Alone at the Graham's residence, Max took a quick shower and changed her doe t-shirt for a new white one that Warren's mother kept for forgetful guests. Though it was a bit oversized for the girl, it was clean and made her feel more comfortable.
Max laid in bed and closed her eyes. Although her body was begging for sleep, her mind was running fast, swirling in a spiral of doubt and guilt.
'What if the tornado comes on next week anyway? What if it had anything to do with Chloe at all ... I will never forgive myself... If there's a tornado on next week, maybe I should focus on the butterfly photo once more... But what if Jefferson takes me to the Dark Room again... and kills me this time? Everything would be over. I don't have the picture with me anyway... I wonder if someone kept it…'
As those thoughts took control of Max's mind, her eyes started to weep. She roughly swiped the tears from her face and swallowed the cry of pain that rose in her throat.
'Enough of crying for now, Max. You'll have the rest of your life to do that. Now it's time to hold yourself together and support Chloe's family. Besides that, you need to keep an eye on Kate… She may fall apart when she knows what Jefferson did to her.'
She closed her eyes again, unsuccessfully trying to sleep for a few minutes.
'Ugh, I need a distraction. Too bad my phone is out of charge... I wonder if there's anything to read here...'
Max got out of the bed and opened the bedstand's drawer: empty.
'Warren is a bookworm, he sure must have quite a library in his bedroom... How nasty would it be if I sneaked into it and borrowed a book? He has been so helpful... He wouldn't mind, right?'
She left the guest room and stood in front of Warren's door, which was right across the hall. Covering her eyes with one hand, she hesitantly grabbed the door knob with the other hand. 'Please, don't have porn posters on the walls...'
She opened the door, slowly uncovering her eyes. 'Wow, that's actually… cooler than I expected.'
Max walked a few steps into the room and took a look around. The walls were painted dark grey and the furnishings were black. The room wasn't too dark, though, because of a light wood floor and a huge sunny bay window.
Overpowered by curiosity, Max started to snoop around the entire room – even devastated by the last events, she couldn't help being nosy. Besides, she needed distraction, and Warren's bedroom was seeming to be some sort of geeky/nerdy amusement park for her. A very stylish one, by the way.
First, she went to his desk, which was really large. On the left side there was a home chemistry set, along with some exercise books. There was a Doctor Who's Tardis shaped pencil holder next to it.
On the right side of the desk, there was a huge computer monitor. 'His graphics card must be insane.' She thought, wondering what other games he played, apart from World of Warcraft.
Connected to the computer by a cable, there was a telescope, which was pointing to the window. 'I wonder how far this telescope can see...'
On a bottom shelf she saw a PlayStation 3 and a pile of board games like Carcassonne, Puerto Rico and Settlers of Catan.
On the wall above the desk, there was a periodic table poster. Next to it there was a small picture board: it contained some sticky notes and a few pictures of Warren with his family and friends. One picture caught her attention: Warren, probably around 11 years old, standing in the middle of his parents, holding his newborn sister. He was wearing glasses and braces. 'Aaw that's so cute! I bet getting rid of the glasses and braces made Warren happy though.'
The other walls had anime posters like Evangelion, Kimagure Orange Road and Twin Spica on it. Max didn't know any of them, but the drawing style made her feel interested in watching them someday. She also acknowledged posters of Battlestar Galactica, The X-Files, and a really corny one of Electric Dreams movie.
On the wall above the bed, there were some nankin drawings: they had black frames and white mat, looking quite elegant on the grey wall.
Finally, Max got to Warren's bookshelf: it was as huge as she imagined. Along with the books there were a couple of cute anime schoolgirls action figures, as well as a Star Trek's Enterprise replica and a few dinosaur miniatures. As she glanced at the bookshelf, some things caught her attention. First, a vynil collection that included 80's rock bands like The Cure and The Smiths and classical composers such as Stravinsky and Sibelius. 'Now that's eclectic!'
Some shelves were fully occupied with manga collections like Love Hina and Lovely Complex. She noticed that the schoolgirl action figures were actually characters in those manga series. 'It's funny to think Warren put a lot of ultraviolent movies in his flash drive for me to watch, when it seems that he's much more into sci-fi and romance... I guess any other guy would do exactly the opposite of him!'
She spotted a lot of other interesting titles on the other shelves: from classic The Lord of the Rings to beatnik masterpiece Naked Lunch; comic books such as The Sandman, Superman and The Complete Carl Barks' Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge Library.
'So many options... It won't be easy to choose one single book.'
Max decided that a graphic novel would suit her better at that moment, so she grabbed five or six books that seemed more interesting. Since she didn't want to take so many books from Warren's bedroom, she sat on the bench below the bay window to take a quick look at each one.
