All My Sins

An ultraviolet

"Twenty." He lied.

It was the one time that he couldn't tell Proof the truth. Their little expedition to Maureen's did not reveal much detail to Deshaun, so Marshall was still able to hide the crooked specifics of the situation. For the remainder of their drive back to the bad side of town, Marshall stayed quiet. His lips were pressed to his fist as his elbow rested against the door handle rest.

When he finally got home, he took a hot shower; allowing the fresh hot stream to take over, his body, and washing away the earthy smell of rainwater from his frigid skin. Once again, he found himself staring at the cracked green shower tile. He thought about the house that she lived in, and what she might think of him and his home once she saw it.
And for what seemed like the billionth time in his being, he became infuriated with his life. He was lost somewhere between his dream and the reality which he found himself in: substitute teaching at some third-rate high school, chasing a dream that felt too far out of reach, and then there was Maureen.
After his shower, Marshall went straight to bed. He knew that he should've straightened up the apartment in preparation for the next evening that she would be over, but he really just wanted to go to sleep.

~

Maureen walked into her parents room the next morning. They were still in bed. Jillian's heavy eye-makeup was smeared, giving her a ghoulish appearance, even as she laid sleeping. There was no doubt in Maureen's mind that she had passed out drunk. Her father was awake, however. His back leaned against the headboard and eyebrows knit in curiosity of the deep sea documentary playing on the television.

"Dad?" She spoke very softly, careful not to wake her Mother up.

"Yeah?"

"I know it's a school night, but I have a big exam coming up next week. And Kendall invited me to spend the night at her house tonight so that we could get some studying in."

It really was not often that Maureen asked to do anything. She generally came home from school, did homework and read books, and did whatever chores it was that Barry and Jillian asked of her.

And it was for this reason that Barry said, "I guess that's fine. Just call sometime tonight so I know you're okay."

Maureen was grateful to having been given her father's permission. It made doing what she wasn't supposed to do all the more easier.

"I will." She took a last glance over at her father and became sad. As she walked away her mind studied a mental image of him: his greying beard, smile crinkles at the corners of his mouth, and the same colorful warmth of the eyes, which she unknowingly adopted from him.

Maureen had become such a recluse homebody that leaving her father's house itself felt like a dreadful undertaking. Due to Maureen's relationship, or rather lack of relationship with her Mother, the bond that she shared with her father was even stronger. So going to stay at another man's house made her feel as if she were being pulled from the secure arms which had cradled her so lovingly for all of her life. Nonetheless, the truly troubling aspect of Maureen's situation was not going to Mr. Mather's, it was the idea of growing up in general. An inevitable point that she would have to push herself through.

-

The day moved quickly. Quicker than Maureen would have liked. She knew that the moment she stepped into Mr. Mather's classroom that she would, in some way, be his until the next day. Anxiety ruled over her day, and she only made it worse by letting herself to believe that her worries would not cease until she was back home.. When last period came Maureen's head felt like a dead weight. She was silently worrying herself into a miserable, mental hysteria. Dragging her backside into class, she took her seat and put her head down, like always. In that moment she was so exhausted with worrying she would have given anything to relieve her mind.