"I remember the bang."

She looked down at her hands. They were shaking. Her purple glitter nail polish was chipped on most of her nails and it was more than half gone on three of her fingers. The polish had been bright and fresh that morning. She remembered being proud of herself for getting them so perfect and having so little end up on her skin. Now, her nails looked like she had done nothing to them at all.

"Maxie?"

She jumped. She squeaked, then put her hands over her mouth. When her hands flew up, she got another glimpse at her nails. It had been Lulu's idea. Maxie didn't do purple nail polish. It was so gauche, so rebellious teen or something. Maxie preferred French manicures. The most color she wanted in her manicure was a pink base instead of clear. Sometimes she would opt for something other than white on her tips, but all purple? No, that wasn't her style, at all.

But, Lulu told her that it would look good. She told her that she needed to do something different, to stop being such a fashionista and try just being average. Maxie had balked at that. Average was so, well, average, and Maxie Jones had had a lifetime of being average. She wasn't fifteen anymore. She wasn't average Maxie Jones anymore. She was Maximista.

No, she wasn't Maximista anymore, because there was no one to call her that. Spinelli…

"Maxie, I know this is hard, but I need you to tell me what you saw, what you heard."

"The bang," Maxie said as her hands dropped into her lap. She focused on her fingernails again, on the broken nail polish. Searching through the rubble had taken away the polish. If they were her real nails, they would have been broken, but that girl at the shop was good, and Maxie's acrylic tips were still holding on. Of course, holding on like that made it really painful when she snapped them against boards, but they were still on nice and tight.

She had to focus on her nails, because if she didn't, she would hear more than the bang. She would hear Spinelli's scream as the bullet hit him. She would feel him crashing against her and she would see the stupid love in his eyes as they both went down to the floor, Maxie holding on to Spinelli all the way down. If she let herself listen to Mac instead of tsk'ing over her destroyed manicure, she would hear the next sound, after the bang. She would hear the boom, and then she would see it all coming down on top of them, and Spinelli trying to cover her even though he was hurting and…

"Maxie," Mac said, "I really need you to talk to me."

"And I need you not to talk to me, okay?" Maxie threw her hands down to her sides and looked up at Mac. She had to look horrendous. She had been crying, and that always made her eyes puffy, and even worse, it made her cheeks puffy. Over the years, Maxie had learned to expertly apply make up in a way that didn't accentuate what could only be called her 'cute' qualities. She had learned sophisticated and couture. Now, she was crying and sophistication was out the window. She looked cute and adorable and freaking pathetic again, and she just wanted to go home.

Mac knelt down in front of her and took hold of both of her hands. "I know this is hard, Maxie, but I need to know what you saw, what you heard. I need to know what happened."

"Spinelli and Lulu died, that's what happened!" Maxie snatched her hands away from Mac. She pushed him so hard that he fell back onto the floor. Maxie stood up and looked down at him. "They died, and I got out with barely even a scratch, that's what happened. And you know what? I'm thinking that I need to have my nails done again and I need to shower because Spinelli's blood is all over me and I need some fresh clothes."

Mac stood up and put his hands on her upper arms. Maxie knew that he was trying to help, trying to be calm and fatherly with her, but it just made her mad. He wasn't her dad, and he wasn't really talking to her like a dad, was he? He was the police commissioner, and he wanted to know what happened. He tried to make it seem like something else, but sitting at the police station, surrounded by hideously drab gray walls, he was the commissioner and she was the witness. She was also a victim, sure, but as she was the only victim left alive, she was more importantly the witness.

Maxie jerked loose of him and turned away. She walked all the way to the back wall of the interrogation room then turned back around. Maxie leaned back and folded her arms over her stomach. "It doesn't matter what I saw," Maxie said. "You won't be able to do anything about it, anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that none of you can ever do anything about it. It means that people keep getting killed in this town, and whether it's because of Helena Cassadine or Sonny Corinthos or any of the Zaccharas, nobody ever gets in trouble for it, so what's the point? No one's going to go to jail, so I might as well just tell Jason, because at least I know he'll do something about it."

