Mark dreamed of strange things, he dreamed of flying across the sky and battling villains fighting with heroes, and sometimes having sex with beautiful women. But when he woke up and realised where he was he chuckled and realised that it was just that a dream; Mark sat up in his small single bed that was in the attic of the house he was staying at.
John and Amelia Evans, the people who had found him practically dead in a forest close to their hunting lodge. They took him back to the lodge expecting him to die before they could ever get him to a hospital, but to their surprise, Mark seemed to get better every passing day. They decided to care for him as best they could, feed him and give him food; they assumed he was a metahuman or some kind with a healing ability, and that he was unfortunate enough to encounter one of the many bears in this part of Canada. Based on how injured John had said he was Mark wasn't sure how he was alive now, but it seemed he must have some sort of healing factor if he was. He just wished he could remember more than his own name.
John and Amelia were nice people and until he found out who he was or wanted to leave they offered him a place with them at their house rent-free. Their son Gary who was around Mark's age —he thought— was pretty cool as well, he hooked Mark up with a job at the garage that his uncle owned but that Gary practically ran. He knew nothing about cars at first but it wasn't too difficult once he picked it up —though he had to admit he was surprised at how fast he managed to get so good at it.
Stretching his muscles as he got out of bed he yawned. He walked over to the large circular window and looked out across the small town and into the bay. Bayview was a small isolated town but they were pretty self-sufficient; a geothermal plant supplied energy to the entire area and there was a small airfield close by for planes to land. It was a beautiful and peaceful place and no matter how much Mark wanted to find himself and regain his lost memories, he just couldn't bring himself to leave. As he looked out the window he reached up and fiddled with the necklace he had around his neck; it was a weird necklace he thought, but it was the only connection he had to his past so he'd always keep it on him. He held it up in front of him, it was in the shape of a demon with six red stones which he thought were eyes, though the weirdest part for him was that one of the six stones was glowing. He wished he knew what it meant, John said he'd never seen anything like it though he didn't expect an answer from a fisherman about such an obscure necklace.
*Knock*
*Knock*
"Mark stop jerking off and get your ass downstairs, Moms made breakfast" Gary shouted as he banged on the door from the bottom of the stairs. Mark shook his head with amusement before walking to his dresser and getting dressed for the day; he put on a black t-shirt and some long black cargo pants —cause that's how Gary dressed and they were the same size. There wasn't much to choose from in terms of clothing in Bayview, for the men anyway, there were quite a few women's clothing stores in the mall just near the harbour.
After getting dressed Mark looked at his necklace one last time before tucking it inside his shirt. He then headed downstairs, his feet creaking against the old wood of the house; opening the door he emerged into the main house which was pretty nice by most standards, as it turned out you can earn a lot from crab fishing. Though from what Amelia had told Mark it's because so many people die in that field and she's in a constant state of worry about her husband during the season.
Mark headed to the bathroom first and opened the door before walking in. After peeing and washing his hands he leaned on the sink and looked in the mirror; it was weird looking at your face and both recognising and not recognising yourself. He had a few scars on his face that hadn't healed yet though they were nothing compared to the large scars on his stomach and chest that looked like he'd been impaled. The door opening snapped Mark out of his thoughts, coming inside was Gary's younger sister Emma. She was sixteen years old and had shoulder-length brown hair and a pair of glasses, she liked hanging out and playing games with Mark and often tried to walk in on him naked in the shower.
Mark sighed as he saw her "Sorry kiddo not having a shower yet," he said as he walked out of the bathroom patting her on the head as he did. Emma stuck her tongue out at Mark before slamming the bathroom door shut and continuing her morning ritual. Mark walked downstairs into the kitchen before taking a seat at the table; Gary gave him a shit-eating grin "She tries to spy on you again? Take it as a compliment she's never done it to me," He said.
"You're a sick man Gary..." Mark said with a shake of his head.
"Pfffft as you'd know, how do you know you don't have a sister out there that you're married to?" He asked as he pointed at him, jabbing his finger into his shoulder.
