Marley Queen

Trouble - Chapter 9

"Ollie! Stop! Leave me alone!" I scream as Oliver barges into my room, a look of pure fury on his face. "Where is it, Marley. I'm not playing your little games." "I, I don't know what you're talking about," I try to respond with the same anger, but feel like I'm breathing underwater. I watch as he continues to shout at me, his face getting redder and his voice getting louder. For some reason, I just can't comprehend a word coming out of his mouth. It all just seems like gibberish with a slight tinge of upset. Oh hey, maybe this is the vertigo. All of a sudden, I can't stop giggling. Wow, maybe I shouldn't have taken that second one. Crazy. I watch as Ollie grabs my arms and pulls me up, looking right into my eyes for what feels like forever. Finally, he pushes me back down, and I watch as he goes through my desk. What must've been less than a minute feels like an eternity as I'm frozen, unable to react as Ollie continues his rampage. When he finds the bag, he turns back to me, says something in his gibberish language, and leaves. Whoops. I fall back onto my bed, laughing even harder as he slams the door closed on his way out.

A FEW HOURS LATER

"Listen, Moira-" "Moira? Excuse me?" "Fine; listen, mother dearest, I'm fine, I swear" As the lie slips of my tongue, I feel the full impact of the vertigo pill kick in. Uh oh, the giggles are coming back. Moira continues to yell at me, saying something about the importance of me pulling myself together or something like that, however there are three of her so it becomes hard to focus on one. She grabs both of my hands and holds them, her thumbs rubbing my knuckles in what I can only assume was meant to be a loving gesture. In this situation, it was just her pretending our family wasn't ruined. It was a sweet gesture, by all means, for her to try and have a heart-to-heart conversation, there's no denying that. It was just a couple years too late. I could no longer bring myself to a state of fake happiness solely to ease her guilt. I was done. She can't control me. Feeling exhausted, but also somewhat like a floating bubble, I drifted off into a deep sleep, prepared to sleep away my troubles.

Sleep away my troubles, my ass. I wake up two hours later to the sound of Genevieve screaming in my ear, going on and on about her exciting day playing with her dolls and playing with her dolls and then playing with her dolls some more! I groan and turn over, determined to ignore her, only to have her jump on top of me, yelling "Come on, sleepy head! Mommy says you and I get to make dinner tonight! We can make pancakes and waffles and cupcakes and real cakes and lots of frosting!!" My frustration continues to rise as my drug-induced layer of emotional bubble wrap continues to wear off. The events of the past week truly begin to hit me, one by one; Ollie's home, you took vertigo, Ollie's home, you're a failure, Ollie's home, you fucked up. All of a sudden, I'm up in bed. Who am I kidding? I fucked up?? Please, Oliver and Thea have done much worse, and besides, who are they, or for that matter anyone, to tell me how to act. I'm Marley Queen, I don't need this.

After my warm awakening by Genevieve, I knew I had two choices: find where Oliver hid the vertigo, or go downstairs and face the very people who take every possible opportunity to criticize me. Naturally, I picked the former. I crept out of my room as silently as possible and looked down the hall, only to see Ollie's door cracked open. I can hear them all talking downstairs, still trying to make up for lost time while no one acknowledges they'll never get it back, but none of that matters to me now. I inch towards Ollie's room, hoping no one can hear the slight creaks in the floorboards as I move. I finally make it to his room, pushing the door open to reveal his room looking the same as always: immaculate. I can hear the voices downstairs beginning to dwindle; there conversation is going to end soon, I have to move fast. I run to his desk and begin rummaging through the drawers, looking for any sign of my packet. Where did he hide it? I start to panic as I hear them move out of the kitchen, close all of the drawers, and get out of his room. I make it to my room, a clean escape, only to hear a knock at the door a few minutes later, followed by Ollie coming in, glaring. "Well," he begins, looking angrier with each step he took closer "did you find what you were looking for?" I knew the vertigo was completely out of me by now, and I looked up to meet his eyes with a hard stare of my own. "Actually, I didn't, so maybe you can help me out", I responded, knowing there was no hope anyway. "Are you being serious?" He stopped walking towards me and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "You're actually asking me where your vertigo is? You really think I kept it? Marley, it's long gone. And so is your phase of partying. It's over. Are we clear?" I scoffed. "I think you should get out of my room, Oliver." He began to repeat himself, saying "Are we cl-" but I cut him off "And before you try to criticize me, Ollie, you should take a good look at yourself. After all, you're the oldest, we all learned from you. Forgive me for not spending 5 years on an island and 'transforming myself'" Suddenly, Oliver went silent and stood completely still, which was somehow worse than him yelling. "You're done." He whispered under his breath, and walked out.