The Nightmares Return

"RACHEL!! RUN! NO! PLEASE!"

Max's mind was once again consumed by nightmares after she fell asleep.

"STOP IT!! GO RACH!!"

Max woke up and felt herself about to scream once more when Anna and Chris busted through her door. Seeing Rachel must've triggered the memories that haunted her, and with Max so concerned with Rachel, she hadn't even thought about how their meeting would affect her.

"Babe, wake up. It's okay, we're here." Anna held Max's face softly.

Max jolted up, taking a deep, quick breath like she had been suffocating. She looked around the room, wide-eyed, until she met Anna's gaze.

"Oh my GOD!" Max immediately began to cry and threw herself into Anna. "Anna . . . God I'm so sorr—"

"Don't be sorry, Max. I'm here for you." Anna gently moved Max back by her shoulders. "Don't ever forget that."

Chris smiled at Max. "I've never seen you snap out of it that fast! That's great, Max." He sat on the bed. "Don't you think?"

Max nodded her head "yes," but she was still very much rattled by her nightmare.

It wasn't long after Eric had abducted Rachel. The empty home they had snuck into for the night was full of dust, dirt, creaky wood floors, and bugs. He handcuffed the girls to a rickety bed in the basement. Max couldn't subdue her anger that night. Things had changed after Eric grabbed Rachel. It wasn't just Max now — she had to watch him destroy this little girl's life too. Max yanked her handcuffs in anger, and this time the brass pole attached to the headboard shook loose. She and Rachel stared at Max's wrists — cuffed, but free from the bed. They simultaneously looked to the stairs, waiting for Eric to burst through the door, awakened by the loud crash, but he never came.

"Rachel," Max whispered, "I'm going to get you out of here, okay?"

Rachel shook her head feverishly to the left and right. "We can't—"

"Yes we can. We have to try, okay?"

Max attempted to shake Rachel's cuffs loose, which she achieved after a few minutes.

Max touched Rachel's face briefly before taking her hands. "We will go up together and I will open the door, but as soon as I do you need to run. Run to the front door and don't look back, okay?"

Rachel stood like a statue, seemingly unable to respond.

"Rachel, do you understand?"

"Yes," she whispered with fear in her voice.

Max held her finger to her mouth for quiet and motioned for Rachel to follow her up the stairs.

Max hoped Eric had not heard them spring loose Eric loved nothing more than to see fear and horror in their eyes and Max would not put it past him to be waiting by the basement door, ready to grab and punish them.

Max nodded for Rachel to get ready and she swung the door open. There he was waiting, his almost black eyes staring them down.

Max screamed, "RACHEL! RUN!!"

Rachel made it past Eric and scrambled to unlock the door down the hall.

Eric successfully snatched Max and slapped her with incredible force across the face. Feeling blood slowly leaking from a cut on her cheek she pleaded, "NO!! PLEASE!!"

He had her by her hair, on her knees. He was screaming in her face as she bawled just before he punched her multiple times, but she wouldn't go down easy. She put up a fight to make sure Rachel had enough time to free herself.

She peered out of the corner of her eye and saw Rachel starting to run back.

"STOP IT!! GO!!"

But it was too late. Rachel ran into Eric, throwing punches, trying to save Max from the beating.

"Leave her alone!!" Rachel screamed as Eric slapped her into the wall, knocking her out.

Max tried to yell but couldn't get any words out. After a few more punches to her face he threw her down to the hardwood floor.

"You will regret this," he said, leaning an inch from her face.

The dream ended with Max surrounded by her own blood, blacking out from a kick to the stomach.

Max's focus returned from recalling her nightmare back to her room, with Anna and Chris staring at her trying not to look worried. She was still sweating, her heart pounding, when she realized her dad had been in the doorway the entire time. Her vision was still glassy from snapping out of sleep so fast. Once she realized he had witnessed this mess, her first instinct was to scream about how sorry she was, but she stopped herself. She saw a look on her father's face that sent chills down her spine. He was thinking about "fixing" her — she knew it. His look of panic turned into a brainstorm that would end with Max doing something she didn't want to.

Max tossed a few fake smiles and laughs, trying to let them know she was fine and they could leave. She needed to rest and try to sleep away the anxiety that had set in about what her dad was thinking.

Max woke up much later than usual. It was 11 a.m. Normally the regular 6 a.m. came too early so this was an unexpected gift. Maybe her mind had let her sleep longer before her friends and family tried to force "fix" her. As soon as she got her bearings she realized how quiet the house was. She wasn't worried — more perplexed. Was she alone? Finally? It appeared that way as she opened her door and took a look around. It didn't feel as good as she'd thought it would. Her isolation, now long gone, actually seemed very lonely. Now that she had her family back, that antisocial girl was apparently slowly disappearing.

