disregard // paul lahote

04

Marley's bond with the Quileute boys was ripped out from under her faster than it had taken to form.

Embry dropped her off at home on Thursday night, peering over at her repeatedly during the journey to see her shaking hands clasped together in her lap. When he pulled into her driveway, she quietly sat in her seat before unbuckling her seat belt and opening the car door. "Are you one too?" Marley rasped, and Embry stayed silent and she took that as a yes.

She locked her front door behind her, and checked every window in her house to make sure it was locked. She laid in bed, struggling to fall asleep as a thousand thoughts ran through her head at once. She jumped when her phone began to vibrate in her pocket and she ignored the call. A few minutes later, her phone chimed with a text message.

(434-394-9006): Call me when you can. Emily.

Marley turned her phone off and hid it in her nightstand drawer, and buried her herself in the duvet- hoping that sleep would overcome her.

----

Instead of constantly thinking about the fear that overwhelmed her, Marley decided to take double shifts at work, hoping to save up enough money to fix up her car which had been causing her grief recently.

"Water refills for booth three, please." Marley begged Suri as she delivered orders to Caesar. "There was a spill at booth six," Suri informs Marley before grabbing a water jug and making her way around for refills.

Marley cussed under her breath and grabbed a mop and bucket to fix the coke that an innocent four year old knocked over. While the child cried and the father took the child to the bathroom in attempt to coo her to sleep while Marley sat on her hands and knees wringing up the sticky beverage that coated every surface within five feet of the booth.

She could hear the bell of the diner door go off, and immediately felt someone standing over her. Marley sat back to see Jake standing before her with a guilty look on his face.

"Can we talk?"

Marley resumed cleaning the floor on her hands and knees. "I'm working right now." She spoke as she wrung the rag out into the bucket for what seemed to be the four-hundredth time, her heart beating faster as she remembered seeing Jake turn into a beast.

"Let me help," Jake offered but Marley held her hand out to stop him from moving closer. "I can't-" Marley started but couldn't find the right words. "I don't need help, please just-." She pleaded, hiding her face as tears filled her eyes.

Jake opened his mouth to talk but was interrupted by Lorena bending down next to Marley with a clean rag. Marley sighed in frustration when she saw Jake exit the diner out of the corner of her eye.

"You alright, Mar?" Lorena frowned, rubbing Marley's shoulder.

"Yeah," Marley dusted herself off. "I'm good."

----

After closing up the diner, Marley was desperate to get home and rest. Driving with her headlights in the dead of night, the radio playing lowly but was washed out by the rain pelting her roof. She was careful along the slick roads, but no amount of care prepared her for her car breaking down on her journey home.

She cussed under her breath when she realized her mom wasn't going to pick up the phone after her third attempt, and began to panic when she acknowledged the fact that she had never thought this would happen to her, and had no clue as to what to do in this situation.

Scrolling through her contacts, she attempted both Lorena and Caesar- neither picked up and she went to ring Suri before realizing she was out of town with her boyfriend. Opening her messages to text her mom for fifth time, she spotted Emily's text that she had never replied to.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed on the telephone icon before holding the phone to her ear and awaited the ringing. On the third ring, a man picked up and she immediately recognized the voice as Sam's.

"Hi Sam," Marley sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Marley?" His voice signaled he had been asleep and guilt overwhelmed her. "Were you sleeping? Shit- I'm sorry, Sam. It's just that- that my car broke down and it's raining super hard and I don't know what to do-" Tears filled her eyes and poured down her cheeks.

"Marley, don't cry." He cooed, and she could hear rustling in the background. "Where are you? I'm on my way, okay?" Sam assured her as she cried, her face red with embarrassment- she was glad no one was around to see her.

"I'm on Nolan Avenue, probably eight miles north of the diner." She looked around to see what surrounded her. "All I see is trees and open road," Sam assured her that he was on his way and Marley had never felt so grateful in her life.

She sat in her car for nearly forty minutes before she saw approaching headlights in her rear view mirror. Sam pulled up his truck behind her car, and Marley was quick to hop out of her car and into the pouring rain- shielding her eyes from his bright headlights.

She could hear Sam's truck door open and shut, and a large figure blocked the headlights from blinding her. Before she could open her mouth, Sam placed his hand on her back and lead her to the passenger seat where he opened the door and helped her inside before sprinting over to the drivers side.

The truck was warm, and she immediately felt guilty for sitting on his fabric seats with her damp clothing, watching as Sam reached into the back seats to grab a blanket and drape it over her shoulders.

She wanted to thank him, but she suddenly felt the loss of her voice. The inability to pry open her jaw, and make a noise. A sob, a shriek- anything.

So instead, she kept her eyes on the road ahead and thought of her thermal bed sheets and desolate house.