Well, even though there were no answers to the note if I should do this. I decided to do a part two of Marco's new story.
Marco Maloney again, part two
"Here we are…" Duke hit the breaks outside Stowey House having Marco sitting right next to him. "It's nice to get out of the hospital isn't it. Since the doctors didn't really things you had any big injuries we wanted to take you out of there as soon as possible."
Marco sat turned forward but was leaning his head to the side of the seat leaned so he watched the house that would be his home. Just like his home with his mum and dad, Rosie and Bruno had been only yesterday.
"Should we go inside? It looks big and scary now but after a while it gets better and you seem like a nice guy so I'm sure you'll make new friends right away. There's Lol and Bouncer, and there's Layla and Hailey, and there's…"
Duke stopped when Marco turned his head and only looked back on him. Marco couldn't have cared any less. All he wanted was to be back with his own family in his own home.
"Well…" Duke cringed at how much like Elaine he sounded. "…Let's get in then, shall we?"
Marco didn't seem so interested in that, he hugged the teddy bear from the ambulance tight in his hand but that was the only way he moved at all. Duke unbuckled the belt for him but he didn't stand up to step up and Duke leaned back in his seat when Marco didn't move.
"Marco…" Duke tried carefully, nothing he could ever say, now or ever would be the right thing. "I'm so sorry for what happened tonight."
But nothing could ever change it so you might as well get on with your life.
Duke didn't at all say that last. If there was something that was even more wrong than anything else he could possibly say.
That was when he looked down on Marco's clothes and remembered.
"Firefighter Maloney?" Marco reacted at last. "Should we go inside?"
Firefighter Maloney took over and nodded slightly. He then finally moved, opened the door to the car and faced the house he would be living in.
"Would Firefighter Maloney like to hold an adult's hand going inside for the first time?"
Marco… sorry, firefighter Maloney looked up on the dark skinned, large man next to him and shook his head.
"Would… Marco Maloney like to do that?"
Marco Maloney took over again and looked up on the man right by him and nodded. When Duke held out his hand Marco laid his smaller one in his and carefully took one step after the other towards the large house and all of its windows and front door.
Duke opened the door and then led Marco through a hallway and into an office. In the office sat a woman- possibly Indian, another woman dark skin, and a tall, young care worker that looked like he didn't know this place any better than what Marco felt he did.
"Well, this is Elaine, who was going to come pick you up." Just as Duke presented her Elaine sneezed and wiped her nose. "But you can see the reason why. This is Jenny, our head care worker. She's in charge. Sometimes she acts like she's big and mean but really she's just nice. And that is Nathan. He's only been here for a few months but he's already showed he's not as stupid as he looks like."
Nathan laughed with the others until he suddenly turned bright red and looked back on Duke more sternly than before.
"HEY."
Marco didn't even try to smile. He just wasn't feeling up to smiling and no one could blame him. He only looked down on his clothes and felt the beanie that was on his head and remembered that he wasn't Marco right now, but firefighter Maloney.
"Should I show you to your room?" Duke asked. "Or would you like me to get one of the kids and they can do it?"
Firefighter Maloney let go of Duke's hand- he did not hold hands. He then straightened his back and put the hands behind his back.
"Oh.. you're Firefighter Maloney. I get it."
"Firefighter?" Nathan suddenly spoke from his corner. "Have you heard about that was a few miles away from here last night. If you're a firefighter then maybe you could have stopped it from happening."
Duke could feel his heart breaking when looking down on the boy that held up his bandaged hands and looked down on them.
"It was Marco's fault."
"Do you know what I think?" Duke said shakily. "I think you should tell Marco that it wasn't his fault. That it was just an accident. And then I think I should get one of the kids down here and I can talk to my colleagues? Okay?"
"…I think I'd like to go myself. If that's okay. I'm just going to look at the kitchen and living room- there are those, right?"
"There are. Sure, you just shout if you need anything."
Firefighter Maloney turned and left the room, he then walked through the hallway he found outside the office. He could hear voices of other kids, young ones like himself and teenagers, older ones. He looked quietly in different directions but there was something that kept him from all other directions than one. Meanwhile the staff was talking about him in the office.
"The thing is…" Duke told his colleagues, wrapping one of his hands around the other as if struggling what to say. "…That fire… Marco wasn't just near it… He was the one who started the fire… His parents and both his little siblings are now dead and he blames himself for it."
"But…" Nathan heard himself say. "…It was an accident. It must have been an accident."
Duke nodded, his throat was so thick he couldn't bear to make his voice heard.
"It was an accident." He said at last. "But you know… humans do have a way with blaming themselves even for accidents. Even when nobody else would."
