Regrets

Chapter 30 - Simple Man

Song: Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynyrd (Cover by: Jensen Ackles)

Marcus awoke with what could only be considered the worst headache he had since James' death. The more awake he got, the more he wanted to fall back asleep, to escape the pain he was subjected to.

Still drunk as he was, he picked himself up off the floor with great effort. It was still dark outside as he stumbled out of the door, not having exchanged another word with Louis.

In his mind, there was only one thing that could better counter his drunkenness: a counter beer. Or even a few.

Having decided that this was indeed a smart idea, his tracks miraculously led him straight to the front door of his favourite drinking buddy. He had no idea how long he had walked, but by now, it was already bright outside, and the constant ringing of the bell would certainly heard.

"What the fuck do you want at seven in the morning?!", was the only greeting Marcus received, and he instantly took it as an invitation to enter.

"I wanna drink", he mumbled as he stumbled into the nice apartment that had an entirely different feel from Louis'.

"Marcus, you're so damn drunk you can't walk straight, how can you ask for a drink?", Michael sighed, closing the door regardless of his words.

"You know you wanna", Marcus grinned as he was already well on his way to Michael's shelf full of high percentage liquor.
"Besides, you didn' bail me oud. You owe n apology"

Swiftly, Michael removed a bottle of scotch from Marcus' hand, pulling Marcus away from the shelf in the same motion.
"I'm gonna throw you out. You'll die of alcohol poisoning if you drink any more", he stated dryly and just as quickly as he had entered, Marcus found himself out in the street again.

Childishly, he kicked a pebble at the door, but it didn't open again, and in his drunk state, he soon lost interest, instead opting to walk along the street of the nice neighbourhood Michael resided in.

It was truly a shame Michael tried to pretend to be such an upright citizen sometimes. Though Marcus knew that, within the day, Michael would drink out of that bottle. He chuckled silently at that, trotting off quite happily, knowing that he was right.

Not even half an hour later, Marcus found himself on top of a seven story-building, a tetra pack of red wine from the drugstore in his right hand, with no recollection of how he landed there.

But Marcus wasn't complaining, the alcohol seemed like just what he needed. As he took a step, he walked towards the edge of the roof, sitting down on the ledge with his feet dangling freely in the air. Marcus giggled at the sight before lifting the wine to his lips again.

"I'll shove you off that ledge if you keep walking on it", James laughed as he held up a bottle of beer with a drunken chuckle.

"You? Commit manslaughter? Like hell", Marcus, currently the more sober of the two grinned back, balancing on the ledge of a tall apartment complex. They had picked the lock of the door to the roof and now were enjoying a peaceful drinking session.

"Ahh, you're right, I wouldn't want my family to think badly of me", James grumbled bitterly, as if he couldn't stand the thought of them.

"Who cares about them, Mister Moral Compass? You're the one making the call. Dare me to jump?", Marcus laughed and James relaxed visibly before joining into the laughter.

"I won't, it's a lose-lose for me! If you don't, then I lose money, and if you do, I'll lose the bottle of wine you're holding", James snickered, taping another swing of beer.

"Coward!"

"Coward..", Marcus stared angrily at the tips of his shoes now, as if the specifically had upset him.
"Coward! You fucking coward!", he was yelling now.

Slowly, he got up, now standing on the edge with wobbly legs, barely able to balance on the low concrete wall.

"Leaving me with all this crap to deal with... you fucking coward... I'll show you lose-lose", Marcus growled, tears welling up in his eyes as he tried to blink them away.

His eyes darted downwards, searching the ground below him for passer-by's. A small grin spread over his face as he spotted a small family on the other side of the road, and for a moment he just enjoyed staring down at the scene below him. With his left hand, he wiped his eyes, albeit not very effectively since they just kept coming and rolling down his cheeks. He sniffled, his nose already runny.

Another gulp of disgustingly cheap wine, before the whole pack of liquid courage was discarded onto the ground behind him.

Marcus lifted a foot into the air, shortly admiring how it looked past the edge, as if it stood on an invisible surface, before he took another step.