Memories | TMR | Two

6:8

"Ah! Visitors!" the man shouts gleefully when he notices them, his scabby arms flinging out to each side to greet them, and the faint sound of liquid swirling in the bottle he holds in his right hand. "Have you come for the party?!"

"No" Adeline tells him flatly, having to divert her eyes for a quick second and tilt her body when a drunken boy stumbles out of the front door and nearly crashes straight into her. "We're looking for Marcus. You seen him?"

The ratchet blonde woman begins to cackle, displaying her yellow, cracked teeth, with brown splotches collecting between the ridges of each tooth, and the four children struggle not to scrunch their faces up in disgust at the sight, or hold back the bile that grapples up their throats when the rotting smell of her breath wafts towards them.

In response to her ungracious snorts, the older man throws his left shoulder back, his expression dropping and his eyes squinting at her as he bumps against her arm, clearly urging her to shut the fuck up. The blonde woman silences almost immediately, and flinches back from his touch and retreating further towards the wall behind them both.

"Forgive the rudeness of my pet" the man drawls, the slight scowl on his face immediately vanishing and swirling into that sickly smile when he turns and notices the sceptical expressions on the four kids faces. "She forgets herself sometimes."

The two girls squint their eyes, casting a sideways glance to one another as Brenda mouths a silent 'what should we do' to Adeline, completely unaware that the man is watching their every move.

"I'm afraid Marcus isn't here right now" he pipes up again, extending his arm out as far as it will go and using it to motion towards the doorway, which is only concealed by a blanket pinned over the frame. "But you're more than welcome to wait inside for him."

"No, thank you" Brenda hurriedly tells him, but although her words may sound polite, her tone could not be further from it.

"Aww" he whines, that bright, and greasy, grin flipping downwards, feigning offence at the small group as he shifts his right arm and loosely dangles his bottle in their faces. "You sure? Got plenty of this to go around."

Brenda scrunches her face and squeezes her eyes shut, leaning backwards when the foul stench of whatever is in that bottle floats up into her nostrils.

"She said no" Thomas chimes in, stepping in front of the brunette and gripping onto her wrist to gently pull her back before beginning to usher them both away.

The man whimpers mockingly at their refusal to enter his home, and he watches through curious eyes as they slowly edge away from him. "It's a shame" he calls out to them, leaning his body to the right and looking past Alby, focusing all of his attention on the backsides of the two girls. "We could of had so much fun together."

Alby begins to turn away as well, but stops himself at the last second to request just one thing of the greasy pair by the doorway. "If you see a group of people looking for us, can you let them know that we're just around the corner?"

And that, ladies and gents, was probably the most stupid thing he could have done, because at that exact moment, and while the other three have their backs turned, the man's brows raise and his eyes widen.

Back over by the start of the pathway, Brenda, Adeline and Thomas step over the threshold separating the worn down garden from the pavement, discussing their new plans in great detail and figuring out what they should do next.

"Why don't we just wait across the street or something?" Brenda suggests, "this building backs straight onto another one so this is the only way they'll come."