necromancer• enoch o'connor

1

———

"marley, don't be a fucking hog."

marlene rolled her eyes at her adoptive brother blowing her blonde bangs out of her face.

"cmon dicky, it's not like you paid for it."

the green haired scrunched his face, red rimmed eyes narrowing, "there's no way you can tell."

"i wouldn't be smoking your cheap shit rick" the blonde snorted, passing him the blunt anyway, "it's not hard to tell the difference."

sighing in defeat, he leaned his head against the concrete behind them.

they sat under an abandoned train bridge, their usual smoke spot. ricky twisted his head to look at his sister, "you thinkin about going back to england?"

marlene laughed, "i feel like i'm too american to go back."

"oh you don't have to worry about that. i can practically feel the stuck-upedness every time you talk." ricky spoke passing it to her.

she laughed inhaling the smoke, responding, "what in the hell is 'stuck-upedness'?"

he shrugged laughing along.

they sat, conversing chaotically, throwing rocks. occasionally performing a skateboard trick to show the other up.

the girl laughed, watching ricky falling on his ass.

his old flip phone vibrated beside her, flipping up the top she answered, "ricky's phone, what can i do for you?"

"marley?"

recognizing jacob portman's voice, she smiled, "hey jake, what's up?"

"can you guys come pick me up from work? grandpas having an episode."

"course jakey, we'll be there in, say, fifteen minutes. see you soon."

"bye"

after shouting to her brother, marlene gathered her things and made her way up the ladder. she pulled the keys to the crown vic out of her pocket and crossed her fingers.

she let out a sigh of relief when it started, moving to the passenger side and kicking the door open.

ricky closed the driver-side door, "where to?"

"smart-aid, jake needs a ride to his grandads." she replied.

the green haired boy nodded, turning up the music and pulling back onto the road.

——

ricky sat on the hood, next to marlene who was leaning against the car, sharing a cigarette.

the sun was going down and the blonde laughed at the middle aged women and men who gave them dirty looks.

she looked away when her brother yelled, the smoke floating from his lips, "you fired yet?" jacobs eyes widened , "shhh, they don't know my plan yet!"

the girl smirked, gently smacking ricky, "yeah dicky don't spoil his top secret plan."

he laughed heartily, passing the cigarette to his sister so he could open the back door, "don't worry, special ed. there's always tomorrow."

once they were all in the car marlene observed jacob in the rear view mirror, noticing he seemed a tad distressed.

ricky, whose sense of direction was already bad, had worsened in the dark and got them so entirely lost in a retirement neighborhood.

"honestly dick, how did you manage this?"

the greenette shrugged and continued on taking the occasional unclear direction from jake.

marlene sighed, "left here, skip two turns then left, right, left, skip another turn." ricky slowed down when they reached the street and a dumbfounded jacob pointed them toward the house.

immediately the smell of death filled her nose from the open window and marlene's eyes widened at the 'blind man' outside abe portmans neighboring house.

"jake, i didn't know your grandad had a blind neighbor."

jake didn't spare her a look, "neither did i"

marlene tried to justify her worry, it's a retirement neighborhood of course there's blind old men

when they finally stopped jake told them to stay in the car, "like hell i will. why should i?"

"because you're a 6'5 green haired giant, and my grandpa doesn't know you and owns a lot of guns" jake challenged.

ricky backed off, pulling another cigarette out. living in florida you learn not to screw with gun owners.

marlene followed jake, despite the warning. she'd known abe portman for most of the years she'd been in america, understanding the man in his native tongue, and recognizing the truth in his stories.

she stepped quietly in the house frowning at the smell that crowded the room, "i'm gonna go out back jacob." he nodded looking around.

tears spring to her eyes at what she knew happened, the presence of a hollow everywhere.

she yelled for jake, spotting the path threw the underbrush and the flashlight.

he came quickly, calling for ricky to joined them.

marlene absentmindedly followed the trail of the hollowghast, ignoring everything else. soon enough she reached the scene she hadn't wanted.

abraham portmans body, face down and bloody, barely breathing.

she fell to her knees next to him, shouting jacobs name, before flipping him over. she heard jakes footsteps and the whisper of her nickname in polish, "little ghost"

"i'm here old pal." she responded, speaking in what she knew he'd understand.

tears leaked from her eyes as she held his hand, turning away when jake arrived, "talk to him jake, let him know you're here."

jacob spoke to his grandfather shakily, supporting him the best he could in his last moments.

marlene cried silently as he spoke of the island from his childhood. he wasn't paranoid anymore. a hollow had killed him and she couldn't even tell anyone.

"jake, give me your phone." she whispered.

once he had she called the police and told them where to come and what the situation was, 'it's my friends grandad. he's dying, i don't know what happened. please help.'

ricky arrived, panicking, gun in his hands.

the blonde girl squeezed abe's hand once more, "i will see you soon old man"

then she noticed jake, standing and practically shaking in his boots. the smell got worse and her eyes widened. just behind her a nasty-looking shadow loomed. what happened next was a blur but she thanked her adoptive father in her head, for providing ricky with a gun.

———