The Breaking Point

Chapter 4

Nathan lived in a beautiful, blue house, just a couple blocks from Mark's home. Mark approached the door and rang the doorbell. He was in such a happy mood that he turned his rings into a melody. He carried on ringing the doorbell to the tune of 'Jingle Bells' until Nathan opened the door. The bluette decided to join Mark's little game and they stood outside ringing happily until someone inside yelled at them.

Nathan grabbed Mark by the arm and led him inside. He dragged him up the stairs and into his room. Nathan's bedroom was a sky-blue walled room with a comfy single bed, a big closet, and a matching desk, among other things. Mark plopped down on the bed and Nathan sat beside him.

"I can't believe it, Mark. You're about the only person that actually talked to me today." Mark smiled and laid down on the bed.

"Boy, guess everyone's still recovering."

Nathan nodded. "You bet, no one is in the mood to listen to me at all. But my worst call case was Austin. I tried to reach him but an old woman picked up instead. I asked if I had the right number but the woman started coughing, not just normal coughing, she was coughing like she was dying. Then I heard screaming and the sound of crashing so I just hung up. And I guarantee you; I will not dial that number again."

Mark gulped, secretly praying that it wasn't Austin's mother who picked up and some random woman instead. "So, suspects, you really don't think it's Archer," Mark asked, trying to drive himself away from the 'dying woman' topic.

"Kidding! Why would Archer of all people do it? I don't really know if there's any proof on him. He hates Garshield because of what happened to Coach Hillman, remember? And it's not like he and Axel are on bad terms. Sure he might be an ex-gangster but he'd never kill anyone. If anything, I've seen him defend people."

Mark was relieved. Not only did Nathan consider Archer out of the suspect borders, he also defended him!

"I think it's someone else and it may be strange: Kevin."

Mark's eyes widened. He leapt back into a sitting position and looked Nathan straight in the eyes. "Why," he whispered, almost scared. As much as he knew, Axel and Kevin were on great terms.

"Well he didn't like Axel all that much at first." Unless someone wanted to dig deep, of course. "And he could've-"

"Could've what?" Mark asked furiously. "Could've decided to just kill Axel?" Mark's eyes widened as he noticed his outburst. He had totally forgotten the conclusion he had come to.

"Sorry," he mumbled, avoiding Nathan's fear-filled eyes. Nathan released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding and smiled softly."I mean, the info leak guy might have wanted us to lose...but he didn't know Axel was going to do that....to save the ball ....or collapse. And if it really was a team member who leaked the info, he wouldn't have meant for this to happen. I mean, everyone was pretty sad."

Nathan looked thoughtful. "No one could have really predicted Axel's move so no one meant to kill him," Mark concluded.

"That.....that actually makes sense." Mark smiled. Nathan actually believed him.

"So it's just a normal accident in which Axel dies, right?" Nathan asked.

"Yup, if anyone was to blame, it's me for missing the first ball."

Nathan laughed and shook his head. "Don't blame yourself, Mark. We all messed up that match. Even after Axel saved the ball, we just forfeited. We took his sacrifice and threw it out the window."

"Yeah, we were pretty worried. I mean, he wasn't moving at all."

"We were still wrong to forfeit."