what did just hapend
Marc stared at the stained ceiling of his hotel room, processing how he got there, it had been a hasty decision on his father's part, it took running away from home and threatening to illegally recruit himself into the army, for his father to finally decide to act.
.
He followed him from the house to the subway station that Marc planned to board, then he promised to leave her, told him that they would leave together and that he would not have to return to that horrible "hospital."
Jake was there, screaming inside his head, telling him to keep walking and not to look back and not believe him. Steven was there too, trying to calm them down. He suggested turning around and listening to what Elías had to say, saying that maybe they could believe him, always diplomatic, always desperate to fix everything.
Marc thought about ignoring them all and just jumping onto the train tracks, but it was the shouted promise that he would never have to see his mother again, that he listened to Steven, and let Elias tell him what he had to say.
He said almost all the things he should have said years ago, that his mother was not going to change, that he would help them, this time, by staying away from her.
He stopped for a moment, thought, imagined Jake, Steven and himself, out of danger, away from her, and in the end he was walking back with Elías.
They walked back.
When they get, Marc feared that his father had lied, that he would lock him back with the monster, and that this time they wouldn't have another chance to escape, Jake said he wouldn't allow it, Steven said Dad wouldn't.
He saw his father hesitate for a moment.
But Elías walked directly to the closet with his suitcases, completely ignoring his wife's unconscious and drunk body.
Marc wasted no time, running up the stairs, allowing his father to pack the bags.
Jake took control and ignored the books, the worn markings on the walls, and the belt hanging in the corner.
He grabbed a few more things than he'd already packed in his escape bag.
He was pushed, and Steven was in control, he walked quickly and with shaky delicacy removed the old Thumb Buster poster, he left the room letting Marc take over.
Going down the stairs he watched his father writing a note to leave attached to the last unopened bottle of wine, undoubtedly the first thing Wendy would look for, when she woke up.
Avoiding the bottles scattered on the living room floor, Elías took his wallet from the dresser and put the money that was under the vase, he searched the drawers and took out several sheets of paper, Marc assumed they were documents.
His dad had tears in his eyes, the conviction in them surprised Marc, Steven mentally calm him, telling him that everything would be okay.
Marc had always thought his father was a coward. But in that moment, he thought maybe he wasn’t such a coward.
Soon they would be gone and wouldn't have to come back.
He took the car keys and loaded the suitcases, Marc didn't even hesitate before throwing his backpack into the back of the car and getting in, he left the passenger seat empty, he simply couldn’t look Elias in the face for long.
Maybe he was doing the right thing now, but it took him too long.
He watched as his father dialed a number he didn't know,
He didn't hear what he said, he didn't want to sleep, but no one wanted to be in front, so they stayed still, his body present but no one driving, Steven began to recite the beginning of one of his favorite history books, his voice became A pleasant hum in the back of their shared brain, Jake decided to take the wheel, just to keep them safe.
He was taking care of the body, it wasn't safe yet, he could wake up and discover that they were back in the monster's mouth.
A blink and he was outside a decent looking hotel, Marc and Steven closer to unconsciousness than to him.
Elías opened the door for him and looked at him worried, possibly he had been trying to get his attention for a while, he got out of the car ignoring the hand he extended to him, he walked towards the trunk and found it closed, he looked at Elías for a moment.
He opened it with a click of the key and they both grabbed a suitcase. They hadn’t taken much—just two suitcases and Marc’s backpack
They walked towards the hotel, the hotel lobby was nothing special, just a boring old hotel that possibly hadn't been properly remodeled since before he was born, nice enough to not be a seedy hotel, but further away from being actually nice, not that Jake or any of them were used to much else.
His room hadn't even received new sheets since everything went to shit, Wendy wouldn't let him spend a single penny on the disgusting dog she had to share a roof with, and Elías was too cowardly to argue with her. Wendy would surely notice if his room received a replacement of the old "sheets" that wear out quickly, and his father definitely wouldn't take that risk, at least not until today.
Their father walked up to the front desk and gave his name and the tired assistant behind the counter didn't bother to look at them before handing them some rusty keys with a tag.
Fortunately the elevator was working, Elías marked the 3rd floor and they went up in complete silence.
They searched through the numbers he assumed were once golden, until they found room 98.
