Marco of the Past

 The noise of pen  against paper rang through the silence in the room.  The  man scribbled down lines after lines  as though he couldn't  bear to stop writing and the room sounded like a swarm of angry bees buzzing around him.

The cold air in the room was heavy with smoke that wafted lazily from his cigarette. 

 The room was  small but had everything needed for one man’s work.  There was his desk with its neat stack of books on top.  His bookshelf stocked with novels and paper bundles.  And his bed covered with a blanket of dark grey and black fabric.

He was sitting at his desk, hunched over, eyes squinting in thought while he continued scribbling.  

“Marco” called a voice from behind the door and he flinched slightly before turning around and setting his pen down on his table. He walked up to the wooden door and pulled it open.  It was a man in a black suit who smiled warmly at him. “Marco, I hope you were not asleep again” he said. The man reached out and patted Marco’s head, smoothing the hair back into place.  “I see you are ready”

“I don’t know” Marco replied quickly, nodding in agreement. A flash of fear passed across Marco’s face. 

“I won’t be coming back to this place again, right” Marco asked, his eyes pleading for an answer. “If…you…don’t know why I left, just answer me honestly alright” the words came out rushed but he didn’t care. 

Marco closed the door behind him  as they walked out the  door. As soon as the door slammed shut, Marco took a deep breath and tried to relax a little. 

The stranger in dark suit  lead him down some stairs which led them to a  metal door. This was the entrance and exit for the building. They stepped outside into the chilly air, leaving the warmth of the building behind them.  

“Lock the metal door and give me the keys

” the stranger ordered, holding out his hands to show he wasn’t going to do anything until Marco handed over what he wanted. Marco hesitated but  then nodded and went into the building. He locked the door and turned around to see the stranger standing  there, looking at him expectantly.  Marco sighed and reluctantly gave him the keys.

“Leave this place” the stranger ordered.  Marco shook his head silently. 

The strange man frowned and grabbed his arm harshly, squeezing hard enough and told him “You will never come here again, do you understand?! I don’t want you here again!”

Marco nodded. “Why are you doing this to me?”  he asked quietly, tears forming in his eyes. He tried to blink them away but more tears fell. 

The stranger  rolled his eyes, shaking his head slowly. “Do you think you can live here all the time? Do you think I enjoy having you live here with all your past stories? You have been here so long now and you still refuse to leave! I cannot let you continue living here with no means of escape..get out of here, or i’ll burn this building down”. He shoved Marco roughly towards the iron gate.

“You can't shut me from my past stories...my memories!” Marco protested.

“They're not real anymore! Just your failures !” The stranger yelled angrily. “So get out!”

“No!!” Marco cried, “I belong here, I've done nothing wrong! I don't want to go away! Why can’t you understand?” He pushed the stranger away and ran forward towards the gates to try and reach the stranger. 

But the stranger easily moved aside from the gate and blocked Marco’s path. “Your story isn’t mine to tell” he spat, “It is time you learned how things work, boy”. 

 With a single flick of his wrist, the stranger conjured a flame to life on his hand that danced between his fingers as he held it out towards the gate in front of him. Marco gasped at the sight of the flames but the stranger merely raised a brow in amusement when he noticed the young man's reaction. The stranger tossed the flame away from him, sending it flying towards Marco’s building  . Marco watched horrified as the building caught fire, the structure collapsing on itself and falling apart into ashes and ash. It was only once the entire structure was gone and the ashes scattered along the ground  that Marco realized what had happened.

Marco’s eyes watered up and he wiped away his tears with the heels of his palms, feeling utterly defeated as he stared up at the stranger in horror. He felt the urge to cry again, but something inside of him stopped him. 

The man in the dark suit sighed and waved his hand in front of his face, extinguishing the flames on his palm. “I guess the past of Marco Diaz ended today, huh?” he said with a hint of  disgust lacing his voice.  “Goodbye, boy”.  With that said, the man in the suit turned and strolled away, leaving behind a burning pile of ruins that was once the building where Marco used to live.