My leg was bouncing nervously up and down, as I sat watching Max finish her waffle at the Two Whales. With a glance to my right, I saw that Chloe was looking just as nervous as I felt. What we were about to ask had the potential to be taken extremely poorly, and I desperately hoped that Max would understand. Ultimately, it felt like something that needed to happen. With a clink, Max dropped her fork onto her now-waffle-free and syrup-stained plate and relaxed back into the booth. I gathered by thoughts and took a deep breath.
"Max, Chloe and I want you to come to the junkyard with us." I spit the words out as fast as I could and braced myself. For a moment, no one said anything, and Max stared back at me with some unreadable emotion on her face.
"Why?" Max replied in a whisper. It was just one word, but I felt all of Max's pain and terror imbedded in it. I shivered at the thought of what she had to endure there and started wondering if this was a terrible idea. Fortunately, Chloe stepped in.
"Because you keep saying that you don't want the past to control you, and this is a step in that direction. I know it's hard, but it might help to replace some of those shitty memories with happy ones." Max shifted her stare to Chloe and hesitated before speaking again.
"Is this important to you?" She asked, her voice still little more than a whisper.
"I think it's important for you, which makes it important to me," Chloe quickly replied.
"Okay."
"Wait—what? Really?" I immediately shouted before I could stop myself. Max let out a half-hearted chuckle at my response.
"Yes, really. Honestly, it's something I've been thinking about for a while as well, and I'm impressed that you were able to bring it up to me yourselves. But just so you know, we'll need to avoid certain parts that I'm not ready to see yet, and I'll likely still be a mess regardless." Chloe looked up at Max, with a small smile on her face. Her eyes were wet, and I could see the love beaming from the deep blue of her irises.
"I'm really proud of you, Max." She said quietly with a degree of sincerity that I didn't know was possible. Max offered a hesitant smile back at her which did little to mask the obvious dread she was feeling at the prospect of returning to the junkyard, even if she agreed it was for the best.
"Can we go back home for a bit first? I think I just need some time to… get ready, I guess." Her voice trailed off toward the end, and I reached across the table to put my hand on top of hers, which was wrapped tightly around her mug of hot chocolate.
"Of course," I said, trying to keep my voice as soothing as possible, "we can take all the time you need. We don't even need to do this today, if you don't feel up to it yet."
"No," she replied quickly, "it has to be today. Otherwise, I'll just keep chickening out of it."
"Alright. Let's get out of here, and we can chill for a bit, give you time to think before we head out again." Max nodded back at me, and I let out a breath. I had no idea how this was going to go. I couldn't even begin to imagine the trauma Max had endured at the place we'd soon be taking her. Thinking about it, it started to feel that we were getting her to do this out of cruelty rather than a desire to help.
The conversation on the drive to Chloe's house was kept lighthearted. Despite that, I still felt a dark cloud looming over us, and I had no doubt that the others felt the same. We pulled into the driveway, and Chloe and I both started climbing out of the truck. I grabbed Max's wheelchair from the back, but when I turned back, I saw that Max hadn't moved an inch. Chloe seemed to notice too and moved back to the truck.
"You coming, Max?" Chloe asked, and Max quickly shook her head.
"This is stupid. Let's just go. I said I didn't want to chicken out, and that's exactly what I'm doing now, just biding myself more time. Thinking about it isn't going to change whatever's going to happen. Let's go." Chloe and I shared a worried look before turning again toward Max.
"You're sure?" I asked softly, and Max nodded definitively. "Alright, let's do it."