Creed of the Leviathan I

29 | E

Emmanuelle

"Yes, Jenny. Thank you for calling." Marissa sighed.

I was drying off the last few spoons when I overheard Marissa talking on the phone. We had just finished having dinner. Marissa and Anthony came to join Tia and I whilst we had already started.

"Everything okay at work? Do you have to go to the office again?" I asked at the sight of her facial expression. She seemed utterly stressed.

It was normal for Marissa to spent long hours at the office, yet this time she seemed more bothered by Jenny's phone call than she usually was.

"No, it's-" Her eyes shifted to Anthony who had walked into the kitchen. "Marco's at the office." She continued, now talking to both of us.

I had not seen nor spoken to Marco since that day. He had made sure to come down to the kitchen and grab something to eat for breakfast before I did. He missed out on dinners because he was either working long hours at work or spent the night elsewhere.

"And?" Anthony asked.

"He's passed out in his office. Jenny said that he left for lunch and returned about half an hour ago, stinking of alcohol."

"Fuck." Anthony grunted as he shook his head.

"I'm not going down there to get him. I'm done dealing with his shit." Marissa stated.

"I'm deal with it. I'll go with Christoph or Emillio. You guys stay. Yeah?" He checked with her before he turned to me. "You'll be okay, Nuelle?" He asked when he turned towards me.

Marissa frowned upon this question as did I. He never once checked to see if I was alright since we had arrived in this place other than asking about my relationship with Marco.

"Yeah." I answered in all awkwardness.

He nodded at me after which he turned on his heel and headed to the door. Marissa who was still in her work clothes seemed to quickly dismiss the situation by excusing herself. "I'm gonna head upstairs." She had said before she too disappeared through the door.

I too wanted to go upstairs and lay down, but something about not drying off the rest of the washed cutlery, plates and cups did not seem right with me. Sleepy, I continued with the work until I could breathe out of relief.

But just when I thought I could call it a night I ran into Tia on the stairs. As I was making my way up she was hurrying down. The woman had been dealing with a headache all day which is why she went to lay down a bit to rest after our dinner.

"Tia, are you okay? Do you need something?"

"No, it's Mattia. He needs help." She answered, instantly causing me to relive a moment we had not so long ago.

It were these very words that made me walk into Dimitri's room that night to attend to his needs. These very words had caused Marco to go off on me for reasons that seem beyond my understanding. Yet, there I was, ready to make the same decision like I did last time. I was ready to take her place, because like last the time these words were coming from someone who seemed tired. Someone who was in desperate need of rest. How could Tia help Dimitri when she herself needed help?

Before I could think twice about the situation I was putting myself into, I was making my way down the stairs, heading to his room. And to make matters even worse Christoph, Anthony and a drunk Marco who was leaning on both of them were making their way through the front door.

"Where are you going?" Anthony asked.

"Have something to do for Tia."

"You're going to Mattia." He was not clear in his speech, but I knew who this was coming from and I chose to ignore it.