PART 7: A cry out for help

Chapter 26

One afternoon Sara was sitting in her office a very nervous young boy walked in; Sara looked up from her papers and smiled to the boy.

"Hey, you must be Bruce?"

The boy looked confused, "no, I'm Marco."

Sara looked back down on her papers, "I'm sorry Marco, but I think you walked into the wrong counselor, and it's not that I don't want to talk to you, but my calendar says that I'm suppose to talk to a Bruce."

Marcos glance was roving around the room, "yeah, well I need to talk to someone, isn't that's why you're here?"

"Yes it is, but you need to get an appointment like everyone else." Sara looked down on her calendar, "I do have a time tomorrow at three if that can fit you?" She said looking back up and directly into the barrel of a gun.

Marcos hand was lightly shaking, "I'm sorry," he whispered, "but I don't think so."

Sara swallowed hard as she slowly leaned back in her chair; "Marco, please put the gun away!"

"No.., and stop telling me what to do, I'm the one in control here."

Bruce was running down the hallway, knowing he was late for his appointment with the counselor; he knocked and opened the door at the same time. The only thing he saw was the gun before he turned around and ran away as fast as he could.

"Shit, shit, shit..," Marco cried out as he ran over and locked the door, "this was not suppose to happen."

Sara's pulse was pounding. It wasn't so much the gun that scared her as the panic-stricken look in the boy's eyes, she needed to calm him down and fast or this could end up really bad, she took a deep breath and gazed at the boy.

"Marco, why don't you sit down and tell me what's wrong?"

Marco shook his head, "it doesn't matter anymore I really messed up," he looked at Sara, "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Well, I can't tell you it's alright ´cause it's not, but since we already are in here, why don't you tell me what brought all of this up?" Sara urged softly.

Marco looked at her puzzlement written on his features, "you still want to talk to me?"

Sara gave him a little smile, "yes I do I can't help you out of this mess, if I don't know what's going on."

Bruce had reached the staff room; he ran in and grabbed the first teacher he saw.

"Some boy is holding Mr. Sidle hostage in her office with a gun," he gasped.

"Calm down boy," Mr. Johnson said, "and tell me what you saw."

After Bruce had told him it all, he went to the phone and called the police. Then he went down to Sara's office while the rest of the staff started to get all of the students outside.

Marco went over and stood opposite of Sara, "I don't know where to start, it's just I can't take it anymore!" He said, giving a half-apologetic shrug when she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Can't take what, Marco?"

"The beating, I love my mom but I just can't…" Marco finally answered the muscles in his jaw working.

"Marco, does your mother beat you?"

"No! My mom loves me, she would never hurt me" the boy said dismissively.

After a moment, Sara looked at him in confusion.…

A knock on the door disturbed them; Marco flew out of the chair and once again pointed the gun at Sara.

"Go away," Marco shouted, rounding the corner of the desk angrily.

"Are you alright, Mrs. Sidle?"

"Yes I'm fine, please just leave us alone" Sara replied shortly.

Mr. Johnson walked outside joining the rest of the staff, most of the students had been sent home. It didn't take long before the police arrived and soon after the whole school was surrounded. A Captain came over and talked to Bruce and Mr. Johnson before he went back to his car and ordered the swat team to come.

Both Sara and Marco could hear the police sirens, Marco went over by the window and looked out.

"Shit I'm so fucked; my mom is so going to kill me for this."

Sara looked at him; "I thought you said your mom wasn't the one, who is beating you?"

Marco let out an angry huff anger burning in his eyes as he stared at Sara, "she not, and don't you ever think that about her, she loves me."

Sara raised an eyebrow slowly. Marco met her gaze for a moment before dropping his head. "Sorry Marco, I don't mean to insult you or your mother I just don't get it, why don't you sit down and help me out here."

Marco gazed at her but finally he sat down again, "it's not my mom it's Brad that beats me."

Sara stared at him, one eyebrow raised, "Marco, who is Brad?"

"It's my mom's fiancée" Marco groused, letting out a disgusted sigh.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but does your mother knows, Marco?" Sara asked, hoping she sounded convincing.

Marco locked eyes with Sara but didn't see anything else but concern in them, he sighed, "no, and I don't want her to know."

"Why not, don't you think she will believe you?"

Marco looked down on the gun in his hand, "I know she will believe me, and even if she didn't she could just take a look at my back."

"Why not tell her then? Are you afraid he will start beating her too?" Sara asked softly after being quiet for a moment.

Marco shook his head, "no…"

The phone on Sara's desk started ringing, they looked at each other.

"Do you want to answer it?" Sara ventured.

"No, you do it."

Sara picked up the phone, "Sidle."

