Marley

Beep! Beep! Beep!

My hand came down on the alarm clock and hit snooze as I rolled back over shoving my face into the pillow. I let out a breath and slowly opened one eye glancing at my right arm. The cuts were still there. All the way up my arm scratches, cuts, and bruises stood out against my pale skin. I closed my eyes again trying to block out my memories of what had happened the past few weeks or so, but before I could stop myself they all came back. Starting with the call.

It'd been a late night before and I could still feel the alcohol in my system before it made its glorious exit out of my body into the toilet. I sat on the floor, a light bead of sweat on my forehead, when the phone rang. I pulled myself from the floor and hastily grabbed it off the wall.
"He-hello?" My voice cracked.
"May I speak to Marley?" The gruff voice came from the other side of the phone like a punch in the gut....or maybe that was just my hangover I couldn't tell.
"Grandad?"
"Oh thank god! I thought for a second I had gotten the wrong number. How are you?" He spoke like this was a normal thing for him to just call.
"No, th-this isn't you. You left. You left after grandma died, you left after dad went off the deep end, you left mom and me by ourselves." My voice was on the verge of panic, but I kept it down.
I heard him take a shaky breath and what sounded like a chair being pulled out before he spoke again. "I know. I'm sorry, but I had to. I had business I had to take care of before things got worse. I had to protect what was left."
I stared at the wall in front of me. Old, off white paint peeled back revealing bare wood. I didn't know what to think. It'd been fourteen years. Fourteen years since I'd last seen him driving off In his old 1971 Chevy truck the engine sputtering like always. My little seven year old mind hadn't wrapped around all that was happening back then until a year later when we were barely making it in old cheap homes that no one else wanted.
"You still there?" His voiced pulled me from my thoughts.
"Oh yeah, um, what do you want?" There was so many questions I wanted answered but that one seemed the most important for the moment.
"I need your help. Meet me up at Diffy's in an hour? I can tell you whatever you wanna know just be there....please."
An hour? Fourteen years then one phone call and I'm going to see him in an hour?
"Yeah, I'll be there." I hung the phone up before he could respond and let out another deep breath. I made my way back to the bathroom and flushed the toilet before looking in the mirror. My brown hair was a mess and my gray eyes looked duller than usual. I splashed some water on my face and grabbed a towel, drying it as I walked to my room. I pulled on a gray T-shirt, dark wash skinny jeans, blue flannel, and my combat boots. My reflection in the cracked wall mirror of my room caught my attention and I and tried to remember what I used to look like. Little seven year old me dancing around in sparkly pink dresses and my old pair of sneakers, smiling and laughing with both my parents. My heart ached for that me to return, but I knew she never would....never could. I walked out of my room, through the creaky front door, and pulled open my beat up car's door. The engine groaned but finally sputtered to life before I pulled out of the dirt driveway.
I pulled into Diffy's parking lot and immediately saw his old truck. I parked and shoved my door closed then headed inside. There he sat, his back towards me in a booth. He was wearing his usual denim jacket, his hair was now gray and halfway gone. I slowly walked up and slide into the booth, facing him. Wrinkles lined his face, but it was definitely him.
"Hello, Marley." He wore a sad smile knowing what was coming.
"Fourteen years! You up and left at the worst time! Mama and me didn't know where you were going or when you'd be back, grandma was gone, and so was dad. Mama's gone now too, did you know that? The second I turned eighteen she left. She said she couldn't handle it, that our place and I reminded her of everything that happened and she just had to leave. I almost got a job now too, but now you show up and I don't know what to think."
Grandad closed his eyes and sighed. He started to say something but then the waitress walked over and asked what we wanted. He quickly order us both cokes and turned back to me. "I know. I've been keeping tabs on you to make sure you're okay. You know I only left to keep you safe, right? There is so much you need to know, and I've been trying to keep things under control so you wouldn't have to deal with this, but these people, they keep digging. I can't do this alone anymore. Its time you know what really happened the last time I saw you."