Fourteen: Honey
Dean was suspended in time.
A place between the living and the dead. A haze of images and visions and hallucinations all rolled into one continuous film that flooded his senses and took control of his brain. When he tried to recall the events after the fact, it came to him like random choices of a hundred-volume book series. None of his memories really fit together or went in any certain order, but to him, it made all the sense in the world.
Max was his last thought before he blacked out. He was sure of that, yet his mind kept showing him images of Beth. The images were mostly fabrications or superimposed memories where anyone Dean had shut out of his life had been replaced with Beth and her smile like a sunrise.
Dean's brain was damaged in the accident. Several doctors had confirmed that fact with tests and scans. He could remember one doctor saying something like, "You're lucky you're not in a coma," a suggestion Dean found ridiculous because he never considered people in comas to be unlucky. It was like believing they were lost to the confines of time because they gambled too much.
The damage seemed minimal to Dean. The only change he found was that his memories were taken apart like puzzle pieces and put back together to create a completely different bigger picture. Beth became the link between the pieces. Looking back on it, Dean told himself that she was symbolic of innocence and happier times. Whatever the reason, his mind had chosen her to be the commonality. Dean believed that if he had been dating or met someone else before his accident, perhaps his mind would've never considered Beth at all.
He had been in and out of consciousness. Sometimes there were nurses or doctors there when he awoke. Dean was able to comprehend that he was in a hospital, but he had not yet come to terms with the accident that brought him there. An officer had arrived at some point and asked a few questions. Dean gave answers, though he couldn't recall what he had said.
Familiar voices surrounded him at some point. He didn't open his eyes. Dean tried to listen to understand what the voices were saying, but his mind would not let him. Sometimes the voices sounded strict or angry. He felt a hand in his. Dean thought that his bed moved several times, like someone was bumping against the end of it.
"...no clue what this is all about," a woman said.
Her voice was low and angry. An image of Charlotte came into Dean's head. He began to dream of the house on the corner he and Charlotte had rented just after they got married. It was a small white house with a roof that pointed upwards. Dean never liked that it resembled a church. Money was tight and they were both stressed after a long day of looking at houses. Charlotte had shattered a coffee cup on the floor and she yelled that it was a bad omen. Dean had never taken the incident seriously. Now he wondered if he should have.
"...sick, he's sick! Don't you understand!" a second woman shouted.
The second voice stirred Dean awake. Though it had come out shrill, he was reminded of the honey smoothness it usually resembled.
"Sunrise," Dean said, focusing his gaze on Beth at his left side.
Her baby doll eyes blinked with surprise. She was standing very close to his face and she stepped away as soon as he spoke. His left hand felt warm and Dean glanced down to see that Beth had cupped both her hands over his. Dean looked up just as Seth came to stand behind Beth from somewhere in the room. They looked oddly distant from him, as if their images had been cut out and pasted back so they only appeared to still be there.
"Well, look at that! He's got a pet name for you! Guess I should consider your story after all!" the first woman's voice came back.
Dean's neck felt stiff and unusable, so he let his eyes scan the room. He found Max holding his right hand. Charlotte was standing behind Max with her arms folded stiffly against her. Charlotte's eyes were narrowed sharply as she stared at Beth. Dean found Bobby standing at the foot of the bed, his shoulders back and his hands on his hips as if he were about to break up a fight.
"Dad? You okay?" Max whispered.
Charlotte turned her attention to Max and her expression went from spiteful to Mother Bear Mode. She wrapped her arms around Max's shoulders and hugged him lovingly. It looked fake to Dean, like watching a play featuring actors who weren't very good at their craft.
"I'm fine, son," Dean managed to answer him.
Max sniffled. His face glowed like he had been crying. Charlotte unraveled herself from Max and looked up. Her eyes found Dean's for a mere second before she was back to giving Beth a death glare.
Dean could feel his eyelids getting heavy. His body stirred a bit and he looked down to see Bobby gently shaking his leg to keep him awake.
"Hey, man, we got one more question for you before saying goodnight," Bobby told him.
