Penelope crouched on the floor of the abandoned building with her head in her hands as an older girl struck her. They were some distance away from the orphanage and she only accompanied her because she said Marcus was here.
She shouldn't have believed her.
"I told you not to speak to Marcus but you won't listen. He is mine, not yours!" She yelled, punctuating each word with another kick.
Penelope whimpered as she lay on the cold, dusty ground. There was dust in her breath and the smell of mold filled the air. This building had been abandoned long before the war.
Pain surged through her entire body and as much as it hurt all she could do was sob. She curled into a tighter ball as she tried not to get hurt.
The older girl was Alaina, an eight-year-old while Penelope was only five. They were all children in the same orphanage, including Marcus.
"You are fat, ugly and you speak like a pig. That's what everyone at the orphanage says. I know you are the one who won't leave Marcus alone and because he is so nice, he lets you stick around like a leech!"
This wasn't true, Penelope liked being alone but she had known Marcus all her life. He always played games with her and he never called her fat or ugly. He would say she was adorable and that she looked like the oldest cat in the orphanage, Miss Mae.
A chubby cat who was really the cutest thing Penelope had ever seen. He would also say she sounded like Miss Mae when she was pissed. Penelope thought that was funny.
She didn't hate his company, mostly because he stopped the other children from bullying her and calling her names which Alaina fueled. Actually, she quite liked his company as Marcus was very nice to her.
The day before, he had promised her that he was going to marry her. Penelope wasn't exactly thinking about marriage but she thought it wouldn't be so bad to be married to Marcus. He was taller than she was, five years older, he was also really good with animals and coming up with games they would play.
She accepted his proposal and in return, he gave her his locket. She knew it belonged to his father who had died in the war and it contained the initials of his mother who died giving birth to him.
Suddenly, Alaina gripped her hair and pulled upwards, ending Penelope's method of distracting herself from the pain. Tears and snot poured down her face as Alaina lifted her head. Her scalp burned and Penelope instinctively reached for it, trying to ease the pain as she cried.
"You are not the one who is supposed to get the locket, I am. Give it to me." She cried and tried to reach for Penelope's neck.
"No," Penelope whimpered, covering her neck as best as she could while trying to save her scalp.
The locket was Marcus' greatest possession.
He always wore it and wouldn't even let her touch it but he gave it to her. It made her so happy as she had always wanted to see it but it felt wrong that she would take something of his and not give him anything back so she had given him her necklace.
The matron told her it was around her neck when she came here. She had never tried to take it off before and no matter how many times people tried they couldn't get it to come off.
But it did and she handed it to him. He declined at first but she told him it was only fair if they traded. It was a simple emerald necklace with gold rims attached to a gold chain. She thought the necklace suited him better as it matched his green eyes.
"Markus gave it to me," Penelope cried as she struggled to stop Alaina from ripping it off her neck.
"Ugh, the way you say his name makes me sick and he only gave you because you wouldn't stop crying about how badly you wanted it, like you are now. Give it to me!"
"No," Penelope cried as loudly as she could. Alaina still had a death grip on her hair and Penelope could feel some hair being pulled out of her scalp.
A sharp slap cracked across her cheek. The world stilled and for a moment, she didn't breathe. Then her face crumpled, and a wail tore out of her.
"Markus!" She cried.
"See what I mean?" Alaina said and smacked her again. "You are always the one bothering—"
"What are you doing?" A voice from the empty doorway called. A young boy with the same blonde hair as Alaina stood by the doorway.
Alaina froze but didn't turn around and Penelope could clearly see the fear on her face as relief filled hers. She didn't need to look at the door to know Marcus was here. She would recognize his voice anywhere.
Alaina slowly let go of her hair and wiped Penelope's face but there was no way she could hide what she was doing or Penelope's tears.
Suddenly, Alaina burst into tears and slowly turned around to face him. "She started it," she screamed. "I told her not—" but she didn't get the rest of the words out because Marcus rushed to her and kicked out her legs.
She fell to the ground crying loudly but Marcus didn't stop or hesitate. He got down and pulled her hair, then he slapped her, once, twice, three times. "I told you to leave Penn alone."
"Markus!" Penelope's voice broke through his anger.
He froze.
For a second, everything went quiet except for Alaina's sobbing. Then Marcus let go and turned, rushing to Penelope instead.
"I'm here," he said quickly, dropping to his knees beside her. "I'm here."
He pulled off his shirt and wiped at her face, clumsy but careful. She sniffled and, without thinking, blew her nose into it.
He didn't even react.
"I can wash it," he said, as Penelope looked at him in horror. His eyes scanned her face, her arms. "Are you hurt?"
She lied and shook her head. Her sides hurt and her cheek was stinging but Marcus would hit Alaina more if he knew this and she didn't want that.
"Are you sure? Your cheek is so red."
"I get red eazy," she mumbled. "You shay that." She looked to the floor, she was going to cry again at how concerned he looked.
"Can you walk?" He asked.
Penelope nodded and stood on her feet with Marcus's help. They walked past Alaina who was still curled up on the ground screaming and Marcus kicked her.
"Markus, you shoodn't hit gurls," Penelope said even though she was still crying.
"That's not a girl," he said as he led her out of a room. "That's a monster. Only a monster would do something like this to Penn. Why didn't you use your powers?"
"I can't," she sniffed as she wiped her face again. "She doesn't have her wolf yet, she won't heal."
"You're too nice, Penn… but don't worry. I'll take care of her. She won't touch you again. And don't follow her to places like this. If she ever bothers you, run. Find me."
Penelope nodded as Marcus led her out of the building. His hand was warm around hers. The pain still lingered, sharp in her cheek, aching in her sides but it felt farther away with him beside her.
Her fingers closed around the locket as she leaned into him. Years later, when everything else had faded, this was the part she remembered most.