Now There's Drama

85

Marc awoke after two hours of sleep, he lay in his bed staring at the picture of him and his father at one of his AFL games, the pang of loss hitting him in the stomach. Rolling around when the grief began to hit he spied the Agatha Christie book he'd bought a week ago. He pulled his pillow over his head, groaning at the thought of the girl he thought was perfect. She'd saved his life but she was strange, eccentric was the right word, not the girl he once thought she was, yet somehow that's was alright, albeit a little scary.

If the investigation didn't kill him nightmares would, he was sure of it. Every night morphed and mutated into a beast more terrifying than the night before. That night it was rats, being stuck in a room with one earlier was not his most desirable predicament.

He awoke panting and sweating, a cry eager to escape his lips. After snoozing his alarm four times in the bid to get some sleep, he pushed himself up and headed to the bathroom.

"Marc put a shirt on," Gwen said.

"Deal with it," he said tartly.

He moved to the toilet and sat on it, slowly drifting off to sleep.

He awoke when Gwen started banging on the door. "Give me a second," he said, getting up.

After vacating the bathroom Marc headed to the kitchen, where his stepbrother was buttering a piece of toast on the kitchen bench.

"You look dead," Harvey said.

"Couldn't sleep," Marc lied.

Harvey nodded and took the kettle off the holder and poured some instant coffee into a mug. He turned around and slammed the mug onto the kitchen bench, in front of Marc. "Big night? Drink up before your mother finds out," Harvey said, with a smile.

Marc put the mug to his lips and drained it, too tired to register what he was doing. Once he finished skulling it he placed the mug down, delicately. "That's bitter," he said, wiping his mouth.

"It's straight black coffee Marc," Harvey said, patting his stepbrother's shoulder.

The two boys sat in the kitchen in mutual agreement not to tell Julie Cavener anything. Julie walked in, dressed for work and headed straight for the kettle before turning around to face her son.

"Aren't you sleeping well sweetie?" she asked, pushing back some of his hair so the bags under his eyes were highlighted by the bright light in the middle of the kitchen.

"Not really," Marc said, rubbing his face.

"Alright we'll talk about this later tonight. Get dressed and I'll take you to school. Oh, how was Delilah did you sort out her problem, you got home late," Julie said.

"Yeah, she's alright, just had a bad day," Marc said.

"It's alright I can take them, Julie," Harvey said, rubbing his knuckles in Marc's hair, causing the younger yet bigger boy to slap his hand away.

Marc got off the chair, pulled his laptop out from the charger and taking it to his room.

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Marc and Gwen climbed out of Harvey's second hand Suzuki and walked through the navy blue gates.

Standing by the bin, eating an apple was an overly perky Christie Claythorne. She gestured at him to come over. "Marc, come over here I need to talk to you," she said.

"How are you so energetic?" he asked, leaning against the bin.

"Coffee and energy drinks. Mixing it wasn't smart was it? I have to see if Tegan's functioning...she's not here...Wait! I had to ask you something. Oh can you come over tonight? I think I have a lead and I want to introduce you to my mother. I probably should not have mixed this with Valium," Christie said.