The Hunt: The Final Chase (3) (Edited)

Chapter 32

That night, around two or three a.m., Clancy woke up to sobbing coming from the next room. He thought it was Bailey, but she never cried. He thought it was Alex, but when he loomed out the doorway, he saw her asleep on the couch. Then he remembered how depressed Marceline was and knew it had to be her. He climbed onto Samuel's bunk and whispered, "Hey, hey Sam, Sam, wake up!" Samuel sat up slowly and asked, "What it is man?" as he rubbed his eyes to adjust to the dim light from the window in the room. "I think Marceline's crying. I can hear it from my bunk," Clancy responded. Soon Isaac got up and asked, "What happened?" "Nothing, go back to bed, it's just Marceline," Clancy said. "What's wrong with her?" Isaac asked. "I hear her sobbing," Clancy said. "Then I should go and see if she's okay, after all, I've known her longer and she's one of my closest friends. Samuel you go back to sleep, I can handle this," Isaac said, climbing down the ladder, trying not to wake up Jeff or C.J. who were so still they could be statutes. Samuel shook his head, "No, I'm coming too. I'm the one who loves her." Isaac rolled his eyes and smiled, "Alright man, let's go. But lets not wake up Alex, she's had a rough night of looking at pictures of our once huge group and sobbing while playing If You Were Here by Thompson Twins from the Sixteen Candles soundtrack." Samuel nodded, climbed down from his bed and slowly closed the door behind him as he followed Isaac. 

Isaac opened the door and saw Bailey was awake and looking at Marceline, who was crying in her pillow. Isaac walked over and knelt down next to her bed, and crossed his freckled arms on her bed and asked, "Hey, what's wrong Marcy?" Samuel knelt down next to Isaac and nudged Marceline's arm, "Hey are you alright?" Marceline looked up with a red face, bags under her light blue eyes, and watery eyes. Her short and frizzy hair was mangled into knots in the front from being rubbed against the pillow, and her bottom lip seemed to quiver frequently. But above all, the look on her once bright and cheery face made the two boys see that she'd either had a nightmare, or she was being taken over by her melancholy. "What are you guys doing up?" Marceline asked in a soft but trembling voice. "Clancy heard you crying and woke me up, then Isaac woke up to us two talking and wanted to see if you were okay. I came with him for... personal reasons," Samuel explained, resting his head on the edge of the bed, but still looking Marceline in her eyes. Marceline's quivering lip began to fade as she looked at two of the boys who'd cared about her this entire time and asked, "Why did you guys come here anyways?" "To see you, duh," Isaac said, sitting on the foot of the bed. She smiled, "Well, thanks for the company. I just," she stopped, then said with a hesitant laugh, "I'm just such a mess right now. I keep thinking about my dead parents, my cousins back in Ireland, my grandparents, and my friends, our friends, back home in Utah. Only Utah wasn't my home, it's always been Oregon. And I really wish that we still met all the people in this RV in Winchester Bay, same with our friends from Utah. I wish that, all of this mess went away and we went back to our normal lives. And I've pleaded for days and days for us to have a normal life, but I guess that whatever god's up there is busy up there. But hey, I have you guys, and Alex, and C.J., and Clancy and hell, even Bailey though she despises me with all her living energy." 

"That's deep, Marceline," Samuel said, mesmerized by her opening up to them, which he thought she'd never do at this point. Marceline shrugged, "Well, I have a bunch of different emotions, I just have them all bottled up and... I never share my shitty emotions with anyone, until now. Because, fuck it, I know I'm going to die out here, and I can't stop that." Isaac looked Marceline in her eyes and said, "Marcy, there is no way in hell, that you are dying out here. Not on our watch. Plus you're like, Alex's little sister figure. She'd kill herself if anything happened to you, Samuel, or any of us. So don't you ever, fucking, say, that you're going to die out here. Because, Marcy, you're sure as hell aren't." Marceline smiled and sat up in bed, and said, as she ran her slender fingers through her hair to untangle it, "Thanks man, I needed some coaching on that shit." Isaac smiled and said, "I'm going back to bed, Samuel you coming?" Samuel nodded, "Yeah, I'll be there in a second." Isaac smiled and left the room, leaving the door ajar.