She went back into her room and grabbed some black jeans, a Steelers sweatshirt she borrowed from her dad, and some flip-flops. As she moved closer to the door she heard talking outside. Surprised that her father hadn't bombarded her with ideas about working out her issues, she quickly strolled to the right and peeked out the window. Her dad, Anna, Chris, Delia, and Michelle were on the Johnston's porch, chatting about her, undoubtedly. She rolled her eyes and continued out the door. As she approached the tall white fence separating the houses, she leaned over and peered with half her face covered. It wasn't her intention to be strange, but as always, she was worried about being the dark cloud over their seemingly happy chat.

"Max!!" Anna yelled loudly, causing everyone's heads to pop up at the same time. "Get over here, babe!!"

Max slowly walked toward the group with an uncomfortable smile. "Ah . . . hey."

She couldn't think of anything else to say, but as always, Anna chimed in. "See, Mom!" Anna threw her right arm around Max. "I told ya she's a fox!"

Max let her head hang while laughing nervously. Everyone else of course thought it was hilarious and had almost doubled over at Anna's comment.

"All right, all right, leave the poor girl alone." Michelle was smiling sweetly.

Max smiled back, mouthing a silent "thank you," thinking to herself that it was nice to see Michelle smile. She hadn't seen that in a long time, if ever.

"It's okay, Mrs. Johnston. I might as well get used to it." She laughed softly, looking at Anna. "She's a good gal, aren't you ya, weirdo?"

The group shared another laugh as Anna slapped a sarcastic "I'm offended" face on.

"HA HA you are SO funny, asshole."

"What? You're an asshole."

Anna snorted and stuck her tongue out as Max did the same.

Jeremy and Michelle looked like they weren't sure if the girls were actually upset or if this was their normal banter, but Chris was laughing, so the two parents decided to join in.

The girls smiled at each other, and Max noticed Anna's mom staring at her. A hint of sadness flickered in Michelle's eyes. Before anyone could ask her what was wrong, Michelle shook her head.

"You look just like your mother, sweetheart."

Max smiled again as she walked up and hugged her. "Thanks, Mrs. Johnston."

After a moment, Anna lightly touched Max's shoulder. "There's someone who wants to see you inside."

Max's face fell a bit, nervous to see Mr. Johnston. It felt wrong of her to be such a coward, but she couldn't help it — she had already seen her fair share of pain.

Anna walked her down the hall and motioned to the door. Max entered and saw a very sick man, then was suddenly thankful that she'd come to see him. It was a terrible thought, but he looked so ill that Max felt this could be her last chance.

"Good lord," a strained, wheezy voice said. "I can't believe we got you back, Miss Redding." His cough came straight from his chest, sounding almost like a gurgle.

"Hey, Mr. J." Max pulled a chair up next to him with a smirk.

"Damn, Violet! We looked for you for a long time, kiddo. Boy is it great to see you." He weakly lifted his hand to touch hers.

Max held his hand softly. "It's good to see you, too. If your daughter hadn't stalked me and moved into my apartment uninvited I might not even be here."

Mr. Johnston laughed his half-cough, half-laugh once again. "Well, that certainly sounds like her!" He raised his voice the best he could. After a few seconds, he frowned and whispered, "May I ask you a favor, kiddo?"

Max nodded her head curiously.

"I don't think it's a big secret that I'm not going to be here for much longer."

"Mr. J.—"

"No, no, it's okay. Don't fret, kiddo."

Max looked at him with understanding because she knew as well as anyone what it felt like to make your peace in an impossible situation.

"Will you take care of my girl?"

Max quickly replied, "Absolutely."

"You see, kid, she's a wild one, but in the best way."

"Agreed."

Mr. Johnston coughed once again, a bit louder. "She needs you to take care of her. She would never admit it of course!" He wheezed with a raised voice, "I hadn't seen the light in her eyes until she came home with you."

Max looked at him and nodded confidently. "She saved me, Mr. J. I won't let you down. I love her."

He lightly squeezed Max's hand. "You know what, Violet? I think you saved her too."

Max had never thought of it that way because this whole thing felt so one-sided, but she hoped it was true.

"Consider Anna officially body-guarded." Max laughed and Mr. Johnston did his best to join.

She got up and turned to exit the room when Mr. Johnston spoke again.

"One more question."

Max turned and saw a serious look on his face.

"What do you think about the guy? Good enough for my little girl?"

Max felt her face soften as she smiled. "He's a great person. I would trust him with my life."

Mr. Johnston's smile grew as he leaned back into his bed, tired.

"I'll still watch his ass like a hawk," Max added. She winked and turned again to leave as he whispered, "That's my girl."