"I like to think I'm not a degenerate like you, I've seen your search history, you need help bro," Mark said as he poured himself a glass of orange juice from a pitcher on the table. As he took a sip from his glass Amelia came in with a plate of pancakes and bacon in both hands. "Good Morning Mark," she said with a smile and a slight accent. She was from Marseille but moved to Canada with her family when she was a teenager; she sounded Canadian but at times her French accent came through. Mark couldn't help but think back to a rather frustrating conversation he had with Gary and why being French didn't make him a natural player.
"Good morning Mrs Evans," Mark said with a smile as he put down his glass of orange juice.
"Honestly Mark, it's Amelia, you've been living with us for 3 months I think we are past those formalities," Amelia said as she rubbed his shoulder.
"Yeah Mark I'm starting to think you don't like us or something," Gary said with a grin as he reached for a strip of bacon only to have Amelia slap his hand away.
"Wait for your father and sister," she chided before disappearing back behind the counter and reappearing with a pot of coffee. Just as she did John Evans walked into the room with a newspaper under his arm "Morning love," he said as he kissed Amelia on the cheek and took his seat at the head of the table. John Evans was a large man, while Mark was just about 6,0 feet, John easily pushed 6,5 feet and he had arms like tree trunks, he said it was from all the work you do on a boat.
"Morning boys," John said as he picked up a cup of coffee that his wife had just poured for him.
"Morning Dad."
"Morning Mr Evans."
John frowned "Come now Mark, I think we've known each other long enough for you to call me John."
"He just doesn't like us..." Gary said with a shrug before reaching in for another strip of bacon again only to get his hand slapped by his Dad this time.
"Wait for you sister," he chided.
"Come on Dad she takes forever in the bathroom, you'd think she'd be going on the runway straight after," Gary said which managed to get a small smile from John.
"I heard that dork!" Emma shouted as she walked into the room taking a seat next to Mark. He found himself unconsciously shifting his seat away as she did, though thankfully she didn't notice.
"Four eyes calls me the Dork? That's rich, who are you dolling yourself up for anyway, Mr Rupert down the street? you can wheel him to his weekly bingo," Gary said as he barked out a laugh.
Emma scowled at her older brother "At least I'm not gonna spend my day scaring girls like a creep."
"It's not scaring it's called flirting, something you're too young to know about," Gary replied.
"Flirting? Well, that 'flirting' has gotten how many girlfriends? Oh right zero," Emma said with a mocking smile.
"Getting a girlfriend isn't easy, tell her Mark," Gary said as he gestured to him.
Mark who was drinking from his cup of orange juice almost choked. "Do not bring me into this," he said with a small laugh as he put his cup down.
"See even Mark doesn't wanna be associated with a sad sack like you," Emma said with a wide grin.
"Dad!" Gary said with an open mouth, waiting for John to discipline his daughter.
John who was reading his newspaper put it down. "Leave him alone honey, you know he can't help himself," He said which just made Emma and Mark chuckle.
"You guys suck," Gary said as he leant back in his chair. A few seconds later Amelia came back in with some maple syrup and placed it on the table before taking a seat next to her husband. John then put down his newspaper and picked up his fork "Dig in everyone," he said before forking a few pancakes onto his plate with a healthy serving of bacon; the children and Mark all did the same, the only person who didn't was Amelia who had a lighter breakfast of porridge with a glob of jam in the middle.
"When will you be leaving darling," Amelia asked with a concerned expression on her face.
John sighed as he finished chewing and swallowed his food. "Two weeks maybe, we've been delayed as our engineer has a family emergency down in Toronto," he explained.
"I don't want you going out there if it isn't safe," she said as she held his hand tightly. John put his fork down and stroked his wife's hand "You know how it is love, it's never safe but don't worry we won't be going if we don't have anyone to maintain the equipment or fix the engines," John reassured her.
