These characters are not mine, and I don't lay any claim to them. I just got bored and wanted to borrow them for a while. This story isn't really a related to my other Roswell fics, but events that took place in them may be referenced. Please feel free to let me know whether you like/dislike the story. Enjoy……
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Isabel sighed. This was the fifth night in a row that she had woken because of Max's nightmares. It wasn't that she minded her sleep being interrupted, it was the pain it was causing her brother. After all that had happened with Tess and Alex, they were all slightly…….knocked off balance, but it seemed even more so with Max. He had helped her after Alex's funeral, but seemed unable to let it go himself, no matter how many times he denied the fact. She was under the impression that they had resolved the left over guilt and pain that night in the Crashdown. But something was still giving Max nightmares.
She got out of bed, knowing that neither of her parents would now that something was wrong with Max, but she knew. Maybe it was the bond they shared as brother and sister….maybe their natural parents had engineered them this way. But she knew.
She threw on a robe, and left for Max's room.
She opened the door slowly, unsure if Max was awake. She could hear the sound of someone tossing and turning, and she realized he was indeed asleep.
She sat down on the edge of his bed, and reached over to shake him awake. She kept a tight grip on his shoulders, knowing from the past few nights experience that he tended to be panicked when he first woke. Even though he never remembered what the nightmares where about, they left him feeling afraid.
His head was moving, his eyes in motion under his closed lids. She could hear him muttering something, but couldn't make it out.
He came awake with a gasp, momentarily fighting the hands that held him.
She watched as recognition flooded his face, and he sagged back onto the pillow.
He was taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.
"Max, are you okay?"
She waited for his answer. She knew it would be the same as always. He sat up, an apologetic look on his face. Suddenly, he looked ill.
"Max?" she asked, concerned.
"Oh my God," she heard him mutter. He kept repeating it, over and over again. He didn't even seem aware of her presence. Scared, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him, hard. "Max!"
He finally looked up at her, and she was startled to see his eyes fill up with tears. "Isabel, I remember. I know what the nightmares were about. I remember." His words dissolved into sobs, and he stopped, unable to continue. All Isabel could do was stare. She didn't know what could have happened that would make Max cry like this. Sure, there were things like his captivity by the Special Unit, but she thought he was over it. Well, not over it, but past it.
Dimly, it occurred to her to comfort him. She leaned over, embracing him tightly.
He was still, completely frozen, but gradually returned the hug. He seemed to draw strength from her, and Isabel was reminded of the times when she was little, how she would come to Max for comfort, and how he always made her feel better. It felt good to repay the favour.
After a little while, he managed to get hold of himself, and stopped crying. He didn't pull back from the hug though.
"Max, what is it? Tell me, please."
Her voice showed her concern, and she moved back slightly to see his face, her arms still around him.
He looked at her face, not sure if he wanted to tell her. It would upset her, and after recent events, she didn't need reminding of this.
Seeing the look that passed over his face, Isabel frowned.
"No Max, I want you to tell me. Even if you think that it's something that will upset me, I need to know. I need to help you."
She stared deeply into his eyes, trying to compel him to give up his secret to her.
"Isabel, these dreams I've been having…………they're about Alex. I see him, what Tess did to him."
He stopped, waiting for her reaction.
She was stunned, but managed to get out, "Max, we've all been feeling very guilty…..about Alex's death. I've even had dreams about him myself. It's okay."
He shook his head. "No!" He looked down at his hands, that were resting on his lap.
"Look, Isabel, I didn't want to tell you this. Not with all that has happened. But, a little while ago, Tess taught me some stuff."
As expected, Isabel's expression froze over. Taking her arms from around Max's shoulders, she stood and began pacing. Her arms were folded in front of her, a gesture Max knew all to well. She made it when she felt threatened emotionally. He knew she wasn't even aware that she did it, but he knew by now. Her next remark, proved his thoughts.
"Yeah, Max, I'll bet she taught you a lot."
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she frowned.
"Max, I'm…..I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it."
She came back over to him.
