Run | H.S

Eight

"Darcy, wake up." Olivia shakes me awake.

I look around, seeing the sun shining through the curtains of the hotel room. I look over to the other bed and see an empty half of the room.

"Where are Maddy and Mason?" I ask, sitting up.

"Maddy's in the shower and Mason is on the floor over there." She points to the opposite side of the bed and I look a bit further, seeing him curled up with a blanket on the floor, asleep.

"What time is it?" I ask, looking to her.

"Almost 10." She says. "I figured you didn't want to sleep in too late 'cus of the busy day we have."

I nod, crawling out of bed and over to my suitcase. I look over to Mason and see him still asleep and still hear the water running from the bathroom.

"Darcy." Olivia's voice is now behind me as I turn around and face her. She's standing directly in front of me as I look up to her.

Her hand raises to my cheek as she stared into my eyes, leaning her head down to touch my lips.

I close the gap between us, wrapping my arms around her neck as we stumble backwards onto the bed. Everything is such a blur. I can only think of her. I only want her.

She throws us on the bed, pinning me down as her lips brush my neck. Then her face falls into my shoulder, giggling a bit before whispering,

"I should probably control myself more." She laughs, crawling off me and standing up, leaving me dumbfounded, craving for more.

But by the time I reach the end of the bed, Maddy comes out of the bathroom. I sigh in frustration, walking over to Mason to wake him.

"Mason." I whisper, crouching down. "Mason, get up."

He mumbles before I start pulling the blankets off him. He sits up, groaning. "I'm up!"

~•~•~•~•~

I pull up to the nursing home that my grandmother is supposed to be at.

"Are you sure you wanna ask her for help, Darcy? Remember all the stories mom told us? About Mandi?" Maddy asks from the backseat.

"Of course I do, Maddy!" I sigh, turning the car ignition off. "I don't really have a choice. All we need to do is find out where exactly Mark lives, then we can leave."

I open the car door along with everybody else and walk up to the nursing home, seeing some old women at the side of the building smoking.

Yesterday, we took the bus and rented a car. We had to put the papers in Olivia's name though because you have to be at least 21 to rent a car.

The women eye me as I walk by and everyone else behind me must've noticed them too because everybody starts walking more compacted together until we are out of sight.

When we reach the doors, I go to the front desk, everybody else staying kind of back.

When the woman looks up, her eyes go wide.

"Darcy Styles?" She asks and I nod, confused as to how she knows me. I've never met her and her name tag says Dianne. "Follow me!"

I look over to Maddy before following the woman down the hall. We stop in front of a room.

"Now, this is Monica's room." She whispers. "Now let me warn you, she is a bit crazy. Ever since her daughter last spoke to her, she's been obsessed with you. Every day she talks about you, okay? I just wanted to warn you about what you're about to hear."

Then she hurries off, leaving me a bit worried of what my grandmother is actually like. Sure enough, if she was as crazy as she seems, she would be in an asylum. So...

I shouldn't be that worried.

"Can we go in?" Mason asks as I look back to him.

I look back to the door, pushing it open. When I reach the other side, I see an elderly woman sat up on a bed, watching TV while enjoying her breakfast.

She turns her head to me and her eyes go wide as I keep my distance, everybody keeping their distance.

"Oh my god! Darcy Styles!" She grins, trying to stand up. "My grand daughter, you've come
......." She trails off a bit before looking to Maddy and Mason. "Are these your siblings?"

I nod. "Monica, we really need your help." I tell her, wanting to get out of here.

"Where's your mother? Where is my daughter, Mia? She didn't come, did she?" She looks to her lap. "She's still mad after all these years."

She doesn't know? How does she not know? Wouldn't they tell her own mom if her daughter died or not? Maybe it was signed somewhere or something not to tell her.

I don't want to tell her, not yet. I want to get answers first without her freaking out.

"Why were you and my mom so mad at each other?" I ask, never really recalling my mother telling me why she held this grudge. All I knew was that they were mad at each other. Or she was mad at Monica and never wanted us speaking to her.

Monica looks up to me, whispering, "I don't know, she just hates me."

"Really? There must be a reason, our mother-"

"Why are you here?" She asks, her face showing no emotion, which is a bit scary.

"Well, um." I stutter. "We need help finding Mark."

"His phone number is right there." She says, pointing to her nightstand which holds a booklet titled Phone Numbers.

I step up to the dresser, grabbing the book and going to the M section. He's the only one under M.

"Thank you." I say, copying it down in my phone before closing the book and placing it back on the stand. "It means alot."

"Are you leaving so soon?" She asks, looking to the door.

"Sorry, we are all hungry and we don't even have a place to crash." I say, turning back to everyone standing by the door. "We need to leave."

And with that, I walk towards the door, urging everyone to go out the door.

"I'll see you soon." I hear Monica say before I shut the door.

I don't think much of it as I walk down the hall in-between Mason and Olivia.

"I wonder what happened..." Maddy asks. "With mom and her. Mom's not like the one to just hold a grudge against someone like that for that long with no reason."

"I don't know, but it must've been pretty bad. Maybe Mark knows." I shrug, walking out the doors of the home.