Swell (Complete)

Chapter Forty-Nine (Part Two)

"I guess I should've seen the signs,
Can't believe I believed the lies,
Always right in your own mind,
Now I'm in too deep."

....

Marti sat on the main beach, her sketchbook open to a blank page and her art roll unwound in the sand beside her.
The wind off the water made her shiver the moment she had sat down, or maybe it was the idea of going home to the house where Tom was.
She had been on the sand almost an hour and not a single stroke had touched the page.
She didn't know what to draw.
The sound of a familiar engine drew her face from the waves before her to the street behind her and she watched as the motorbike parked, and the rider left his helmet on the handles.
Will sat down beside her and let go of a sigh.
"I don't believe Tom is a killer." He said quietly.
"You wouldn't, he's your twin." Marti sniffed and looked back out to the waves.
"And your brother." Will pointed out.
"Who else would you believe? Me? You? Why the hell would we want to kill Liss? And threaten Adora? Hurt her family and friends..."
"I don't know who I think it is, but I'm sure Tom is telling the truth." Will shrugged.
"I don't think I can stay under the same roof as him, Will. I'm terrified." She forced herself to look at Will, trying not to see Tom's face smiling back at her.
An impossible feat.
"Maybe you can ask to stay at the Escape?" He suggested.

Marti's lips parted and a small smile broke her face for the first time since she'd learned of Tom's home coming. "Maybe I can." The shaking became shakes of excitement at the thought of staying closer to her best friend. "Do you feel safe under the same roof with Tom?" She frowned at Will.
"I do, besides, I'm one hundred per cent sure Anne wouldn't let me stay at the Escape." He ended his sentence with a warm chuckle and Marti felt her shoulders relax a little at the comforting sound.
"Good point." Marti pulled her mobile phone from her bag and sent an excited message to Adora.
"Feeling a bit better?" Will looked at her sideways.
"Slightly." She nodded.
"Draw out your feelings, that normally helps you, doesn't it?" He tapped the blank page on her lap a few times.
She rested against his shoulder. "Normally."
"Feelings a bit rough at the moment?"
"More mixed."
"Well, what is something that you are sure about?"
"How much I love Adora." Marti bit her bottom lip and looked down at the blank page.
"Draw her then, smiling."
"But how?"
"How what?"
"How do I draw her smiling?" Marti looked to Will's face with a frown.
"Draw us at the dance?" He shrugged as if it was the simplest thing in the world to think of.
Maybe it was. Her lips turned up into an uncertain smile again. "Thanks, Will." She kissed his cheek. "I love you."
"I love you too, little sis." He ruffled her hair gently and stood up. Sand flew from his jeans and Marti coughed and brushed it off her page.
"Thanks for that, I really needed the extra grains." She poked her tongue out at him.
"You're welcome. Let me know if you're going to come home, I'll try and keep Tom out of your way."
"You're the best." She smiled at him and turned back to her page, pulling the lightest pencil out and beginning to draw lines down the page as she saw Will leave in the corner of her eyes.

Tom had already decided he wasn't going to leave his room unless it was for food or the toilet.
The pain throbbing around his stitches helped with the choice, but not as much as wondering if his family really believed him to be a murderer.
He'd been following Adora in case she went to be with his siblings, that was all. Marti had been the one to put the idea they were in danger into his head, why had she looked at him with such betrayal before she had pushed past him?
He didn't care for Adora like they all believed he did, not anymore. He had never cared for Liss, though he couldn't pretend he hadn't felt left out by the trio in Richieville on occasion.
He'd been home almost all that Sunday when Adora had been given the doll.
"I can't stay here!" Marti's high-pitched shout made him sit up. "I'm going to stay with Adora."
"Marti..." His mother's voice was wrought.
Tom frowned and left his bedroom, breaking his plan of room confinement and entered the kitchen.
Marti was crying, and they were angry tears.
Both Taylor women looked at him as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen.
"I can't stay here with him!" Marti pointed at him.
"Marti, we need to stay together..."
"He killed Liss! He killed my best friend!"
"It wasn't me..." He said lamely, even to himself it sounded like a lie.
"When its proven, I'll come home. But from tonight, I'm staying at the Escape with Adora and her family. I don't feel safe here."
"Marti..." Mrs Taylor's voice was deflated and Marti once more pushed past Tom roughly and headed to her room.
Tom swallowed a lump and moved to wrap his arms around his mother. "I'm sorry." He said thickly.
His mother's sobs grew stronger and after a few moments she pushed him off and left him alone in the kitchen.
He stared at the door and felt his eyes stinging.
Did his own mother believe he was a murderer?
Would Will try and find somewhere else to stay too?
Maybe he should have stayed in custody...

"Will you let her stay in my room, or the spare room?" Adora sat at the bench and watched Anne chop vegetables.
"Spare room." Anne replied.
"Are you afraid of having her here?"
"I'm not happy about it, but she sounded terrified, and if you were scared enough to hurt Tom, I have to believe she has reason to be scared of her brother too." Anne put the knife down and Adora watched her shoulders slump. "She was already staying over Thursday night before the dance on Friday, what's an extra couple of nights?"
"Why the spare room instead of mine though?"
Anne looked up from the vegetables and pursed her plump lips. "She can stay in your room Thursday night, tonight and tomorrow I think you guys will survive some separation."
"Alright." Adora shrugged and looked down at the pattern on the bench. "He's under house arrest though. So, can we skip the guard duty?"
"We'll see."
The tone was non-committal and Adora left the kitchen with a sigh. Marti's dad was going to drop her off just before dinner, Adora wanted to try and speak with Will before his sister came over.
She sat by her window and held the mobile to her ear.
"Hey you." Will's smile greeted her ears and she returned it silently for a few moments.
"Hi. How you doing?" She finally responded into the microphone.
"I'm alright, better than Marti. I believe Tom, she doesn't."
"I know, she was in tears when I called her. Mum was very reluctant to let her stay, I think the tears got to her though." Adora closed her eyes.
"Thank her for me."
"I will. Are we going to get to have another date together before Friday's dance, do you think? With Tom out..."
"I guess it mostly depends on your Mum and how worried she is. I just want him to shave." Will tried to laugh, but the thought of Tom having Will's whiskery jawline sent shivers through Adora's body.
"Has he ever pretended to be you?" She asked.
"Not that I know of." Will assured her. "He likes himself too much to try and be me."
"I dunno, you're pretty cool to me." Adora smiled gently, imagining Will's cheeks turning pink.
"I keep expecting Debbie to come over and give him alibis." His chuckle was gone.
Adora thought about the conversation on the beach and shook her head. "She won't; I saw her yesterday at the beach. She doesn't believe Tom, she thinks he did it and that she basically helped him."
"Ouch, that's heavy."
"Yea, it's hard to think of it like that. Really painful actually." Her voice trembled as she thought about Gus' funeral, and Brett's wheelchair.
"I'm sorry, Adora." Will's voice was hurting with her and she closed her eyes and imagined leaning against him.
"I know." She whispered.