Oh, Marcel! 2

The Bell

~Ember~

“Ready to go?” Emily called from outside of the bathroom door. I was busy inside putting up my hair into a bun. My hair was always quite fussy during the colder months and putting it into a nice round bun was the simplest solution for work.

It’s been a week since that first day at Edwardsville Church. The work was easy so far seeing as no one had died, just a bunch of landscaping clean up and polishing the pews in the church.

That sounds so weird because the church is only used on Sundays, but the priest, Father Dave, required everything to be spin and span. The church had to be in ‘supreme condition,’ if I quote his own wording.

Taking one last look in the mirror and slipping a bobby pin in my hair just in case, I exit the bathroom. Emily looks up at me and shakes her head. She never understood why I put my hair up in a bun, even though she had commented that I looked nice with it.

“Took you long enough.” She quips and heads for the door, Harry’s keys dangling from her fingers.

“Shut up. You sound like Marcel.” My laughter hides the sadness I feel inside as I mention his name. Not being able to see him reminds me of the two months we didn’t talk.

 I had fallen back into my old routine, pulling out Marcel’s old pair of glasses when I missed him most at night. They gave me a small sense of security when I held them close to my chest.

“Come on now. Don’t get all depressed on me.” Emily notices my sudden change of attitude. She’s been trying to cheer me up ever since she woke up to me sobbing and aimlessly rambling about Marcel and Harry too.

“Well I can’t help but miss him. Don’t you miss Harry?” I ask, I’ve been wondering that recently. Either she isn’t as emotional as me, or she doesn’t miss him.

“I do. A lot, but it isn’t the same as you and Marcel. I’m not in love with Harry.” She explains and rests her hand on the front door of our motel room. “ I love Harry however, just not that way yet.”

That makes sense right?

Right, Ember. You need to stop being quick to judge her. This is your best friend.

“I hope you fall in love with him. I want you around forever.” My smile makes her smile.

“Ember, I’ll always be around no matter what happens between Harry and I. I promise you.” She opens the door. “Now let’s stop being mushy and go to work! We get paid today.”

Phil was sitting in his old red pickup truck when we pulled up, Tom was in the seat next to him. This meant that someone had died.

“Wow. The first day of real work.” Emily broke the minute of silence as we stared at the truck. “Well let’s get to it then.”

Tom nudged Phil in the truck as he saw us open our doors and get out. Phil opened his door and stuck his thin leg out. Today he was wearing dark jeans and a ratty red sweatshirt with a black trench coat drawn over his broad shoulders. His graying dirty blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail, today was the first day we had seen him without a cap on his head.

“Good morning ladies.” He mumbled and then quickly looked up at the sky as if to see if it was still morning or not. However the sun was not out today like it had been yesterday. Clouds covered the whole sky with a light grey color.