Marco and Star arrived at the Diaz household around dinner time. Star had wanted to fill the day with fun and games with no consequences. Marco had wanted to avoid the upcoming conversation. Opening the front door revealed a living room wherein sat his mother, looking very displeased.
"Hi Ms. Diaz!" Star greeted with her usual excitement. Angie Diaz looked at Star for a moment. She was quite sure that her son would not have skipped school under normal circumstances.
"The school called," She said in the no nonsense tone she used when one of her two boys had done something that they knew was wrong, "The principal wanted to know if you two were sick and if there was a chance of a breakout in the school. I told him that you and Star had gone running and had sprained your ankles. You are excused from classes tomorrow as well, but I do expect and explanation."
Marco's dad's voice came from the kitchen, "Was it monsters, aliens, or dinosaurs?"
Marco shrugged, "Nothing that bad, I just figured that because today's groundhog day that we could take some time off."
His mother looked confused. Marco tapped a watch that he was wearing, giving her a hint. "Oh, the one with Bill Murray!" Angie winced, remembering some of the more psychologically scarring things that happened in that movie, "I hope it hasn't been going on for too long?"
Marco hold up the watch he had tapped. The face was a picture of father time. The seven hands fan out around the face of the clock. 0:2:5:12:8:21:50 and counting. Father time's belt contains four small combination lock style numbers: 0212. Marco says before he mom can ask, "Two years. Five months, twelve days, and eight hours. Two hundred and twelve loops."
Angie Diaz walked quickly over to the two teens and hugged them hard. "I can't imagine what that's been like. You haven't done anything terrible have you?" Angie looked into her son's eyes, then over to Star, before returning to her boy.
Marco grinned a fake grin that his mother knew in her heart was false, but she accepted it anyway. The alternative was too heartbreaking to face. "Nothing too bad mom, though I don't think the police in a couple of dimensions would want to see my face ever again." Marco gave a surprisingly genuine chuckle.
His mother and Star joined him. Marco's father's voice sang out from the kitchen along with smells of well cooked meat and delicious vegetables, "Dinner's ready!"
Later
Marco lay on his bed, looking at the demonic red glow of his alarm clock. He couldn't go to sleep before he saw it. 11:36 PM. 76 hours remain. Marco's door opens silently and closes just as quietly from behind him. The shuffling of bare feet across his room tells him who it is even before her body sinks into the mattress behind him and she throws her arm over his waist.
Star holds him tightly against her. Every inch of him pressed against her. She nuzzles her face into his neck and inhales his scent. They don't bother speaking, he knows why she is here.
She was seeking comfort in a very animal way. The same way he had. Well, not the same. Not the same at all. But close enough. Marco sighed as her warmth penetrated into his skin. He wouldn't have nightmares tonight, he was sure of it. He fell asleep to the sound of surprisingly deep, unladylike snores.