The Wanted Missing

18

Emrie sat on the cot. She stared at the bars. She'd been in the prison for three days now. The guy who had bothered her the first day hadn't been anywhere near her since she slammed the door on him. The guard hadn't bothered her either. Allburg was only seen when she locked up or unlocked Emrie's "cell."

Everything was going just fine. After a few minutes of sitting and staring, Allburg came to open the bar door for Emrie. Instead of just unlocking it and leaving, she paused after opening the door.

"What?" Emrie demanded. Being here had angered her. She barely had done anything to Allburg and she hadn't wanted to do it either.

"Someone's here to see you." She said bluntly. Emrie pushed herself up into a standing position, and waited to see if Allburg would leave. Nope.

"Follow me." Allburg said. Emrie reluctantly followed.

They walked to where the detention room was. There in the room, was someone with a black hood covering their face sitting at the table, waiting. This wasn't normal for someone who was in an actual sentence, sure, but Emrie wasn't exactly sentenced. Allburg opened the detention room's door, and Emrie went in suspiciously, and somewhat scared. Allburg shut the door behind Emrie, leaving her with the figure alone.

"Who are you?" Emrie asked angrily. The figure stood, moving out of the way of the desk, reached up to their hood, and removed it quickly.

"Hey, Ems!"

"Marsh?!" Emrie scoffed, tears rimming her eyes. She ran to him, and jumped up into his open arms. He held her close, holding his hand up to the back of her head. Emrie took a deep breath, taking in the scent of her boyfriend and her home. She smiled, pressing her face into his neck. Marsh breathed slowly, so as to not make her uncomfortable. They stayed there for a few moments, and then Marsh set her down, pushing her back slightly, looking over her.

"What's that?" He said, concerned, pointing to a purple mark on her bare shoulder. Emrie looked to where he as pointing.

"Oh. I wondered why my shoulder hurt so much..." She trailed off. Marsh knit his eyebrows together. "Emrie. What is it from?" Emrie looked up to him, rubbing it with her opposite hand. "It must be from how I lay on the cot thing in my so called "cell". It's just a bruise though. It'll go away." He relaxed his face, now knowing she wasn't in a fight or something.

"Anyways. Did Alex get to you yet?" Emrie laughed. Marsh frowned.

"No, actually." He sighed, rubbing his arm with his hand. "I haven't let Marinette tell anyone that I'm back yet." He paused, his eyes trailing away from Emrie's. He stared at his feet.

Emrie's smile faded. "Marsh..." She started.

"No. Don't worry about it, Emrie." He said, looking back to her. She put her arm down. And he placed his hands heavily on her shoulders. "I don't want to deal with anyone's pity. I'll let them know when you're back. Okay?" He said sadly, knowing that she still had to stay. Just because he had come to visit didn't mean that she automatically gets to come home. Back to her room, back to her yard, and most importantly, back to him.

She sighed roughly. "Fine. But the second I'm back home, you better be on that front step where I'm always at. If I don't see you, I won't come out of my room for a week." She shrugged. "It's your punishment." She smiled. He laughed.

"Okay, I guess I won't go to the step." He replied teasingly.

"Wait, no, please, Marsh..." She whined. "I want to hang out with you."

"Ems, I'll be on the step. Don't worry." He smirked, placing a kiss on top of her head and pulling her back into an embrace. "I love you." He whispered to her.

"I love you too."

As he walked up the stairs after Marinette had gotten back from the prison to go see Emrie, Alex stared at his feet. Why hadn't she taken him with her? She knew how worried he was about this whole situation. It was almost his time to leave. He got up to his room, and slammed the door. He was sick of waiting, and honestly glad that Marsh wasn't showing his face. After the previous night, Alex was sure that Marsh had come back to the orphanage. He despised that he knew that he was here, but was glad Marsh didn't have the guts to show himself.

"Tonight," He whispered to himself, "I'm going to bring it up to Marinette." He pulled a book off of the shelf above his bed, and went to sit at his desk. He changed his mind, when he realized what he had subconsciously started to draw last night after the whole Marsh thing. It was Marsh and Emrie together. He looked around his room at all his drawings pinned up on the walls around the room. He had been drawing since he was little, but he had never realized how he always drew the same people. It was kind of boring to him. Then he looked back down to the drawing on his desk. The ones hung up were all Alex and Emrie.

Alex scowled, and grabbed the drawing from his desk and held it tightly between his fists, staring it down. Then he looked up to his favorite one of his drawings. It was him and Emrie on the roof, staring at the sunset. Emrie had her head on Alex's shoulder.

Alex realized he was living in his own fantasies, and maybe it was time for him to stop. He loosened his grip on the drawing of Marsh and Emrie, and removed his favorite drawing from the wall. He tore it, and threw it on the ground. He took the pin out of the wall and placed the Marmrie photo up, pinning it in the other photo's place. He went around, ridding of all the lies he had told himself about him and Emrie.

He sighed, feeling a lot better. "Maybe this was for the best." He said to himself, staring at the image of Marmrie. Marsh was holding Emrie close, his chin on top of her head. He knew that if he jus accepted the fact that Emrie was happy, he could be happy too. He smiled.

He left his room, taking one last glance around before dinnertime. Lunette had rung the bell, and he ran down the stairs, leaving his door open. When he came to the table with a grin, everyone was either confused, or scared. Even Marinette and Lunette.