He kicked the covers off where he lay, and swung his legs off the bed. They were now sitting side by side on the edge of Max's bed, a position that they had adopted many times, in many different conversations. He smiled remembering a conversation that had taken place here, what seemed like a long time ago. They had been discussing whether or not Maria could be trusted. Isabel had dream walked her in the end, and succeeded in terrifying her. "Is, she started teaching me how to remember stuff. You know, our old lives, before we came here. And, even though I hated her for what she's done, I thought that I might be able to remember something that might help us find the baby." He hesitated on the word, just like he did every time he discussed the subject. The occurrences were rare, but Isabel could tell how much it hurt him. He regretted being with Tess, deeply. He knew that he shouldn't have done it, but he was resolved to making it right, and rescuing his son from her.
"I was trying to do it last week. And…..I managed to. I remembered, what Tess and I had done."
Understanding flashed in Isabel's eyes. She realized he was talking about he and Tess, sleeping together. She loved her brother, more than anything in the world, but she doubted that she was ready to hear any details of this particular subject.
He had paused, trying to find the right words.
"When we……..when we slept together, I got these flashes. A lot of images, and they all came so fast, that I couldn't focus on any of them, I couldn't remember any of them."
He stood, and began pacing as Isabel had been doing, moments before.
Isabel shook her head, his earlier comments confusing her. "What kind of flashes?"
Max stopped pacing, and turned to face his sister.
His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be straining to remember something.
"I couldn't focus on any one image, but there was this……this smell."
Seeing the look on Isabel's face, he elaborated. "Have you ever touched someone, gotten a flash from someone, but there was this….this smell? As if, along with the images in their minds, you
get a flash of a certain fragrance, one that reminds them of something."
He looked at her expectantly.
"Yeah," she answered him, "I have. Why?"
"Because, when I had that flash with her, I could smell this strange scent. It was spicy, but sweet. Anyway, the other night when I tried to focus like Tess told me to, I was hit by this thing, like a giant flash, and I could smell it again. That's when the nightmares started."
His voice started to shake, and he found himself unable to look into her eyes.
"The nightmares, Is. I see her……killing Alex." He collapsed back onto the bed. "The things that Kyle described to us, I saw them, in detail. I see Alex, I can see that he's really upset, and I can feel Tess's anger at being found out. The fear when Kyle came in and discovered them."
Max saw Isabel's eyes fill up, and he could tell that she was trying to speak, she just couldn't manage to. She stood, her hands reaching to hold her head, as if the pressure of her hands, would stop the onslaught of images assaulting her.
"No, no, I can't Max."
She stood, trying to rush from the room, only to stop as Max jumped up and his hand shot out and grabbed her arm. He turned her, forcing Isabel to face him.
"Isabel, I saw. She didn't mean to do it. I can't stop seeing it in my head, and I don't know what to do, and it scares me. I'm scared, Issy."
His body slid down the wall he was leaning against, tears on his face.
He hadn't called her 'Issy' since they were little. She knelt down next to him, pulling him into a hug.
She rocked him back and forth until he calmed down, and then pulled back to see his face.
"Max, I know you're scared, but it's okay. I'm here for you, and so are the others. Think of all the things we've been through, together. We can get through this." She smiled at him, and was pleased to see him answer her with a small smile of his own. "Now, you need sleep. We both do. So, bed," she ordered. She knew it wasn't resolved, but didn't know how much more she could take tonight.
He got up, helping her to stand also. "I don't feel like sleeping, Is. I think I'll just go and watch some television."
She frowned, pushing him over to his bed. "Okay, then. I doubt I'll get much sleep knowing you're awake and prowling the halls, so why don't we talk for a while, huh? We haven't done that in a while.
And I, for one, want all the latest gossip about you and Liz. Oh, and Michael and Maria as well. Michael talks to you. So spill."
Max smiled, getting into bed, and sitting with his back resting against the headboard. Isabel laughed, and lay down at the bottom of the bed, on her front facing Max.
They talked for a while. Neither knew which fell asleep first, but soon the two were dead to the world.
**************************
Isabel's first conscious thought, was to ask who was in her bed. Suddenly worried, she opened her eyes, and jumped up in the bed, ready to defend herself.
It was then that she realized that she was in Max's bed. She looked over to her sleeping brother.
He was moving restlessly, obviously experiencing another bad dream.
