Writing about the past (Marcus and Charlie)

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:24 am

Marcus was sat outside in the wizarding part of the Leaky Cauldron, looking down at the Alley in the twilight hours of the day. With the sun just gone it really was a beautiful sight. He smiled happily as he went back to writing away at his note pad, a file open on the table in front of him.

In the file was a black and white picture of a viktorian man who looked exactly like Marcus. He was giving the camera a half smile as he sat at a writing desk but it was clear to see that the man in the photo was sad, so terribly sad on the inside. Above the photo was a name, in larger font, Marcus William Umec.

by **Sehkmet Nassiri** Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:36 am

Charlie had decided that she was going to go out tonight for the first time in weeks, she had fed of course but had never really thought about going out to speak to somebody for a long while, her lonliness was getting overwhelming.

Opening the door to the busy local pub, Charlie looked around, tilting her head to one side, a Victorian black mourning necklace wrapped around her neck, she stepped further inside and walked over to the bar.

Barely looking at any of the other people, trying to tune out their conversations, Charlie reached the bar and sat there, ordered a drink she wouldn't touch and turned her head.

Her heart, if it could, jumped in her chest and she gasped softly, tears threatening to escape her eyes.

This wasn't fair.

Someone who looked exactly like Marcus sat not two seats away from her and Charlie seriously thought about leaving, but, decided to indulge herself in this exquisite pain for a moment longer.

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:42 am

Marcus was humming a light tune to himself as he sucked lightly at the end of his pencil, a habit he'd gotten into whenever he was stuck or trying to think of the best way to say something. The sound of a gasp caught his attention and he looked around to see who could have made the noise. Seeing a, quite frankly, stunning, woman sitting just a few seats from him, he blushed a little bit,

"H-hello miss." he nodded his head in greeting, smiling shyly, "A pleasant evening isn't it?"

He chuckled a little bit and look out the window again,

"A lovely night for stargazing..." he smiled back at her again, "Or just spending it with good company."

by **Sehkmet Nassiri** Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:46 am

Charlie felt her heart rip in half when he spoke, he sounded exactly like him, he looked exactly like him, she wanted to hold him, to weep, to tell him she loved him but she locked down on her emotions.

She would not make the same mistake twice.

"Hello." she said shortly, unable to look at him, Charlie tried to swallow the painful lump in her throat but failed completely.

Taking another gasp she looked at the man again, her resolve crumbling quickly with each word he spoke and her expression was almost pained as she asked:

"Who are you?"

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:52 am

The lovely lady before him seemed to be at a loss for words but he was quite sure he hadn't done anything to offend her, after all, he hadn't spoken all that much. He smiled thought when she greeted him. Standing up from his seat, Marcus moved over and sat beside her, ordering himself another coke from the bar,

"You don't mind if I sit here do you?" he asked, suddenly afraid he'd done something wrong, "Just seems silly to have a conversation across half the room..."

The new gasp made him think something must be behind him, but after checking he found there was nothing of note behind him. He smiled, slightly nervous now,

"Oh where are my manners..." he held out a hand for her to shake with a friendly smile, "Marcus Umec at your service."

by **Sehkmet Nassiri** Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:01 am

Charlie took a sharp intake of breath when he moved to sit next to her, she couldn't handle much more of this, she was hallucinating, she must be, there was no possible way that this could be happening.

Running a thin finger along the rim of her drink, Charlie tried to distract herself from the near constant stabbing in her heart.

"Mind? No. I don't mind. Forgive me..."

Realising that he didn't know her, didn't know why she was acting like this Charlie thought that she might be safe, then she saw a file in his hand, an oh so familiar photo on the front.

"Marcus Umec? We've met before."

Charlie said, taking his hand loosely in hers, her cold flesh briefly touching his.

"What is that file?"

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:08 am

Marcus heard her sharp intake of breath when he sat next to her and was saddened. She obviously really detested his company or something. But when she told him that she didn't mind, he smiled happily. For some reason he wanted to stay around this woman, even if he did make a fool of himself,

"Don't worry about it." he replied when she asked him to forgive her, "I have no doubt I'll be asking your forgiveness before the night is over. I find it rather hard to talk to beautiful women such as yourself... I'll no doubt make an ass of myself sooner or later."

