Swell (Complete)

Chapter Fourteen (Part One)

"There's not a lot of things I regret,
But I'm doing my best just not to remember them."

....

Will parked his bike in the driveway under the carport and frowned as he noticed that Tom's Lancer was gone.
He thought about the awkward morning exchange when Tom had heard him get up and took a deep breath, at least he wouldn't have to face Tom asking him about Adora.
He took his leathers off in the entranceway of the house and headed to the kitchen, lured by the smell of pancakes and his mother's laughter.
He stopped in the doorway when he saw Tom and Marti at the table.
"Oh! There you are!" His mother exclaimed, looking up from the frying pan and beaming.
"You alright?" Marti asked, replacing her smile with a frown.
Will looked from his mother to his twin and nodded slowly. "Yea, I'm fine." He answered quietly.
"Then what's with the frown?" Marti tilted her head.
"I didn't think you were home, Tom." Will swallowed.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Tom held his hands up and shrugged. "We're not all morning birds."
"The Lancer isn't outside," Will pointed over his shoulder with his thumb and shook his head.
"Sure it is!" Tom laughed.
"No, it's not." Will insisted.
Tom's laughter stopped and he hurriedly scraped his chair on the kitchen floor to run to the lounge window and check. The sound of his swearing reached the kitchen and moments later the front door slammed shut.
"Did he drive home last night?" Marti asked, taking a bite of her breakfast.
"I'm not actually sure." Will shook his head.
The front door slammed again and Tom came into the kitchen, his breath a lot faster than it had been when he left. "I can't see it anywhere on the street." He looked around the kitchen.
"Did you drive it home last night? Maybe you left it at the pub after the party?" Their mum offered with a small smile. "Surely it wouldn't be stolen in a tiny town like this."
"I..." Tom's cheeks were already flushed from his hurried car hunt. "I can't remember. I think I may have walked... Or gotten a ride home... It's probably still out the front of the pub." He nodded and tried to sound convinced.
"I didn't see there it when I came back from dropping Adora home." Will said between his teeth.
"Wait, you were with Adora?" Marti frowned.
"Uh, yea, Brett was attacked after the party last night..." Will looked down to the tiles as he felt all the eyes in the room turn to him.
"But why were you with Adora?" Marti asked, her voice still confused.
Will swallowed. "She called from the hospital this morning, and I went to see what was happening. You know, being in the band."
"Is he going to be alright? Do they know who did it?" Their mum asked.
"Um, they don't know who did it, but he is going to be OK, sort of. He's pretty badly hurt."
"That's awful." She shook her head.
"I'm going to go and see if I can find the car." Tom broke in; he picked up the last pancake from his plate and left the kitchen.
Marti stared at her own plate on the table and let go of a shaky breath. "Well... what a weekend." She muttered.
Will nodded and thought for a few moments before he walked over to his mum and looked into the frying pan. Hunger suddenly seemed to envelope his stomach. "Any left for me?"
"I think I can manage that. How is everyone in Brett's family?"
"Shaken, nobody can think of anyone who'd attack him, they think he was hit with a car." Will got an extra plate from the cupboard and put it on the bench next to his mother.
She gasped and stopped what she was doing. "What?"
"Behind the pub, the dumpster was pushed into the wall and he was found nearby." Will explained.
"Oh that poor boy and his family."
"It's a pretty scary mess. They broke his legs, he's in a cast from hips down." Will gestured to his own hips and Mrs Taylor shook her head.
"That's awful." Marti mumbled from the table.
Will looked at his younger sister and nodded.
"I think I'll give Adora a call and check up on her." Marti hopped out from her seat at the table and disappeared from the kitchen.
"I hope the police find out who did it." Mrs Taylor said, looking at Will with pursed lips.
"I'm sure they will, I mean, only last weekend Brett was telling me there's not much trouble here, so I'm pretty sure they'd want to find out who did this and make sure they get charged, it's basically attempted murder, isn't it? Hit and run." Will let his voice trail off and supressed a shudder.
"How awful."