After the party was over, Marilyn decided to head over to her house and go and look after her mother. She had been worried about her the whole night and she wanted to see her badly. Anthony offered to take her home at the dismay of Heidi, who was strongly against it. She had wanted to walk back home with Marilyn, but her parents were against it. They did not feel comfortable allowing their daughter walk around at midnight. So, they decided to make her spend the night with them. Since they could not stop Marilyn from leaving late that night, they agreed to allow Anthony take her home.
Anthony walked Marilyn back to her house just as she had wanted. When they got to the house, Marilyn offered him a seat and water to drink. Anthony accepted the seat but refused to drink anything. He had had enough to drink at the party and was not ready to drink anything else. Marilyn then decided to go and check on her mother, while Anthony waited for her at the living room. She walked straight into her mother's bedroom, where she knew she would be and sat on the bed beside her. She slowly touched her mother and realised that her temperature was rather cold. It worried her, so she decided to wake her mother up.
After so many attempts of waking her up without any success, Marilyn began to panic. Tears filled with fear, began to fall from her eyes. She ran to the living room, where Anthony was quietly seated. He had his eyes closed and his body was leaning on the small chair under him. She vigorously shook Anthony making him open his eyes in an instant. He jumped up and hurriedly looked around.
"What's wrong, Marilyn? You scared me," he said, as the panic he felt before subsided.
"My mother. She is not waking up," Marilyn began to cry.
Anthony held her in a hug and tried to comfort her. "Wait! What do you mean your mother is not waking up? What happened?"
Instead of replying him, she dragged him with her and took him to her mother's bedroom. Tears continued to fall from her eyes as she pointed to her mother who looked lifeless on the bed. Anthony walked closer to her and touched her. She was cold as ice. He quickly checked her pulse and realise there was none. He shook his head and turned towards Marilyn, who was still crying. He walked towards her and hugged her hard. This action, made Marilyn cry out. At that moment, she got to know that her mother was no longer with her. She was dead. Anthony continued to hold her as she grieved for her dead mother. Then walked her to the living room to sit.
Marilyn could not stop her tears from falling. When she left her mother, she was fine. She had never seen her sick. So, what happened? What might have taken her life?
"This is my fault. If only I had not left her alone. If only I was here with her, maybe, just maybe, she would not have been dead. I would have been able to do something to help her. It's all my fault," Marilyn continued to cry.
Anthony knelt before her. "No, Marilyn. This is not your fault. This happens. Maybe there would have been nothing you could have done to save her. This happened because it is part of life. It's terrible but it happens so that we can move on. So, don't blame yourself for something you had no control over."
"No! You don't understand. She is my mother. My only family. Now, she is dead and I am all alone. What am I going to do? How am I going to survive without her? What will I do, now?" The tears were flowing uncontrollably now and all Anthony could do was hug her again.
Marilyn cried and cried till her eyes were red and puffy. After she had calmed down a bit, Anthony offered to take her back to Heidi's house.
"No, I can't go back there! I don't want them to see me like this," she tried to refuse.
"This is not up for debate, Marilyn. You can't stay here. Listen, I will arrange for your mother's body to be taken to the morgue and properly taken care of. Even if it means having a post mortem done on her, I will do it. But, for now, let's go back to Heidi's house and let them know what happened. Please, Marilyn," Anthony said again.
After much pleading, Marilyn finally agreed. That night they walked back to Heidi's house in complete silence. Anthony was feeling bad for Marilyn and wanted to do something to make her happy. Because seeing her like this, was breaking her into pieces. He wanted to do everything in his power to protect her from all the hurt and pain she was suffering.
Finally, they were at Heidi's house. Anthony walked in with Marilyn since the gates were already opened. He closed the gates and locked it behind him, then walked into the house with Marilyn. Marilyn could not even open her eyes properly due to too much crying. Up till this point, she had become calm. She did not know how she was going to feel when she starts to recount her story again.
As they approach the house, they could hear people talking and laughing. Anthony opened the door and allowed Marilyn into the house, then followed her inside. Heidi and her parents were seated at the living room playing a game of scrabble. They all raised their heads and saw Marilyn in Anthony's arms. Heidi was quickly worried when she saw the state her friend was in. She walked towards her and held her.
"Marilyn, what's wrong?"
Marilyn could no longer control her tears anymore. Fresh tears began making their way down her pretty face, making Heidi and her parents worry more. After a few minutes of crying and wheezing, Marilyn finally spoke.
"My mother. She is... she is dead."