"Hello, this is Swat Team leader Wills, how are you holding up in there?"

"We're fine" Sara stated firmly, her attention focused on Marco.

"Good, I've been informed that you have a background as a CSI, is that correct?"

"Yes it is, why?"

"Then you know what to do, and where to get him."

"What the hell are you saying?" She asked with a forced calmness.

"You know, we're taking him out" Wills said after a moment's pause.

"Like hell you're not!" Sara said in a harsh voice.

Marco had gotten up and was walking towards the window, the minute Sara realized what he was doing she throw the phone on the desk and flew up from the chair and ran towards the young boy scramming to him.

"Marco, get the hell away from the window!"

The boy just froze up seeing Sara coming towards him; Sara jumped and tackled the boy to the floor in the same second a bullet went through the window.

Both were lying on the floor in a pile of arms and legs, Sara were the first to recover. Marco had dropped the gun and Sara quickly picked it up. Marco slowly sat up and looked at Sara with a defeated glance; Sara bent down and looked him over.

"Are you hurt, Marco?"

Marco's eyes widen, "no, but you are," he said looking at her arm.

Sara gazed at her arm, her shirt was starting to get soaked, "shit, come on I goner need your help."

She got on her feet and pulled Marco up, both walked into the toilet. Marco cut the sleeve off; Sara cleaned the wound as good as possible, and Marco helped her putting a bandage on. Tears were running down Marcos face.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Sidle, I never meant for anyone to get shot."

"Well, you didn't shot me, and please call me Sara" she answered, sighing when he gave her a questioning look.

"Why ain't you angry at me?"

Sara shrugged, "I don't think that would help or change very much."

"And because it's over since you have the gun" Marco agreed softly, giving her an apologetic look.

"Do you still want to talk, Marco?"

Marco looked at her not sure if she was serious.

Sara could see that the boy was confused, "look Marco, I'll make you a deal," she said as she emptied the gun. "You keep the gun, and I hold on to the bullets, that way none of us have the upper hand. So, why don't you tell what's going on? And afterwards we goner find out how to clean up this mess."

Marco looked at her in disbelieve, "guess, my friends wasn't kidding when they said that I should go talk to you if I wanted help."

"Well, I don't know if I can help you, but at least I can listen to you" she answered with a forced lightness. Stepping out of the bathroom, she turned back to the desk.

They sat down on the floor back resting up against Sara's desk, when the phone went on again, Sara answered it.

"What?" Sara said hotly.

"Wills again, are you alright in there?"

"Like hell we're not, your guy shot me; if one more shot is fired into this room I swear I'm going to sue the whole department" Sara hissed. "Now we want two pizzas and some sodas, coke, just get Mr. Johnson to place them outside my door," and with that she hung up.

"Now talk to me Marco, why won't you tell your mother?"

"Because she's happy" a baffled Marco replied.

"I think you need to explain that a bit more" Sara said, her voice professional but friendly.

Marco looked down on the floor, "my dad died five years ago, and for about two years after that my mom cried herself to sleep every night, then she met Brad and she stopped crying" he began, frowning briefly.

"He was friendly towards me and I liked him for making my mom stop crying. For the first year everything was fine. He never tried to be my dad, just an adult friend, and then he moved in and everything changed." Marco murmured, biting his lip before looking away as he composed herself.

"Nothing I ever do or did is ever good enough; it's like he always is looking for a reason to get his hands on me. He even beat me once while my friends was there, he threatened them that he would do the same to them if they told anyone, they are so scared of him that they never comes over anymore, but I made them promise me that they wouldn't tell anyone" Marco said harshly.

A knock was heard on the door.

"Want some pizza before we go on?"

Marco gave her a little smile, "yeah, that would be nice."

Done eating Sara spoke up, "so why now what has changed?"

"I don't know I just know something has" Marco sighed, wondering how to proceed.

"It's like his voice has changed, and he gets this weird look in his eyes almost dream-like." A shiver ran through his body before he continued.

"Like… I don't know… like he's thinking about doing something else. I can't explain it I just know it scares the hell out of me!" Marco said lowly and pointedly.

Sara had been clenching her teeth hard together while Marco had tried to explain, she knew exactly what Brads next move would be.

"Does he beat you every day?"

It took him a moment to respond, but when he did, his voice was full of pain. "No, never when my mom is around. He only uses the belt on my back and never twice in succession. If he spanks me on my butt it's always with his hands, I actually prefer when he hits me on my ass, because he never hits as hard there as he does on the rest of my body. I think he's afraid people will find out if I can't sit down."

Sara closed her eyes for a brief moment, "if only that was the reason" she thought. "Marco, as much as you don't like it, I think we have to talk to your mother."