Wondering whether or not she should wake him up, she caught sight of a picture, sitting proudly on display on top of Max's desk. An idea began to form in her mind.
She moved as gently as she could, and picked up the photograph. She sat back on the end of the bed, leaning back until she was lying down. She stared at the picture intently. It was one that had been taken
shortly after their return from Las Vegas. The entire group had been there, including Alex, but the only people in this particular photo, were Max and Isabel. They were smiling happily, unaware that life would take the turns it had.
As she studied the smiling face of her brother, Isabel felt a familiar tug on the edge of her consciousness. She entered the dream without any troubles, in fact, easier than she ever had before. She stood, momentarily dizzy. And took in her surroundings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
She recognized the room she was in. She had visited it once, after Tess had left. The revelations made by Kyle had compelled her to visit this place.
It had originally been Kyle's bedroom, but he had given it to Tess when she moved in to his house.
The Sheriff hadn't been to sure about letting her in, he thought that it would be to upsetting to her, and he also didn't see the point of it.
But, Isabel had insisted, and Valenti had been dealing with his own grief at Tess's betrayal, so the visit had gone ahead.
Now she was standing in the room that Alex had died in. Or, the version of the room that Max had created in his mind. It had the same strange quality that all of her visits into people's dreams had.
Things were the same but…..different. The colours and textures of all of the objects were slightly off, and no matter how many times she did it, it always seemed a little weird to her.
Any more observations she was about to make about her environment were cut short when she realized that she could sense a presence in the room with her. She turned, and her breath caught in her throat when she realized that Alex and Tess were in the room as well.
Tess was just getting up from the bed, and Alex was pacing back and forth in front of her, obviously upset. He was alternating between waving his hands, and clutching his head, as if to ward off whatever it was she had done to him.
He had tears running down his face, and Isabel felt her eyes fill up, and then the moisture fell over and she started to cry.
She remembered what was going on, and immediately began looking around for her brother.
She couldn't see him anyway, which was unusual when she dream walked someone. In every dream that she had participated, the dreamer was usually present.
Thinking it over briefly, she realized that all of the other dreams she had been in, the dreamer was an active participant. In this one, Max was just a witness. That could be the cause of his absence.
Steeling herself, she turned, hearing the door to Kyle's room burst open. Kyle entered, and demanded to know what was going on. Alex tried to explain, but in his current state, wasn't making sense.
Suddenly, Tess turned on him, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
*She's mind warping him,* Isabel realized.
Moments after she had started, Alex gave a cry and collapsed. Dead.
Too shocked by what she had seen, Isabel just stood, staring as the rest of the awful dream played through. She watched Tess mind warp Kyle, convincing him to remove her 'luggage.' It was later that Kyle realized that it was in fact Alex's body.
Suddenly, the world around her shifted. She was inside a room. The walls were all stark white. They looked almost quilted.
*The white room,* she realized. She gazed around the room, pleading with anyone listening that she wouldn't have to see Max go through some sort of torture.
She heard a noise to her left, and turned.
Max sat in the corner, his arms around his knees, which were pulled up to his chest.
She walked over slowly, not wanting to startle him.
"Max?"
He looked up at her. "Isabel, what are you doing here?"
She sat next to him. "I came to see your nightmare. I was worried about you. " She paused, wondering whether or not to broach the subject. "I saw what happened, Max. I saw what Tess did to Alex." Her voice started to shake. "What I don't get is, why are you torturing yourself with it? It was not your fault. We discussed it. You agreed, none of us are to blame. I don't see how now that you've actually witnessed what she did, it changes anything."
She waited for his answer, but wasn't prepared for it.
"Because you hate me." It was said so quietly that she wasn't even sure she had heard of it.
"What?!" It was the only word she could manage. "How could you think that? We spent all night talking, you never once said anything about feeling like that. Neither did I."
She couldn't stop the anger from entering her voice, but she didn't even care. She was beginning to get furious. "Was it all lies? All that talk about us all having to let it go, to move on, to not hold ourselves or each other responsible? Because it sounds to me that you're being hypocritical."
She stood, trying to walk off the anger surging through her system. She turned, glaring down at where Max still sat. "Well?" she prompted.
