Fractured
Chapter Nine: Burn, Bleed, Melt


"Max! Max darling, can you hear me?" My eyes flared open to the sound of my mother's voice. She sounded closer this time. A flame of hope lit and burned brightly in my chest, my heart pounding against its prison-like ribcage. Throat hoarse and dry, thriving for liquid; sour in heat. I cannot reply. Fragmented paving lay beneath me. And with another look, blood was soaked through the thin ravines; in more than a slightly grotesque manner. Again she calls my name.

Where is she? I look around; faux sun illuminating and creating shadows. A building, falling apart at the cracks and seams. Was this where my mother was held? Where she spent her last hours taking her final breaths. The earth roared and shuddered. A fiery hand drifted across my cheek, burning and soothing.

"Max, be careful, my daughter."

The ground shattered.

And then I burned.


I bled. My eyes open in the waking world to meet a sky that never ends. My fist struck out and connected a wall; eliciting a soft 'oof' from the victim. Momentarily shut off from the sky, I dived back into the dark. And then he was back to watching me bleed. The blood ran in rivers from the ribbons from my wrists that were slashed so deeply. But with his eyes he covered my wounds and wrapped them tight, healing; fixing. And so I found my voice.

"Were you watching me sleep?" The snark bite intended for the sentence was without a trace; with my breath airy and my heart still in spasms.

"Max, you were screaming and thrashing about. It was kind of hard to sleep through something like that." Now I began to see the layers of worry in his eyes, how scared he must've been. He pushed a strand of hair away from my face, cupping my cheek softly. I watched his eyes dart back and forth between own.

Feeling caged, I gently pushed him away to sit myself up. The early morning sun filtered through the window, its dim light casting shadows throughout the room. Iggy watched me with cautious eyes, waiting for an explanation. After shifting around, a sigh escaped my lips and my lungs inhaled more air.

"It was mom. Then I just started burning up, I think."

"Some dream, huh?"

I breathed out. "Yeah, some dream." Iggy wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. "What time is it anyway?"

"Around six am." I groaned and threw myself back against the bed. It was too early. "I agree with you there, way too early." I paused.

"Iggy, I didn't say anything." He grinned and wriggled his eyebrows. "So you can read minds!" He chortled with laughter and lay beside me.

"You're an idiot, Max."

"How?" I turned on my side with my head resting on my hand. He chuckled and raised a hand to cup my cheek.

"I can't read minds. I just took you throwing yourself back at the bed as a sign that it was too early for you." Heat raised to me cheeks and I turned my head away. Yup, you're an idiot Max. "Hey," he gently turned my head back towards him with eyes sparkling like -dare I say- a diamond, "you look real cute when you blush." If he didn't shut up I'm sure my cheeks would burst into flames.

"Shh," I close my eyes and fell back against the pillow, "let's sleep just a little more."

All too soon I dozed off into sleep land again.

I woke up to warm hands on my shoulders, arousing me from my sleep, which had zero freaky dreams that time. "Max," his voice drifted into my ears, "you don't want to sleep away the whole day do you?" I opened my eyes to the blinding light that filled my room and my nose caught a draft of full lavender-scented Iggy.

A few minutes later we were downstairs drinking coffee; with me on my second and Iggy still choking down his first.

"So what are the plans for today?" I asked Iggy while washing out the empty mugs. I left them next to the sink to dry before turning around to face him.

"We're making a pit stop at my place and then we're hitting the mall." I raised an eyebrow at him when he mentioned the mall. "I need to pick up a few supplies so we can speak with your mom. Speaking of that, could you tell me any details about the dream?" I nodded and rattled off the details of the strange dream I had.

"Are you sure that you were in a building? What did it look like?" I thought hard back to the dream.

"It's hard to figure out the details, I don't pay much attention to my dreams. But it was old and sort of falling apart." Iggy nodded and pivoted on spot before jogging back upstairs. He quickly came back down with his phone in hand, typing furiously. A minute later he put it down on the kitchen bench so we could both see what was on the screen. It showed a map of the town; with dots and names scattered throughout the page.

"A few miles out there's a whole town full of abandoned and degraded buildings, it'd be the perfect place to look." He dragged the screen across to another town before zooming in to show the names of the streets.

"Iggy, are you even sure about this?"

"Did you recognize the building in your dream? Like, have you seen it before?" I shook my head in reply. "Then it's got to be one of these, it has to be. You wouldn't just whip up a random building in a dream like that would you?" I shook my head again with a small smile on my face. Iggy knew what he was doing. I placed a kiss on his cheek before walking towards the door, grabbing my shoes next to the stairs to pull them on.