"There was a picture in the newspaper… Maybe it said something more that… will help us with how we should meet Marco… That for some reason is dressed up as a firefighter stating that dressed up like that it's not him. And it was Marco who started the fire, so dressed up it's not him… where is it?"
Jenny stood up, claiming she had left the paper on the table, but as she came closer to the kitchen her stomach clenched when she saw it had been opened and left on pages with the fire last night.
Why had she just left it there for anyone to see?
"You don't have to look at that."
Jenny closed the newspaper in front of Marco, then took it when she saw the front page was too covered in a big photo of the burning house, rolled it up and hid it beneath her arm when she took it to take it away from him.
"Marco…" She started when she saw the look in his eyes and the tears rolling down his cheeks. "…It wasn't your fault. Accidents happen, it could just as well have happened to me."
"I'm not Marco. I'm firefighter Maloney and I could have put that fire out."
But firefighter Maloney still looked very nervous when he watched the toaster that stood on the counter next to him. Jenny was reminded that it was almost dinner time and decided that this might be the point to ask what he would like.
"Well firefighter Maloney. What does firefighter Maloney like to eat? Toast? Cereal?"
Marco… Firefighter Maloney just shrugged and looked down on his hands, as burned and bandaged they were he would have trouble eating anything at all and he might even need help.
"I guess a Firefighter likes Kebabs?"
Marco looked as if he wanted to do anything else but eat. But Nathan came after to see where Jenny had been caught up and saw the look in Marco's eyes.
"Do you know what… Maloney?" He asked. "You and I can go on a ride. Away from all of these people for half an hour, an hour or something. And I can get you something. How does that sound?"
Jenny frowned towards her younger colleague. But knowing he was the nicest guy she nodded towards Marco and nodded towards him to tell Marco it was alright. Marco seemed hesitant at first and wasn't quite looking at Nathan while walking after him.
"Where are you going?" A dark- skinned, curly- haired about Marco's own age came down the stairs. "Nathan? I want to go with you too." She looked to the new kid that she didn't recognize. "Who are you?"
"You can't come with us this time Dolly." Dolly put her arm over her chest and stomped her foot. "Not even when you do something like that? This is Marco and he's going to live with you. Now come on Marco, there's something I'm going to do for you."
"I WANT TO COME TOO."
Dolly shouted at them but Nathan tried to ignore her while he led Marco outside and into the staff's car.
"Don't tell the others I let you ride in the front seat. Okay?"
Marco didn't even react, he went back to what he'd been doing when Duke drove him and just stared out the window as if he didn't even see the roads, the people and the trees that were outside it.
"Here we are." Nathan stopped in front of a store that had all kinds of Children's stuff. "Do you know what they have in here?" Marco silently shook his head. "Loads of dress up clothes. And if I get this right, you don't really like Marco. So you want to dress up, am I right?" There was a moment, then Marco nodded. "Well, I know I like Marco. And I want him to be able to do what he wants and what makes him feel alright. Does it make you feel alright so you're not Marco?" There was a moment again, before he nodded. "Well, the thing is. You can't be a Firefighter forever. If so the others might start teasing you about it. So you come inside with me. Okay?"
Marco let hear a sigh, he didn't want to do this or anything at all. But for the first time since last night someone was actually talking to him as if he was going to break so he unbuckled his belt and got out of the car and came inside with the older boy as he took a basket and rolled it into the great, big store.
"Here." Nathan looked around the great, big party store and pointed to the point there were things for dressing up, there were suits for magicians, priests, dogs, cats, horses, wrestlers, doctors and everything else that could be imagined. "Take whatever you want. Just make sure they're of your size and then put it in the basket."
If Jenny, Duke or Elaine… or anyone else were here they would stop him doing it and saying just that. But having seen the look in Marco's eyes when he was wearing that made up fireman dress up Nathan just couldn't help it.
Nathan thought to himself that it would probably be nothing more than a couple of weeks until Marco had grown out of this and would let Jenny take him into town to get him his own clothes before anything else.
If Nathan only knew how wrong he was watching Marco struggled with bandages around both of his hands when he put one piece of dress up clothes after the other in the basket…
If Nathan only knew how Marco felt when he thought back to the night before and how he'd knocked the candles over. The candles that had at last put fire to his whole house.
If Nathan only knew how the scenes were playing like a movie on and on on the insides of Marco's eyelids.
If he only knew that dressed up Marco could pretend he was somebody else. Dressed up Marco could pretend he didn't see those scenes.
If Nathan- if anyone at all knew that Marco thought that as anyone else he wouldn't have to be the kid who set fire to his old house and killed his parents and his younger siblings.
Random fact
I was having some trouble with writing the end of this chapter. I hope it worked.