"Because of all I've done, Is. I let Tess manipulate me, use me to do what she wanted. I pushed everyone away. I tried to stop you from going to the school you wanted , I missed what she was doing, I didn't stop her."
He pulled his knees up closer, and stared at the ground.
Isabel realized that she had heard enough, and stalked over to her brother. Crouching, she put her hand under his chin, and forced him to meet her gaze.
"Max, I don't know what it'll take to convince you. But I don't see any reason for you to feel this. There is more than what you're telling me, I know there is."
She glared at him until he sighed. "I'm the leader Isabel. When I saw what she'd done……..I felt her emotions. She was not only angry that she'd been found out…….she was proud.
Proud that she'd done what needed to be done. What, in her opinion, I'd been too spineless to do."
Isabel frowned. "Max, she was sick. She didn't care about others, that's how she was raised, that's what she believed. You, are one of the most caring people I know. I know that you would protect me, no matter the cost. But, you would not murder as she did. I don't believe that we would have been put on this earth to murder others to save our own kind. We'd be no better than those that have enslaved our people. I can imagine the pressure you're under Max, but you can talk to me. I want to help you. Okay?"
She was clearly waiting for an answer. He finally had the courage to look up. "Yeah Isabel. It's just with all that happened, I didn't want to bother you. I wasn't sure you wanted anything to do with me."
Sighing, she hugged him. "You're my brother Max. Who else am I gonna tease., or pump for gossip. We have to stick together Max. Promise me that."
"I promise, Is." They let each other pull back and Isabel smiled slightly. "You remember when we were kids? And we would share dreams? Well, here's a little gift from me."
Suddenly, they were no longer in the little room. They were on a beach, the sun shining and gulls shrieking.
Laughing, Max turned to Isabel, only to get a face full of sand. "Hey, no fair," he laughed. They ran further down the beach, occasionally stopping to lob sand at each other, both feeling happier than they had in a long time.
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Standing at the open doorway of her sons bedroom, Diane Evans gazed down at her sleeping children with love. She didn't know what had been bothering Max, but she was sure that it wouldn't bother him again. Thanking God for her two wonderful blessings, she turned and moved away, ready to face the day.
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Isabel sighed. This was the fifth night in a row that she had woken because of Max's nightmares. It wasn't that she minded her sleep being interrupted, it was the pain it was causing her brother. After all that had happened with Tess and Alex, they were all slightly…….knocked off balance, but it seemed even more so with Max. He had helped her after Alex's funeral, but seemed unable to let it go himself, no matter how many times he denied the fact. She was under the impression that they had resolved the left over guilt and pain that night in the Crashdown. But something was still giving Max nightmares.
She got out of bed, knowing that neither of her parents would now that something was wrong with Max, but she knew. Maybe it was the bond they shared as brother and sister….maybe their natural parents had engineered them this way. But she knew.
She threw on a robe, and left for Max's room.
She opened the door slowly, unsure if Max was awake. She could hear the sound of someone tossing and turning, and she realized he was indeed asleep.
She sat down on the edge of his bed, and reached over to shake him awake. She kept a tight grip on his shoulders, knowing from the past few nights experience that he tended to be panicked when he first woke. Even though he never remembered what the nightmares where about, they left him feeling afraid.
His head was moving, his eyes in motion under his closed lids. She could hear him muttering something, but couldn't make it out.
He came awake with a gasp, momentarily fighting the hands that held him.
She watched as recognition flooded his face, and he sagged back onto the pillow.
He was taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.
"Max, are you okay?"
She waited for his answer. She knew it would be the same as always. He sat up, an apologetic look on his face. Suddenly, he looked ill.
"Max?" she asked, concerned.
"Oh my God," she heard him mutter. He kept repeating it, over and over again. He didn't even seem aware of her presence. Scared, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him, hard. "Max!"
He finally looked up at her, and she was startled to see his eyes fill up with tears. "Isabel, I remember. I know what the nightmares were about. I remember." His words dissolved into sobs, and he stopped, unable to continue. All Isabel could do was stare. She didn't know what could have happened that would make Max cry like this. Sure, there were things like his captivity by the Special Unit, but she thought he was over it. Well, not over it, but past it.
