.x.x. Chapter Four .x.x. Blood. Ruby gore. Everywhere, it pooled around the tiles in his kitchen. It seeped through the crack in the doorway nearby, dark red stained the bottoms of his sneakers. His breath echoed in his head as his nerves became paralyzed with dread. He was frozen to the spot where he stood and heard a small cry coming from the next room. The door close to him flew open and his Mother materialized from the black of the other room, her medium length hair tied up in a loose bun and her warm round face was smiling. He gained control of himself when she threw her meaty arms around him and hugged him cozily, smelling distantly of sugar cookies and cinnamon. He hugged her back and her tinkling voice said breathily in his ear, "I'd never hurt you Marco. I love you." Suddenly, cold metal slid into his stomach. He looked down at himself and saw a sliver of the blade of a wooden handled knife jutting from his abdomen. There was a drizzling going down his stomach, oozing onto his blue designer shirt he wore. His Mother was no longer there and Dylan had taken her place when the metal had gone into him. He smiled in sickeningly pleased way and pulled the knife out of the younger boy; pain inflamed his senses. He doubled over, gasping for his fading breath as the blonde let out a small laugh. Everywhere, everything was red. Red. Red.
Marco awoke in his bed screaming. He instinctively clutched his stomach and threw away his blankets, checking himself over.
Nothing, he was fine.
The sunbeams of a new day blinded him fleetingly as the teenager tried to calm his racing heartbeat. My God, that dream, no, nightmare…
Marco curled upright into a ball against his headboard, squeezing his eyes shut. He remembered when dreams like this were somehow sucked into his reality. What did it mean, was his Ma going to betray him in someway? Why was Dylan there and why did he…?
Rocking back and forth, he tried to drone out his thoughts by concentrating on the sounds of the birds outside his window and the ticking of his clock.
Wait what time was it?
Marco reopened his eyes and reach to turn his clock towards him, it was twelve in the afternoon.
He was late to pick up his graduation robe!
The boy raced out of his room, only in his boxer shorts and stumbled downstairs. He came into the kitchen, "Mama, I need a ride-"
The sight that met him was his gothy red haired friend, shuffling through her newspaper alone. She said without looking at him, "Hey Marco. Your Mom went to the doctor's office and your Dad left with her. I went and got the robes from school, Jimmy told me that right after the ceremony, we'll head to the party. It's being held at Ashley's instead, just to tell you."
She placed down the paper, "I heard some noise upstairs, are you ok?" Her hazel eyes flickered over to him and he responded, feeling strangely chilly, "Uh, only a bad dream."
Her cheeks went bright red and she shield her eyes, "Marco…you might want to get some pants on…?"
He frowned confused and looked down at his half naked form, blushing, "Oh, sorry."
He darted out humiliated as she burst out laughing.
There was a soaring feeling in his stomach.
Marco Del Rossi dashed down the front steps of Degrassi in his graduation robe, meeting his best friend at the bottom. She had been wearing a robe for the fun of it even though she already had her diploma.
He swept Ellie Nash into an embrace, spinning her around merrily. Both seventeen-year-olds laughed and hugged tightly, big broad smiles on their faces. They were on their way to the four year college around Degrassi.
The darker boy shouted, "We did it! We're outta here!"
Ellie had caught the contagious enthusiasm and pumped a fist in the air, "College, here we come! Whoo!"
He kissed her(in a friend way) and she grinned, squeezing him once.
Her red hair flew around in his face as the blustery day moved on, "You're valediction speech was awesome Marco, I almost cried." He commented, "You better have, I didn't practice for four hours in front of a mirror for nothing." Ellie chuckled and Marco's parents walked over, smiling very wide. Mrs. Del Rossi was sobbing with happiness and pulled both kids to her bosom, heaving, "I'm so proud Marco, I am proud of you too Eleanor." The girl hugged her back, "Thank you Mrs. Del Rossi."
