Marley Queen

Alive Again - Chapter 3

I spent the rest of the night in my room, texting Jo and Mercedes. Sierra had gotten her phone taken away from her, but Jo and Mercedes’ parents couldn’t have cared less. Every once in a while my mother would come to my door, asking me to please come out and join the family, but she was met with complete silence. I asked Jo and Mercedes when we were going out again, and they said they were going to sneak out tomorrow night, which in other words meant that I was going to be sneaking out tomorrow night.

The next morning I woke up to Genevieve’s giggling right outside my door. I knew what was coming next. I opened one eye but stayed in a sleeping position. Suddenly the door bursts open with Genevieve shouting “Gooooooood mooooorning wake up wake up wake up wake up!!!” right in my ear, followed by Ollie walking in, laughing. I turn over and look at her, “Get out,” I say, and I watch her smile drop. “Now.” She gets upset and tears up almost immediately. “Ollie…” she starts to sniffle, and he falls for it instantly. Of course he does. “Hey, don’t cry G, Marley was just being a meanie, that’s all!” He says, giving me a disappointed look. “She was just trying to say good morning Marley, that was it.” “Well I’m awake now, so you can leave.” He picks her up and they walk out. I lay in my bed, looking up at the ceiling. I mean, he can’t just waltz in after being gone for five years and tell me how to act. So what if he’s my brother, right? I get up a couple minutes later and get ready. As I walk down the stairs I can hear G giggling in the kitchen. I enter the kitchen and see Oliver chasing Genevieve around the kitchen island. “Hey Marley!” Oliver says, laughing, “We made pancakes… aha! Gotcha!” he picks up G and spins her around. I sit down at the table with a straight face, and grab a pancake from the middle of the table. “Hey G, how about you go play in your room for a little?” Oliver sends Genevieve off to her room. He sits down at the table across from me and I can feel him watching me. I don’t bother to look up. “Marley?” No response. “Marley, let’s talk.” He said, this time more of a command. “How about… no.” I replied. I finished eating my pancake and got up, putting my plate in the sink. “Marley,” He paused, thinking about how he should phrase his words, “we all know what you did, and none of us are happy with it. Mom is begging for you to change. So come on, at least do this for her.” I turned and walked out of the kitchen, before I said anything I would regret. I went back up to my room. I had started spending a lot more time in my room lately. It’s the only place I won’t be judged.

A couple hours later my mother and Walter can home. They had gone to a meeting to fix all of Oliver’s paperwork, because he was originally considered dead. I was sitting in the living room watching t.v. Thea walked in a couple minutes after them, she was probably crashing at a friend’s house after partying all night. Like I said, it kinda runs in the family. Oliver walked into the living room too, with Genevieve clinging to his leg. Of course she is. My mother said Oliver would need to go to court to be “brought to life again”, and ask us if we would like to come. Thea passed, and I did too. Then Genevieve wanted to stay home and play with Thea, and there was a big fuss about that. In the end Oliver left with Mom and Walter, and I was left alone with Genevieve because Thea wanted to go out with some friends. Again. In the end, I spent three hours watching t.v., with Genevieve coming up to me every two minutes asking me if I wanted to play with her Barbies.

Oliver finally got home around four in the afternoon, only now he was “alive”. By this time Genevieve had realized that I wasn’t playing with her no matter how often she asked me, and she was upstairs in Thea’s room. I was up in my room again, on my phone. My mother walks up the stairs and into my room. I turn around “Ever heard of knocking?”  She sighs “Sorry, Marley, but everyone is downstairs” She says, almost as if she is trying to make a subtle hint “You should come down too, and we can all have dinner together!” She says, her voice begging me to come down, though she would never actually beg. “Nope, I’ll pass on having to spend time with all of you. I’m good.” She walks out, giving me a look. I can hear everyone downstairs, including Tommy, celebrating, and the talking continues for another two hours or so. By the time all the celebrating is over, it’s time for Oliver to get ready for the party Tommy is throwing for him. I know Thea’s planning on sneaking in, and I don’t believe it’s fair for me to be left out of our little “family reunion”. I put on the dress from the other night in the club, and the heels. I wait for the sound of Oliver’s car starting, and I open the window in my room. I text Jo and Mercedes saying “We’re partying tonight. Get ready.” I reach Jo’s house ten minutes later and I see her and Mercedes on the front porch of her house, all glammed up. I tell them about Oliver being “alive” again, and how Tommy is throwing him a big party at the club. As they get up from the porch, Jo runs back into her house and comes back with keys. “So… my mom’s probably going to be too busy being drunk with her boyfriend to notice her car missing… I say we take it.” Jo didn’t have a license, but then again, it was only a short drive. We reached the club finally, but not before multiple cars honked at Jo multiple times. Once we got to the club we sneaked past the guards by walking in with a group of people, and started dancing. We looked around for the bar, and started making our way across the club.  

*** A COUPLE HOURS LATER ***

Boy, we were drunk. This boy from school had come up to us and was selling us some drugs. It was called vertigo, and it was supposed to be the best one out there. Just as I put the little bag with it inside in my bag, Ollie stormed over to me. He grabs my arm and pulls me away from my friends, and I pray he didn’t see the vertigo.

A PREVIEW OF THE NEXT CHAPTER - "Marley? What are you doing here? How did you get here?" Oliver throws question after question at me, not waiting for me to respond. "Last time I checked, I can make my own choices, and I don't think I need you telling me where I can go or can't go." I say, the alcohol evident in my slurred voice.