Dimly, it occurred to her to comfort him. She leaned over, embracing him tightly.
He was still, completely frozen, but gradually returned the hug. He seemed to draw strength from her, and Isabel was reminded of the times when she was little, how she would come to Max for comfort, and how he always made her feel better. It felt good to repay the favour.
After a little while, he managed to get hold of himself, and stopped crying. He didn't pull back from the hug though.
"Max, what is it? Tell me, please."
Her voice showed her concern, and she moved back slightly to see his face, her arms still around him.
He looked at her face, not sure if he wanted to tell her. It would upset her, and after recent events, she didn't need reminding of this.
Seeing the look that passed over his face, Isabel frowned.
"No Max, I want you to tell me. Even if you think that it's something that will upset me, I need to know. I need to help you."
She stared deeply into his eyes, trying to compel him to give up his secret to her.
"Isabel, these dreams I've been having…………they're about Alex. I see him, what Tess did to him."
He stopped, waiting for her reaction.
She was stunned, but managed to get out, "Max, we've all been feeling very guilty…..about Alex's death. I've even had dreams about him myself. It's okay."
He shook his head. "No!" He looked down at his hands, that were resting on his lap.
"Look, Isabel, I didn't want to tell you this. Not with all that has happened. But, a little while ago, Tess taught me some stuff."
As expected, Isabel's expression froze over. Taking her arms from around Max's shoulders, she stood and began pacing. Her arms were folded in front of her, a gesture Max knew all to well. She made it when she felt threatened emotionally. He knew she wasn't even aware that she did it, but he knew by now. Her next remark, proved his thoughts.
"Yeah, Max, I'll bet she taught you a lot."
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she frowned.
"Max, I'm…..I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it."
She came back over to him.
He kicked the covers off where he lay, and swung his legs off the bed. They were now sitting side by side on the edge of Max's bed, a position that they had adopted many times, in many different conversations. He smiled remembering a conversation that had taken place here, what seemed like a long time ago. They had been discussing whether or not Maria could be trusted. Isabel had dream walked her in the end, and succeeded in terrifying her. "Is, she started teaching me how to remember stuff. You know, our old lives, before we came here. And, even though I hated her for what she's done, I thought that I might be able to remember something that might help us find the baby." He hesitated on the word, just like he did every time he discussed the subject. The occurrences were rare, but Isabel could tell how much it hurt him. He regretted being with Tess, deeply. He knew that he shouldn't have done it, but he was resolved to making it right, and rescuing his son from her.
"I was trying to do it last week. And…..I managed to. I remembered, what Tess and I had done."
Understanding flashed in Isabel's eyes. She realized he was talking about he and Tess, sleeping together. She loved her brother, more than anything in the world, but she doubted that she was ready to hear any details of this particular subject.
He had paused, trying to find the right words.
"When we……..when we slept together, I got these flashes. A lot of images, and they all came so fast, that I couldn't focus on any of them, I couldn't remember any of them."
He stood, and began pacing as Isabel had been doing, moments before.
Isabel shook her head, his earlier comments confusing her. "What kind of flashes?"
Max stopped pacing, and turned to face his sister.
His eyes were closed, and he appeared to be straining to remember something.
"I couldn't focus on any one image, but there was this……this smell."
Seeing the look on Isabel's face, he elaborated. "Have you ever touched someone, gotten a flash from someone, but there was this….this smell? As if, along with the images in their minds, you
get a flash of a certain fragrance, one that reminds them of something."
He looked at her expectantly.
"Yeah," she answered him, "I have. Why?"
"Because, when I had that flash with her, I could smell this strange scent. It was spicy, but sweet. Anyway, the other night when I tried to focus like Tess told me to, I was hit by this thing, like a giant flash, and I could smell it again. That's when the nightmares started."
His voice started to shake, and he found himself unable to look into her eyes.
"The nightmares, Is. I see her……killing Alex." He collapsed back onto the bed. "The things that Kyle described to us, I saw them, in detail. I see Alex, I can see that he's really upset, and I can feel Tess's anger at being found out. The fear when Kyle came in and discovered them."