Mr. Del Rossi nodded eagerly, "Yes, yes, we very proud." He stick out his hand to them and Marco eyed it as if it was a poisonous snake, Ellie took it politely. After, she elbowed him sharply and his Mother spoke up, "Ok, you can go to the party. Go home and change."
The boy kissed her cheek and started walking away with his best friend. Ellie retorted, "Could you be a little less rude to your Dad?"
He ignored her as they walked down several streets to Marco's house. She snapped, "Fine Marco," and went into the spare bedroom to change into her party clothes.
It was early evening when they finished getting ready.
Marco went to Ellie's bedroom and knocked on the door, "Come on, it's a fifteen minute drive to Ashley's. Are you ready?" Her voice poured out, "Yeah, yeah."
He backed away from the door as it swung open. At first Marco didn't know who was standing right in front of him. Eyes gently lined with silver and black, head of tousled red, and a form covered in a dark blue shirt and tight forming jeans.
He shook his head a few times and coughed, "Ellie?"
She looked down insecurely, "Too much? I just…wanted to look nicer for tonight." The teenage boy grabbed her arm, saying sincerely, "You look hot. I mean it."
Pink traveled up her neck and she uttered, "I feel silly."
"But you look gorgeous, Sean won't know what hit him."
Ellie shrugged, "But he thinks I'm pretty when I'm not trying to impress him." Marco burrowed his brows, "If he likes you, then he should think you're pretty nonetheless."
Suddenly, she smiled and breathed, "Yeah. Thanks." The girl joined in step with him as they walked down the stairs, Marco's parents passed by in the hallway from their dinner out. Marco's mom grinned, "You both have fun. Be home before it gets too late, Marco, you have your cell phone?"
He raised it up and looked out from the corner of his eyes to see his Dad eyeing Ellie, in his opinion, in a very negative way. Her best friend wrapped an protective arm around her bare shoulders and led her away; glaring and she never saw it.
As they went out to the bus stop, Ellie complained, "Your hand is freezing."
He removed his arm and they rode to Ashley's home. They rang the bell and Ashley answered, wearing a green dress that reminded Marco of something she'd wear around Grade 9.
The short haired brunette blinked, "Ellie? My God….what has Marco done to you?"
The other girl made a face, "That's all you can say to me when you first see me after two years? 'What has Marco done to you?'"
Ashley let out a sigh, "No…I didn't know what to say at first. I just…can't believe you're here."
The redhead pretended to look offend and Marco greeted the hostess, she said her hello back.
"Jimmy and Craig are in the back, if you wanted to say hi," she insisted, giving out a clear sign that she wanted to catch up with her best girl-friend. As he walked away, he heard Ellie say, "Just for the record, I made this change and it's only for the party."
Marco saw the other seniors dance to the music and looked around for his friend's faces. He found them talking in a wide group, he joined them happily.
After some time, Ellie and Ashley came to bond with them, reminiscing about old times.
The Italian boy was sitting across from everyone else and reached behind the couch, pulling out a cardboard box. Ellie eyed it, she had seen him take it with him from the house and her best friend settled his eyes on sea green.
Marco looked at Paige, "You got it?"
She got up silently and reached behind her chair, pulling out a small box of assorted knickknacks. Ellie watched as he exchanged his box with hers. The redhead asked befuddled, "I thought that was something for the party…?"
He said coolly, "Actually, it's Dylan's stuff, Paige is giving me mine back. It's a simpler way then meeting with him face-to-face."
The blonde girl replied quietly, "I think you're making a huge mistake Marco." The boy frowned miffed, "It might as well be asking you and Dean to be together."
Both girl's eyes widened with shock and Ellie was itching to smack him upside his head, even if it was an insult to Paige.
He sighed, "I'm sorry Paige."
Marco began walking away and Ellie grabbed his arm, pulling him back, "And I thought Spinner was the insensitive jerk," she remarked.
"Not now Ellie," he said as he yanked his arm out of her grasp and made his way out of her sight.
Marco was sick of it, being pitied, being taunted by his memory and those stupid nightmares, being the only one who was miserable.
The teenage boy pushed his way into the kitchen where several people including Spinner were drinking.
