"Two weeks." Matt murmured under his breath. There weren't any damages on the Jeep aside from a few scratches, but they were old damage from previous ‘accidents’. "Doc. You okay?" He said, opening the driver's side door without a hint of worry. Even Morgan was used to seeing this picture.

Doc stirred a little and then went back to snoring. Matt pulled him straight up to slap him on the face a couple of times, asking if he would ever learn never to drive when he was feeling sleepy.

"Do you think he’ll grow out of this?" Morgan said, opening the passenger doors and pulling Doc’s bag and other items.

"He better. If not for himself, he should think about the pedestrians on the street. Can’t wait to have my own license so I can swipe the car away from him."

Matt reached for Doc’s greasy black hair, if only to check if Doc had even bothered to shower since he left the house earlier in the week. He has not. Doc jolted awake, scrubbed his hand on his medical gown, which he had not taken off since leaving the hospital, only to slump back and sleep again. Matt did not waste time and started slapping him again to fully wake him.

"Ah, hand me over the stethoscope, could you please?" Doc uttered, followed by a wide yawn. "Hey dopey. What are you doing in my office?"

"Nice. Your office on wheels now?" Matt said, grabbing the key from the ignition.

"Seventy-two-hour shift again?" Morgan asked while Matt helped Doc, who was still dozing in and out of sleep, walk to the door. "Doc really likes the long shifts. Is this how you’re gonna be like in the future?"

"Remember how Lola almost never left the greenhouse out back?" It was difficult to drag a semi-conscious grown man through the lawn, but Matt’s already used to this. "This house is huge, but our family can’t stay put in it for some reason. We find something we like elsewhere, and we rarely come home."

"Yours is the cemetery, then?" Morgan said, and Matt answered with an affirming smirk.

They managed to climb the steps to the door, and as soon as Matt opened it, he dropped his uncle, his face hitting flat on the floor. This seemed to have fully awakened him, and he shot up on his feet.

"I’m home?" Doc said, rubbing his eyes and tidying up his medical gown.

"Yup. You are indeed," Matt answered.

"Did I crash again?" Doc said, still yawning.

"I’ll call the handyman," Matt said calmly. Although he wanted to hold off for now, knowing there might be another crash or two in the coming days, the average is three a month, and there have only been two for now.

Doc just nodded his head while he shook off his shoes and rambled on about preparing the kitchen so he could cook dinner for them. Matt pulled him by the back of his shirt and redirected him to the living room instead. Doc quickly found his way to the sofa, landing face first. His snoring is loud enough to be mistaken for growling.

"Aw, I was excited to see what he’s gonna prepare for us," Morgan said, putting down all of Doc’s things on the center table.

Matt shot him a look. "We already have so many things to worry about. We don’t have time to get admitted for food poisoning again." He reminded Morgan that the last time Doc prepared something for them, he spent two days in the toilet. He reached under the table near the sofa, where he keeps a stack of blankets, and put it over Doc, who seemed to be having a wonderful dream with a great big smile on his face.

It had always been a passing joke, but Matt does wonder if he would be as neurotic as most of the others in the family. Stories say that even his father was prone to locking himself up in the basement, assembling model ships.

The doorbell rang, sending Matt prancing to the door, imagining three boxes of pizza to greet him, shouting for Morgan to get the soda out of the fridge. His big smile for the delivery guy vanished in a wink as soon as the door opened. There was no friendly pizza delivery guy waiting for him outside, but instead, there was a group of people he never expected to see standing by the porch of his house.

Janina had her arms crossed with a death glare, posing to charge like a ram at any given moment. Standing beside her was Kira, tugging on her shirt with very apologetic eyes. Below the steps stood Cedric, who was busy ogling at the wreck Doc left.

"You don’t happen to have my pizza, do you?" Matt said. Janina charged at him, storming her way into the house as if about to explode with a tirade of insults for something he knows he did not do, but instead she just stared at him and raised her chin to look down on him. Her eyes then gazed around the house. “Hmmm I was expecting a dumpster. This house looks fairly clean.”

“Thank you, I have mastered the use of a vacuum cleaner.”

"Did you forget the tip?" Morgan mumbled, coming out of the kitchen with soda bottles and glasses on hand. Kira mouthed her apology to him, and her smile seemed to crack Morgan’s nerves, and he started rambling unintelligible words, almost dropping everything he was holding. Cedric then approached him with a raised arm, and Matt swore he was about to swing at Morgan, but instead he tapped Morgan’s shoulder and just reminded him about basketball practice.

"Your uncle home?" Janina spoke as if she owned the house and Matt was the uninvited guest. She raised her voice and repeated the question when Matt did not answer right away.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Knocked out on the couch, so please lower your voice. He’s had a long shift at the hospital and needs some rest." Matt put on the hood of his jacket and tucked his hands in his pockets.

Kira shifted and was about to speak but then waited for some signal from Janina, a nod, which prompted her to sigh in preparation. She hesitated. "I’m sorry we’re only coming to see the two of you now," she spoke slowly. The hesitation in her voice was undeniable. "We just didn’t know how to... and with Sara’s funeral..."

"I know. Aren’t we all glad that’s over?" Matt was almost sure he only thought of those words, but judging by everyone’s reaction, the words left his mouth loud and clear. Cedric charged at him. This time his fist was curled into a punch, but Kira stopped him before it connected with Matt’s face. Morgan was also quick to get in between them to shield Matt.

"I’m trying to turn over a new leaf here, Franco, so do not test me," Cedric said, letting go of his hand and heaving a sigh. "You talk to him," Cedric said, pushing his sister to the front.

