Going Back

Chapter 11 - The Bare Facts

Stacey couldn't settle. She was worried sick, and although she'd had nothing to eat since breakfast with her parents earlier that morning, she wasn't in the least bit hungry; food was the last thing on her mind. Her stomach was twisted in the most nauseating knot.

Where on God's earth had Martyn got to? She was absolutely convinced that something terrible had happened to him.

It was now 10 to 6 in the evening. Even if he had been at work, he'd have been home by now.

She'd spent the best part of the day pacing backwards and forwards trying to call him on his mobile, his parent's landline, too-ing and fro-ing from the window in the hope of finding him pulling up in front of the house, but there had been no sign of him whatsoever. And every phone call she'd made had gone straight to either his voicemail or his parent's answering machine. She was beside herself with worry, and what made things worse was that she'd got no one to talk to. She didn't want to worry her parent's unnecessarily, and every time she'd tried calling Katie, it was the same story – her mobile was switched off, and the landline kept going to her answering machine. Where the hell was everybody? She really needed someone to talk to right now.

Her mind turned fleetingly to Lee, and she dismissed him the moment the thought entered her head.

She felt helpless as she stood there in the hallway staring at the phone before, reluctantly, she picked it up again, in the hope of managing to catch at least one of Martyn's parent's home. Surely one of them had to be home by now - when another fear entered her head. What if they'd all gone out together and they'd had some kind of accident? It didn't bear thinking about.

She dialled the number feeling at her wit's end – and still, she got that bloody answering machine.
Her voice had a distinct tremor in it this time as she spoke, holding back the tears.

'Hi, Elena, Paulo. I'm sorry for bothering you once again, but I'm really concerned. I still haven't seen or heard a thing from Martyn – I don't know if you have yet? I've left message after message on his voicemail, and I'm really worried. I don't know if you've all been out together somewhere, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd call me as soon as you get in, because I'm seriously beginning to think I should call the police or the hospital to see if something has happened.' She left a long pause in case one of them was running to pick up the receiver before eventually saying, 'bye.'

She choked back the tears as she spoke.

Paulo glared at Elena as she maintained her guard over the telephone so he couldn't answer it – in his eyes, she read "Bitch", but shrugged it off.

'You'll see I'm right in the end,' was all she said.

She was sure that Martyn would have been to see a doctor by now and had had whatever tests he needed to find out that she'd been right. The fact that he might have gone off doing something totally stupid in the process didn't seem to worry her in the slightest. The main fact being, she was right!

Again Stacey tried Katie's mobile, and still it was off. Again she tried her landline, and still it went to her answering machine. She tried Martyn's mobile for the umpteenth time, and still it went to his voicemail.

She felt so hopelessly alone.

It was then, when she'd turned to go through to the kitchen, that she heard the sound of a key scratching at the front door.

She stopped, her spirits taking an enormous lift as she swung around, but the sight she saw as he stumbled through the door turned her immediate relief into sheer anger.
He was that drunk, he could hardly stand up.
Stacey snapped.