When the lights go out (Read Description!!!)

A series of surprises

"So you mean to tell me they want us back?" Marley asked Zac. Zac decided to tell Marley the night before they had to go back. They were both sitting on the bed in the master bedroom, and Zac could only play with his fingers or crack his knuckles anxiously.

It was short notice but the murderers could have told them earlier and given them some time to prepare. Zac thought. To answer Marley's question, Zac just silently nodded. Marley looked at him with a slight look of worry.

"These are murderers we are talking about, Zac, what about your career? If you get hurt, what will happen to the trial?" He questioned.

"The trial is on hold;they'll be questioning Anthony's guitar teacher and searching for any new evidence. I'm sure that it'll be at least two days before the trial is resumed," Zac sighed. He seemed to be more stressed than Marley and, despite his usual poker face, it was probably obvious that he was stressed. He didn't care though. He wanted Marley to know that he wasn't the only one stressed, and it wasn't as if he were with his parents.

Zac's parents never wanted him to show what he was feeling. They were the type of people who would say 'boys will be boys' and they believed that society should be patriarchal. Zac never agreed with them. The phrase was never a good excuse for something horrible a male had done.

Then he met Marley. His whole world changed. Zac's heart gave a flutter whenever Marley said his name, or any conversation that they had was never boring, no matter the topic. Zac was comfortable with Marley. There was a security that he never felt around his family. Zac could be himself. He wouldn't be frowned upon, he wouldn't be seen as weak. Needless to say, Zac was a bit too relieved once he could move out from home.

However, one thing Zac hated was when they were in stressful events. Marley never handled them well, and Zac was always afraid to tell Marley in case things would go South. Not the South you think of, Zac was afraid Marley would end their relationship because Zac would get them involved into these situations, or it was Zac who got them involved a majority of the time.

"I know it's short notice, and I apologise for that. I only found out earlier today, but I didn't want to worry you. I just... God, I feel so stupid..." Zac ended up mumbling a lot of his thoughts. He felt like an idiot for getting involved. However, he was reassured when Marley's arms wrapped around him to hold him in an embrace.

"Zac, you need to stop thinking that us being in these types of situations is your fault. In this case, it's the murderers' fault. I'm worried, obviously, you can probably feel me shaking slightly, but I'm not mad at all. Whether you got the text a month ago or this evening, it doesn't matter, as long as I know. Some things take time for you to say, and I understand that," Marley whispered to try and calm Zac down. The whispers did work, Zac felt better, a lot better.

"Does Tao know about this?" Marley asked. Zac didn't know the answer to that, so he simply shrugged. He left the comfort of Marley's arms and picked up his phone. He sent a message to Tao saying:

Have you heard of what we have to do? If not, Marley and I will pop over to tell you everything tomorrow. - Zac

Zac sent the message and waited for a response. Tao wouldn't have anything else to do rather than sleep. His father was a busy man and, from what Zac had heard, Tao's mother died of cancer when he was four or five years old. Then Zac saw that Tao was online and that he had read the message. Zac waited for a response, fidgeting in his place and... the message was left on read. Tao went offline and the message was left with the words 'read'. Perhaps Tao was too tired to respond.

"He's left me on read. He'll respond by tomorrow morning. We both know Tao. Well, we know the Tao from almost a year ago..." Zac whispered to Marley, covering himself with the duvet and placing his phone on the bedside table. Marley nodded and started reading a fantasy novel that he had bought recently. He wished Zac a good night's sleep and that's the last thing Zac heard before falling into slumber.