Chapter Text
Chapter One
Evan was quiet as he sat outside the door of the living room. He could hear his parents arguing. His thirteenth birthday was approaching and instead of planning a party and something good for him, it sounded more like they were plotting his murder. Evan shuddered as he heard his mother yelling again.
"I will not allow it! If that little devil has a soulmark when... when," she cut herself off, "I will kill him I will, Phillip. I won't have that failure in my home a moment longer. I don't want him even now!"
"I know, but we can't get rid of him if he-" Phillip began to speak.
"I don't care," she snapped at her husband, "You will get rid of him, I will kill the little bastard, I hate him so damn much. He was useless to us from the moment he was born. He failed!"
"Margeret," Phillip said, his voice almost sounding comforting to Evan's ears. "I know, I know. We'll think of something. His birthday is soon and we all know that little brat can't keep his mouth shut about the soulmarks. He's always wondered if he would get one, no doubt he'll be bragging to everyone if he has one."
"Good, and he would be, the stupid child," she muttered as she began to calm down.
Evan stifled a sob. Now he knew, now he had proof that his parents didn't care about him, that they actually hated him. He got up and quietly made his way to his bedroom. He locked the door behind him, going as far as to push the nearby dresser in front of it. He was scared and he knew he couldn't remain in this home. But he had nowhere to go. His sister hadn't talked to him at all in the last year. Not since she moved to Boston. She had promised she would, but it had been broken within a month of her leaving. His birthday was in two days, two days to be able to find a way to hide a soulmark from his parents.
He wished he had grabbed the house phone, wondering if he could try and call Maddie, ask her, plead with her to come home. He had a feeling that she wouldn't do that. She had ignored each and every single call he had made to her over the months. From the mobile number and the house number, she had ignored him. She had even gone so far as to tell their parents about his constant calling and his mobile had been taken from him. It had been three months and he still hadn't gotten it back.
He lay on his bed, eyes wide and terrified of what might happen, going over all the things that he could do to protect himself from them, from his own family. A family that should have loved him, but instead hated him. He began to cry quietly, not wanting to make any sounds that would tell his parents that he was awake. He slowly drifted off into a fitful sleep, dreading his upcoming birthday.
XxXxX
Evan had been as careful as he could as he learned how to cover things up, getting the right makeup to match his skin had worked. And he had been able to cover up the marks he had drawn on himself. He didn't know if they would be able to cover up a soulmark, but the advertisement for them had claimed that they would. Now it was the night he would turn thirteen and in a few minutes he would know if he was one of the lucky ones that would get a soulmark. Though part of him felt like he wasn't lucky, especially if he got one.
He was mostly naked sitting on his bed, wanting to see as much of himself as he could, there was no telling where the mark would appear, how it would look, or even what color it was. He shuddered as he felt a tingling sensation going over his skin before it concentrated over his chest, right near where the heart lay below. He put a hand on it, feeling warmth as the mark formed. "I have one," he said, and instead of feeling joy, he felt dread and worry.
He slowly removed his hand and looked at it. It was in color a wild mix of them that was bright and welcoming. He couldn't help the smile on his face as he looked at the Iris and dahlias that were entwined together in a small little bouquet. He hated that he was going to be covering it up, that he would have to keep it covered until he was able to escape the Buckley home. He reached for the makeup that he had hidden and got to work in covering it up. He sighed in relief that it looked like it wasn't there, that there was no telling that he was using makeup to cover things up. "It worked," he muttered to himself, just hoping that it would last.
Evan knew that his parents were going to try and get into his room to check. He hadn't been able to lock the door. He knew there would be big trouble if he did. His eyes went wide as he heard his parents outside the door. He lay down, covering himself in such a way that he would be able to pretend he was asleep. He closed his eyes and let his body flop on the bed as the door opened.
Evan heard his parents walk over to his bed.
"Stupid child, laying naked in his bed," his mother hissed quietly.
"Well, no doubt he was waiting for his soulmark to come in," Phillip said as Evan heard him shift closer to look at him. He felt his father touch him to get him to roll over in his 'sleep'. He did so just to try and get them out of the room as quickly as he could.
"Well?" she demanded.