Max saw Isabel's eyes fill up, and he could tell that she was trying to speak, she just couldn't manage to. She stood, her hands reaching to hold her head, as if the pressure of her hands, would stop the onslaught of images assaulting her.
"No, no, I can't Max."
She stood, trying to rush from the room, only to stop as Max jumped up and his hand shot out and grabbed her arm. He turned her, forcing Isabel to face him.
"Isabel, I saw. She didn't mean to do it. I can't stop seeing it in my head, and I don't know what to do, and it scares me. I'm scared, Issy."
His body slid down the wall he was leaning against, tears on his face.
He hadn't called her 'Issy' since they were little. She knelt down next to him, pulling him into a hug.
She rocked him back and forth until he calmed down, and then pulled back to see his face.
"Max, I know you're scared, but it's okay. I'm here for you, and so are the others. Think of all the things we've been through, together. We can get through this." She smiled at him, and was pleased to see him answer her with a small smile of his own. "Now, you need sleep. We both do. So, bed," she ordered. She knew it wasn't resolved, but didn't know how much more she could take tonight.
He got up, helping her to stand also. "I don't feel like sleeping, Is. I think I'll just go and watch some television."
She frowned, pushing him over to his bed. "Okay, then. I doubt I'll get much sleep knowing you're awake and prowling the halls, so why don't we talk for a while, huh? We haven't done that in a while.
And I, for one, want all the latest gossip about you and Liz. Oh, and Michael and Maria as well. Michael talks to you. So spill."
Max smiled, getting into bed, and sitting with his back resting against the headboard. Isabel laughed, and lay down at the bottom of the bed, on her front facing Max.
They talked for a while. Neither knew which fell asleep first, but soon the two were dead to the world.
**************************
Isabel's first conscious thought, was to ask who was in her bed. Suddenly worried, she opened her eyes, and jumped up in the bed, ready to defend herself.
It was then that she realized that she was in Max's bed. She looked over to her sleeping brother.
He was moving restlessly, obviously experiencing another bad dream.
Wondering whether or not she should wake him up, she caught sight of a picture, sitting proudly on display on top of Max's desk. An idea began to form in her mind.
She moved as gently as she could, and picked up the photograph. She sat back on the end of the bed, leaning back until she was lying down. She stared at the picture intently. It was one that had been taken
shortly after their return from Las Vegas. The entire group had been there, including Alex, but the only people in this particular photo, were Max and Isabel. They were smiling happily, unaware that life would take the turns it had.
As she studied the smiling face of her brother, Isabel felt a familiar tug on the edge of her consciousness. She entered the dream without any troubles, in fact, easier than she ever had before. She stood, momentarily dizzy. And took in her surroundings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
She recognized the room she was in. She had visited it once, after Tess had left. The revelations made by Kyle had compelled her to visit this place.
It had originally been Kyle's bedroom, but he had given it to Tess when she moved in to his house.
The Sheriff hadn't been to sure about letting her in, he thought that it would be to upsetting to her, and he also didn't see the point of it.
But, Isabel had insisted, and Valenti had been dealing with his own grief at Tess's betrayal, so the visit had gone ahead.
Now she was standing in the room that Alex had died in. Or, the version of the room that Max had created in his mind. It had the same strange quality that all of her visits into people's dreams had.
Things were the same but…..different. The colours and textures of all of the objects were slightly off, and no matter how many times she did it, it always seemed a little weird to her.
Any more observations she was about to make about her environment were cut short when she realized that she could sense a presence in the room with her. She turned, and her breath caught in her throat when she realized that Alex and Tess were in the room as well.
Tess was just getting up from the bed, and Alex was pacing back and forth in front of her, obviously upset. He was alternating between waving his hands, and clutching his head, as if to ward off whatever it was she had done to him.
He had tears running down his face, and Isabel felt her eyes fill up, and then the moisture fell over and she started to cry.
She remembered what was going on, and immediately began looking around for her brother.
She couldn't see him anyway, which was unusual when she dream walked someone. In every dream that she had participated, the dreamer was usually present.
Thinking it over briefly, she realized that all of the other dreams she had been in, the dreamer was an active participant. In this one, Max was just a witness. That could be the cause of his absence.
