Samantha spoke to him as if from experience.

Quickly letting go of her hug, Samantha walked back to her seat and sat down. With her head held low, she began to ignore him and the world around her once more.

"Wow, that was impressive." Lyra spoke. For a moment, Markus wondered how her face could be so clean after she had gone to town on that dessert. He almost laughed as he realized the absurdity of that idea. She hadn't really been eating that dessert merely-

Lyra's next words snapped him out of his trance. "You really seem to have a way with foals." She scooted back into the empty seat next to him. "I mean that. I didn't think that little girl would open up to anyone like that. You'd make a great dad."

That last statement rubbed him the wrong way, "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Uh, who are you talking to?" Brice seemed confused by his brother's statement to no one.

Looking around Markus tried to think up something, some idea or thing to say. "Um, oh I was just thinking aloud about... work. And this one report."

Brice sat back down at the table, "Oh? You don't usually talk about work."

"Oh yeah, it's pretty boring usually that's why." He had a brief flash in his mind of a jumbled Russian document he looked at yesterday, "I just thought about this one report that was on my desk yesterday and how none of it made sense."

For some reason, Brice didn't quite seemed convinced, but he didn't push the issue.

"So, are you two ready to leave?" He asked.

Markus nodded, while Samantha sat in silence. Lyra tried to protest that their table never got dessert, and she wanted to try some flaming custard called Creme Brulee. Her cries fell on Markus' deaf ears.

Leaving the restaurant, Markus wondered what the plan was, "So, where to next?"

Brice hadn't really considered what was next, he had been hoping to play the rest of the day by ear. Choosing where to go based upon Samantha’s current mood. Currently she seemed pretty passive, but that could easily change in a crowd.

Samantha would solve the problem for them, "Daddy, can we go to the park? I want to make a sand castle..."

Nodding Markus agreed with his niece's choice. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Be nice to just chill in the park and talk some more."

The park wasn't too far away, just a block. It was fairly empty for such a nice day. Of course Samantha went straight towards the sand box when she arrived, ignoring everything else in the world. Taking her new Unicorn toy, she sat it down next to her and started digging in grainy yellow substance.

Finding a bench close by the two brothers sat down as well and started talk about things, sports, recent hobbies. Occasionally talking about the various people passing through. A particularly attractive woman walked by the two men. Brice gave a gentle ribbing to Markus after seeing him notice her.

"You really should start dating. You know you'll never find the one if you don't actually go out there and look." Brice stared at his brother, looking for some kind of response.

Lyra used this opportunity to chime in with her own simple opinion, "He's right, you really should at least try dating."

Markus just shrugged at the both of them. "It's not that I don't want to, it's all just so damn complicated. I'd really rather focus on my work."

"Family is important dude. I couldn't imagine my life without Sam and Helen in it."

Raising and eyebrow, Markus looked at his brother with a sense of incredulity.

"I mean it. Sure there are... issues, but things could be worse." Brice tried to fight back some tears. It's clear there was more to what he felt then what he said.

"Brice, are you ok? You seem different, and kind of out of it today."

Taking a deep shaky breath Brice organized his thoughts, "It's just that I keep thinking about Granddad, and Sam. I love both of them so very much, but..." He looked down at the ground, trying to hold back the water in his eyes. For a moment, the rather early middle aged man look like he could have been a century old. "I know what Granddad had was passed on to Sam, and I think... what if I'm next? I can take care of my little girl, but... who would take care of me? It wouldn't be right to drop it all on Helen."

As he turned to look at Markus, a single tear ran down his cheek. It was quickly swept away by his hand. "I know it's horrible to think about this... My daughter is the one who I should be considering, but in the back of my mind I'm terrified that I'll be like them, and seeing you today. I'm worried about you too bro." His eyes pierced through him, as if looking for a response of some kind.

Markus shook his head and turned from his brother. "What do you want me to say?" he whispered.

Lyra stuck her chest out and smiled at him, "Just tell him the truth. The truth is always the best policy or at least that's what the one farm pony told me on my way to Twilight's castle today. Actually, she says that every day..." The Unicorn began to ramble on about things of little importance.

Markus knew it was time to tell someone, "I think... I've been seeing things."

