I need a name for Bubba Mava, as Elmlea has dubbed it :P
Max wasn't sure what caused it, but he was glad it was happening.
The endless and uncomfortably bright white around him would sometimes splinter and darken. A rough circle twisted outwards, like the lens on an old camera and Max would be drawn into this burst of colour and sound. It helped keep him sane. Mostly.
It had scared the life out of him the first time, the splintering. It was like staring at cracked glass beneath your feet, waiting for it to give.
But then the memory happened and it was OK.
Most of the memories- he knew they were memories- were good memories, but these ones were fuzzier than the other memories. The bad ones were always sharp and clear, as though he were living them again.
The first bad memory had made everything darker and a chill raised goose bumps on his scarred arms, although this had nothing to do with temperature.
A train horn blared, loud and clear and making his ears ring. He was on the tracks again, seeing sparks fly as the train heaved against its brakes.
And then his father was there. All Max could see, for the briefest of moments, was the sea green of his father's eyes. Percy collided with him then, all but tackling him to safety and standing between Max and the train. Max could see nothing, but his father's navy blue jacket, the shrieking of the train and the wind damning his ears.
The train passed. Grey eyes met sea green and the overwhelming realisation struck him anew.
Percy could have died.
Ever since that one, Max closed his eyes and plugged his ears whenever his surroundings darkened to the grey of thick smoke. Childish, yes, but he simply could not relive the worst moments of his life.
It was two months before Alvie made any sign of progress.
Ava had clocked on to what he was trying to do and watched in earnest, praying incessantly that Max would awaken and be Max.
Prior to this day, Max hadn't even stirred as Alvie delved into his comatose mind and pulled out random memories in the hope of enticing Max into consciousness.
Now they had a word out of him;
"Panda…" He croaked, raising his hand shakily from the sheets, searching for something. Ava set aside her yoghurt pot, leaning forward in her seat.
"Max?" She said softly, her voice hoarse from being mute so long. She looked at Alvie, seeing he was gripping the bedstead to keep himself upright, blood dribbling freely from his nose. Despite the tired slouch of his shoulders, the white glow of his eyes burned fiercer than ever, making it painful to look at them even for a second.
"Pan… da…" He repeated, his hand dropping back to the bed. All effort to stand vanished from Alvie and he disappeared. Tobias rushed forward, ducking and catching his little brother.
"Alvie?" He called, pinching his brother's cheek. Alvie moaned weakly and closed his eyes. Tobias pulled a tissue from his pocket and started cleaning up the blood.
"Is he OK?" Ava asked, clearing her throat and repeating her question louder. Tobias picked Alvie up in his arms and set him in the spare chair identical to Ava's.
"Yeah."
"What did Max mean by 'panda'?" Tobias gave a tired smile, before kindly explaining how Lilly had handed over her beloved panda toy to Max to 'make him feel better'.
"She's good like that, Lilly." His youngest sister didn't have a bad bone in her body; she was so sweet.
Tobias tucked a blanket around Alvie, wiping away more blood. He wished Alvie hadn't pushed himself so hard, but it was nice to get some sort of reaction from Max after all this time.
"Tobias!" Ava cried, breaking him from his musings.
It was then he noticed Max's heart monitor was beating at a hundred and thirty and rising, not the eighty-to-ninety they had been accustomed to.
"Max!" He hurried to help, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process. Max's eyes flashed open momentarily, fixing on Tobias's in hopelessness, before they rolled back in his head.
The beeps ceased into a single lengthy one. At Ava's screams, doctors surged in, ushering them out and rushing around.
Sophia had been waiting outside with the Little Twins and Sam. She grabbed Ava and trapped her in a tight hug, shushing her and stroking her hair in the hope of comforting and calming.
"It's OK, calm down. They're helping him." She said those three things over and over, watching Tobias over Ava's head. He was staring at the door as though he had been denied entrance to his own home.
"Alvie's in there." He mumbled more to himself than her. "I left Alvie in there."
"I'm sure he's fine." Sophia promised.
"But he'll wake up to that."
Tobias, calm down. It'll be OK, just calm down." He stared at her, torn between despair and irritation. Sophia stared him out and he sank into a nearby plastic seat, defeated. Sam clambered onto his lap, placing her arms around his neck.
"Listen to Mammy, Daddy. She's always right."