"Nothing, he has nothing," he answered her.
"Good, he is never going to be worthy of a soulmate, of someone just for him. He should have saved our son, should have saved Daniel and he failed him," Magaret growled as she stormed from the room.
Evan couldn't help the little flinch and jump. Phillip sighed above him, "I wish you had saved him, worthless experiment, that is all you are. One that costs us a lot of money and wastes nothing but our time."
Evan managed to hold back a sob as his father left the room. The door finally closed. Evan let himself cry silently as he got up from his bed and went to the door locking it after he heard his parent's bedroom door close again. He turned and sank, what should have been a joyful occasion was filled with nothing but pain. He wanted to know who Daniel was, how had he failed him, and how had he failed to save him. All he knew was that he was their son, but he had never heard of him, and Maddie had never spoken of him.
Evan cried for a little longer before getting up, dressed in some pajamas, and headed to his bed, climbing in and letting himself sleep, as best as he could.
XxXxX
It had taken three months since the night of his birthday to find out who Daniel was. He was an older brother that he had, a year younger than Maddie. He had died when Evan had only been a year old. It had taken some digging, and searching through old papers of the place that Maddie had taken him to. Finding an old obituary, he found out that he had died from Leukemia.
Evan hadn't been able to piece together how he had failed his brother until he read up on Savior Siblings. A child created to be a match to an ill family member. He had failed because whatever they wanted from him to help cure his brother hadn’t worked. Daniel had died and they had moved away. He had tried to look around the house, finding little things that he now knew belonged to Daniel. He squirreled them away, wishing that he could have known the other. Maybe he would have been happy he had a soulmark. Maybe even Daniel would have had one as well. He had been too young to even receive one. He knew Maddie didn't have one, nor his parents, they had been proud that they had the choice of who they wanted to marry instead of it being chosen for them.
"Where have you been!" Margaret yelled as soon as she saw Evan enter the house.
Evan had been so deep in thought, that he had startled so much that he dropped his back, "Mom," he said, looking at her nervously as he tried to stop his heart from beating out of his chest. He had been jumpy around them for months and he knew that there was little chance of that changing. Especially as there was always a chance that they would see the soulmark, no matter how well he had covered it up.
"Well!" she demanded to know again, "I thought we told you that you were to come straight home. There was no going out anywhere!" she continued to berate him as she stalked towards him.
"I'm sorry Mom, I had to hand in an assignment to another teacher. They changed the date for them to be handed in this afternoon and I could only do it after my last period," he said, lying through his teeth as he had been searching for a way to be able to leave home.
"Get to your room, your father and I have an important dinner to go to tonight. You will not ruin anything," she said, glaring at him as she stalked past him and towards the stairs.
Evan watched her go, feeling a flood of relief go through him as he stood there for a few moments. He then went to his own room, hearing his parents talking in their room as he tiptoed past it.
"We should be able to leave him alone for a few days, at least a week," Margaret said.
"I've already booked the tickets for the holiday, we'll just leave money. He can take care of himself," Phillip agreed, "We'll be gone for two weeks. Leave him a note and money."
"Hmm," Margaret hummed, sounding happy.
Evan didn't know if he should cheer or not. It sounded like his parents would be going away soon. Leaving him alone at home for two weeks. He smirked after a few moments of contemplation, "Alone," he murmured as he went to his room and closed the door behind him. He changed and put his things away, bringing out the assignments he needed to do and putting them aside for later on. With his parents going out, he would be able to try and cook something for himself.
Almost an hour later he heard the front door slam close and his parent's car drove off. Evan left his room and headed downstairs. He had been looking at recipes at school and online. Printing them out to try and make them at home. He wasn't good, but they were at least passable. This time he was going to try and make himself a stirfry, which he could add anything to.
Evan saw the money on the side. Counting it and snorted, "A hundred again," he shook his head. It was always the same when he was left alone for the evening, they would leave a hundred on the counter. The only time he had left some of it, they had yelled at him for being ungrateful, so now he always took the lot and put it up. That had been happening since he was nine. He shrugged and began to go through the kitchen to find what he would need. He had a couple of hours in the house by himself and he was going to make the most of it.