Fallen

Chapter 23

I know it has been quite a while. I'm sorry but college is kicking my butt. ere is a chapter that hopefully will make up for it.

~GracePamela1

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I stood in the hallway for a long time after Martin left, staring at the path he took on his journey out. It continued to astonish me how quickly our arguments could escalate. I wish he would for once stay and fight it out with me.

"Hannah, I can smell the popcorn. C'mon!" I heard Jeremy shout from downstairs. I drew in a large breath and made my way down the stairs toward my brother and his girlfriend. I ran into Jeremy's chest at the bottom of the stairs.

"Took you long enough," he snatched the bowl from my hands and ate a large handful.

"Wait, where is Martin?" he asked with a full mouth.

"He left," I said with a sad smile. Jeremy put his arm over my shoulders and led me to the couch.

"Sorry, kiddo." The room was completely dark except for the screen that shown on Shae's face. She looked up at me and Jeremy.

"No Martin?" she questioned cautiously. Jeremy shook his head.

"Come here." She pat the couch next to her. I moved quickly to sit next to her on the couch. Jeremy joined me on the other side so close that I was sandwiched between them. "If he knows what is good for him, he'll come around." Shae smiled at me and put an arm around me. For the first time since I met her, I saw something material in her. She and Jeremy held me between them like I was a child and I didn't mind. Shae and I voted on watching Mean Girls while Jeremy whined that The Avengers was a much more superior movie. We ended up winning and watching Mean Girls. My brother claimed he didn't like the movie and whined every twenty minutes to drive his point home, but I could hear his slight chuckle every now and then. Moments like these made me smile. It was so simple, yet so complex. My brother acted like more than my brother. He acted like my friend; my best friend.

By the time the movie ended Jeremy had grabbed the remote and put on the Avengers. Shae and I pretended to complain just enough to annoy him before settling down and watching the movie with a fist bump. She wasn't so bad after all. Her behavior today changed my opinion of her indefinitely. I rested my head on Jeremy's shoulder and She laid her head in my lap. We watched the movie in silence until the credits rolled. It was then that I heard Jeremy's soft snores and felt Shae heavy on my lap. I lifted myself out of my slouched position, laying Shae's head on Jeremy's lap, and made my way upstairs. I poured myself a glass of water. I leaned against the counter and thought of Martin. He always walks out on me and I always wait for him to come back. He has made an art of disappearing. The fear of him dropping off the grid again for a long period of time set in. I wouldn't know where to find him. I didn't even know where he lived.

It hit me then that maybe someone I knew could know Martin's whereabouts. I placed my glass in the dishwasher and crept down the stairs. I poked Jeremy repeatedly on the torso until he stirred in his sleep.

"What?" Jeremy said sleepily with his eyes closed.

"I need your help," I whispered. His eyes opened slowly. He moved carefully and quietly and placed Shae's head on the couch gently. I grabbed a blanket and placed it over her. We didn't speak until we reached the top of the stairs and Jeremy closed the door.

"This better be good. Sleep is very important to me."

"I'm aware. Do you know where Martin lives?"

"Yeah. I used to drive him home. You woke me up at," he lifted his wrist to look at the watch that rested there, "3 am to ask me that?"

"No, I woke you at 3am to take me there." My brother's eyebrows raised.