Missing Martha

87

Martin sat in the driver's seat once again with Zoe at his side in the passenger seat. Over his shoulder he could see the five teenagers taking, but he wasn't listening to their conversations.
He, at long last, put the clutch in fully and turned the keys, slowly shifting the gear stick into first before releasing the handbrake and driving onto the road.
"Where were you an hour ago?" Asked Ollie, loudly enough so that Martin could hear him.
"Me?" Asked Martin, meeting his gaze in the rear view mirror. "Probably in the shower."
"Sir; the van was gone for about half an hour, where were you?" He repeated.
"That's not of your concern." He responded, professionally.
Zoe looked over at him momentarily,
"I think it probably is." Lucy replied,
"Look; Guys. The only things I'm not talking about are the things I can't talk about." He assured them, trying to concentrate on the road.
"-and that's fine- only me and Ryan were in the taxi with Miss Flynn and we deserve to know who that man was!" Interjected Jemma.
Martin bit his lip, hesitantly looking over to Zoë.
"Stop looking at her and answer us!" Shouted Ollie.
"Excuse me- two people died last night! And Miss Flynn was millimetres away from being shot- so why on earth can't I look at her to see if she's alright!?" Justified Martin, his face growing more pale than red.
"Martin, calm down.." murmured Zoe, looking out her side window, trying to separate herself from the conversation.
"Two people? Who was the other person?" Asked Cloda.
Martin found himself trying to slow down his breathing, as the image of Bronagh lying bloody and limp in the boot of the car flashed in his memory.
"Guys.. I really can't say that. I'm sorry.. I'm so-"
"It was Mrs Watson." Interrupted Zoe, resulting in a large shriek from everyone, and making Martin turn to her immediately in shock. "They do deserve to know." She insisted, apologetically.
"Not here, not now." He sighed in the proceeding silence from the back seats.
He took a gulp of water from a bottle beside him before setting it down again and covering his mouth with his left hand which was off the steering wheel.
"Is this true?" Croaked Jemma from the seat behind him, "Mr McCafferson is she dead?"
Martin nodded, placing both his hands on the steering wheel firmly,
"Guys... we'll talk about this tonight." Concluded Martin, feeling his eyes tense again, he reached over for his sunglasses as he drove through the road where it all happened, and where Bronagh was found in the boot and his father was shot dead.
He noticed the tears now streaming down Zoe's face, but she let them fall, and didn't even try to rub them away.  He reached over and held her hand, caressing her palms with his thumb.
"It's gonna be alright."  He whispered, knowing he had to be the strong one here, even though he, himself, was falling apart.
She picked up Martin's phone and unlocked it, scrolling through his photos, starting back from his earliest photos from 2012, photos of landscapes, screenshots of guitars, selfies of himself and Sophie up mountains, looking so much younger. Then came the wedding photos, a selfie of himself and Emily with their tongues sticking out and laughing. A photo of her in her wedding dress, sitting on the bottom of a bed beside Martin, who had unbuttoned his waistcoat and his top few buttons and seemed to be just seconds away from kissing his new wife. She scrolled on through to see more pictures of friend gatherings before the few pictures of baby Martha. Zoe's chest hurt as she flicked through the photos of Martha lying on Martin's lap and seeing both of them smile, knowing how much he loved her, she couldn't even begin to calculate the loss and the grief he must be feeling.
She continued to slide through, elliptically watching Martha grow up, and gradually his camera roll was just of pictures of her playing or smiling. Somehow she felt somewhat closer to Martin than she had ever been before, and she proceeded to turn off his phone and put it back in the compartment, taking hold of his hand again and lightly squeezing it. Beneath his sunglasses, she noticed his eyes glistening with tears. Neither of them needed to speak, his eyes met hers and a wave of fear crashed over him, knowing that she was the only one he had left, and that she could have been gone yesterday.
After about three hours, Martin finally broke the silence.
"We're just outside of Sienna, let's stop off for a couple hours." He suggested, turning off the GPS and indicating left into a smaller road.
"Alright." Agreed Ollie from behind which was followed by a couple nods from the others.
When Martin pulled up at a car park he pulled up the handbrake and turned the keys off, sighing and taking off his sunglasses, wiping the remaining tears with the back of his hand before taking a gulp of water and opening up the door to the warm air of Sienna.
"Martin?" Called Zoe, walking up behind him.
"Yep?" He replied, turning around to see her.
"Get back in the van- you're bleeding really badly." She ordered, putting one hand on his back as he opened up the door again.
"W-what?" He questioned, before looking down and seeing that his blue shirt had been dyed to a dark red-purple over his abdomen. "Shit, the stitches must have undone." He moaned, "I thought this had healed."
He shifted himself back onto his seat before looking at Zoe, "you guys all go, I'll sort this. Go and get something to eat, find a nice restaurant."
"I'm not leaving you like this." Insisted Zoe, brushing her overgrown fringe behind her ear and taking a navy towel out of her bag and pressing it up against his stomach.
"Please, Zoe I need some space. I'll give you a call- just give me fifteen minutes." He asked of her,
"If you're not out in half an hour I'm coming back, okay?" She promised, looking sternly into his eyes.
"Yes.. yes." He responded, as she leaned away and took out the small green first aid kit from the glove compartment and placed it beside him.
"Please, take it easy." She begged, putting her hand on his shoulder as he unbuttoned his shirt and wiped up the blood from his open wound.
He was beginning to feel the pain now, and when she kissed his cheek he didn't have the energy to kiss her back.
"I'll see you later." She said, and he gave an absent-minded nod in response.