"That's not fair, Maxie," Mac told her. "You know that I've done my best, we've all done our best."

"Well, your best isn't good enough, is it? Spinelli and Lulu are dead, and Luke isn't even around for me to tell him that his daughter's dead. And Spinelli has no family to tell that he's dead. All he had was me, Sam, and Jason and well, we see where that got him."

"I know you're hurting, Maxie, I do. You cared about Spinelli."

"Yeah, and you hated him, so you don't even care that he's dead."

"I didn't hate him."

"You didn't like him."

Mac sighed. "He was hard to like," he said. "He annoyed me, but that doesn't mean that I don't care that he's dead. Why do you think I keep trying to get you to talk to me? If you tell me what you saw, what you heard, then I can find out who did this and I can bring them to justice."

"You won't bring anyone to justice," Maxie said with a sigh. She looked down at her shoes. They were all scuffed up and there was blood on them. There was blood everywhere. "You never do."

"Maxie…"

She looked up, but not at Mac. She looked past him, to the door, and out the glass portal in the door. Sam was in the station room, looking toward the glass. Jason was there, too, talking to Lucky, but Sam was the one looking at Maxie, actually thinking about Maxie. Jason didn't like her that much, so he was probably asking about Spinelli, and last time she saw Dante, he was holding Lulu's dead hand, stopping the coroner from taking her away. No one was really thinking about Maxie. Why should they? She was alive, and deep thoughts and feelings were reserved for the dead.

Maxie focused on Mac and said, "If Spinelli hadn't taken that bullet for me, I'd be with Georgie, right now. I'd probably be happy."

Maxie walked forward. Mac reached out as she drew near him and grabbed her arm. "Maxie, please."

"I have to go home, Mac," she said. Maxie pulled away from him and was glad that he didn't try to stop her. It was the Georgie comment. It was a low blow, sure, but it got Mac off his game and left Maxie with a way out.

Maxie opened the door and when she stepped out, Sam was still the only one looking at her. Maxie pouted and she knew it only made her look even more childlike with her puffy cheeks and all the freaking cuteness, but she couldn't help it. Sam looked directly at her and then she had to go and put her arms out, like she was her mom or something. Well, yeah, that was going to do it.

Maxie fell into Sam's arms and cried. "Why do I always end up alive?" Maxie asked between sobs. "Why does everyone die and I end up alive?"

"I don't know," Sam said. Her hands moved up and down Maxie's back, and maybe it was because she wished her mom was there to comfort her, but for whatever reason, Maxie felt better. She felt soothed.

"It's not fair, Sam."

"I know it's not fair," Sam told her, "but I promise you, we'll find out who did this and we'll make them pay."

"No, you won't," Maxie said. She sighed as she pulled away from Sam. Sure, if it had been anyone else, Maxie was sure that Jason would take care of it. But, considering the bad guy, well, Maxie didn't have too much faith that she'd get justice. Maybe she should have just told Mac, and maybe tomorrow, she still would. She was just so tired and frustrated and the last thing she wanted to do was give an official police statement.

Sam looked up at her with her head cocked to the side. "What do you mean?"

Maxie looked behind her. Mac was still in the interrogation room, sitting on the edge of the table. She looked across the room. Lucky and Jason were talking and there was a lot of animation. Poor Lucky. His sister was gone, and she had yelled at him about Spinelli. Way to be selfish, Maxie. Maxie remembered more people being there when she first showed up at the station, but now, they were all gone. All that was left were people who loved the dead.

Maxie leaned in to Sam and whispered in her ear, "Sonny shot Spinelli." She leaned back and watched the horror etch into Sam's face. Sam looked behind her to where Jason and Lucky still argued, then turned back to Maxie.

"See?" Maxie said. "Like I said, Jason isn't going to make anyone pay for Spinelli."