Borrowed Time

Chapter 13

As soon as Marcy is about to interject, Fred appears with a cheerful smile and dismisses Tommy back inside. Suspicion towards Fred heightens with Marcella as he holds out a hand for her to take. Ignoring his kind gesture, she pushes herself up from the ground and stares blankly back at him.

"I have a surprise for you" he says excitedly.

Marcy follows apprehensively, keeping a safe distance as her weak trust in Fred slowly crumbles. The prickly grass beneath her feet is replaced by a cold gritty surface making her toes curl up at the change in texture. In one swift motion, Fred opens up the back of the car making Marcy step back from the swinging door.

"I asked someone to help me buy some clothes for you this morning," he says happily as Marcy inspects the various bags piled up, "we were not sure what was your style, so we got a mix"

'We?' Marcella questions to herself as she carefully inspects the bags.

Surprisingly, Fred takes a few bags and walks inside the house leaving Marcy to snoop around a little longer. Her face twists, pulling out a pair of trousers with holes and thread falling out of it making her quickly fold it back up.

"I've put them in the guest room for you" Fred huffs out as he returns to take the remaining bags and closes the car door.

"Maybe I could use Fred's lie to my advantage" Marcy whispers to herself before strolling inside.

*CLICK*

She ducks instinctively as her head turns around sceptically hearing a strange *clicking* noise whilst her eyes narrow to search her surroundings. "Are you okay?" A deep voice scares Marcy as she jumps in her spot.

"I am fine" she replies to Chris as he raises his eyebrows not being convinced by her answer.

However, before he could ask anymore Marcy is already halfway up the stairs and inside the guest bedroom. She finds herself sorting through all the fabric piled in the many bags as her fingers catch onto a small piece of fabric.

"Perverts" she says in disgust as she discards the thin underwear back in the bag.

Neatly folding and hanging the clothes away she packs the bags inside one another and settles it in the corner of the room by the door. Creating a more organised system, her gaze travels to the shadow emerging from the opposite side of the room.

"We thought we would take you around Athery and show you some places seeming you may be here for a while" Chris says as he scratches the back of his neck and glances out the room.

'It would be useful to familiarise myself' Marcella thinks before nodding decisively watching Chris skip out, closing the door behind him.

Stepping back to analyse the fabrics hung and folded, Marcy begins to change out of the borrowed clothes. She starts with a more fitting shirt followed by an assortment of trousers which get later discarded after she struggles to get her leg all the way through without her foot poking out from the holes in the middle of the trouser leg. Soon she dresses in a semi decent outfit, basing the fashion off what she has observed Chris, Fred, Dylan, and Tommy wearing.

"How can I trust them?" She mumbles to herself before slipping on a long fleece coat and dismantling its coat hanger, slipping the metal hook inside her pocket.

Stepping down the stairs, Marcella receives a mix of looks at her odd combination of clothing, but they all decide to not comment. The same thought goes back into her head as she inspects their very peculiar and plain clothing, nothing like those in Elysianair.