Steeling herself, she turned, hearing the door to Kyle's room burst open. Kyle entered, and demanded to know what was going on. Alex tried to explain, but in his current state, wasn't making sense.
Suddenly, Tess turned on him, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.
*She's mind warping him,* Isabel realized.
Moments after she had started, Alex gave a cry and collapsed. Dead.
Too shocked by what she had seen, Isabel just stood, staring as the rest of the awful dream played through. She watched Tess mind warp Kyle, convincing him to remove her 'luggage.' It was later that Kyle realized that it was in fact Alex's body.
Suddenly, the world around her shifted. She was inside a room. The walls were all stark white. They looked almost quilted.
*The white room,* she realized. She gazed around the room, pleading with anyone listening that she wouldn't have to see Max go through some sort of torture.
She heard a noise to her left, and turned.
Max sat in the corner, his arms around his knees, which were pulled up to his chest.
She walked over slowly, not wanting to startle him.
"Max?"
He looked up at her. "Isabel, what are you doing here?"
She sat next to him. "I came to see your nightmare. I was worried about you. " She paused, wondering whether or not to broach the subject. "I saw what happened, Max. I saw what Tess did to Alex." Her voice started to shake. "What I don't get is, why are you torturing yourself with it? It was not your fault. We discussed it. You agreed, none of us are to blame. I don't see how now that you've actually witnessed what she did, it changes anything."
She waited for his answer, but wasn't prepared for it.
"Because you hate me." It was said so quietly that she wasn't even sure she had heard of it.
"What?!" It was the only word she could manage. "How could you think that? We spent all night talking, you never once said anything about feeling like that. Neither did I."
She couldn't stop the anger from entering her voice, but she didn't even care. She was beginning to get furious. "Was it all lies? All that talk about us all having to let it go, to move on, to not hold ourselves or each other responsible? Because it sounds to me that you're being hypocritical."
She stood, trying to walk off the anger surging through her system. She turned, glaring down at where Max still sat. "Well?" she prompted.
"Because of all I've done, Is. I let Tess manipulate me, use me to do what she wanted. I pushed everyone away. I tried to stop you from going to the school you wanted , I missed what she was doing, I didn't stop her."
He pulled his knees up closer, and stared at the ground.
Isabel realized that she had heard enough, and stalked over to her brother. Crouching, she put her hand under his chin, and forced him to meet her gaze.
"Max, I don't know what it'll take to convince you. But I don't see any reason for you to feel this. There is more than what you're telling me, I know there is."
She glared at him until he sighed. "I'm the leader Isabel. When I saw what she'd done……..I felt her emotions. She was not only angry that she'd been found out…….she was proud.
Proud that she'd done what needed to be done. What, in her opinion, I'd been too spineless to do."
Isabel frowned. "Max, she was sick. She didn't care about others, that's how she was raised, that's what she believed. You, are one of the most caring people I know. I know that you would protect me, no matter the cost. But, you would not murder as she did. I don't believe that we would have been put on this earth to murder others to save our own kind. We'd be no better than those that have enslaved our people. I can imagine the pressure you're under Max, but you can talk to me. I want to help you. Okay?"
She was clearly waiting for an answer. He finally had the courage to look up. "Yeah Isabel. It's just with all that happened, I didn't want to bother you. I wasn't sure you wanted anything to do with me."
Sighing, she hugged him. "You're my brother Max. Who else am I gonna tease., or pump for gossip. We have to stick together Max. Promise me that."
"I promise, Is." They let each other pull back and Isabel smiled slightly. "You remember when we were kids? And we would share dreams? Well, here's a little gift from me."
Suddenly, they were no longer in the little room. They were on a beach, the sun shining and gulls shrieking.
Laughing, Max turned to Isabel, only to get a face full of sand. "Hey, no fair," he laughed. They ran further down the beach, occasionally stopping to lob sand at each other, both feeling happier than they had in a long time.
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Standing at the open doorway of her sons bedroom, Diane Evans gazed down at her sleeping children with love. She didn't know what had been bothering Max, but she was sure that it wouldn't bother him again. Thanking God for her two wonderful blessings, she turned and moved away, ready to face the day.
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