Scene 3: Mark's Home

Mikael stops at the sudden noise from Sabine's direction. At the sound of footsteps he quietly echoes Sabine's sentiment, "Shit..." He takes the slip of paper with the numbers on it and shoves it into his pocket before replacing the book.

His eyes scan the room. He thinks he gets the play, Sabine crying over Mark's death, her sadness being an excuse for being there. He hopes he can talk his way out of this, but worries about Eric's presence, maybe being too much.

Pointing to the bed, he whispers, "Eric, try sliding under the bed, or hide behind the curtain, if you can. Quick."

Once able, he sits on the bed next to Sabine. "I'm here for emotional support, fall back on the class project idea. I'll back your play though. Please don't get weirded out, we need to sell this." He reaches up and gently rubs her back in a comforting manner while trying to force his own tears to the surface. Please let this work, he thinks.

"Ah crap... Someone's coming! Sabine are you okay?"

Eric looks at the bed and doesn't think he'd fit under it, and his feet would stick out from under the curtains. Unsure of where else to go he looks back towards the window. Hearing the footsteps approach he climbs out, lowering himself until he's out of view, ready to climb back in if needed, or drop and hide if someone approaches.

"Hey Yumin, Peter! Is there anywhere to hide down there? Someone's coming!" He whispers to the couple below.

Yumin looks up and her heart starts racing. Something has gone wrong inside!

"Maybe!If we ran for the trees again! Why?! Is everyone okay?

Come down. Before you fall!"

Sabine nods almost imperceptibly to Mikael, as she steels herself for an encounter with Mark's Aunt Emilia. She tries to keep reminding herself that not all aunts are as awful as her own, or at least she hopes not.

Just as Eric manages to climb out the window, the door is throws open and the woman from the wake at school is standing there, wide-eyed staring at the two intruders in her dead son's room. She's holding a pan in one hand, raised as if it was a weapon.
"What are you doing here?", she asks, her voice shaking. "Is this some joke to you?" Only after those words does she notice how visibly upset Sabine appears and her features, while still angry, soften slightly. "Who are you kids?", she asks in a somewhat gentler tone.

Sabine looks up as if startled. Wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands and the ends of her hoodie's sleeves, she looks across the room to the woman. "Sorry. This is all my fault. I wanted to see Mark's room. I'm Sabine. We were friends, he and I. I live with my aunt too since my parents both passed tragically. I wanted to see where he lived, if only once."

She wipes at the tears again and holds up the photo that been designated as The Shaman. "He was gonna show me some of his pictures of the robots for a school project I am doing, but he never got the..." He voice falters and trails off.

Mikael, his eyes watery but not yet shedding tears, pulls his hand back and looks up on false surprise as Mark's aunt flings the door open. "H-hi," he says quickly just as Sabine 'explains' their presence in Mark's room. He nods in agreement. "I'm Mikael," he says, "I was friends with Mark, too. Sabine's been really tore up about what happened to him. Me too. I always got on the school bus just after Mark. We were bus buddies. I...I told Sabine I could show her where Mark lived. Sorry, ma'am. We were gonna knock on the door, but were worried we'd bother you."

Aunt Emi's face softens at your story, especially when Sabine explains her own history. "Mark was always so proud of his photography," she says in response to Sabine. "What was your name again, Sabine? Yes, I think he mentioned you. And you as well, Mikael. I'm really glad he had some good friends at least." You're pretty sure Mark would not have talked about you to his aunt as you were never really close but it is most likely wishful thinking on her part that leads her to believe you.
"You still shouldn't break into other people's homes but I understand. And it's my fault as well, I guess, for leaving the window wide open. But I think it would be best if you left now."

She gently shepherds you out of the room and down the stairs where she leads you out the front door. "Thank you for being my boy's friends!", she says before closing the door behind you. If Sabine decides to keep the photo in her hand, Emilia is not going to say anything about it or take it from her.

The four of you can regroup outside now and decide where to go next. It's still pretty early in the afternoon. You should have another two or three hours of daylight left, though your parents might wonder where you are before then, especially considering the news of Mark's death.
Do you want to go home and pick up the investigation tomorrow or keep going today? And if so, what's the next place you want to have a look at?

Sabine holds onto the photo, as Mark's aunt issues them through the house and out the front door. "Thank you for understanding." She offers the woman, stepping out of the house and pulling up her hood.

Moving out of sight of the house, she links back up with the others. "Let's pay the Primal Force Therapy Center a visit before heading home. Its close, according to the address. We can talk on the way and compare notes on what was found up in Mark's room." She suggests

"Primal Force what?" Yumin asks!

"What is that? Sounds like hippy stuff…"

Sabine looks to Yumin. "Yeah. It really does, doesn't it? But, the Doctor Mark mentioned in his notes as having been kidnapped worked there. I am only guessing at this point, but I suspect that Mark witnessed the abduction there or near there. Maybe there are clues at the Center."

"The quicker we can get away from here, the better. I thought I heard voices up there? Was it his aunt? How was she?"

She pauses…

"That music. It was weird. Not weird... just in case anyone here liked that stuff … inappropriate! Gives me the creeps. Let’s get out of here!"

Mikael nods. "That was kinda awesome," he says with a wicked smile, "We kicked ass up there, Sabine." He leans in close to the others, "Yeah, it was Mark's aunt. We were almost in trouble but I talked us out of it." He looks at Sabine briefly. "Well, Sabine helped." He waves a hand -"What matters is she bought it." He straightened lets out a breath of air. "Man, I'm so amped. I agree, let's go to Primal Force tonight and get to the bottom of this."

He pulls out the scrap of paper he found in Mark's room. "I found this up there, does it mean anything, you think? It was in the case with one of Mark's cameras." He holds it forward, the numbers 336699 displayed on it.

"Also, I found a book up there that was inscribed to mark, looked like it was written by the doctor at Primal Force. The inscription called Mark her 'apprentice'...guys, I think he was part of this place, and honestly with the little bit I saw in the book, is sounds pretty...uhh...culty. Does his aunt go there, too?" he asks.

Eric puts his injured hand in his pocket, hiding it from his friends. "Yeah, lets see what we can find at this Primal Force place. See what's going on there, maybe we'll recognise something from one of those pictures... Any ideas how we'll get in? Can we just sign up and walk in, or are we going to have to sneak in again?"