The Muse

Part 9

 Marcella woke up to a call from an unknown number. It was 7pm and she had school in an hour. Her alarm went off shortly after that.

"Marcy?" she heard a deep voice through the other end. Despite herself, she blushed at the sound of his voice.

"What happened to texting?" her tone was flat.

"I did but you didn't reply" Yuri defended himself.

"I think I slept off. Why are you calling me?" she didn't feel comfortable talking for him this long.

"You didn't give me a progress report" was that why he called her this early in the morning? If that was the case, he had to be joking.

"I was feeling too sick to check yesterday" the lies were becoming so much easier to say.

"You seemed fine enough yesterday" his tone was venomous. As far as she was concerned, Yuri had no right to be angry at her.

"I will do that now and I will text you back" Marcella hung the call on him with tired sigh. She pulled the covers off and begrudgingly walked to her mother's home office.

The door was not locked as she expected it to be. Her mother probably never expected anyone to go on in there or she just didn't have anything to hide. When she switched on the lights, the dark room illuminated and she saw the dark wood furniture and gray walls. The room itself was soulless and empty. The floor was made of short wooden planks and she thought of Yuri's request to check under the floorboards.

The floorboard hiding anything would sound hollow when she knocked on it. Marcella didn't want to knock on every individual plank on the floor with her knuckles. The idea formed in her head and she quickly grabbed the tall lamp at the corner of the room. She hoped no one would hear her as she pounded the floor with the lamp.

After she hit every single one of the planks, she came up with nothing. It was good to know her mother wasn't keeping things in her floorboards or even the ceiling. The table that was intended for work, was clean and tidy. It only had some pens and a stapler. She checked the desk but she came up with nothing. Her mother didn't really leave loose ends.

The bookshelf was mounted behind the desk but it was at an odd angle. It looked like it wasn't meant to be there. Marcella held her breath as she pushed the book shelf. It made a sound before another room opened behind it. It was much smaller than the main office. It was like a store with documents. She picked up the first one she saw but it wasn't in English. It was a combination of unreadable code she didn't understand. She picked up a new document and it was the same thing. She picked ten pieces of the foreign language before she left the office. She hoped she had picked up the important ones. If she took more than that, she pretty sure her mother might notice. Could the documents be written in Morse code or even a new language? She couldn't help but be impressed by the dedication.

She took the turn to her room still clutching the papers in her hand and crashed into someone. Theo was holding a plastic bag in one hand and a phone in the other. His hair was ruffled and he had, what she assumed were wine stains, on his shirt.

"Aren't you meant to be getting ready for school? Everyone else left already to get ready for school" she hated when he started lecturing her or trying to go big brother mode.

"Was printing something for school" she pushed passed him. Marcella hoped he would leave her alone and assume she was on her period.

"Someone is moody today" Theo rolls his eyes at her before he turned to leave.

She called Yuri back but he didn't pick up. He had woken her up from sleep and now he didn't want to answer her call. She decided against blocking him because she was sure he would just end up finding her.

Time was going very slow today and she couldn't wait till it was over. History was Marcella's worst subject mainly for the fact she didn't care for dates. She could barely remember the day of week most times. The history teacher talked so fast and barely even stopped to take breath so everything he said always sounded jumbled like gibberish. Gibberish...wait.

Could the documents be written in English but flipped? The words looked like English but in a different sequence from usual. She hadn't brought any of them to school but now she was itching to be home for a different reason. She wanted to solve this riddle for pure curiosity. The bell chimed signaling the end of the school day and she was sprinting out the school before anyone could see her.

It was ironic how she had started willingly wanting to help the organization. She didn't see any of her friends as she walked to her car that was always parked at the end of the car park. There was something on the floor next to her car. As she got closer, she saw it was Yuri there.

Yuri had blood on his face and his black clothes were stained with mud and something liquid. His usual afro was replaced with braids. He definitely conscious but he looked zoned out. Her breath got caught in her lungs. She hoped he was not dying. He barely moved when she came closer her, she didn't even think he noticed she was there.

"Yuri?" she crouched down infront of him. He was not moving and his eyes were not either. She tapped him gently on the shoulder trying to snap him out of it. She wandered what had happened to him today.

"Marcy?" he looked at her with confusion etched on his features.

"What are you doing here?" her usual harshness was replaced with a soft tone.

"I just need to.." Yuri's head went slack on the side of her car down. Yuri passed out.