Love Has No Boundaries Chapter 11
	The rest of the band had headed home after a week. They were given a whole week off so they could spend some time with their own families. But instead of going home, the four lads went about Sligo looking for Mark. They wanted a good explanation why he suddenly left but they got worried when his parents said that he didn’t come home since last week and he never called them to say where he was, and his mobile phone was always turned off. The three other girls, Helen, Alessia and Patricia had gone on home, and they figured that Mark might be there. Shane rang the doorbell quite anxiously, for he had a feeling that Mark wasn’t there, and there was no trace of his car that could be found anywhere. Helen opened the door, looking sad rather than tired from jetlag. “Hi Helen, is Mark…” “He’s not here.” Helen cut him as she let them in. She didn’t mean to be rude, she was just sad, tired and so exhausted. Bryan put his arms around her. “Hey, cheer up. What’s wrong? Don’t worry, I’m here now.” he whispered as he held her. They all sat in the living room as Helen told them what was wrong. “Apparently, Mark was here last week. Toni and him had another fight.” She quietly said. The others shook their heads. Among all of them, Mark and Toni are who they considered “the most inseparable” and “the sweetest” couple. They all didn’t know what was wrong, why all of a sudden they were always arguing about everything. Helen continued, “He took off immediately, and he hasn’t come to his own home ever since.” They all got worried, and Toni had somehow overheard their little discussion. She walked into the room, and all of them tried to act casually, but they knew they couldn’t fool her. No one dared to ask how she was, for they all knew it would be pretty stupid to ask her that. Toni sat with them, so they continued their discussion. Nicky just gave her a hug, and he held her hand. “It’s gonna be okay.” he whispered. Toni smiled weakly at him. From all of the four other lads, she was closest to Nicky. He had been very good to her, and she felt comfortable with telling him all her secrets. Sometimes, Mark didn’t even know some of them and Nicky would. The rest of the girls had joined in by this time, and they had decided to look for Mark. Toni said she wanted to come along, but the others protested, saying that she was in no shape at all. She looked so miserable, and she barely had any sleep. “I don’t care if I do look like I just came in from hell, it’s my fault that this happened so I’m going with you guys to look for him, whether you like it or not.” she said firmly.            They looked at every possible place that Mark could be but he was nowhere to be found. They all decided to go home, because it was already three o’clock in the morning. The lads came in for a cup of coffee as they dropped the girls off, but no sooner than when they sat down all of them had dozed off at the sofa. Toni was still awake. She just couldn’t sleep. She stayed up, and went for a walk around the dark streets. “It would be morning soon.” she thought, absentmindedly kicking a pebble off the sidewalk. She felt cold, so she decided to go back home. She sat at the front porch and watched the first early rays of the sun peeping from behind the dark orange clouds. She suddenly remembered the days when Mark would tap on her windowpane early in the morning, and she would go out to meet him at that porch where they sat together. They would hold hands and just watch the sun, as it crept slowly across the yellow orange horizon, which was chasing away the last hints of violet and dark blue across the sky. She wept bitter tears, as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake any of the lads who was inside the house. She was so worried about Mark, it was so unlikely of him to not call his parents for even just a single day to tell them where he was. She wanted to tell him how sorry she was, and she never meant to hurt him with what she said. She was just kidding and he had seemed to take it so seriously. She was tired of fighting with him every single time they got together since the band started. She was so sick and tired of having to put up with all the pain he gives her from the quarrels they have and from missing him terribly each time he went away. She was sick and tired of him. Toni cried even harder, wishing that it wasn’t so. She had wakened Nicky up in the process, and he quickly went out and hugged her. She just clung on to Nicky as if it was to save her life, as if to save what remained of her broken heart. She had never given so much love to a person all her life, and she knew she barely won’t make it without Mark. He had been the source of her strength, the rock that supported her. He gave her courage and determination, and everything she was right now was because of him. She loves him so much, but how can you continue loving a person when it’s just so hard to do so. She weakly got up to her feet as Nicky helped her, walking slowly and up towards the stairs. Nicky led her to her room, and helped her lie down on the bed. After a few minutes Nicky fell asleep on a chair, with his head on top of his arms on Toni’s bed. But Toni was still awake. Everywhere she looked she could remember Mark. She could remember every single thing that they did together just as if it all happened the day before. She missed him so badly, and thoughts of him were like ghosts haunting her mind. She turned to her left and felt something jabbing her at her side. It was a frame with a picture of her and Mark, with his arms wrapped around her. It was taken one sunny afternoon in Hazel Woods, one of Mark’s favorite places. She remembered that day so clearly, so painfully clear. They had gone there with some friends, and it was one of the days she cherished most. A new tear fell from her eye, and soon they were flooding down her cheeks like an unstoppable river, as she remembered when she and Mark wandered around, just the two of them. It was beside a lake that he gave her a beautiful silver necklace, with a heart shaped pendant on it. “This pendant here is my heart. I’m giving it to you and to no one else in this whole world. I want you to wear that necklace always, so my heart will be close to yours even if I’m not here, so my heart could tell you how much I love you, every single day.” he had said earnestly, as he looked into her eyes and kissed her. She broke down again, clutching the picture close to her. She felt the pendant against her chest. It was so cold against her skin. “Just as cold and distant as Mark is to me right now.” she whispered painfully to herself.
			Chapter 12