CHAPTER 109

Ding!

As Sarah, Marcos and Kreese sat around the table in the Cobra Kai dojo's back office, they were surprised to hear the familiar ding of the front door opening. Who could that be? It wasn't like they had training that morning. Marcos had just been discharged from the hospital, so they had decided to go to the dojo, not to train, but simply to talk. A whole month and a half of secrets kept by Marcos, and so Sarah and Kreese were still in the dark about a lot of things. They didn't push him to talk about any of it, but Marcos felt like they deserved to know. They deserved to know a long time ago.

He told them about how it started that night on December 23rd, on the 5th anniversary of his mom's death. He recounted a few of the gruesome, blood-chilling stories of what his father had done to him. However, he was interrupted by the sudden opening of the dojo door, as they all immediately silenced when they heard it. Kreese stood up and walked out of the office, into the main dojo, seeing a woman dressed formally in a pantsuit standing at the door.

"What can I do for you?" Kreese asked her.

"John Kreese?" She asked. When Kreese nodded, she glanced down at her notepad for a moment before looking back at him. "You're Marcos Oliveira's…"

"Karate sensei. Yes. Can I help you?" The sensei asked.

"Yes, please. Um… in the police statement that Mr. Oliveira gave this morning, he wrote down you as his emergency contact. We were looking for him, so we were wondering if you've seen him."

Marcos had already given a full statement to the police earlier that morning in the hospital. They had been swift to arrive at the hospital as soon as he had woken up, and so he had given them the entire story, no detail spared. They, in turn, had revealed the fact that his father had been arrested, and would likely be jailed for the remainder of his life, a fact that Marcos wasn't quite sure how he felt about.

"What do you want from Marcos?" Kreese questioned.

"I'm sorry! Where are my manners?" The woman exclaimed, reaching into her bag and pulling out a business card. "Karol Graham. Child Protective Services."

Staring at the card for a few moments, Kreese eventually nodded and gestured for her to follow him deeper into the dojo, over to the office. The Child Services agent walked inside and found Marcos and Sarah sitting there, staring at them, confused.

"Sensei, what's going on?" Sarah asked.

"This is Ms. Graham. She's here to talk to Marcos." He explained. Marcos raised an eyebrow as he glanced at her: a middle aged woman, dressed very proper in her pantsuit, clutching a work bag… it didn't exactly look like someone who ran in his circle.

"How can I help you?" Marcos asked her. As Karol sat down in one of the chairs in the office, she looked at Marcos and responded.

"Mr. Oliveira, I work with Child Protective Services. With the recent incarceration of your father, we're here to discuss your future."

Marcos sighed. He already knew what was coming. And sure enough, a few moments later, he was right…

Marcos pulled himself out of the flashback and back into the present. It was the next morning, at the ungodly hour of 5 in the morning, but he wasn't asleep. He was sitting in the back of a car with Sarah, being driven by Kreese to the airport. It was time. After 6 rollercoaster months in the Valley, it was finally coming to an end. He was about to embark on the long trip back home to Brazil, where he would probably see out the rest of his days, making nothing of himself or his life, stuck struggling to make enough money to eat. Did Marcos feel sad about that? Not really, because all this time, it had almost felt like he had been delaying the inevitable. He had tried to escape it but it had finally arrived, so rather than feeling surprised or sad, he just felt… defeated.

Glancing beside him, he could tell that Sarah wasn't feeling the same way. She was still in shock, the deportation being a reality that she hadn't previously thought about in the same way that Marcos had. It had never been something she had really had to think about, whereas it was something that had always been on the boy's mind, so she had been hit extremely hard by it. Although nobody said a word on the ride to the airport, the car deathly silent as they drove on the empty roads, Marcos glanced beside him and saw silent tears continue to trickle down her cheeks.

"This is bullshit!"

After the Child Services lady made the announcement, the one that Marcos knew was coming, Sarah was the first to speak. Marcos and Kreese remained silent, knowing the hopelessness of the situation, but the same couldn't be said for Sarah. She was livid, outraged, as she shouted at the Child Services lady.

Karol Graham sighed.

"I know this is hard. I know it's probably not an ideal situation for any of you." She said. "I'm truly sorry that you all have to go through this. But rest assured, Mr. Oliveira will be in good hands in Brazil. I've already made calls to some of my contacts in Brazil, and I've already found him a place in a group home in Rio that he can stay in until his 18th birthday. He'll be able to stay in his hometown rather than being forced to move to another city in the country and have to deal with completely new surroundings."

"Wow. What a comfort." Sarah remarked, sarcasm dripping from her tone. "Are you kidding me?! How is this fair?! None of this is Marcos' fault! He spent over a month being tortured by that monster, and yet now Marcos is now getting a harsher punishment than him!"

