The Deceitful Warrior

Chapter 9

Then it all starts at once the noise and the singing. The Rowd. Im standing right in the middle of it. Of course, yesterday was my birthday and because i wasnt here we are doing it today. I stand int he middle while i see Will watching on horrified at all of the noise. When the song finish i hop off of the chair and stand in the middle of all of the chairs.

I know what comes next, and im having too much fun today. So i take off running. The kids are surprised for a moment then realise whats happening. Marcus is infornt of them all and hes saying something along the lines of "Catch her me scallywags." Upon hearing him say this i almost fall over in laughter. But i keep running until i get to what is known as Meghans Room. The signs still hangs on the door but i barely have time to notice it before Marcus grabs my leg. I fall and he crawls up to my chest and hugs me ferociously. I laugh. All of the other kid come toppling through the door way and soon we are all lying on the floor having our group hug.

I hear a click and a blinding flash circulates throughout the room. We all turn our heads and see Will pocketing his phone. Martha is behind him with the camera and she gives me a cheeky grin. Knowing exactly what to do i call out to Will and wiggle my hand out of the pile. He looks at me and grabs my hand. He goes to pull me out of the hug when i tug him down so that he is in the group hug too. The kids part like the red sea not wanting to be squished by him and then the close up again. Im looking right into Wills eyes and i start to laugh. He looks a little mortified. He kisses my nose and a grin spreads across my face stopping my laugh.

A few more flashes go off and then everybody removes themselves from me. They make their way downstairs and i wait until everybody has left my room before i put the 'GO AWAY' sign up on my door. I reach under my bed and push the slat to the side. Pulling the letter out i place the slat back in its original position. I quickly stuff the letter in my pocket and run downstairs. I get downstairs and see that everybody is munching on a piece of strawberry chocolate cake. I walk over to Martha and whisper in her ear. She nods and i wait in her office while she sets up games for Will and the kids to do.

"its time" Martha states when she walks into the office. I look at her and give a faint half hearted smile. I know im just scared is all i want to say but i cant get the words out of my mouth. Instead the words that come out sound more like " i only have a week." She looks at me and rushes over to me. She embraces me and hugs me so tightly that i don't know if i can remember a time other than being here in Marthas comforting arms.

of course there was a time where i had Aunt Deb and Mum and Dad and Ally. But those times where long gone although they would always remain in my memory. I had Martha now though and i wasnt ever going to let that go. She steps back and gives me an ncouraging smile. I give her a nod and we both leave her office to find Marcus riding around on Wills back. Laughing at the sight i suddenly know what im going to do for Marcus and i know that what i have to do will help me. I set a reminder in my phone for my birthday next year and smile.

Picking up Marcus i take him into the kitchen and ask him if he wants to go to the park. He eagerly nods and then asks if Will can come too. "Of course Marc" i say and he runs up to his room and gets his shoes. I tell Martha and Marcus comes bundling down the stairs with his shoes on the wrong feet. I chuckle and sit him on a chair changing his shoes over and then standing him up. I grab my sunnies, keys and phone then loop my hand through Wills, pulling him toward the door. I close the door and then run up behind Marcus. Grabbing his waist i lift him over my head and onto my shoulders. He shrieks and then grabs on to my shoulders like he has learnt to do. I slip my hand back through Wills and we walk down to the park.

We get there and i let Marcus down off of my shoulders. We both put our hands on the fence and stare and each other. He gives me the stink eye and i give him the joker smile. I say one, he says two and we both yell three. Then we take off running towards the swings. It takes us ten minutes to get to the proper height and then we start laughing.

"On the count of three !" I hear his cute little voice ring through the air, and we start counting just as we had before. Then i launch out of the swing and into the middle of the play round. Less than five seconds after me Marcus lands on my stomach and we start giggling.

"High five Jack Sparrow!" i whisper in his ear. He high fives me and then wraps his tiny little arms around my neck. I hug him back and if it was even possible my love and compassion grew even more for this little guy. My phone then beeped with an incoming bluetooth file and i saw that Will was sending me a video. Accepting it i waited for the file to finish downloading before i opened the file and laughed. Marcus looked up at me and i turned the phone so he could see it. Will had videoed me and Marcus doing our little stunt and we both laughed as the video came to an end. Standing up with Marcus we walk over to Will who is giving us a slow clap. Marcus and i both look at each other then we both bow down.

Looking up at Will and then back at Marcus i give Will a look and then push him towards the playground. I turn to Marcus and whisper in his ear. Then he runs after Will, grabs his hand and drags him onto the playground. I sit on a bench and realise that this possibly the best time and place to make the phone call. I take the business card out of the letter, type in the number and hit call.

# Wills P.O.V #

Marcus is such a cute little guy. I can see why Meghan loves him so much. His smile is contagious and so is his personality. He pulls me over to the monkey bars and we climb up on top of them. We sit on the top of the monkey bars and play I Spy. I watch Meghan place her phone to her ear and I know she is taking a phone call. Im curious but I let it slide. Marcus and I run around for another twenty minutes before a man looking to be in his late 30's walks up to Meghan and sits next her. They engage in conversation and I send her a text saying I was going to get Marcus some icecream. She looks over at us and smiles and we walk over to the small ice cream stand across the park.

+ Meghan's P.O.V +

Barry walks over to me and sits on the bench next to me. We greet each other and I get a message from Will saying that he and Marc are getting ice cream. I smile over at them and then turn back to Barry. I havent seen him since I was 7 and I smile up at him.

I never thought I would see Barry ever again. He looks at me and im overwhelmed. A small part of me wishes he was my uncle instead of Uncle Richard but I dismiss the thought. He smiles and hands me the envelope and the key.

"everything is in there Meghan ... if you need anything else you know you just need to call." he looks genuinely serious and I smile one of the biggest smiles ive ever smile when it comes to my past. I hug him and he leaves as he has a date. I smile at his departing figure, and I know that he has found a way to move on from his best friends murder.

Will and Marc come back from the other side of the park just as Barry leaves and I run up to them, throwing my arms around Will and laughing. He and Marc have ice cream and sprinkles all around their mouths and they both look so cute. I grab my hanky out of my pocket and wipe both of their faces. They both smile happily at me and I cant help but think of how lucky I am to havhe these two and Martha and Barry in my life.

Grabbing Wills hand in mine and Marcus's in the other I take of running, dragging the two of them behind me.