The Breaking Point

Chapter 8

"Mark, Mark, Mark! Wake up little dude!"

A large hand shook Mark by the shoulder. Mark's eyes opened slowly. He blinked a couple times to refresh himself and turn the pink and brown blur to a proper Hurly Kane." H-h-Hurly?" Mark mumbled, still half asleep.

"Yeah, it's me. What are you doing in the highway, Mark?"

The goalkeeper stood up, turning his head left and right in pure horror. Someone please say this was a joke.

"How did I end up here?!" He shrieked, staring at the crowd of cars in front of him. It must have been midday by then because the highway was worse than New York's rush hour.

"That's supposed to be my question," Hurly muttered, sweat dropping.

Mark looked at Hurly then asked with more calmness. "And what are you doing here?"

"That, I can answer. I got a call from Darren yesterday saying that he needs me for something really important."

"But Darren doesn't live in Tokyo."

Hurly laughed "Of course he doesn't. But he said he wanted to see me in Tokyo and I happened to meet you on the way. Coincidence, right?"

Mark gave Hurly his usual smile.

"Now, my turn. What's the great Mark Evans doing in the middle of a highway?"

Mark nearly collapsed. How was he supposed to explain that? He racked his brain for an answer and when he didn't find one, he went with his default. "Training."

But one look at Hurly told him that this was barely believable. It kind of was, if he was honest.

"On the highway?" Hurly asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"Um..........yeah." But it sounded more like a question than a statement.

Hurly scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Well, OK. Since you're here, wanna come with me to see what's up with Darren?"

Mark nodded eagerly, more because he had nowhere else to go and no clue what to do than because he wanted to deal with problems; even though he couldn't deny his slight curiosity towards the topic. But then he remembered he couldn't. "Oh yeah, I can't. I still have to find Caleb and look for Archer and.....and.....and..." He saw Hurly's face and sweat dropped.

"Say what?" The surfer asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Um....nothing, nothing. Let's just go see Darren."

Hurly clearly thought that Mark had gone mental but he just sort of nodded and led him to one of the cars. The car was a very pretty, ocean-blue, Toyota Sienna 2016.

"That's a pretty big car, Hurly," Mark awed. "How many siblings do you have?"

Hurly smirked as he tapped the passenger window to signal his mom to unlock the door. "Siblings? Ha! None. We just got a big car because we needed something to hold all our beach equipment for the holidays." Hurly pulled the sliding door open and ushered Mark inside.