MARIEL

28~Overcoat Man~

It was 11pm, and Mariel still had not texted. Esther leaned against the dining room table, her hair falling about her shoulders as she opened the text messages yet another time... just to make sure. She wanted to contact him, but after the events earlier in the day, Esther felt intensely shy. But still...

Quietly, she looked around to ensure that she was alone, and she opened the camera to her phone. She brushed part of her hair over one side of her head, bit her lip, and positioned the camera. No. Not sexy enough. Rolling her eyes, as she felt genuinely embarrassed about her actions, she set the phone down and lowered the collar of her black tank-top to further expose the cleavage.

"Stupid," Esther whispered, but carried on. She took one snapshot, brought her hair to the other side, smiled again, and positioned her thumb to take another picture.

"Whatcha doing?"

The phone dropped to the floor as Esther caught her breath and stood up straight, her face flushed. Hawk stood behind her, grinning.

"What the fuck?" she said, bending to pick up her phone. "Why do you have to sneak up on me like that?"

Hawk's eyes shifted to her phone. "You should be happy I have the ability to sneak up on you. Yesterday I couldn't move at all."

"Of course I'm happy about that, Hawk."

He nodded towards the phone. "Mom and Dad know you're taking weird photos? Who you sending them to?"

Esther's nose flared. "They're for me."

"No, they aren't. Come on. Tell me. Whose dick are you sucking now?"

The images of the night she had with Gabe returned to her thoughts. Deep regret shook her, and she thought about the fact that she still needed to test herself to see if she was, God please forbid, pregnant. That had been the conversation she had shared with Gabe that day in the Starbucks, when Mariel had lost his temper. Esther was terrified, and she now felt sick to her stomach as she thought about the consequences that might ensue from her bad decision-making skills. Now, as she looked in disgust at her brother, she suddenly wanted him back in the hospital bed, unable to walk, bruised and broken... and she realized she had raised her hand to strike him but it never fell.

Esther dropped her hand and sucked in her breath. "Tell me about this miracle of yours, Hawk." Her voice was cool, steady. "How do you explain this random healing? Because I know there's something you must not be telling us."

Hawk blinked at her. "What, you think I might be lying about this? Way to try to change the subject."

Esther stepped closer. "Well, you explain it then...freak."

His face reddened. "Don't fucking call me that."

"Oh, because that's what you get called at school sometimes? Aw. Poor baby." She was livid, but her tone was calm.

Hawk's upper lip quivered. "You're just jealous."

"Oh. About?"

He continued. "You're jealous because I have mom and dad's attention, and now I may have the attention of the media. You're an attention whore, and probably a whore in other regards too. You know that being the 'freak' means that I'm the smartest. Do you really think you're going to change the world dancing?"

Esther laughed. "Okay. Right. My education degree will have no positive impact on the world. Get over yourself, Hawk."

Hawk came closer. "I'm going to build something. Something that's going to have such a reach across the world I will be as recognized as Hawking." His face was smug.