Swell (Complete)

Chapter Twenty-Eight (Part Two)

"Fake it, you'll never get ahead of it.
Trace it, back to where we started."

....

Sunday was a daze when Marti walked into the kitchen. Tom was helping her mother with the dishes, and she could feel the discomfort radiating from him.
When they heard her enter, they both stopped and looked at her pitifully.
She sat at the table and slouched.
"Did you get any sleep?" Mrs Taylor asked gently.
"A little." She mumbled.
Tom came and sat next to her. "I'm sorry." He said gently, putting an arm across her shoulders. She leaned into him and closed her eyes. Tom was warm, his athletic arms were harder than Will's, it was a less comforting hug, but a stronger, more protective one.
"We'll be leaving this afternoon to go to Ritchieville." Her mother explained. "Do you want something to eat?"
Marti shook her head and looked around the kitchen. "Is Will up yet?"
"I don't know." Tom frowned.
"I might go have a look." Marti shrugged out from underneath Tom's arm and moved to the hallway. She stood outside Will's room and leaned into the door, trying to hear something inside. Silence met her ear and she gently knocked.
No answer made her gently open the door enough to see into the room.
Her lips parted as she stepped in and saw nothing.
"He's gone." She whispered to herself.
"Is he..." Tom spoke behind her and cut himself off when he saw the empty room. "Gone..." He moved to the window and looked outside. "I didn't hear his bike..." He muttered.
"Maybe he's just at the bakery with Dad?" Marti suggested.
"Maybe."
The bed was made neatly, almost as if it hadn't been slept in. Marti swallowed a lump and left the bedroom. She looked at the front door and saw Will's boots and helmet still on the shoe rack and hat hook. He must be with their Dad, she decided.
"I think I'm going to go for a walk. I need some air, and time alone before we leave." Marti mumbled to her mother as she went through the kitchen back to her bedroom.
"Make sure you have your phone with you, hun." Mrs Taylor called into the hallway.
Tom was still in Will's room, frowning at the emptiness of it when Marti passed. "Call him, or go see Dad." She poked her head into the doorway.
"I might." Tom nodded.

Marti closed her jacket tighter around her as she sat on the sand on the beach. It was fitting that it was a miserable and cold day for them in Wheeler Falls.
She shivered slightly and flicked her art roll out beside her. A paper bag beside her had a thermos flask full of hot tea, but it was more to keep her hands warm than to actually drink.
The ocean before her looked angrier than she had ever seen it since they'd moved to Wheeler Falls and it made her feel a bit scared.
Or maybe the fact they were going back to Ritchieville was what was causing the churning in her stomach.
She flipped open her smaller sketchbook, picked a pencil out and started to roughly draw the waves breaking before her.

Will hadn't wanted to go home, but when his phone had rung, and Tom's worried voice had greeted his ear, he'd resigned himself to the likelihood that he'd get no true alone time.
He sat in his room, his bag packed for their trip and his guitar in his arms. He'd tried to ask to ride to Ritchieville, but his mother had insisted they take the Pajero and go together. His headphone sat heavily on his head, the jack plugged into the amp as he plucked the string on the electric guitar.
Violins had been haunting his head all night, a playlist of songs he and Liss had learnt and played together on repeat.
Adora had sent him a text earlier to see how he and Marti were doing; he'd tried to avoid his sister, unable to face her and unsure how to comfort her while dealing with his own grief.
He didn't want to deal with reality. He didn't want to deal with anything.
All this time they'd been in Wheeler Falls, just over a month now, he'd thought Liss had dumped him, left him cold... But she hadn't.
At least, now it looked as though she hadn't.
His mother had told him that they were wanted for questioning, seem as they left not long after Elissa's note was found.
The thought of being questioned by police about his ex-girlfriend's murder made him feel sicker than he knew was possible.
The thought of them questioning his sister about it...
He wasn't sure he'd be able to handle going back; not for questioning, not for a funeral.
Not for a goodbye.
He'd almost settled with the idea that Liss had runaway to chase some random secret dream she had had; he had almost been ready to start trying to date Adora.
Now he felt like he was betraying Liss' memory.
"Will, we're leaving." The hand landed on his shoulder and he jerked violently, the cord of his headphones landed across the strings of his guitar and he pulled the headphones off quickly.
"Ow." He muttered as the ringing of the strings vibrated through his ears.
"Sorry, Mum's been calling..." Marti took her hand back. "We're waiting."
He looked from the amp to his sister and gave her a small smile. "Alright. I'll be out in a few minutes."
When Will carried his bag out to the front heavy drops were landing on the driveway. Tom sat on one side of the backseat and Marti slid into the middle as Will closed the boot on their bags.
He sat next to Marti by the other window and though she leaned against him, he turned his iPod on and leaned against the window as they reversed out of the driveway.
He wasn't ready to say goodbye, he wasn't ready to believe someone would murder Elissa.
But as he watched the small town fade building by building into coast, he knew he didn't have a choice.