Chapter Text
It was a dark and quiet Friday night that found Marvin Mannix at home alone, sitting in front of the TV, flipping through the channels, not finding much of interest to watch. Every so often he'd reach into a crinkly bag of pretzels and take one out to slowly munch on. Night had gradually fallen during the time that had passed ever since he'd planted his behind on the couch, however long ago that had been, and by now the house was completely dark, other than the flickering glow that the television cast onto the walls and furniture of the living room. Marvin's parents were both working late, and there were no other lights on in the entire house.
A brief silence occurred between the end of one annoyingly blaring commercial and the beginning of another equally irksome one, and no sooner than the moment had passed did Marvin's eyes grow incredibly wide.
No. No, there was no way…
He reached for the remote and hit the mute button, plunging the house into complete silence. He strained to listen.
All he heard was his own heartbeat and the blood rushing through his ears.
He must have imagined it. There was no way he'd just heard what he thought he heard.
He was about to unmute the TV when he heard it again, more clearly this time.
Instead of bringing the volume back, he hit the power button instead--whether intentionally or not, he didn't know. Chills ran down his spine, having just added complete darkness to the complete silence, but it was just as well. Less for his eyes meant more for his ears, and he willed them to hear it again for a third time, but the silence was soon drowned out by his own ragged breathing. He took a deep breath and held it.
You imagined it, he told himself, trying not the freak out. There's just no way…
Then he heard it again, faintly. The sound of a voice calling his name. A very distinct voice he'd heard many times before.
The backyard. It was coming from the backyard.
He leaped off the couch, taking care not to bump into the doorframe on his way to the kitchen, still not switching on any lights, but rather rummaging through one of the kitchen drawers for a flashlight, which he found, taking it with him out the back door into the cold night air.
A gust of wind blew, shaking the limbs and branches of one of the tall trees that stood out behind the Mannix house, with more of the trees in the wooded area beyond following suit until scarcely anything else could be heard. Marvin shivered, and he wasn't sure it was from the cold.
The wind died down, gradually reverting the outdoor space to relative silence once again, save for the sound of the voice faintly calling his name.
"Marvin…"
His grandfather's voice.
No. Not Grandpa Mark. Abey.
Marvin held the flashlight in front of him as though it were a weapon. He'd never switched it on. Maybe he was afraid of what he'd see.
"Abey…" he said, though it came out like a croak after not having used his voice to speak to anyone for the last few hours, not to mention all those salted pretzels he'd eaten. "Abey…?" he said more clearly this time.
He flipped the switch on the flashlight, thinking that maybe the next thing he'd see would be his pigeon friend perched up on one of the tree branches. He'd welcome Abey inside, listen intently to his explanation of where he'd been, of what had happened to the McMagicspell magic that had once been kept safely up in the attic, until one day it was mysteriously gone.
Or maybe he'd see something else. Something he wasn't prepared for. Whatever was responsible for taking the magic away could also impersonate his grandfather's/Abey's voice if it wanted to, couldn't it? To lure him out of the house, defenseless and alone? It could do anything.
As it turned out, he didn't see anything, because the flashlight didn't turn on. He flipped the switch back and forth, still nothing. The batteries were dead.
He was about to call Abey's name again, but the wind picked up again, and suddenly Marvin wanted very badly not to be standing out in the backyard alone in the dark anymore.
He ran into the house, slamming the door and locking it. He switched on the kitchen lights, then ran around to the other rooms of the house--the living room, the parlor, the foyer, the dining room, switching on the lights in all of those rooms as well.
Batteries… Where did they keep spare batteries?
Forget batteries. Marvin didn't want batteries. He wanted to not be alone right now, that's what he wanted.
His parents wouldn't be home for a couple more hours at least. It wasn't easy getting ahold of his dad while he was on duty, and he knew Friday night was one of the busiest nights of the week for his mom where she worked. Getting somebody else to cover for her so she could leave early was easier said than done. Then again, if it was an emergency…
Maybe he was being silly.
There was one other person he could call. He lifted the kitchen phone off its hook and began dialing Kirk's number--only to realize he'd forgotten it. He always used the speed dial on his cell phone…
He ran to the living room to retrieve his cell phone from where he'd left it. His heart sank when he didn't see it at first--but then there it was, sunken halfway between the couch cushions. He grabbed it and pushed the button to dial Kirk's number.
Then he remembered: it was game night. Some friend he was, going home to watch TV instead of staying at school to watch his best friend's basketball game. But Kirk knew by now that basketball was never really something that interested Marvin.
Marvin held the phone to his ear, listening as it rang. What time was it? Was the game still going?
Kirk answered, and Marvin let out a breath of relief.
"Hey, Kirk."
"Hey, Marvin."
"What, um… What are you doin'?"
He heard other voices in the background, the other guys on the team, probably. They sounded upbeat. He hoped that meant the Falstaff team had won.
"Just about to leave. Too bad you didn't stick around. We won!"
Marvin smiled. "That's great."
"What's up? Everything okay?"
Marvin sighed. "Well, actually...if it's not too much trouble, I was wondering...would you mind coming over? To my house?"
"Sure. Be right over."
"Wait! Don't hang up yet. Where are you? Are you walking to your car?"
"Yeah, I'm almost there. Marvin, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. Well, something , but...it's hard to explain…"
Marvin could hear the sound of Kirk's car door opening and shutting, of the engine being turned on.
"Want me to stay on the phone till I get to your house?"
The fact that Kirk would even offer to do that made Marvin roll his eyes. Not at Kirk, but at himself, for being so needy.
"No," he said. "I mean, yes , but…it's fine. Besides, you shouldn't talk on the phone and drive at the same time. "
"What if I turn the radio on?"
"Okay." That was a good compromise. At least then he'd feel like Kirk was still there, even if they couldn't hear each other. At least they could listen to the same music.
He heard the sound of Kirk's phone being set down on the passenger seat, followed by the radio blaring and intermittent bits of music and static as Kirk turned the tuning knob. Finally he settled on a station, and the opening chords of Hanson's "MMMBop" could be heard.
Marvin smiled. Kirk would choose a song like that, wouldn't he?
He heard the click of a seatbelt, then gears being shifted, and the activating of his turn signal as Kirk carefully drove out of the school parking lot, checking traffic both ways as he did so. Marvin felt as though he were right there with him.
He went into the foyer and sat down on the bottom steps of the staircase, facing the front door and leaning sideways against the wallpaper, holding the phone to his ear with his eyes closed.