Seeing her eyes on the file, he was about to tell her about it when she said that they'd met before. His eyebrows rose into his hair-line,

"Really?" he blushed a little bit, "Ah... forgive me but I don't seem to recall meeting you... I'm sure I wouldn't have forgotten someone as beautiful as yourself after all..."

When she touched his hand, Marcus noticed that it was cold and held onto it tighter with his warm hand, thinking that she'd just walked in fron the cold and needed to be warmed,

"Ah the file?" he smiled and gave her the picture of his ancestor, "That's one of my ancestors... Marcus William Umec. As you can guess... I was named after him."

by **Sehkmet Nassiri** Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:19 am

Charlie couldn't help but think that he was more like his ancestor than he knew, it was sweet that was for sure but she didn't think that she could endure much more of this torture, he said almost the exact same thing that he had said when they'd first met.

"I know you do, you've told me, I think that you talk perfectly fine Marcus."

The sound of his name on her tongue made her blink furiously, her voice having cracked at the word.

Seeing his surprise Charlie chanced a ghost of a smile, and thought about how she should explain it to him, after all, she didn't want him to follow her around, not like Marcus had done.

"Don't worry about it, it's better that way, if you don't remember me." she said quietly.

Charlie delicately took the file and looked through it, she gasped again and made a noise like she was about to cry, stroking the face of her beloved on the picture.

"You look so much like him. It's unfair." she whispers.

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:29 am

Marcus chuckled a little bit at his own way of playing himself down but when she said that she knew that he did, he tilted his head to the side curiously. He'd never met the woman in his life, so far as he was aware, so how did she know him so well,

"W-well thanks.." he replied, blushing lightly, "Um... you seem to know me quite well but I feel terrible for not remembering anything about you..."

He noticed how her voice was strained when she spoke his name but decided not to call her on it. It might make her feel bad about herself and he didn't want that. Marcus smiled back but shook his head,

"Knowing someone like you?" he chuckled, "I doubt anyone would want to forget... you strike me as the kind of person who's always there in your mind."

Seeing her so distressed, Marcus wrapped an arm lightly around her shoulder and gave her a light hug, to show his support. Marcus smiled faintly,

"I know... the joke in the family is I'm him, just reincarnated." he smiled a little bit, sadly. It wasn't just coincidence that it was the same as the sad half-smile in the photograph, "I know it's kind of selfish... but I hope I don't know his pain..."

by **Sehkmet Nassiri** Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:38 am

Charlie looked at Marcus intently, she still loved him after all these years, that she knew, but she didn't know that she would press her feelings onto someone else completely. Even if they could be twins. More than twins...

Taking a deep breath Charlie needed to feed and looked around for an excuse to leave.

"You wouldn't remember me, I don't think so anyway, at least not like this, like you are now."

Blinking slightly Charlie put her head in her hands for a moment, trying to calm herself down, it was too hard for her she needed to get out of here and fast, she shook her head.

"The person I am and the person I desire to be are completely different. I don't wish to be remembered. To affect people so."

Charlie gasped and instinctively flitted out of her chair and Marcus' arms, looking destroyed inside, hating to leave him again, she turned and began to walk out of the pub.

"That wouldn't be a joke, it would be a miracle."

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:45 am

The intense look she was giving him was rather unnerving but he couldn't help but return it. He looked back at her just as hard as she was looking at him. In the very back of his mind there was a part of him that thought he didn't recognise her but he wasn't sure it wasn't just his imagination,

"Like I am now?" he questioned, frowned slightly, "What do you mean? Was I different when you knew me or something?"

He watched her as she clutched at her head, as if she was having a terrible headache. Marcus leant in closer, concerned,

"But surely it is better to be remembered?" he asked quietly, "To know that someone holds you in their mind forever? Rather than just fade away..."

When she flitted out from her position, Marcus had to catch himself from falling over. He looked up at her, now realising what she was. But the way she spoke about his ancestor suggested a personal connection. Going out on a limb as she began to walk away, he called out,

"Charlotte?"

by **Sehkmet Nassiri** Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:56 am

Charlie nodded her head, the memories too painful to bare any longer, the weight on her heart was almost suffocating her, she wanted to touch him, and kiss him, but she knew that this man was not Marcus, and that her love was gone, and he was never coming back.