"If you need to I could help you out," Mark said abruptly shocking everyone at the table. John had done a lot for him and even now was letting him live here rent-free, the least he could do was help him with this. His knowledge of mechanics was pretty good and if he had a few weeks to get acquainted with the equipment then he knew he'd be able to maintain it.
"Mark, are you an idiot?" Gary said breaking the silence.
"If I can get some hands-on experience with the equipment I should be able to figure it out, you saw how quickly it took me to strip and rebuild a car engine," Mark replied to Gary. While Gary and Emma didn't really take his offer seriously John did.
John looked at Mark with a serious expression on his face "Mark this isn't a joke, this is a dangerous job and a lot of people end up dying during the season," he said.
Mark nodded "I know, I've read the statistics, but regardless if I can help you out then I will, besides I think I'll be fine considering my condition," he said to them, not going into any more detail as Gary and Emma didn't know about his abilities.
However Amelia looked worried "Mark doesn't feel obligated to go, you don't owe us anything," she said trying to reassure him.
Mark shook his head "You've all been good to me, if I can help you I will," he said resolutely.
John sighed but then nodded with a smile "Then I'll take you up on your offer, tomorrow I'll take you to the harbour and show you the old girl."
They quickly finished breakfast and all went about their daily schedules. Emma and Amelia went off to school —Amelia was a teacher—John went to the harbour, and Gary and Mark walked over into town as they didn't have to work in the garage today.
"You are crazy," Gary said as they walked down the snow-covered path.
"You know how many crew mates Dad has lost since I was fifteen? Six! Six! Six in three years, that's a mortality rate of... a lot," Gary said with a shocked and outraged expression.
Mark rolled his eyes "It won't be a big deal, I'll be maintaining equipment, I doubt I'll be doing anything dangerous," he replied.
"Pffft just being there is dangerous, Dad said waves can get fifty feet high and slam a person right off the ship," Gary said trying to intimidate Mark.
"Yeah well we'll see what happens," Mark said.
Gary sighed "I don't even know why I bother, here in this town a woman with big tits waits for her Marky to visit and instead, he's on a ship in the middle of the ocean with a bunch of men!" However, as he spoke Gary realised that Mark had stopped walking and was holding his head in his hands.
"Mark? You okay?" He asked as he walked back a tiny bit concerned.
*Hiya Marky*
*Come on Marky*
*Does this vibrator suit me Marky?*
"Mark!"
Mark looked up, his head which had been pounding before was finally stopping. "I'm alright, I just had a killer headache for a second," Mark said giving Gary a smile.
"If you say so..." Gary said still looking at Mark with a concerned expression. Despite how crude he could come off as Mark knew that Gary was every bit as kind as his parents were. He'd seen more than a few people who couldn't afford to get their cars fixed have Gary come round and take a look at it for free and even pay for the part of it needed; despite what his sister might say a girl would be pretty lucky to have Gary as a boyfriend 'No homo.'
They continued their walk into town joking around and talking about the different girls that might be there right now. As they walked they walked past an old broken gate that led up a hill towards an old manor that looked like it could use some refurbishment. "You always look up at that house when we look past it, Emma says you'll be stupid enough to go in," Gary commented.
"Not this again, the place isn't haunted, it's probably just an empty building," Mark said with an exasperated sigh.
"Hey that's what she said, I said that a witch lives up there, one time me and Emma got real close and I swear I saw a pale woman in the window," Gary said in a spooky voice.
"Yeah yeah and she's having a party with Big Foot and the Chupacabra, let's just get into town," Mark said with a roll of his eyes as he started walking faster.
As they got into town the duo first went to the library at Mark's request. If he was gonna be working with boat engines he wanted to take a look and see if there were any manuals or any reading materials that might help him; people's lives were in his hands so it wouldn't hurt to do some reading. As he read he looked up to see Gary trying to chat up the librarian, an attractive 28-year-old woman; she was a new addition to the library which meant that Gary had to try his luck, as was expected he wasn't getting anywhere which proved to be a source of amusement for Mark, especially since the librarian hadn't said a word to him.