Once in the room, Marc approached the front, and the two stood looking outside through the not very clean window of the two-bed room.
The emotions of the day still hadn't caught up with them, the only one possibly processing everything was Steven.
Nothing seemed real or tangible, their clothes seemed too rough, and the air too toxic, he didn't believe they had escaped her, not completely and not at all.
Steven was busy processing all the emotional complexity around everything, so they didn't bother him.
"Marc"
Elías's voice brought Jake out of his reflective moment, Marc tried to push him away so he could talk to his father, but Jake didn't want to give in, so he stood his ground.
He didn't want to talk to Elías, he wouldn't even recognize his existence when they talked, let alone sweet Steven's, but he also didn't want Marc to face it yet, the emotions were too complex to process yet.
He stood firm and bravely turned his face toward Elijah.
"Marc... I have, I have to go out for a moment, you can settle in while he gets back. If you want, of course"
"That was a bit pathetic, don't you think?" Steven's sleepy little voice pointing out the obvious almost made him smile, but he held back, Elías was still in the room,
He tried to approach Jake, possibly to initiate some kind of physical contact, but Jake walked away, Marc just watched from inside.
"Marc..."
Elias looked at him with that wet look that only Steven had inherited, just that Steven is much better at it than him. The sad look in his eyes sought to convince, but Jake stood his ground, looking at him as if he were going to stab him.
"I have to go"
Elías took the keys back, and left with the papers in hand, the "I have to clean up our mess and contact a good lawyer" was left floating in the air, not daring to be uttered.
The moment Elias got out of the room, Jake decided he had had enough, and stepped back from the wheel, not caring who took over, he was sure that whoever it was would be ready enough to front.
Steven blinked slowly, looking carefully at the very nice room, very nice, the sheets looked...
"They look like shit." Jake provides one of his many unnecessarily negative comments, but still manages to make Steven smile.
"Thank, genius, I didn't realize."
"Jake’s right, Marc, but I think it’s a massive improvement compared to what we had back home."
Jake preened gracelessly for a moment at the admission that he was right, quickly rushing to correct Steven.
"I wouldn't call it our home."
"You, erm," Steven sighed, "you... you're right."
This time Jake didn't say anything.
"Soon we will have our own house, without her, just us"
"and your old man"
Marc growled but did not reply.
Wow, Marc was actually taking a break from being a miserable git, and Steven wasn't about to miss the chance for a bit of positive reinforcement—something he'd picked up from one of those 'how to handle a troubled teenager' books Dad kept trying to stash away."
"Well, this time, you’re spot on, Marc."
Marc remained silent, but it was clear that he liked it, Steven was satisfied, and began to unpack, unable to bear a mess that did not involve folders and books.
They sat in silence as Steven put some knick-knacks on the dresser and hung two days' worth of shirts and pants in the closet. He didn't see the point in unpacking everything; they wouldn't stay for long, but the clothes had been thrown around and crushed in the hurry, Steven spent the next hour and a half unpacking the suitcases and properly folding the clothes and arranging the other things in the compartments. When he finished, the suitcases looked like something out of a magazine catalogue.
He pushed them to the corner and lay down on the bed closest to the door, he knew the boys would like it better that way, he let Marc take the wheel, he stayed close in case Marc got lost while he processed things.
Marc stared at the stained hotel room ceiling, not really sure how almost escaping from the house put him in a rundown hotel room.
He didn’t know how long he had been lying there, processing what he could. Maybe it was five minutes, maybe five hours."
He sat up the moment he heard the door open, standing still as his father walked in with a woman in tow.
"Marc"
His eyes went from the woman to his father, he really hoped it wasn't what he was thinking, "if so I'm going to..." "Lads" Steven interjected, "it's dad " Steven, always the voice of reason, was right. He doesn't believe his father could sleep with any woman who wasn't a prostitute even if he tried, especially if he tried.
"Hello Marc"
The woman's voice was soft, intended to be firm but ended up being almost disinterested.
His father deigned to give an explanation.
"Marc, son." Jake sensed the desperate attempt to reassert his ownership of Marc as a father, to which in his opinion he had no right. He didn't want to distress Marc, so he stayed silent and watched from the inside.
"This is Miss Katherine Smith"
"She’s going to help us."