"Alright, let's get going to your place. Whose car are we taking?" Iggy came over and also started putting his shoes on.

"We'll take mine, I think I cut you off anyway," I shot him a look, "Sorry, I wasn't exactly thinking about where I was going to park, I was going to move it later."

I shrugged it off, "I guess it doesn't matter that much, I just don't know how you actually managed to do that."

"So are you going in that?" He motioned his hand towards me, still wearing the same clothes I was wearing yesterday.

"Well, are you going in that?"

"Touche'" We grinned at each other before heading out of the door. I patted my jeans, double checking that I had my phone, wallet and keys. I looked up to see a Black Cadillac CTS sitting in the middle of the driveway. I let out a low whistle.

"Iggy, how did you manage to get your hands on a Cadillac, especially a newer model?" I sped towards the car, jumping into the front seat and relaxing into the leather cushions. Iggy ducked into the seat next to me, pulling on a seatbelt and turning on the ignition. "Oh wow, Mr Safety are we?" He shot me a dark look, watching as I pulled on my own seatbelt. He pulled out of the driveway and onto the road. "So where do you live exactly?"

"A couple minutes away, so don't fall asleep." He threw me another look and I blushed under the weight of his gaze. My spine tingled as I remembered the last thought I had before I went to sleep the night before. Iggy had turned back around to keep his eyes on the road so I took the chance to analyse him.

No one else had eyes quite like his; especially since they could change from blue to purple. Even so, they were a unique shade of blue that I didn't see very often, with streams of white running through. Maybe, if at that moment had I paid more attention, I would've noticed the dark blue specks that also accompanied his eyes. I followed the strong curve of his nose, to his high cheekbones, all the way down to his sensual lips. Iggy shivered as if I had actually touched his features instead of tracing them with my eyes. Maybe he had a secret sixth sense? I giggled at the thought.

"Having fun staring at me?" His voice was light, a hint of a grin tugging at his lips. His eyes darted sideways to meet my own. Blue and brown. Water and earth; colliding together like the sand on the shore. My skin prickled with electricity at the familiarity of his eyes once more; why were they still so familiar?

"I'm having a lot of fun."

"Why, is there something on my face?" He brought his hand up and rubbed his cheek. Laughter bubbled from my chest and my lips stretched to form a grin.

"There is nothing on your face. In fact, it's quite a handsome face." I watched as his cheeks slightly redden in appearance. I revelled in triumph. We are silent for a moment. I want to ask him why he felt so familiar, ask if he felt the same way I did when I looked into his eyes. Although, I don't want him to look at me and laugh. I sit back and put my arm over my eyes.

I feel the sun against my skin, looming above us as we made our way towards his house. It was nothing compared to my mother's hand when she touched my cheek, or at least what I thought was her hand. It angers me sometimes, thinking about mom. My chest tightens uncomfortable as my dream drifted to thoughts, and thoughts drifted to memories. I hate my fucking hacked-up life, how I'm without a mom and dad, how damaged I've become. I stop. I breathe.

I needed to stop thinking back to her, how I wouldn't get to see her again. I was becoming delusional. No sound reached my ears and I wonder if I'm sleeping again. I am alone in the darkness; but I feel my arm pressed against my eyes. In less than a week I will find out the truth, about what really happened to my mother. I still feel the sun on my skin; tormenting me that the days continue on without a care.

I melt.

What felt like hours later, Iggy was lightly shaking me awake once more. My eyes opened, bleary against the midday sun. "We're here," I made out while awakening from my short nap.

I got out of the car, looking around. "How long was I out for?" I yawned, stretching my arms up towards the sky.

"Only a couple minutes," Iggy shut the door behind him once he left the car. He looked at the house across the road from the car, a haunted look in his eyes; and I wondered when that gaze first appeared in those endless eyes of his. I started across the road towards the house he had looked at and he, what seemed almost reluctantly, followed.

Mere meters from the door he called out to me. "Max?"

I turn my face to look in his eyes. "Yeah?"

"I'm so glad I got to meet you."

I let myself look at him for a long time. Every curve of his face was familiar, and yet, I had never seen him before. He smiled. Shining. Timid. He reached out and stroked my hair. I leaned in and kissed him. He touched my face. Ran his hand down my neck and along my collarbone. The light from the sun shone down on us.

"Give me your hand."

He does.

His skin is soft and warm. We intertwine our fingers and close our eyes against the sun. Then I pull him, gently, and led him towards the house.


Alright I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. This I worked on for a couple hours and didn't exactly spew it out. Read and review! Thanks!