By the time Marceline parked her father's car neatly in the Abadeer driveway, the sun was well and truly up, and the day had begun.
The events of the night now felt like some distant bad dream. But it had been real. And there was still someone left to tell about it. So that was why, as she unlocked the front door and walked in, the dark-haired girl felt a certain amount of reluctance as she glanced up the stairs towards Marshall's room.
"I don't care what they say," Gumble was telling Bonni as he wolfed down his breakfast of bacon, sausages, eggs and toast. "Hospital food is fantastic!"
Bonni just laughed, still just overjoyed that her brother was alright.
No brain damage, no amnesia, no long-lasting injuries, nothing. Just a mighty gash and some bruising that would heal in due time.
And as he sat there, slurping his tea and chomping his food, it hit Bonni just how much she'd miss this guy if he ever left her life.
"I love you," she said, her voice clear and sincere in the empty room, and Gumble looked up. "Don't you ever, ever forget that. I love you Gumble."
The male twin smiled, looked down and then back up, obviously moved (and wonderfully embarrassed) by Bonni's words.
"I love you too Bonni," he said, his voice just as honest and earnest. "Seriously, I don't know what I'd do without you. I love you. A lot."
The twins smiled warmly at each other just as the door opened and their father walked in, heaving a grave sigh. His disgruntled face lit up for a moment when he saw his children, but as she closed the door neatly behind him, his smile disappeared.
He looked back around at them, his eyebrows knitted together in irritation.
"What's wrong Papa?" Gumble questioned, and Perry sighed again.
"I just talked to the police," he informed the twins, sitting down heavily in the chair next to Bonni's. "They went over to Robert Lich's house to arrest him for assault and – well – it looks like he's run away."
Bonni and Gumble exchanged shocked, slightly puzzled glances.
"Run away?" Bonni repeated. "What do you mean?"
Perry shrugged.
"He's nowhere to be found," he replied. "Police searched the house just to see if his parents were lying but they honestly seemed to have no idea that their son was involved in any trouble last night. Or that he's run off. He obviously figured out that being such a massive savage to Gumble was going to get him in some serious difficulty so he made it his mission to vanish into thin air."
"But they'll find him Papa, right?" Bonni was quick to say. "They'll find him and arrest him for what he did?"
Perry frowned and seemed to think about this for a moment.
"Well of course," he said. "I imagine he can't stay hidden forever. But still, to know that the barbarian is running around somewhere out there..."
Gumble stared down at his breakfast, thinking about this.
Lich, running from the police, probably panicked and angry. If he had run, that obviously meant he knew he was in trouble, knew he had nothing left to lose.
The red-haired boy pushed his tray away.
Suddenly, his appetite was completely gone.
Marceline leaned in close against the door that was slightly ajar, hearing her brother snoring from within.
She had nearly walked away twice, wanting so badly to leave him undisturbed in blissful ignorance. But both times, she had slunk back to his bedroom door, knowing that she had to do this.
She had to be honest with him.
Finally summoning the courage she needed, Marceline knocked quickly but vigorously on the door.
Nothing happened. Marshall continued sleeping, uninterrupted.
Marceline tried again, slightly louder.
This time, Marshall mumbled a little in his sleep but then started snoring again, louder than ever.
His sister rolled her eyes and gave the door one final, loud rap with her fist.
Bang.
"Whuh?"
Marshall stirred from within and Marceline pushed open the door.
"Hey," she said softly.
Marshall looked groggily up at her, not even sitting up in the bed.
"Marceline?" he asked blearily, and then glanced at his bedside clock. "What the fuck are you doing? It's seven o' clock in the morning!"
But then he saw the seriousness of her stance, the sombre look on her face, the kindly way her eyes were fixed on him. So the male twin sat up quickly then, frowning at his sister.
"What's wrong? Did something happen? Is it Dad? Do I-?"
"Calm down dude, everyone's OK," Marceline said, taking a seat at the edge of his bed. "But something's happened and you should know about it."
Marshall crossed his arms and looked at his sister expectantly.
Lich chucked his duffel bag over the wall before he shifted his body onto the top of the wall and then threw his legs over, landing on the hard concrete patio of the unkempt, overgrown garden.
Then he turned around and peered into the window of the house's back door. He had gotten lucky. Mimi Mowton was sitting at her kitchen table, smoking a cigarette.
"Me-Mow!" Lich knocked hard on the door. "It's Lich, let me in!"
As she opened the latch of the back door, Me-Mow gave Lich a hard smack on the shoulder.
"Fucking moron. You scared the shit out of me!"
"Sorry," Lich growled, trying not to lose his cool at her cheeky tone, especially as he needed a favour from her. "Listen, your parents are away for the week, right?"
Me-Mow puffed out some cigarette smoke.
"Nicholas isn't my dad. But yeah," she shrugged. "I have the place to myself. Why?"
Lich held up his duffel bag.
"You owe me one from the whole E thing, remember. Let me stay for a while?"
Me-Mow raised her eyebrows but then, remembering the incident with the ecstasy pills, gestured that Lich should come inside.
Marshall stayed very quiet after his sister finished the story.
He looked down at his hands, balling them into fists, stretching them out again and then repeating. He did this for a little while before looking back up at Marceline.
"Why didn't you call me?" he asked, and his voice was dangerously hushed.
Marceline winced. He was hurt. She had upset him.
"Dude, I was going to but - " Marceline struggled for words. "It was all just so crazy man! One minute Bonni was waking me up with a phone call, the next we were driving around looking for Gumble, then we found him in the field," Marshall cringed, "and then all of a sudden, we were in the waiting room. And it all went by so fast and -"
"And you didn't think about me for any of it. Yeah, got it," Marshall slid off the bed as Marceline looked at him incredulously.
Marshall said nothing else. He just picked up a pair of jeans from the floor and began pulling them on.
"Dude, that's not fair," Marceline said disbelievingly. "I didn't know how to deal with the situation, I was just taking it step by step, texting you didn't even cross my mind, I-"
"Yeah, I didn't cross your mind, I said I got it."
Marceline blinked, and then felt anger sneaking up on her, turning her expression irritated.
"Well, none of it was about you," she pointed out, trying to keep her cool. "It was about Gumble and Bonni and Mr Boehm and-"
"And if it was Bonni, I would have called you!" Marshall snapped, turning back around to face his sister as he zipped up his hoodie. "In a heartbeat. It would have been my first instinct to tell you how your girlfriend was doing, especially as you're my sister and I'm-"
"That's bullshit Marshall!" Marceline snapped back, interrupting him. "I didn't have time to think about anything or anyone tonight, we just had to keep going with what was happening and try to keep calm and, and, it's not fair of you to be mad at me man, it's just not. You have no idea what it was like in that waiting room, just-"
"Because you didn't CALL ME!"
His furious words seemed to reverberate in the room, and Marceline could only stare at him.
The twins exchanged a fuming glare with one another before Marshall stomped angrily from the room, trudged heavily down the stairs and slammed the front door loudly on his way out.
Marceline sat motionlessly at the edge of the bed for a moment, going over what had just happened inside her head. Then she stood up sharply and left, giving one of Marshall's shoes a hard kick as she went.
She walked down the hallway to her own bedroom, changed quickly and silently into her pyjamas, and lay down in the bed, closing her eyes and hoping that things would be better when she opened them again.