After flipping the pages of three or four books, one of them captured her interest: Blankets, from Craig Thompson. A few pages later, however, she dozed off.
...
Warren arrived home and went straight upstairs. After placing Max's handbag in front of her door, he went to his bedroom.
He froze at the very moment he opened the door, thinking he stepped in the wrong room. Almost instantly, though, he realized it was his room indeed – the only difference was that Max was sleeping on his bench.
Not knowing what to do, he walked backward and forward a couple times. He didn't dare to look at her direction. 'Dude... Dude... DUDE... Thank goodness it's not a mess in here... Should I wake her up? Of course not, idiot, she'd be embarrassed. I better leave. NOW.'
A cool breeze brushed against the boy's skin, and he realized that the window was slightly open. A little irresolute, he took a small blanket from his bed and walked towards Max. 'If I cover her up with this she'll realize that I caught her here… but that would be kind of expected, right? And it's getting really cold in here…' He quickly glanced at her face and that was enough to make him blush. The pile of books next to her made him smile in satisfaction.
A couple seconds later he came to himself. 'I better get out before she wakes up and think I'm a perv or something.' Then, like a kid playing ring-and-run, he practically throwed the blanket over her body and rushed through the door.
...
It was around 9 p.m. when Max went downstairs and met the Grahams. Warren and his 6 years old sister Emily were sitting on the living room's floor, around a center table. Apparently, he was helping the child with her homework.
Warren acknowledged Max approaching and greeted her cheerfully. "Hey Max, come meet Emmy!"
His voice and gaze made her turn red. 'Well done Max, you should become a meme like Bad Luck Brian – "sneak into male friend's room: crashes on his couch".' She wanted to apologize, but not in front of his sister, so she decided to act like nothing unusual happened.
"Oh, hi Emily! Nice to meet you!"
"Hi…" The little girl replied, smiling shyly. "Ren said you take beautiful pictures… He said your pictures are like my paintings."
The cute little girl's speech softened Max's mood and made her smile. "Really? Do you like photography? Wanna see my camera?"
Emily nodded enthusiastically, which caused Warren to give her a slightly reproachful look: on the way from school to home, he had explained his sister that they would host a friend of him that night; that this friend had a hard day and was very sad and tired, so he would need his sister to behave and be kind. "Max, don't bother yourself about it… Emmy, Max can show you her camera some other day…"
Max chuckled. "It's ok, Warren, really! I remember how fascinated I was the first time I saw an instant camera!"
A couple minutes later, Max's camera was on Emily's hands.
"Be careful…" Warren cautioned the girl, fearing she would drop Max's "precious".
The camera intrigued Emily. "It's so different than our camera… How does it work?"
"Excuse me, I'll show you." Max took the camera from the girl's hands. "Say cheese!"
The view of the photo being instantly printed mesmerized the child. She took a while studying the picture and then handed it back to Max.
"You can keep it, it's a gift from me!" Max said to the girl, who gave her a wide smile.
Looking at the picture, Warren affably spoke to his sister: "That was really nice of Max, don't you think Emmy? Why don't you thank her with one of your beautiful paintings?"
"Good idea!" The child took a small watercolor set from her backpack and started to happily draw and paint.
A few minutes later, she handed her work to Max. "It's done!"
Max picked the watercolor and couldn't help dropping a tear when she saw it. The little girl had drawn lots of multicolored butterflies around a big blue one at the center of the paper sheet.
Concerned, Warren asked his friend if she was okay. She nodded yes and asked the child: "Emily, how did you know I love butterflies?"
"Everybody loves butterflies, they're beautiful!" Emily answered, sprightly.
"What made you paint the bigger one blue?" Warren asked, knowing his sister always had a cute explanation for the colors she chose.
"Her eyes!" The child answered, pointing to Max's face.
Warren looked at Max and almost by accident their eyes locked for a second. Both blushed and looked away. "O-of course, how didn't I realize that…" He said, while rubbing his neck.
At this exact moment, Amber Graham entered the room. "Hi Max, how are you doing? Any headaches? Did you get some sleep? I'm sorry if the mattress is a bit too hard, I bought it because elderly people like my parents and in-laws usually prefer it that way!"
Recollecting that she actually slept on Warren's bench, Max tried to answer Amber's questions as naturally as possible. "I'm feeling fine… I uh… even got to sleep for some hours… Your house is adorable, thank you for everything!"
Amber grinned kindly. "You're welcome! You must be hungry… I'm serving dinner now!"
Everybody helped the mother to set dinner on the center table. They were used to have some meals there, sitting on cushions on the floor, like a japanese family. Max found it odd, but very cozy at the same time.
