Chapter 6
Max was so glad to get home. Nudge was gone to her job and wouldn't be home until late that night. It gave Max a feel of solitude, but then loneliness. The loneliness soon brought on sheer terror of being home alone, just like she was until the police found her. She had just gotten through the door and she was already having these thoughts.
Max squeezed her eyes shut tight and tried to sing her ABC's backwards. It was a coping technique that was taught to her after the accident, but she had never been able to make it all the way to A. But as the clock continued to tick on the wall and the incurable drip sounded from the kitchen, Max wasn't able to make it past R.
Cursing herself for her weakness, she turned out the door, locking it behind her. She would go to her coffee shop down the street for the night, until she knew that Nudge was home. It was her usual escape after a bad day and today the shop was looking ideal.
It was quiet there was she took a seat at one of the barstools looking out the front window. The shop owners knew her personally, giving her a wave as she swung her jacket over the chair. She smiled back and walked to the counter with her purse at hand.
"Hey," Max greeted.
"Hello doll face. What would you like today?" The owners were an older couple, but they looked at each other with the love decades younger than them. By the looks of their soft faces, they were beautiful when they were younger. They traveled around the world but now with sixteen grandchildren it seemed as though they had settled down.
The man, Noah, was taking her order, the bright smile that lit up his face contagious. Max took her hot chocolate when he brought it to her after a few minutes. She made sure to catch his eye as she left a large tip. Noah's responding smile was blinding.
She ate alone, watching the people outside go by. What were their lives like? She wondered as a grandfather and small child laughed at a joke. Were they normal? Did they have a family still? Well, but the looks of things, everyone was still fine and dandy. But what was really going on? Were they actually grieving Grandmamma's death? Max troubled herself with these questions about the strangers until her hot chocolate was cold. She hardly touched it because it would hurt too much. The night had hung over the city for an hour or so and shop owners were packing up.
She got up from her table, waving quickly at the wife, Marley, as she pushed the door open with her back.
When she walked down the street, she hoped Nudge would be home. Then she would be able to have a meal replacement and sleeping pill before she went to bed. The day was quickly wearing her out.
Pushing the door open, she was greeted with Nudge in a bathrobe and towel on her head, a green facemask out lining her eyes and mouth. Max smiled at the sight.
"Max! You're home. I was kind of worried after you didn't show up after dinner hour but then I figured you would be at your coffee shop, and I was in dire need of a shower so I just hoped you would come home some time soon or else I would have to call the police and I knew that wouldn't be good so I waited, and you came!" She finished with a flourish of her arms.
Max dropped her shoes, coat and purse in the hall and flopped on the couch, wincing as the move jostled her stomach. It was empty, but still finicky, especially since it was late at night.
"So, how was your day?" Nudge asked conversationally as she checked her mask in the mirror that Max had looked in the night before.
"Fine. Not good, but not terrible either."
Nudge just nodded, too preoccupied with her pores to hold dialogue. Max took that as her cue and got off the couch into the kitchen. She took a meal replacement out of the fridge, pouring it into a glass. It hurt more to drink when it was cold, so heating it up a bit was best. So Max shoved it in the microwave for 20, getting her sleeping pill out while she waited. The beep told her that it was ready and she took it out and brought it down the hall to her room.
"I'm going to read for a bit after my shower. You done in the bathroom?" Max asked, setting the glass and pill beside her book.
"No, I should be okay until you get out." Max nodded to herself, grabbing two towels from the linen closet as she went by.
Showers for Max were great. Though she had a perfect view of the scar that brought up so many painful memories, the endless hot water made her muscles relax as long as she closed her eyes.
She stripped while the water temperature rose, getting in at its peak. She washed her hair and body quickly first so she could spend the rest of it standing there.
Twenty five minutes later she emerged. Beads of water slipped down her skin as she dashed to her room, trying to avoid footprints on the cold flooring.
She changed into her pajamas and gulped a third of her meal-in-a-cup before taking her pill. She wouldn't finish the next chapter of the book or the replacement before the drugs took effect and put her to rest.
But that's how she wanted sleep tonight to be.
Quick and mind numbing.
Another chapter in less than 24 hours. I'm slightly dissapointed in the response I got for the last chapter. I couldn't find this story in the archive and I only got one review. :( Oh well, maybe people will like this one more. It's filler, but it gets us one step closer to the actual plot. :D
Love Ella