Dean nodded and Charlotte opened her mouth like she wanted to be the first to ask. She was shot down when Max formed the words half a second faster, "Are you really gonna marry Beth?"
Dean's mind tried to take him to his memories of marrying Charlotte. The past and the present began to blend and swirl together until Charlotte was completely replaced by Beth's image.
"Sure, son," Dean believed it even as he said it.
"This is an outrage! How long have you known her?! Two weeks?! Two fucking weeks?!" Charlotte's voice boomed through his ears and rattled his memories.
"Charlotte! Goddammit!" Bobby was shouting at her.
Dean could feel his body moving side-to-side. He was aware he was being shaken, but he felt no pain. The shaking stopped and Dean watched Bobby pushing Charlotte outside through a glass door across the room. Max said something and rushed off after them. Dean was able to catch the outline of Seth's shoulders as he wandered out with the others.
"I'm sorry," Beth whispered to Dean.
She let go of his hand. He felt a blast of cool air hit the previously warm spot.
"Don't leave me," Dean called out, though his voice sounded small and faded.
Sunrise was gone.
:-:
Max knew that his mother had issues. He couldn't ignore the fact that she had left him behind after their daughter, Nancy's death. She kept up a lot of contact with him by cell phone, something that Max was grateful for after he found out that most of his friends hardly ever heard from the other parent after the divorce.
She gave him a few reasons why she left. One of them was that she just couldn't stop thinking about Nancy. Max never understood how his mother made it a valid reason to abandon one child because she lost the other. Sometimes he wondered if he just wasn't good enough to fill the void Nancy had left.
Max ultimately decided that it was better he stayed with his father. Dean sometimes resembled a loser without a wife around to make him laugh and give him a reason to be Super Cop, but he hadn't become an alcoholic after Charlotte left and he never said a bad word about her in front of Max. The divorce of his parents had left Max with a number of potentially negative and life-changing outcomes that never happened, but he still couldn't help feeling resentment whenever he saw a happy family.
Since his mother's disappearing act, Max had watched his father closely for signs of a breakdown. When Dean brought up the idea of moving, he was calm and collected about it. When he decided to retire, he talked to Max about it before making the decision. If his father was breaking, it was somewhere deep beneath the surface.
Max never thought of his father as the type to jump the gun. Whenever he spent time with Bobby, Max was told that Dean was the negotiator, or the good cop, while Bobby was the one who rushed into action when it came down to it. Dean was the tortoise and Bobby was the hare. The fact that his father was so easy to figure out with both deeply infuriating and soothingly reliable.
That's why Max didn't believe it when Beth told him she and Dean were getting married.
He laughed. Max regretted it now, but that was his initial reaction to the news. He thought it was some sort of a poorly-timed joke. Who talks about wedding plans in the middle of a hospital?
Charlotte didn't laugh. Max watched his mother launch at Beth like a wild animal. Seth got in front of Beth and blocked Charlotte's attack. Bobby had to practically peel Charlotte off of Seth.
It was like something out of a bad soap opera. An episode you started watching because there was nothing else on and you keep asking yourself, "What the hell is going on?" You deliberate constantly about changing the channel, yet you can't stop wondering what's going to happen, next.
"He's gonna know you're a prostitute! I'll make sure he knows that the minute he wakes up!" Charlotte threatened.
"She's no prostitute! She's a dancer at a club, just like you!" Seth shot back.
Charlotte clawed at Seth. Bobby held her back.
"Mom?" Max said out loud.
Everyone turned to face him. They were all standing like a herd of deer who just noticed a car coming. Bobby had the quickest reaction time and remarkably the best excuse, "Your mom's been doing what she can to pay the divorce lawyers. There's no shame in that."
Charlotte came down to her knees so she could hug Max close to her. The nails she had just tried to slash Seth's face with were now digging lightly into her son's shoulder blades as if they never intended to do anyone harm. It still took Max another minute to fully realize that he was being told his mother was a stripper. A stray thought entered his mind: The guys at school would love to hear this.
Then came the downside: Society doesn't show much respect for strippers.
"I thought you wanted to go back to school to be a nurse," Max blurted out when his mother released him.
