Smoke and Bones (Smoke #4)

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As I knocked at the front door, I couldn't help but to feel somewhat hollow. It had been almost close to a year or maybe longer since I've been to his house. Even less the last time I last saw him. And yet, I was more nervous than ever before. Prior to the mess at the hospital, the last time I saw my ex normal was the weeks before his disappearance.

But is this even the right thing to do right now?

Even though there wasn't much reason to see Marcus - especially after he confused me for Madeline that one time - I still would have liked the closure. That is if any of his sisters or parents would bother to give me the time of day again.

Andrew had headed off to training and Daniel had went up to visit to a friend, leaving me alone with my confusion and a lot of time to let pass by somehow. I didn't want to pry in either of the boys' business, so in typical Scarlett fashion, I let them attend to whatever they needed to.

They were old enough to know what was right and what wasn't.

My choice to visit Marcus however was not a spontaneous one, as I had been grappling to visit him for a while now. Even though our last encounter ended quite unfortunate, I knew that it was the kidnappings aftermath that spoke that afternoon, and not the boy himself.

Moments before this, I was in the car talking to an estactic Jordanah Shields, who was continuously asking how it went with Andrew. Obviously I told her it was alright, despite moments before the phonecall I was breaking down in tears at the steering wheel.

Freshening myself up after my moment of weakness this morning, I braced myself for what was to come when I knocked at the front house of Marcus' family. Last I had heard from Tim was that he had moved back in with his parents following the ordeal he had went through.

"What are you doing here?" Alanna asked me as she appeared on the front doorstep with a look of anguish.

"Hi Alanna."

"You haven't answered my question Scarlett."

"I know that you're still angry at me, but I thought I'd drop by to find out how Marcus is doing. It probably isn't a great idea since he tried to attack me at the hospital last time -"

"I heard about that." She interjected coldly as I just sighed.

"But I can't keep getting the images of his rescue from out of my head. It's been replaying over and over again in my head and I'm not sure. I just wanted to see how he was doing."

Alanna paused, wearing an expression of disgust. But after what felt like eternity, she sighed and gestured for me to come inside.

"We can have a chat. But I don't want to wake up my brother - out of respect for him and safety of you." She added cautiously as she looked me up, then down.

...

"Thank you for wanting to have a chat." I said, before immediately being met with the blondes' palm in front of my face.

"Fair warning, but don't expect this to mean anything. You might have saved him so I'll give you that. But Scarlett, you also broke my brother. He was still suffering after discovering you and the Essendon boy in the way that he did. And I know you've probably got this already, but how he found out about the baby was cold too."

"Yeah, I did get that too." I admitted in defeat, trying to stay calm as the images of a heartbroken Marcus filled my mind.

"Also, I'm not sure if this is gonna make much difference, but the rest of family don't know about the baby or about the infidelity. Possibly his dad might know the full story though."