While eating the delicious spaghetti alla carbonara Amber had cooked, they chatted about light topics like TV shows and Emily's artistic skills. Sharing that family moment with the Grahams, rather than trivial, was a nurturing and nostalgic experience for Max. It reminded her of the good old days at the Prices', when she and Chloe's biggest challenge was choosing between pancakes and bacon omelette for breakfast. 'These good memories are really a gift, like Joyce said…yet painful right now.'
After they finished the meal, Amber excused herself to check Emily's homework at her bedroom and assured Max she could call her if she needed anything. Mother and daughter said good night and went upstairs.
Warren cleared the table and told Max to make herself at home and get some rest, but she preferred to offer help with the dish-washing. She followed him to the kitchen and grabbed a dishcloth to dry the dishes he washed.
Sharing the task helped them feeling more relaxed around each other. Max started a conversation:
"Your mother is amazing! When things get calmer I want to give her a gift. I'll ask you for tips."
"That's very nice of you!"
"And Emily is so cute! She seems to be so attached to you, you must miss her a lot."
"I really do! You probably asked yourself why I stay at a dorm if I live here at Arcadia Bay… Well it's mostly because of her. I mean, I don't know to which college am I going after Blackwell, but it might somewhere far from here, like New York or Massachusetts… So my parents and I agreed that this way Emily would gradually get used to my absence."
"I see… That's really thoughtful of yours. I mean, with your 4.0 GPA you certainly will be admitted by MIT…
"Jeez, did I really mention you my GPA score? How conceited of me, sorry."
Realizing she only knew that because she saw his student record at Principal Wells' office in the alternate timeline, Max quickly tried to fix her mistake:
"Uh… no, you never mentioned it. It's just that… you know, you're smart, and you take your studies really seriously… so I kind of guessed it."
"Oh, thanks! That's much better, I was about to think that I have amnesia!"
"Anyway, don't you dare to ask about my GPA!" Max said, playfully.
"Nah, your talent cannot be quantified by any stupid grading system."
Warren's statement made Max's cheeks flush. She was still thinking of words to say to him when he announced that their job was done and headed back to the living room.
They climbed up the stairs and walked through the corridor, standing in front of their respective bedrooms' doors.
"Oh Max, I almost forgot to ask you. Did you get to talk to your parents again?"
"Yes, they transferred their tickets to an earlier flight but they'll only arrive here tomorrow in the afternoon."
"Did they mention about next week? I mean, a few hours ago my father called and told me that Blackwell made contact to notify him that classes are suspended for the whole next week."
Max's mind spaced out, as she started to wonder if the school and the police already knew about Jefferson. 'I hope so… But what if they don't?'
Max's attention was drawn back by Warren's voice calling her name. "I'm sorry, Max, I shouldn't've brought this subject now… I just wanted to let you know that you can stay at Seattle for the whole next week if you want…" He said, sheepishly.
"Huh? Oh, it's good you told me that. I guess it'll be better for me spending some days away from Blackwell…"
"Max… If you need to talk or anything, I'll be right here…"
"Thanks, Warren! Good night…"
"Good night…"
…..
In the guest room, Max sat on the bed and embraced her knees.
'Tomorrow is going to be the hardest day of my life. It'll be worse than the day William died… And I'm sure it'll be worse than today. I don't know if I can stand seeing Chloe in a coffin… after all we went through this week.'
'And Joyce… How am I going to face Joyce tomorrow? In this timeline, I last saw her five years ago, right after William's death. It's so painful to think how careless I was with her family… I wonder what's going to be her reaction when she sees me at the funeral. It'll be totally understandable if she gets mad at me. I'm scared…'
'The worst part is that I can't even deny to myself that right now I once more feel like running away to Seattle and never coming back… I'm such a coward.'
Dwelling on those thoughts for almost one hour made her feel more and more hopeless. She picked her now fully charged cell phone and texted Warren:
Max: are u still up? [10/07 11:13 p.m.]
Warren: of course, I'm a night owl! [10/07 11:13 p.m.]
Max: can we talk? [10/07 11:14 p.m.]
Warren: I'm all ears [10/07 11:14 p.m.]
Max: ok, I'll be at your door in… 2 secs [10/07 11:14 p.m.]
….
Warren opened his bedroom door and let Max in. He was wearing light grey sweatpants and a blue hoodie; his hair was wet and neatly combed.
Max's apparent restlessness worried him, but before he could say anything she started to speak:
"I… uh… How do I put this… I don't want to go into details. It's just that… as I told you before, the girl in the bathroom was my best friend, but… I didn't see her for five years. B-because… I flaked on her right after her father died… What a lame friend I am, huh?" She wiped a few tears from her eyes as she talked.