Charlotte was already coming back to her feet and she seemed too distracted by Beth's presence to answer him. Max glanced at Seth, maybe hoping for a reaction from the rebel he so admired, but Seth's expression was stoic and he seemed to only be there for Beth.
"How come you're marrying my dad? I thought you two were a couple," Max pointed between Beth and Seth.
Beth answered almost too quickly, "He's my roommate."
Max's instincts told him something was off. Everyone seemed to know more than he did. He wanted to argue with Beth, but when he saw how hateful his mother looked eyeing the competition, he thought the better of it.
"Let's go on in and see to our host," Bobby tried to lighten the mood.
He motioned for Max to take the lead. The group followed him to his father's room on the 3rd floor. Dean had been admitted to intensive care so he could be consistently monitored. When Max first walked into the room, it reminded him of a sterile place in the back of a church where a nun might put a child who refuses to follow the rules.
The entire time, Max stayed pinned to his father's side. Dean looked normal beyond a few cuts and bruises. Max found it hard to believe his father had actually been struck by a vehicle and thrown thirty yards into the pavement.
He looks like he just fell off a bike, Max thought.
Max pretended to be mostly unaware of his mother's intentions with Beth. The hatred seemed to be thicker and older, like Charlotte was mad at Beth for more than just the wedding announcement. The tension almost exploded when Dean confirmed that wedding plans were in the making.
There was still the possibility that Beth was lying. Max had no idea why the young blonde would be after his father. Dean wasn't a rich man. He came with a teenager and a coffee maker that he didn't quite know how to work. Beth was young, beautiful and likable. She probably got proposals all the time. Max loved his dad, but Beth seemed out of Dean's league.
"We're going to Dean's apartment to stay the night. You should stop by and see us," Charlotte told Bobby when they all went out to the parking lot a few minutes, later.
"Who's gonna stay and look out for my dad?" Max argued.
"Don't worry, Max, I made plans with a buddy of mine. Finn," Seth said, giving Max's shoulder a reassuring smack.
Bobby and Charlotte glared at Seth. Max braced himself for another outburst, but none came. Charlotte guided him into Bobby's all-terrain vehicle and they left the parking lot like bank robbers on an escape.
Max and his mother were dropped off at the apartment. Max gave Charlotte a quick tour and she went to the kitchen. He went to his room to listen to music. He only cried a little bit. He didn't want his mother walking in and trying to coddle him like she did when he was five.
He could smell food after a while. Charlotte wasn't usually much of a cook. Max didn't care. He was hungry as hell and glad he didn't have to find money to get delivery.
Max thought about the day's events. His father was involved in a hit-and-run. Bobby and Charlotte came to take him out of school like they'd just been on stand-by the whole time, waiting for the right moment to re-enter Max's life. He was taken to a hospital where he was told by a stuffy looking doctor that his father had actually been in an accident and Max thought he'd be walking in on the unconscious zombie that used to be his father and the only sound he'd hear was the steady beeping of the heart monitor. When Max finally saw his father, Dean looked so unhurt that Max had to remind himself that they don't admit people into hospitals who aren't really injured.
There were three revelations about the day that took hold in Max's mind: His neighbor was claiming she was his father's fiance. Max didn't know what to think about that, other than it must be some sort of mistake. His dad was the tortoise. There's no way he'd marry a lady he barely knew.
The second revelation was that his mother was a stripper. This revelation could easily be the most infuriating, but Max actually felt the least affected by it. What he found most curious about this revelation was that Seth had said Beth was also a stripper. Judging by the hate his mother showed for her, Max concluded that Beth and Charlotte were working together. Max made a mental note to ask if his father knew this fact. He highly doubted the tortoise would marry a stripper.
Last came the third revelation. It happened by accident and it was the result of the first two revelations. After eating a full dinner made by his mother, Max went to bed. Charlotte had said while serving that she had to work that night, but Max wasn't really listening. He was too deep in his own thoughts.
He woke up while it was still dark. He had been dreaming about a strip club that he'd seen a short trip from the apartment complex. He remembered dreaming of Charlotte going inside the club. Max got out of bed and dressed himself. He planned to make a trip down to the club. He figured it was a long shot that his mom worked so close by, but his curiosity wouldn't leave him alone.