"What do you mean things? Like hallucinations?"

"Yeah." He paused. Lyra was like a hallucination, only there was something more. She seemed to know things. Things she shouldn't know if she was just in his head. Lyra had warned him about things that he didn't notice, like that car earlier, or his boss's report a few days ago. "Like hallucinations, only..."

"Only what? Dude your kind of scaring me here." Brice's heart started to race. His daughter started out with problems like this, his grandfather had problems like this too. He didn't know if he could take the strain of knowing his brother was going nuts too. Perhaps even more worrying, is what that would mean for him. With three close family members losing their marbles, it seemed a certainty that his fears would be realized and he too was destined to lose his mind.

Thoughts began to run through Brice's mind, and a single word kept flashing deep inside his mind, 'Run away.'

Markus shook his head yes, then shrugged. "Kind of. She's not quite a hallucination. Like she can see things and sort of interact with the world." He smiled as he thought about how she helped him. "Hell, she saved my job."

A slight blush came across his face as he thought about her more. At the bar when she started singing, at work when she helped him, this morning when her stare calmed him more then any breathing exercise. Her whole existence here seemed to be focused on him. Lyra's personality was fun, and she made him feel important. She was here in this world solely because of him and just for him. A tight fluttering feeling started to creep up in his stomach as he thought about her more and more. "I mean I know she's not a human but she's. Great."

Brice's eyes were wide as his brother describe his apparent delusion. "Look, dude. If you're seriously seeing things like... that... Maybe you should go see a shrink or something?"

A slight tremor crossed over Brice's hands, "You know what happened to grandad in the end? It's all genetic. Hell sometimes I wonder if Sam will get worse. If she'll end up like him..." he looked to his daughter who was absently talking with her imaginary friend and building a sand castle.

"I know all kids have imaginary friend, but it just worries me sometimes. To see how much she engaged with her imagination over real people. How she's afraid of everyone. Even me. Then there are times where..." Brice had to stop for a second. He felt Markus' hand on his shoulder. "She doesn't seem to know where she is sometimes."

Markus watched his niece talking to the non-existent person next to her. He could see his personality in his young relative, and it scared him deeply.

"If you think you're seeing things then maybe you should go see a shrink, or a doctor or... just someone."

The two men sat in silence.

Lyra tapped Markus on the back. She was talking and trying to cheer Markus up, but he just ignored her. In truth he didn't want to deal with her right now. As if sensing his displeasure with her Lyra said something else to him, something along the lines of, "I'll be back in a little while." There was a green flash out of the corner of his eye, and she was gone.

More silence. Markus wanted to get out of there, to just fine a place to be alone with his thoughts.

As Markus got up to leave, he was stopped by his brother's trembling hand. "Please, promise me bro."

"You should promise him." Markus thought he heard Lyra whisper, but he couldn't tell or see from where. She wasn't even there anymore, how could she whisper? He thought.

"I promise." He whispered back, before walking away. He couldn't stand to be in this park anymore. To many thoughts, too much pain.

Once he left the park, he stood on the sidewalk by a busy street. He didn't have too far to walk, just a block or two to the east.

"So where are we going next, Mark!" His green horror popped up in front of his face. He looked into her deep golden eyes. They were actually quite pretty. Having such a set of eyes focused on him and only him felt good. It made him feel like he would be able to have a family, just like his brother. If only he could have a real person's eyes to gaze into.

'A family like my brother has,' that thought ran through his mind a few times, before he shook it out.

Walking towards the bus stop Markus had pulled out his wallet to grab his bus pass. As looked in his wallet, he noticed the card Kris gave him last night. Almost without realizing it, he had pulled out his phone and put the number into it.

"Hey, who are you calling?" Lyra asked. Markus did his best to ignore her. "Markus?"

“Hello, Dr. Shelly office. How can I help you?” The phone squeaked.

Markus couldn't speak he knew he should, he knew he needed too but he just couldn't.

Lyra scrunched up her face in frustration. "Oh, come-on, don't play this silent game again. Talk to me! I know you can hear me."

'I know I can hear you. That's the problem.' he thought to himself.

“Hello?” The voice on the phone spoke again.

Markus whispered, “Yes... I'd like to make an appointment.”