"Yeah, the school has probably already called her" Marco said with a sigh.

"Marco, you know Professor Goldsmith as well, right?"

"Yeah" Marco replied simply.

"What would you say if I ask her to come in here as well? I don't know what the school policy is then a thing like this happens, and she is the one who runs the school?"

"I don't know do you trust her?"

"Yes I do Marco, and so can you; she always wants what's best for the students" Sara responded softly.

"Okay, but no one else" Marco said after a moment's consideration.

Sara smiled, "okay, deal."

She picked up her phone and called the professor, and asked her to come and to bring Marco's mother. Soon the two women walked in. Mrs. Foster went straight to her son and embraced him.

"Marco, what have you done?"

In his mother's arms the boy finally broke down and started crying.

"I'm so sorry mom, I never meant for this to happen."

"I know but what on earth could make you do a thing like this?" She asked in confusion.

Sara interrupted them, "why don't we all sit down?" When all was seated Sara looked at Marco, "do you want to tell your mother why we're here?"

Marco shook his head, "please, you do it."

Sara quickly told the professor and Mrs. Foster what was going on and what had let to this situation. As Sara spoke Mrs. Fosters face went more and more pale, she in contrast to her son, exactly like Sara knew what was going to happen to her son, and so did the professor. It was pretty clear that Mrs. Foster had no idea of what had been going on in her own home.

Mrs. Foster looked at her son, "Marco, why didn't you come to me; we have always been able to talk about everything?"

Marco looked down, "I just couldn't, mom."

"Why not Marco, did he threaten you to keep quiet?"

Marco shook his head slowly, "no."

Mrs. Foster sighed, "then why son?"

Again Sara took over and told her what Marco had been telling her previously.

Mrs. Forster was pretty shaken, "so you took the beating because I was happy?"

Marco very low whispered, "Yes."

Mrs. Foster embraced her son. "Marco, I could never be unhappy as long as I have you in my life. It's true I cried at night when your father died, but that didn't meant that I was unhappy, I just missed him because he always used to hold me until I felt asleep." Mrs. Foster stated simply.

"Perhaps we made a failure back then by not telling you that your father was dying, but he was ill for a long time, so I'd already had come to peace with the fact that we were going to lose him, even before he died."

Mrs. Foster looked away from her son and gazed at Sara and the professor, "what's going to happen now?"

Sara was beginning to feel a bit dizzy, "the police are going to take him in to custody and question him." She took a deep breath, "afterwards they probably want to talk to me to get my side of the story. Since he's still very young, I think they goner place him in a childcare institution, until pending a decision on whether he should be prosecuted."

Sara closed her eyes for a minute the room had started spinning around but she kept talking. "The good news is, that his allowed to stay in school if there can be found a guardian who will pick him up and bring him to school and take full responsibility for him until his brought back after school, unfortunately it can't be a parents."

Sara slowly turned in her chair and looked at Goldsmith, "that's why I wanted you in here, ´cause I don't know how the school policy is, when a thing like this happens."

The professor smiled to Sara before looking at Mrs. Foster. "Usually we would expel a student, but I don't think there's much usually about this case." She looked at Marco, "not that I encourages what you did."

The professor's look went back to Sara. "You on the other hand could have stopped this the minute you gained control over the gun but you didn't, and I don't think I can blame Marco for that."

Goldsmith looked back at Marco. "You are a very intelligent student Marco who never has been in trouble with anyone, and I would hate to see all of that going to waist." She chuckled at little, "actually you remind me a lot about Sara when she was a student here. If we can find a guardian to you, I'm willing to give you a six month probation time, and then we will make an evaluation about your opportunity to continue your schooling here."

Sara was really struggling to keep her eyes open; "I'll be his guardian," she murmured before she passed out.

Mrs. Foster got up and went over to Sara; she started to untie the bandage. "I'm a nurse," she said looking at the professor, "it's quite a deep wound. Marco how many times have you changed the bandage?"

Marco narrowed his eyes, concerned, "twice it wouldn't stop bleeding."

Sara slowly opened her eyes and looked at Mrs. Foster, "what are you doing?"

"Mrs. Sidle I'm a nurse" she assured Sara, "you really need to get to the hospital, cause right know you're losing way to much blood, it's quite a deep wound you got there."

The room started turning again, "I can't my dog is setting in my car."

The professor got up from the chair, "Sara, give me your car key, then I'll fetch him and drive him home."

"Okay, Brian lives on the ground floor; you can just hand him over to him" Sara informed her.

Goldsmith picked up her phone, "we need the paramedic in here right now, and I want the Captain in here as well, to pick up Mrs. Foster and her son up."

Sara was soon put on a stretcher and rolled out to a waiting ambulance.

Tbc…