Warren stepped closer to Max and put one hand on her shoulder. As if he could read her mind, he asked: "Max, do you want me to go to the funeral with you?"
"Would you mind? I'd go with my parents if they were here… I'll totally understand if you don't want to…"
"Max, I was going to ask you anyway. We're friends, you don't have to go through all of this alone. Do you mind if I call Kate tomorrow morning? I think she'd like to join us."
"Yes, please do that. Thanks again Warren, it means a lot to me."
"Anytime."
"There's a second thing I wanted to say… I owe you apologize." Max turned her look to the floor, feeling embarrassed.
Surprised, Warren asked. "Apologize? For what?"
"Well, uh… You obviously noticed that this afternoon I uh… sneaked into your bedroom. I just wanted to borrow a book, but ended up losing track of time. I'm sorry."
"It's ok, Max. Actually I'm the one who should apologize, I should've let the door open so you could borrow anything you wanted." He chuckled: "I'm just glad that it was not a mess in here… Although… Albeit tidy you probably found my room a bit too dorky…"
Max gave him a light smile. "Of course not, I think it's super-cool, in fact that's why I lost track of time here… I feel like I'm at a… some sort of norwegian geek guy bedroom. If you know what I mean."
Warren scratched his head, trying to restrain a wide smile. "Not really… Why norwegian?"
Max chuckled. "Oh, so maybe it's the first time I know something you don't! Whenever you have time, look for "scandinavian design" at google. I think you'll like it."
"Always time to learn something new! In fact, there are lots of things that you know and I don't, such as Hamilton photography and bands like Syd Matters, for instance…"
Max raised an eyebrow: "Oh, so you've been to my dorm room?"
Visibly embarrassed, Warren replied. "Uuh… Y-yes… But it was for a really short moment, and only because Kate insisted."
Max smiled. "It's ok, I guess we can call it even then? What did you think of it?"
Warren smiled back in relief. "I found it awesome… You have your own style. That photo wall was one of the coolest things I've ever seen."
She blushed a little. "Thanks! I'm still decorating it…"
After a brief moment of awkward silence, he looked at the bench, the pile of books Max picked was still there. "Hey, you chose some of my favorite graphic novels… You can take them with you to Seattle, if you want."
"Really? Those ones seem pretty cool, I'll take your offer! I should go to my room now, I don't want to ruin your plans for tonight. What are you gonna play? World of Warcraft, as usual?"
"You never ruin anything… Anyway, no games tonight. Sky is pretty clear so I was setting up my telescope to see Saturn."
"Saturn... You can really see Saturn through this?"
"Yeah... It's not Hubble but it's not bad at all. Wanna take a look?
"Sure." 'It's so cute when he gets fully absorbed by his science stuff.' Max thought, while Warren opened the window.
Max looked through the telescope lens and saw a small but clear image of the planet. "Cool… I can even see some of its moons!"
Warren was on the computer, using the telescope software to search for sky objects. "Take a look, I think you're gonna appreciate this one."
"Wowser! What is this?"
Warren answered: "It's the Crab Nebula."
Interested, Max asked. "This is fun! So you just type in there and it searches the planets for you?"
"Basically yeah. Wanna try?"
Max switched places with Warren and searched for some objects he suggested, such as the Swan Nebula and the Pinwheel Galaxy.
Meanwhile, Warren picked his cell phone and leaned back on his bed. "I'll search for more objects on an app I've just downloaded."
As Max saw planets, stars, nebulas and galaxies through the telescope, she thought about the universe's grandiosity and infinitude, which for some reason she couldn't explain made her feel more and more calm.
Suddenly, she spotted something different. "Warren, I think I just saw a shooting star!"
As he didn't say anything, she turned the computer chair to his bed. "Warren?" He had fallen asleep.
Max got up from the chair and closed the window. 'Poor Warren, this day was quite tiresome for him too.'
She stood beside his bed and watched him sleep. His outward peacefulness made Max recall Kate's words during the hospital visit she paid her in the other timeline: 'Even angels need angels, Max…'
Carefully, Max pulled the bed cover over him. The idea of kissing him in the forehead crossed her mind for a second, but she quickly dismissed it.
Whispering, she said: "Thanks for being here." Then, she left the room.
…..
In the guest room, Max laid in bed and closed her eyes.
A thought came back to her: 'Tomorrow is going to be the hardest day of my life…'
This time, however, she felt her mind much more stable. '… but I think I can face it. I need to.'
At this point, the will of fleeing to Seattle without looking back had completely vanished from her mind and heart: in a non-rational way, Max knew that this time she had more than one reason to come back to Arcadia Bay.
In a matter of minutes, she fell asleep.