Not Alone – Chapter 9

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

It took two days to drive out to the place Fang was taking me. He drove through the night, sleepless as the radio quietly played rock music. I surprisingly slept the entire time there, and in my moments between slumber and consciousness, I swore I could hear Fang singing under his breath.

He shook me awake and I opened my eyes to darkness.

"We're here."

"Exactly where is here?" I questioned.

Opening the car door, he lifted his leg and eased himself out of the car. "California. Somewhere out of Death Valley I think."

I heard the trunk open and he dropped our backpacks to the ground. Getting out, the night was cool against my skin. I pulled his jacket around me and went to the back of the car to help him unpack.

"We're going to have to take a bit of a walk. This is as far as cars can go out here," he explained, handing me the backpacks. "Are you afraid of heights?"

I shook my head.

He looked relieved. Without another word, he locked the car and led the way through some trees. We passed through a campsite, leaving the parking lot. An hour must have went by until he spoke again, pushing the branches of a dead looking bush.

"No one, as far as I know, ever comes out here," he told me. "Just another few minutes this way."

I went past the bush and he followed. It wasn't long before we came to a steep slope. His legs shaking, he took a few steps up it. He reached the top and stretched out his hand.

"Give me the bags first."

I handed them to him and started up. It was a lot easier for me than it was for him. Another five minutes following the side of what seemed to be a cliff, he set the bags down.

"Alright, here we are," he announced.

Looking around, there was nothing but wilderness for miles and miles. The moon was high in the sky, the stars actually visible. He started a fire, lighting up the area around us. I realized we were in some kind of landing in the side of a cliff, like a cave.

Sitting down next to him, I said, "It's amazing out here."

His eyes seemed to be fixed out in the distance. "Yeah, it is. Quiet too."

"Is that why you like it out here?" I questioned.

Fang shrugged. "I suppose so."

We sat there for a while, just taking in our surroundings. His hand was planted on his knee, rubbing it methodically, like he was trying to push the pain away. Every now and then he would wince, looking tired every time the light from the fire flickered across his face.

Abruptly, Fang stood. I was too in awe with everything though to see where he had gone off to. After a while, I turned around to see what he was doing. I watched him pull out a sleeping bag and some food, muttering under his breath.

"What's wrong, Fang?"

He looked up at me, his mouth opening and closing. "I forgot to tell you to bring a sleeping bag."

"It's alright," I told him. "I mean, I brought a blanket anyway."

He frowned and spread out the sleeping bag, putting the blanket on top of it. Hobbling, he came back to the fire with a pan and a can of sausages. We cooked and ate them in silence.


It was cold now that the fire had gone out. I wrapped the blanket around me, trying to warm myself. Maybe I should have taken Fang's offer to sleep in the sleeping bag instead. I turned to my side, facing him.

"You're not sleeping."

His voice scared me and I almost rolled away.

"No," I breathed out, my teeth chattering.

"Come here," he said, unzipping the sleeping bag.

I untangled myself from the blanket and positioned myself next to him. He took the blanket and wrapped it around us before closing the sleeping bag.

"Body heat," he grumbled. "It'll be warmer."

He stiffened as I rested my head against his chest.

"Sorry," I whispered, lifting my head.

But he relaxed. "It's okay."

I settled back against him and closed my eyes. Before I knew it, I was drifting off to dreamless sleep.


When I woke the next morning, Fang was sitting on the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling down. I joined him, not really thinking that the fall down seemed like miles.

"Good morning," I stated.

He glanced at me, moving a few inches closer to me. "Morning."

There was water below us, hawks flying lazily in the sky. Fang seemed to be watching them.

"Do you ever wish you could fly?" he suddenly asked.

I watched the hawks for a while. "Sometimes. Just so I could get away from everything."

His arm came around me. I hadn't expected it, but I nested my head against him. For some reason, being like this with him, it felt right.

"I found this place for all the wrong reasons," he said, his gaze still on the hawks. "But when I got here and stood on the edge here, I couldn't bring myself to jump. If I did it here, no one would find me, and maybe deep down inside back then, I wanted to be saved."

It was hard not to look down and think about how it would be to just let yourself go by jumping off a cliff. The thought made me cringe.

"And when I regained consciousness in the hospital after throwing myself in front of those cars, Dr. Theo waiting for me, I knew that I had to come back here, but not to try to kill myself, but to look for answers." This might have been the most I've ever heard Fang talk since he told me what happened to him during my first week at the hospital. "And I guess out here, I could find peace for a while, but there was still something unsettling. This sense there was something else I needed to find."

I looked up at him. "Do you think you'll ever find that something?"

"I found it." His dark eyes met mine, looking down at me. "And it wasn't something, it was someone."

It took me a while to realize he was talking about me.


Thanks for reading! Next chapter will be up sometime during the week!