"I would prefer to be forgotten, given the damage that I cause to people who remember me."

Reaching the door, Charlie stopped still and turned to look at Marcus, a tear rolling down her cheek, a deep crimson tear of blood, and she nodded her head once.

"Yes."

With that she gripped the door handle and opened the door of the pub, breathing in the cool night air, and relaxing slightly, the lump slowly going, but the tears couldn't stop.

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:40 am

Marcus shook his head at this. He couldn't accept that it was better to forget anyone. Everyone you ever spoke to told you a little bit about yourself. If she had been important to him it would be like he was missing a huge chunk of himself,

"But what about those who forget you?" he asked quietly, "What if they don't want to forget you?"

As soon as he saw the tear of blood he knew that he was right. It was exactly how his ancestor had described it and it made him shiver, it resonated with him as if he'd seen it happening before. Bloody tears falling from her most beautiful eyes... But he hadn't met her before. Had he? It didn't make sense anymore,

"Charlotte..." he shook his head and moved after her, "The same Charlotte that my ancestor fell in love with?"

He exited the Leaky Cauldron as well, following her into the cold air of the night. Marcus took an uncertain step closer to the woman he'd found to be the love of his ancestor's life,

"Charlotte Disneur..." he whispered quietly, "You're a vampire... you're the one he loved..."

by **Sehkmet Nassiri** Mon Feb 13, 2012 5:31 am

Charlie stopped and sat down on a bench not far from where the exit of the pub was, she looked up at the moon and thought, long and hard, about what she was going to do about this, leave him alone?

Yes that was what she would do. She wasn't about to run the risk of creating another Marcus.

"What if they must forget you? What then?"

The way that he looked at her when she cried, exactly as he had done before sent her into an even heavier spout of tears, she was silent as she cried but more blood flowed.

"That is me. But please, do not speak of him, please." she almost begged, she couldn't take it any more.

Her eyes flashed red again and she growled: "I go not by that name any longer, Charlie, is my title. But yes I am the one of whom your ancestor speaks."

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 5:39 am

Moving slowly, as if afraid that she'd run away from him, Marcus followed her over to the bench. He didn't sit down however, she probably wouldn't appreciate it after all. After she'd spoken he thought for a second before replying,

"Well I'm afraid to say that you can't force yourself to forget." he shrugged a little bit, feeling rather silly trying to give a little life lesson to someone who had lived hundreds of years more than him, "And I think you know that. After all... you still love him don't you?"

Seeing Charlotte crying more, Marcus leant down and rested a hand on her shoulder. If he could have known, he would have seen this was almost exactly the same as how Marcus William Umec and Charlotte had met originally. He cupped her cheek gently and wiped a tear away, careful not to let it smeer,

"Don't cry..." he whispered quietly, "A beautiful lady like you should be crying alone outside after all... and the tears draw focus from your beautiful eyes."

When Charlotte, Charlie, growled and her eyes flashed, Marcus was scared for a second before he noticed something and smiled faintly,

"Your eyes truly are beautiful Charlie." he told her quietly, "And you care so much..."

by **Sehkmet Nassiri** Mon Feb 13, 2012 5:49 am

Charlie looked at the boy in front of her, if he didn't look so much like Marcus he would probably be dead now, and the idea of him running around in this body of his was torture to her, when her Marcus was long dead and buried he was still living.

"I do still love him, dearly, oh so dearly."

The pain of both men she had loved being dead had begun to weigh down on Charlie and many times she had wanted to face the sun and burn, but had stopped herself.

When he placed his hand on her shoulder Charlie let out a soft sob as she remembered with a yank of her heart that this was so similar to how they had met, her and Marcus.

"Stop, please. Just go. Now leave me."

Charlie looked up at him and said softly: "You're torturing me, please, I see only him when you're next to me, you are more like him that you know."

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 5:57 am

It was clear to Marcus that Charlie was telling the truth. She loved him so much and she still loved him now, even after many, many, years and his death. He couldn't do anything but sympathise with her though, not right now. He was too much like the first Marcus,

"Well you know he never stopped loving you back." he told her with a faint smile, "If you'd like... I could let you have his diaries. There was an instruction that they were to be given to you but... well no one could find you."