With shocked looks from them, Marco picked up a brown bottle and started chugging it down, without a regret in his mind. He had never had a beer before in his life and at the moment didn't care if his brain got fried from it.
The alcohol hit his system and his vision grew a little blurry, Spinner was patting him on the back, congratulating him on finally loosing up.
Meanwhile, Ellie was involved in conversation about Marco. Jimmy shook his head, "Ever since he stopped seeing Dylan…he got so out of it." Hazel commented, "You noticed that too?" Paige looked sour, "Not just him, Dylan's not exactly acting sane since their ridiculous breakup, which I still don't understand."
Ellie commented, "Both of them thought the other was cheating on him, the only way for them to make up is if they talk."
The blonde Michalchuk snapped, "Duh, Ellie, the problem is they refuse to find the balls to do it." A heated argument between them was interrupted by the shouting of drunken boys.
The blonde Spinner just finished guzzling down a whole barrel and his girlfriend rolled her eyes, muttering something about breaking up with him the evening before. What shocked them all was a small dark haired boy stumbling from the kitchen, grasping a bottle in his right hand.
Ellie was the first to get up, Marco threw his arms over her sluggishly, "Oh Ellie, you're my best friend…so cool…"
His words were slurred and in the process, the bottle fell to the floor and the liquid spilled onto the carpet.
He got down onto all fours and was prepared to lick it when the redhead pulled him up by the collar and demanded shrilly, "Are you drunk!"
Some people around them was sniggering and she waved a fist threatening, they got quiet.
No one messed with the infamous Ellie Nash.
With the help of Craig, she heaved him to his feet and Marco's glazed eyes met the taller boy's, "Hey Craig, what's going on? I thought Ellie was dating Sean, not you." Thankfully no one heard that and Craig wasn't mad, but a little embarrassed by such a allegation.
Ellie explained simply, "He's drunk," and led the smaller boy to the bathroom for some privacy. By the time Ellie shut the door, Marco was in tears and ranting nonsense.
He howled, "-S-stupid neighborhood dog, it nearly took my leg my off! But no, that donna stupida said it wouldn't hurt a fly…and said my leg was scraped! And…and Dylan treats me like garbage," he sniffed pathetically, "He was gonna be my first."
Ellie cradled his head against her chest and cooed, "Shh…you're not garbage…calm down…"
Soon, the tears were gone and Ellie was dimly reminded of raindrops, but didn't really know why.
She unlocked the bathroom door and led him out, telling Ashley that they were leaving, the brunette giving them a Look as they left. Ellie kept a firm arm on her best friend on the journey home and even managed to keep Mr. and Mrs. Del Rossi from knowing that their son was intoxicated(though it was quite a challenge). He was still blathering on about his childhood trauma.
When morning rolled around, Marco was found in his own bathroom, hungover and retching into the toilet loudly. Fortunately, it couldn't be heard outside the bathroom and Ellie, changed back to her normal garments, was beside him like the loving person she was, most of the time.
She rubbed his back soothingly and whispered comforting words in his ear, letting him take his time.
When he finished and could take gulps of fresh air, she sat down with him on the tiled floor. Ellie smoothed his bangs out of his face and said in a motherly tone, "Feeling better?"
Marco nodded, being honest and she declared, "Good, now I can do this without any regrets."
Bewilderment shone on his face and the girl smacked his head roughly, despite his slight pounding headache.
He shouted, "Fuck!"
She said, losing all traces of being gentle, "Why did you do that, you completely embarrassed me last night! You could have done something to hurt yourself! What on Earth made you drink?"
He rubbed his sore head, "I dunno…I was upset."
Her eyes darkened and Marco looked away from them frightened, "Marco."
He didn't met them.
"Marco, look at me. Now."
Reluctantly, he did and was surprised to see Ellie worried.
Bizarre women and their PMS.
She frowned, "Promise you won't do that again." Marco said fervently, "Trust me, that had to be the stupidest thing I've ever done."
An eyebrow was raised to his response.