Max checked the apartment. Charlotte was gone. There was a note on the kitchen counter that said Bobby would be stopping by to check on him. Max wrote below the note that he went out for a walk around the parking lot. He hoped Bobby wouldn't check up on him while he was gone.
The walk was quiet. The streets were dark and full of shadows. Max tried not to walk too far out in the open. He was the son of a cop. He knew what kind of predators looked out for kids and teens left on their own after hours.
Max reached the club faster than he anticipated. He could hear the music vibrating through the brick walls. He went around to the back of the club to look for a way in. He knew if he got caught, he'd have to explain himself. Max found a broken window that led to the basement. He considered a moment that his father was in the hospital and didn't need to be bothered with reports that his son had trespassed at a titty bar. Max was again reminded of a bad soap opera. The teenage boy with mommy issues seeks her out at a shady joint and gets himself caught because he's never had a knack for being incognito.
His jeans got caught on a shard of glass coming in. Max managed to free himself but his calf burned like he'd been scratched. It wasn't bleeding too much so he ignored it and moved on. He was reminded of DNA evidence and if he got caught now, they'd have proof. He could practically read the headline: Dumb Teenager Made It Way Too Easy for the Po-Po.
"Why'd He Even Bother?" Max mumbled what he thought the caption would read as he climbed the stairs to the upper floor. He could see red carpet and a black curtain at the top of the stairs. Max stood behind the curtain and checked for signs of life. He could see a dozen vanity mirrors lit up all around the room. It looked like a vintage powder room straight out of the movies.
Max recognized a necklace hanging on one of the vanity mirrors closest to him. It was a locket he had given to Charlotte just after Nancy was born. Dean had told him it would be the perfect present because Charlotte could keep Max and Nancy's pictures inside the locket. All Max could remember thinking was that jewelry stores were totally lame. He was struck with a sense of sadness and an emotion he couldn't quite identify when he realized his mother had chosen to keep the necklace instead of him.
Someone suddenly burst into the vanity room. Max forgot he was hidden by the curtain and he nearly screamed from the shock. He caught himself before stumbling back down the stairs and he rushed to hide even further against the wall.
His eyes focused on the figure in the vanity room. It was Beth. Max swallowed hard when he saw that she was wearing a blue dress much like the one in Wizard of Oz...but with the top pulled down.
Max couldn't help the stimulation he immediately felt. He tried to remind himself of what he was there for. He knew the visual would never leave his memory.
He looked up when he heard footsteps coming towards him. Beth reached the vanity just a few feet from Max and straight across from the vanity where Charlotte's necklace hung. Beth took a seat and put her top back up. Max felt ashamed to even look at her, now. If she really was going to marry his dad, he couldn't think of her like he thought of those naked girls in the magazines he hid under his mattress.
She really was beautiful. She ran her fingers through her golden blonde hair and checked her makeup. Max wondered what it would be like to have a girlfriend like Beth. She seemed happy. And nice. And she must be pretty cool because she lived with Seth.
Another figure entered the room. Max focused through the curtain to make the person out. It was Charlotte. Thankfully, she was fully dressed.
Max watched his mother waltz across the room. Charlotte took a seat at the vanity where the necklace hung. Max felt a surge of anger that his mother was so close this whole time. He began to wonder if she really had been waiting on stand-by. She knew they were moving to Atlanta! If Dean hadn't been hurt, how long would she have waited to tell them she was here?!
"I can't let you leave," Charlotte said.
Max froze.
"What're you talkin' 'bout?!" Beth turned sideways in her chair to face Charlotte, better.
Max breathed a short sigh of relief. No one had seen him, yet. He watched his mother stand up and turn to face Beth. Charlotte put her hands on her hips and stated, "I can't let you marry my husband."
"There's an EX somewhere in there, I'm sure of it," Beth retorted and turned back to face her mirror.
It only took a few seconds for the third revelation to come to light. It took Max several minutes to recover from the shock to fully grasp it.
His mother was a killer.