Deciding to check out a few books he went up to the counter where Gary was making another pass at her "Give it a rest Gary, you barely know her and you're already trying to ask her out," Mark said with a sigh as he put the books on the counter.
"One of these days it has to work," he said with a huff as he walked out of the library and stood waiting outside. Mark smiled at the librarian, something that she returned and began scanning his books. "I'm sorry for my friend, he's on the internet too much," Mark said apologetically, however, the librarian ignored him as well. Mark thought it was a little strange but didn't push; however, when she finished scanning the books she started signing with her hands.
*Enjoy the rest of your day*
Mark didn't know how or why he understood what she was saying in sign but he just did. 'Did I know sign language?' He wondered to himself.
"Thank you, enjoy the rest of your day too," Mark said with a smile before leaving. The librarian hadn't expected Mark to know sign language and so was a bit shocked, to say the least.
Mark rejoined Gary outside who was kicking a stone against the wall "You done with your nerdy activities?" He asked jokingly.
"You done playing with rocks?" Mark asked with a raised brow.
"Touché, let's go to Maeve's," Gary said, referring to a popular coffee shop that a lot of the older kids hung out in as it had cheap food and drinks and a comfy warm space to hang out.
*CRASH*
Before they could start walking there a car seemingly lost control and crashed straight into the storefront of a small convenience store. Mark and Gary both looked at each other in shock before they rushed to the building, many other people started to crowd the store to check if anyone was hurt and if they could help. "Oh shit is that Megan and Jenna!" Gary said as they got closer, the entrance to the store was completely smashed in by the expensive-looking car.
"Megan!"
"Is she okay!"
"Someone call an ambulance!"
The crowd murmured, Mark and Gary both got impatient and they both jumped into the store through a shattered glass window —being careful not to cut themselves as they did. Gary walked up to the driver's seat that Jenna was in and tried to open it only to fail, it seemed that this car really wasn't built to take a crash and the metal doors crumpled. "Mark I can't get the door open I'm gonna try and find something to pry it open!" Gary said as he started looking around the store.
Mark looked around to check for anyone else who might be injured. It seemed the shop owner went out the back entrance as the door leading to an alleyway was open. Mark kept on looking but something concerning caught his eye, a smile started flowing out of the engine, a thick black smoke that didn't mean anything good. He rushed towards the door and yanked in it as he tried to open it; expecting the door not to budge he was surprised when it was easily torn off the frame and flung onto the counter like a frisbee, he was only glad that aisles of shelves blocked the view outside so no one saw him do it.
Mark reached inside and unbuckled both Megan and Jenna, as he did Gary finally came back. "Dude you got it open nice!" He said as he dropped the crowbar and took Jenna from Mark. The car then burst into flames making Mark drop back onto the floor with Megan on his chest "Oh shit, let's get the hell out of here!" Gary shouted as he helped Mark out and they both ran out the back exit carrying a girl on each shoulder.
*BOOM*
The storefront exploded sending shrapnel and debris flying everywhere. Mark pushed Gary to the ground and stood in front of them all, the debris he expected to pierce his skin bounced off him easily much to his surprise. 'I have more abilities than healing it seems...' he thought to himself.
"You okay Gary?" Mark asked as he knelt.
Gary breathed heavily as he looked up at Mark "If this doesn't get me a date, I think I might play for the other team."
"Yeah you're fine," Mark said as he stood back up. Taking a breath he felt his hand move down to the necklace he had on, he looked down and saw that a second of the red gems was glowing.
'Weird...'
(AN: I did say that I'm gonna be slowing things down a bit, it seems like Mark has been going non stop since the start of he novel. So I'm gonna take my time to build this arc up. There is a reason for his Amneisa and yes it's linked to the necklace, I'm sure those of you with a good memory can remember where the necklace was previously. How it got around Marks neck won't be revealed for now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.)
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