Next Time? There Won't Be No Next Time

Finally after a long, almost silent car journey home, I unlock the front door. As I step in, I can already tell it needs a good cleaning. I don't start yet as I have things to clear with Marshall. How he lied to me about having to leave for his benefit. How he never told me about his mother, even though he knew I was extremely close to her when we were together the first time.

Now is my chance as he just slumps on the couch, not even with the TV on.
"How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?"
"No thanks. I'm okay I guess. I don't know what to do. My moms partner is in jail cos of me and he has nobody left. I just don't feel as though my mom will be proud of what I have done to him, I don't think she would ever forgive me. I mean do I leave and start a new life? Do I bail him out, but I don't have the money unless my agent pays me for the battle." He sighs with relief that he finished his little speech. Why would he leave? I thought he loved me. Why would he want to bail that man out? He hated him, apparently he gave his mom cancer?
"Oh. I think you just need to think things over. But I think you need to worry more about what to do with your mothers funeral and about her house. I'm glad you mentioned the battle. May I ask why you..." I was cut off by him. I think he knows what I wanted to ask.
"I know I lied to you and I didn't tell you about her illness, but I just didn't want to worry you. I mean you would have been checking if I was okay all the time and you would have gotten yourself too stressed. I just didn't want you to get all worried and stuff. I wanted your life to be as normal as possible."
I smile at what he said as he seems as though he cares a lot more for me then I had thought.

Errgg cleaning, it's just that fun when there is so much of it. Marshall offered to help loads, but he has much more to do. He has been on and off the phone for the past two hours and I'm still not finished. I still have upstairs and the living room. Guess we will be having some greasy take-out dinner again...

When I'm finally done, we sit down and have our "lovely" dinner. Half way through we are interrupted by a knock at the door.
As we creep open the door we see a very built figure on the other side. He his wearing a police uniform and looks quite concerned.
"Evening Officer, is there anything we can do?" I ask, trying not to sound too scared and sarcastic.
"Yes Madam there is. May I come in?"
We lead him in and shut the door behind him, we all go and sit on the couch without saying a word.
"I understand that Marshall's Mother has died recently and I need to know the facts about the man she recently was living with. I have heard from my sources that he stressed her out and may have been the cause of her cancer. I have also been told that he threw her down the stairs at one point. Is any of this true Mr. Mathers?" Marshall looks very shocked and quite scared and it takes him a while to answer.
"Yes all of that information is true about that man. I don't know much else about my mothers relationship with him because once I got to 14, 4 years after he moved in, I ran away to become who I am today. The four years I knew him, neither of us liked each other, he would shout at me for sitting with my mother, he would abuse me if I started singing one of my songs I wrote. I could never bring friends round, or go out at the weekends and holidays as he preferred to shout at me instead of me being out of his way." Now Marshall looks worried and I can see his eyes tearing up.
"Thankyou, I am guessing your mother never knew about what he did to you?"
"She did, whenever he would abuse me or shout at me, my mom would stand up for me. But she would soon regret that as he would push her, hit her and not give either of us a chance to apologize for what we have done. We both tried our hardest to talk when ever he was not in the room but he would shout from the other room and then would come in and threaten us if we did it again. In the first year he lived there we were all happy families but as soon as I started liking rap he hated me for it and would smash all my records and rip up my song lyrics."
"Well I think that is all I need to hear about this man. I also came here to let you know he is being trialed this weekend and we need you both as witnesses, especially you Marshall as you know what he has been doing over the years. Here is all the details you need on this piece of paper. Thankyou for your time. I am sorry for disrupting your meal time." The police officer gets up and leaves and Marshall and I sit in silence for about a minute.
"You never told me about your child hood. I wish I knew about this so I could back you up this weekend."
"You don't need to worry about backing me up, all you need to do is prove what I say about him, we will do fine, we know he will get a sentencing, I just hope it's for life."