Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 21:16:09 EDT From: DefJamMariah85@aol.com Subject: When Souls Fly Free chapter 9 Marcus rolled the red chevy pick up into the Greniers driveway. Both boys stepped out and headed for the front door Marcus jiggled the keys in the handle and opened the door With Terell following behind him. "Thank god.." Marcus breathed a sigh of relief as he and Terell headed inside the house. The somber sound of rubber soles scraping across the carpet filled the room as Terrell could cut Marcus's tension with a knife. Marcus began to rummage through his drawers to find a change of clothes. "Babe, will ya get me my duffle bag?" Marcus asked. "You bet" Terell reached under a table and pulled out a blue duffle bag and approached Marcus. He sat the duffle bag down and sat on his bed..Marcus standing in front of him. "I know what you need.." Terell coyly said as he gently tapped Marcus's right foot. "And what is that?" Marcus replied half stressed and half smiling as he snatched the double bag off the bed. Terell quickly stood up and stood almost face to face with Marcus. A bit startled...Marcus stood still with Terell so close he thought he was gonna receive a nice kiss. "You need some cheering up mister". Terell said as he pulled a trick out of his sleeve and pinched Marcus on the nose and ran away giggling. "Ah!...you're a clown you know that?" Marcus said rubbing his nose and laughing. "You're gonna pay for that" "Bring it on!" "You're on dude..I'll get you when you least expect it" Marcus retorted...grinning from ear to ear..a plan up his sleeve too. "Hey, don't you have to get some clothes too?" "Oh yeah...that would help wouldn't it? haha...ok I'll meet you back here...cool?" Terell said heading down the 1st step. "Gotcha" Marcus replied...continuing to get his dad some clothes, then of course..the toothbrushes. Terell stepped across the Grenier's front yard and slipped through the side gate and directed himself over to his house. As he went though the front door into the kitchen..he found his mother at the table filling out some paper work. "Hey mama, I'm just gonna grab some clothes and then head back to the hospital with Marcus". Terell said giving his mom a kiss on the cheek. "Ok son...hey...how is Mrs. Grenier?" Mrs. Jackson shouted as Terell was heading towards his room. "Well she's awake now but they won't know anything more until the results of the biopsy come back..won't be for a couple of days I think" Terell shouted back as he began to pack his things quickly. "I hope everything turns out alright" Mrs Jackson said to herself. Just then, Terell came into the kitchen with a tiny suitcase in hand. "Ok mama, see you tomorrow" Terell said rapidly starting for the door. "Hey now ...can't you at least give me a lil hug?" Mrs. Jackson said in a overprotective tongue. "Oh alright" Terell said smiling..and gave her a hug. "You and Marcus been..uh..hittin it off really well lately..." Mrs. Jackson said with a slight undertone of suspicion. "Well..we've just become good friends..he's really cool" Terell retorted carefully. "Well that's good, ok see ya later baby" "bye!"Terell said as he headed over to Marcus's house. Marcus was in the living room ready and waiting. They both hopped into the red chevy again. They drove through the streets of Shelby in the cool evening air. Marcus felt a little more lighthearted thanks to Terell..and not to mention..devious.... Marcus noticed the gas tank was almost empty and decided this was the perfect time to get Terrell back for earlier. "Damn..almost out of gas...better stop and get some" Marcus said noticing the nearest gas station and pulling in. The red stopped into the 1st pump as Marcus applied the brake. "Babe, will you run inside and put 10 in for us? and get me a drink..I'm awful thirsty, you want something too?" Marcus said handing Terell 20 dollars. "Alright..what you want?" "Surprise me" Marcus said grinning. Terell agreed and hopped out of the truck and headed for the store. "Yes.." Marcus giggled as he stepped out of the Chevy and for a second pretended to stand by the truck waiting to pump. Then when he saw Terell couldn't see him...he snuck back in the truck and opened Terell's suitcase and stole his underwear and put it in his duffle bag, then hopped back out and started pumping the gas, it took all his strength not to start laughing when he saw Terell coming out with two drinks in his hands. The nozzle on the pump ran out and the two young men started off towards the hospital once again. Once they arrived, they quickly wove their way through the hospital and found their floor. They found Mrs. Grenier's room and set their things down under a table beside her bed. Mrs. Grenier had fallen asleep and was peacefully resting in her gown. "Hey boys" Mr. Grenier greeted them. "The doc came in while you were out and said the blood work is gonna be done tomorrow" "Oh ok" Marcus replied. "I got your stuff here dad, you sure you don't wanna go and take a walk for a while?" "It's alright son I'll be fine" Mr. Grenier stated not wanting to leave his wife's side. Marcus and Terell decided to sit down and stay and keep Mr. Grenier company for what was 30 min but seemed like 30 years. A feeling of uncertainty came over Marcus as he watched his mother laying there in the bed, soon he began to feel hot and a bit shaky. He didn't know what was going on but it kept getting worse..his heart started to pound faster. "Um......"