The Child Services agent nodded.

"I agree with you. It isn't fair at all." The Child Services agent stated. "I'm really sorry. I wish it was different. I truly do. But with the laws in this country…"

Sarah didn't even wait for her to finish her sentence. Rising to her feet, Sarah stormed out of the room in anger.

"Sarah…" Marcos called, his voice simply sounding defeated more than anything else. Once Sarah had stormed out, Marcos and Kreese turned back to the Child Services lady.

"And you're sure there's nothing we can do?" Kreese asked. "I mean, I'd be happy to legally adopt him until he turns 18 if that can help keep him in this country."

Marcos glanced sideways at Kreese, his eyes wide in shock. He was surprised at just how much his sensei would be willing to do for him. Unfortunately though, it was all for nothing.

"I'll be honest, Mr. Kreese, it wouldn't change anything." The Child Services agent replied. "Mr. Oliveira turns 18 at the end of April, 3 months from now. Because you aren't a blood relative, it'll probably take the same amount of time for a legal adoption to actually go through with all of the paperwork and everything. In that time, Marcos will anyways be forced to live in Brazil soo all in all, it really doesn't make much of a difference."

It was completely hopeless. Both Kreese and Marcos knew it, and the Child Services lady knew it too. She sighed.

"Look, we can give you up to 2 more weeks here to get your affairs in order before you need to be out of the country." She told them.

"Are there any flights today or tomorrow?" Marcos suddenly asked, speaking up for the first time since the news had been broken. Kreese looked at him, slightly confused, but didn't say a word. Ms. Graham read her notebook for a moment before looking back up at him.

"Well the soonest flight we can possibly get you on is 8 am tomorrow morning. I know that's pretty early, so there are other flights throughout the week like…"

"I'd like to be on that flight. If that's possible." Marcos said. "Might as well rip the bandaid off quickly. I don't think I'll be able to just sit around for 2 weeks, knowing what's next."

Slightly surprised by his decision, the Child Services agent nodded.

"Alright. I'll make the necessary arrangements now, and if you could give me your email, I'll send you your flight information tonight."

"Thank you."

Walking through LAX Airport, the very same airport that he had flown into 6 months ago, it all felt like a blur for Marcos. Passing through check-in and baggage drop extremely quickly, it was finally time for him to cross that line. The line that was written in bold, block letters: ONLY PASSENGERS BEYOND THIS POINT.

It was time to say goodbye to Kreese and Sarah, and Marcos knew that that was going to be easily the hardest part in all of this. Leaving them behind was the only thing he was probably going to miss from his life in L.A. The rest had been marred by everything that had happened in the past month, these remaining the only things not made rotten.

Saying goodbye to Sarah nearly broke him. Seeing her crying, feeling her embrace him so tightly, knowing she would probably never see him again… it was a sickening feeling. He saw the tears streaming down her face but surprisingly, he wasn't doing the same. He was almost… numb to all of this. At least he was now. Yesterday, on the other hand, the same couldn't be said…

The Child Services Agent left a few moments later, leaving just Marcos and Kreese sitting in the back office together. Once again, a long silence overtook them as both of them were deeply immersed by their own thoughts, trying to process everything. The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, and it remained like that for an eternity. The silence was only broken when Kreese began to hear the sound of heavy breathing coming from behind him.

Turning to face the teenager beside him, Kreese was shocked to see the normally stoic figure in the midst of what looked like a breakdown. Everything, all of the emotion, was getting to Marcos, and he was struggling to deal with it. He began to breathe faster, his heart began to pound, and his hands began to tremble violently as he put his head in his hands.

"Marcos?" Kreese murmured, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. Marcos shot up to his feet, pacing up and down the room, trying to calm himself but doing so unsuccessfully. Kreese stood up too, grabbing his student by the shoulders and holding him steady. As he did, Kreese noticed the rare tears beginning to pool in Marcos' eyes.

"Sensei, I can't do this." Marcos whispered. "I can't go back. If I go back, my life is basically over. I can't go back. I can't."

If this had happened 35 years ago, Kreese wasn't exactly sure what he would've said to his student. Probably something along the lines of fear being for the weak and how he needed to kill any fear inside him at all costs. But shockingly, Kreese had grown since then. Teaching the likes of Johnny, Tory and most recently Marcos had helped him evolve, helped him grow feeling in a heart that hadn't felt anything since Betsy's death.

So Kreese did something he never would have back then. He pulled his student into a comforting embrace.

"It's going to be okay." Kreese reassured him. "You can do this. You're strong. Stronger than I ever was. And you're a fighter. Nothing this world throws at you you're not strong enough to take. And I swear, I'll find a way to bring you back to the Valley. I swear."