Janina crossed her arms tighter and raised her head a little more, as she usually does when she is about to spit out an insult, but she too sighed and loosened up. "We’re not here to make trouble. We," she glanced at Kira, "just wanted to check in with you guys about what happened that night and that morning." Her tone made it seem like she was asking a different question but didn’t want to say it out loud. "Thank you," she said, sounding mildly insincere. "You obviously haven’t babbled anything stupid to anyone. Kudos."

"That is true." Matt nodded his head while thinking about the report he made to the police. “I have not opened my mouth to anyone about anything at all.”

"So we just came here because we’re just wondering if you guys are okay. That’s all." Kira had the same suspicious tone in her question.

"Thank you for asking," Morgan said, his face turning red and his eyes fixed on Kira. "We're doing just okay." Matt nudged his best friend out of it before Morgan started blushing like a rose. "We’re fine... Nothing wrong... We’re doing so okay. Very okay... Really okay. Definitely okay."

"Are you sure?" Matt whispered. “You seem flustered.”

“Shhhh,” Morgan hissed back, his face blushing.

"We didn’t see you until the next morning, and you were there with... that… her," Kira stopped. Her eyes went elsewhere before retreating into sadness. "What happened there..."

"I didn’t do it!" Matt uttered. "I’m not going to lie and pretend I have any positive feelings towards that bi- beautiful creature.” He paused, waiting to see if Cedric would attempt to punch him again.

“Nice save, jackass,” Janina muttered.

“But if that’s what you came here to ask.” Matt continued. she was already there before we... it wasn’t me. I didn’t do that to her. I promise."

"We know," Cedric spoke with mocking certainty. "She’s too strong for you." It was difficult to tell if Matt should feel relieved or offended that it never crossed their minds that he would be capable of hurting Sara.

"Hey, I could have done that!" Matt said, which earned him a light knock on the head, courtesy of Morgan. "But I didn’t do it. I really promise."

"About that night, was there anything else you saw or remembered?" Kira asked, somewhat looking uneasy. "Did you see anyone, anything else at the cemetery?"

Matt wondered if Kira saw it too. The wolf that jumped on them. It may be best not to let them know. He pulled the still-enamored Morgan to his side and said with a clear voice, "Not much. We went looking for you but the fog got too thick. It was dark and it was difficult to see anything so we decided to go back to the crypts."

Kira nodded and even hid a sigh of relief. "I know you couldn’t have done that to Sara. She was not the nicest person to you or to most, but what happened to her is something only a monster could do, and you’re no monster."

There are only a few people around town who share that sentiment, but hearing it from Kira after all these years lifted a heavy load from his chest that he had almost forgotten had been there since he was little.

"Did they find her?" Morgan said, just as the three uninvited guests were about to leave.

"How did you know she’s missing?" Janina said sharply.

"Told you she’s missing," Matt said at Morgan directly, beaming. Your friend’s a class S attention seeker. She would have loved all the attention even in death. If she were there, that would have been an open casket so her subjects can look at her beautiful, albeit dismembered head, one last time."

"You really want to get punched in the face, don’t you?" Cedric shouted, even spitting out the gum he had been chewing on, but then he backed away. " I can’t disagree with that. Sara would have loved the attention."

"You’re right. She wasn’t in the casket," Kira added. "Just don’t go telling anyone. The police haven’t released that information yet."

The doorbell rang once again, sending Matt skidding to answer it once more. The presence of other people did not bother him at all up until Morgan invited them to stay and eat, which he strongly protested against.

"Doc!" Matt shouted from the doorway, where red and blue lights are now flashing. Unfortunately, once again, the person at the door was not who Matt was expecting to greet.

A middle-aged man with no qualms about his greasy bed hair and wrangled clothes passed the hallway like a zombie in stride. Fully ignoring the strangers that had entered his home.

"Keiron, what’s this about?" Doc yawned and stretched his arms, seemingly unfazed. The policeman did not seem to care about Doc's sloppiness. His bright and handsome face looks somber, with an uneven smile that is trying to appear warm and understanding. “Kira, what are you doing here?” He said, noticing the people behind Doc.

“Tito!” Kira exclaimed, seemingly nervous.

“Let’s talk at home.” Keiron sighed, shaking his head seemingly disappointed. "Luke." he continued, sounding apologetic. "We have a warrant for questioning regarding the events from last weekend. I am sure you have heard."

"Look, if you want someone to examine Sara’s body, wouldn’t the ME or mortician be the better choice?" Matt said, perfectly pretending not to know Sara’s body was missing.

"This is not about- Luke I am really sorry."

"Wait. No! Doc has nothing to do with this." Matt snapped back to events from a decade ago. The police approached lola, and she and Doc were escorted out of the house to see his parents, but no one told them they were heading for the morgue.

"It’s just for questioning, so far."

"You can’t be serious."

"I really am sorry. If it isn’t me, there is still going to be someone else here."

"He’s just a kid, Keiron," Doc said, indignant.

"I know," the policeman answered. The sound of pity was heard more than his words. "Which is why I’m going to ask you to accompany him." Keiron could not even bring himself to look Doc in the eyes after saying that. "It’s just routine, Luke. You know how this goes."

"I’m quite familiar," Doc answered without even attempting to mask the bitterness in his voice. " I can take him downtown..." Keiron stopped Doc before he could take any more steps. He nudged his head and pointed to the police car waiting outside.

Fear started to drown Matt, and for the first time in a long time, he found himself unable to say even a single word. They are looking at him for Sara’s murder.

"He’s just a kid."

"I know." Keiron’s voice echoed more of the same pity from earlier.

Matt groaned at the sight of a man approaching down by the lawn carrying three large square boxes of pizza. "Is it too early to be asking for my last meal?"