...Marcus muttered squirming. Terell noticed this. "You ok man?" Terell asked as he sat up ..alerted "I think I ate something that didn't agree with me, I'm gonna go find a bathroom..I`ll be right back guys" Marcus said nervously. "I'll go with you, I gotta go too" Terell followed, knowing he didn't have to go but knew Marcus wasn't feeling right and wanted to make sure he was ok. Marcus quickly picked up his pace and walked ahead of Terell...heart racing and not knowing why. "Hey!...wait up babe don't go so fast sheesh.." Marcus continued in his frenzy and suddenly turned to the next mens room..starting to breath heavily. Terell ran up behind him quickly blocking the door as it nearly shut on him from Marcus's oblivion to the rest of the world. "Hey!..stop!..what's going on!!" Terell blurted grabbing Marcus by the arm and pulling him aside noticing his face and neck red as an apple. "I...don't feel so good..." Marcus said fanning himself. "I don't know what happened." "Geez babe your burnin up, lets get you cooled off" Terell said taking Marcus to a sink. A light bulb went off in Terell's head...he knew what was wrong as he saw Marcus bent over and splashing his face with water then stand up and dry his face with a paper towel. "You're just nervous baby......don't worry this has happened to me too...it's normal" Terell comforted Marcus. "Damn.." Marcus said taking a deep breath "I'm just so worried about my mom......I had this anxious feeling..." "I know, it hits you all of a sudden..like a train wreck right?" Terell said knowingly. "Yeah...how'd you know?" "That would happen to me before a football game, a few times I got all nervous thinking about the game" Terell replied. "Terell......what if something happens to my mom?" "I know you're worried babe and you have every right to to be...but you can't keep on worrying too much like this, you're gonna stress yourself out thinking about what could happen, trust me I know what I'm talkin about..." Terell said remembering his football days. "You're right" Marcus said sighing "I gotta calm down... nothing bad is for sure yet..." "Well it's nighttime so what do ya say we go change and freshen up?" Terell said. Then, Marcus suddenly remembered "the payback" and completely forgot about his worries and smiled mischievously. "Sounds good to me" Marcus replied trying not to show a smirk. They headed back to the room and got their stuff and headed back to the bathroom to change. They each went into separate stalls so that if someone came in...they wouldn't have to worry about two young men being seen sharing a stall together, Shelby Alabama wasn't exactly that open minded. Marcus finished changing and stuffed Terell's underwear in the front of his shorts, stifling a laugh as he heard Terell rummaging around to find his underwear. Marcus darted out of his stall like a ninja with impeccable timing and headed towards the sink. "Hey......now I could have sworn I put my undies in here!" Terell complained while ruffling around in his duffle bag. Marcus grinned as he trotted over to Terell's stall..underwear protruding and ready for the setup. "Comin babe.."...Marcus opened up Terells stall and posed with a lean up against one wall. "Lookin for something?..."Marcus said smiling and laughing out loud at the sight of Terell standing there facing him......with a shirt on......and nothing else......his manhood completely exposed. "You asshole!" Terell snapped as he snatched his underwear from Marcus's shorts and slipped them on. "Told ya I'd get ya back didn't I?" Marcus smirked. "Ok ok ya got me.." "Guess I was the one who got to see YOU in your "sexy underwear"!" Marcus replied. "Yeah yeah yeah" Terell said as he muscled Marcus out of the way and headed for the sinks......looking back and smiling at him. Two days had passed and Mrs. Grenier was released from the hospital. Her bed had already been set up for her to rest. Marcus gave her a much un-invited lecture on how she needed to slow down. Terell had another day with baby sitting Michelle and was having a interesting time as usual. It wasn't long before Mrs. Grenier couldn't stand being still any longer. "Marcus honey, would you mind takin a walk with me out to the garden?, I'm feelin mighty cooped up here" Mrs. Grenier said to her son. Marcus agreed and both of them walked out to meet the roses in the evening sun. "These roses need tendin to" she said eagerly. "Now mama you know you need to be resting" Marcus said. "I know I know...by the way...you remember that cocoon we saw?... I wonder if its still there" "Be careful...doc said not to bend down too fast..."Marcus said finding that same rosebush and helping his mother bend her tired body over. They quickly discovered the cocoon was still there......but empty. "Well...look at that...already flown" Mrs. Grenier said. "Yeah..time moves on" Marcus replied. "Alright then ..aahhh lets go back inside" Mrs. Grenier grunted as she carefully brought herself to her feet with Marcus at her arm. "It's sure good to be home" "I'm glad you're home too......" Marcus replied with a pang of uncertainty. **ok guys.........sorry about the wait....hope you enjoyed this one email me at DefJamMariah85@aol.com for feed back!**