He heard her sob and it pained him in a way he was sure it shouldn't, not for someone you'd only just met after all. At this thought though his ancestor would surely be turning his grave at. He shook his head,

"Call it my gentlemanly upbringing... but I can't just leave you." he told her with a sad half smile, "Not outside in the cold, alone and crying... what would he say if I didn't try to help you?"

Marcus hung his head. He was so like his name sake that it hurt her. It was hardly surprising, he supposed. He was so similar to his namesake that they had the same handwriting, their thought patterns were similar and his diaries all felt like something he could have written. A tear slid down his cheek,

"I know I am..." he whispered quietly, "If I go... will I see you again?"

by **Sehkmet Nassiri** Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:11 am

Charlie smiled softly as she recalled the conversations that he used to have with 'her', 'her' being the chair where she had sat one night, but there was something that was bugging her, it had confused her then and still did so now. Perhaps looking in his diaries would help her a little in understanding her problem.

"I know he never stopped loving me, but, the diaries would be nice to own, perhaps I can come and collect them one night."

Raising an eyebrow Charlie looked around and dared a faint smile on her lips, unable to avoid saying what came into her head, she said, in a quiet voice:

"I have spent all this time in the dark, in the cold, and alone, it is how it should be for one such as me."

There it was again, the thing that had been annoying her ever since she had first met Marcus, it had puzzled and intrigued her and in the end she had put it down to love.

"Why are you crying? You don't know me. Why do you care if you ever see me again. Mar...Marcus didn't know me either, I don't understand..."

Firming her resolve Charlie shook her head: "No. You will never see me again."

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:19 am

Marcus smiled faintly. He would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to her arriving at his flat to collect the diaries. He didn't know what it was but he enjoyed being around her. She made him feel all warm inside and he wasn't sure why,

"I'll wait up for you." he said before wincing, realising that it was something his ancestor did for her, "Or maybe I'll just put them on my desk in my bedroom..."

Marcus smiled faintly back at her. Just as what she said was, no doubt, impulsive, what he replied with was just as impulsive and it just felt right to say,

"Maybe it's because you've spent so much time in the cold that you should come inside?" he asked in return, smiling slightly, "Come in from the cold. I finally get that poem he wrote... come in from the cold, let go of the burdens you hold."

He chuckled a little bit, realising that it was perhaps a little silly for him to be crying as well. Wiping his tears away, he smiled at her,

"I guess it's just the kind of people we are." he replied, referring to himself and the other Marcus, "Why do I care? Well you make me feel so much better for reasons I can't explain... why would I ever want you to go?"

Looking into her eyes, he saw her resolve harden,

"But will you see me again?"

by **Sehkmet Nassiri** Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:26 am

Charlie blinked slightly when he said he would wait up for her and she remembered how Marcus had become nocturnal, waiting up for her to come home to visit him but she never did.

"Just leave them on the desk. Don't expect to see me again."

Raising an eyebrow Charlie crossed her legs, her red eyes glimmering in the light as she looked over Marcus, how badly she wanted to kiss him, hold him, but she denied herself.

She didn't deserve it.

"What was wrong with you that you needed to make you feel better?"

Charlie nodded her head with a light smile:

"Perhaps."

With that she closed her eyes and flitted past Marcus, to the corner of the street under a lamp post, and with a blink of the eye, she vanished from that spot too.

by **Shekel Umec** Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:33 am

Yes, Marcus though, she caught it too. It was odd but he could feel himself wanting to change. He could feel himself wanting to change until Charlie would have to stay with him and it was mildly frightening,

"Right..." he whispered, looking away, "Can't have me turning nocturnal... my boss would kill me..."

The way she raised her eyebrow highlighted her beautiful red eyes and it took everything he had not to either stroke her cheek softly or kiss her right there. He paused a second before replying,

"It's like... I wasn't finished." he said, still trying to figure it out, "Like... like there was a piece of me missing but I've only just now realised it because now the piece is there... make any sense?"

Marcus smiled a little,

"I'll see you in the shadows then."

When she flitted away, Marcus sighed a little bit, the feeling of being complete fading as she left him until he felt sadder than he'd ever been before, just because he wasn't with her. He made his way slowly home.