Addicted

Chapter 13: Watch

Tuesday Winter 23

Shane woke to the sound of the alarm clock, palming the bed for Maree, then rubbing his face at the realization that she was already up. He lifted himself off the bed, loosing his balance, and began a sleepy search for his work clothes for the day, running his hand over the top of the dresser landing on his pants and finding his shirt close by. He pulled on his clothes and exited the bedroom, seeing Maree sitting on the couch with her phone, scrolling and biting her nails. "Morning, Chick," he grunted, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Morning, Rooster," she said, half looking at him and zooming in on her phone. "Hey, what size does Jas wear?"

Shane scratched his head, his eyes still half closed. "Uh, six I think, maybe a seven. I think it depends on the brand."

"Cool, cool, cool," Maree trailed, continuing to scroll on her phone. Shane eyed her for a moment in curiosity, then made his way to the kitchen and poured himself a mug of coffee, adding sugar and milk. He drank his coffee as he leaned against the counter, half starring out the window, half of him on auto pilot still trying to wake up.

The past week and a half, Maree hadn't left the house except to walk around the fenced in area with Debra, then return to the house and hide herself away. Shane held no grudges for this, he knew that she was grieving, but the lack of Maree meant an extra bit of work for him and Jake during her hiatus. After work hadn't been easy either, though Maree still took care of everything in the house, she had Shane running all of her errands, forcing him to deal with almost every person in town, including Morris. Then once he was home for the night, Maree would already be drunk in the shower, or on top of the washing machine, or in the bed. He often wondered during this past week whether his drinking was this bad, then would remember the night on the cliffs, and decide that what Maree was doing was probably properly grieving, since she still stayed mostly functioning while the sun was up.

Jake came through the front door, ignoring Maree, and going straight to the kitchen to see Shane, a wide smile on his face. "You're off the hook until Friday, then you'll be off the hook again on Saturday and Sunday. But the most important part right now is, free day." Jake rubbed his hands together in excitement as he turned towards the living room. "And you little missy..." Jake walked to the living room towards Maree and reached down to pick her up, making an audible disgusted noise. "I was gonna say you need to leave the house, but really you need a shower." Jake hoisted Maree over his shoulder and began carrying her into the bathroom. Shane followed them to the bathroom, half curious, half concerned as he watched Jake put Maree into the bathtub, with her seeming to shrink down and be unable to get up. Jake turned on the cold water and removed the shower head, spraying Maree as she cried and screamed from the tub. "You smell like, if I lit a cigarette, you'd burst into flames. The drinking stops right now, Maree Elise Burnt. This is not healthy." Maree laid there, sideways in the tub, looking up at the two men. Her hair was wet, sticking to her face, as her wet clothes clung to her body. Shane couldn't tell if her face was wet only from being sprayed, or if it was a mixture of tears as she just starred up at them, guilt panging him for not stopping Jake. Maree opened her mouth to speak, and Jake turned the water back on to spray her into silence. "You've got so much that you need to get up and do. You're not even doing the bare minimum!" Jake continued to spray her every time she began to speak, the bathtub starting to fill with the cold water as he continued spraying her.

"You're ruining my life," she screamed, the high-pitched voice piercing the air, causing Shane to cover his ears.

"You're ruining your own life," Jake screamed in retaliation, his voice deep and penetrating, causing Shane to shiver.

Maree looked defeated laying there. "Just let me die," she cried as she sank lower into the tub, letting the water rush up to her neck but the tub wasn't deep enough for her to lower her face anymore. Jake sprayed her once more. "Stop," she cried, flailing her arms in front of her face.