"Mom? I need to talk to you for a minute." Marx yelled as he entered his house. Tamara closed the front door behind her and sat down on the couch to wait. Marx walked into the kitchen to find his mother staring at him with wide eyes. "Mom, can I tell you something?" He asked, a little unnerved at his mother's expression. She said nothing, just stared at him with a crazy look in her eyes. She gasped and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Are you okay?" Marx hurried over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. His mother gasped at his touch and backed away from him. "Don't touch me!" She hissed, a tear dripping onto the floor. The Creature had caused her to lose her sanity, to see a monster in place of her son. A Creature with too many eyes.

"Mom? What is it?" Marx felt a sudden pang of fear run through him. "What's wrong?" He came closer only for her to back away from him. "What did I do?" Marx whispered.

"I can see it... He is awake in you... Evil! You are evil!" She cried out in a voice so unlike her own, grabbing hold of the countertop behind her for support and using her free hand to grasp her amulet. The amulet was a silver sphere about an inch in diameter with a seam running along the sides. She pinched it and it came open to reveal a black, spherical crystal within. Instead of it being a perfectly smooth sphere, it was cut jaggedly. "I can prove it!" She gasped, holding it out.

At the sight of it, Marx grabbed his head in his hands and cried out as a searing bolt of pain raced through him. Tamara burst into the kitchen to see what was going on.

"Marx! What happened?" She grabbed hold of his arms and sat him down in a chair. He put his fingers to his temples and grimaced. "Get away from him, child!" Marx's mother hissed as she held the crystal out farther. Marx gasped in pain as his mother brought it even closer. "What did you do to him? What is that thing?" Tamara squared her shoulders and stared Susan defiantly in the eyes. The woman held her ground, but couldn't hold Tamara's gaze and looked away. Susan's mind was gone.

"Come on, Marx, hurry please." Tamara whispered as she helped a very dazed Marx to his feet and slowly began walking towards the door.

"I should have killed him as a baby... But I was a fool, I loved him too much. Now my weakness will be the death of us all." She whispered, closing the crystal into her amulet again. Tamara pulled Marx more quickly towards the door. She slammed it behind her and took a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" Tamara looked at Marx worriedly.

"What was that thing?" He gasped, his eyes wide and his face pale. "Some sort of crystal. Was that the reason you were holding your head like that?" Tamara said. "Yeah... It-it hurt," He looked up at Tamara worriedly. "And she called me evil, Tamara. My own mother called me evil."

Tamara looked him in the eyes with a grim expression and said quietly, "I think your mother is sick, Marx. She is sick and doesn't know what she's saying. Come on, let's go to my house and tell my mom what's happening so she can help." She gently took his arm and began pulling him down the road.

"She said she should have killed me!" Marx whispered.

Tamara froze. "She's sick. She loves you very much, but she's sick. She didn't mean that."

"My own mother wishes I was dead..." Marx whispered in horror.

The two kids walked in silence the rest of the way to Tamara's house.

Tamara took her mother into the other room and quietly told her what happened. Her mother nodded silently, then said, "Stay here with your dad. You make sure Marx is okay, alright? Let him know we're going to find out what's going on and help. I'm going to talk to Ms. Kohler." Tamara gave her mom a hug. "Thanks mom."

She left the house, leaving Tamara alone in the living room. She went quickly into the kitchen to see if Marx was okay. She found him with his head on the table, staring at the wall. She walked over and gave him a hug.

"It's gonna be okay, my mom is going over to see what's going on." He didn't react for a few seconds, then sat up and hugged her back.

"Thanks," He said, his voice muffled from his face being shoved into her shoulder. "I appreciate it more than you know." Tamara pushed him back by the shoulders until she could look him in the eyes and smiled. "Hey, want to play an unnecessarily violent and brain-numbingly mindless video game to take your mind off of things for awhile?"

Marx was silent for a few seconds until suddenly a faint smile appeared on his face, not enough to hide his worry. "Of course I want to play an unnecessarily violent and brain-numbingly mindless video game." He said.