"So." Danielle sat in the chair across from Max. "Your mother told me that a friend came to visit you and you sent him out of the house in tears."

"He wasn't my friend," Max stated, rolling his eyes. Of course his mother would have mentioned the incident to his fucking shrink.

"Well regardless of that, she said that you made him cry."

"Yeah, so?" Max shrugged.

"Why did you do that?" She asked.

"Look, I didn't mean to make him cry, okay? It's not my fault he's really sensitive or whatever! He came over to my house, I didn't want him there, so I told him to leave and he got upset. He's a transfer kid, so he's like, trying to make friends or something, I guess." He shrugged.

"Max, I'm a trained psychiatrist," Danielle stated. "I can tell when people are lying to me."

"Okay, so maybe I just don't want to tell you." Max sighed. He really didn't understand why he had to be here and do this every week. He didn't want to talk to this woman and he wasn't going to.

"Look, Max, if you don't start talking to me, your family is going to have to take further action. A lot of teenagers go through rebellious phases like this, especially when one of their parents remarries, but from what I've heard, you're out of control in both your actions and your health. There is help out there for you, but you have to be willing to accept it."

"I don't need help," Max stated.

"Yes, you do." Danielle looked at Max. "What you're going through, a lot of people go through it. If you open up about it, the things that are bothering you, I can help stop them."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Max shook his head. "No one else is going through this shit, you don't know what you're talking about at all, do you? I knew psychiatry was bullshit, but I didn't realize that it was full of little fucking liars."

"Max, please calm down." She sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I can't understand your unique situation if you don't explain it to me. From what I can see, you're just really angry, but if there's more to it, Max, I need to know so that I can help you."

"Why would you want to help me?" Max asked. "Because you make like 200 bucks an hour off of getting me to talk? Because it'll help make you look good at your next head shrinking convention? Huh?" He tilted his head to the side. "I know that it's not because you care about me."

"How do you know that?" Danielle asked, maintaining her calm, smooth voice.

"How do I know? Are you serious?" Max stood up, throwing his hands in the air. "You don't know me!" he shouted. "You don't know me at all, and you can't fucking care about someone that you don't know!"

"But I'm trying to get to know you, you're shutting me out," Danielle countered. "I would really like to get to know you, Max, but before I can do that, you have to decide that you want to let me get to know you."

"Why would you want to get to know me?" Max challenged. "It's because you're paid for this! You're paid to get me to spill my guts to you so that you can put it in a file and scribble down some medication name on a piece of paper, something that will get me high enough to forget about the shit that's happening! I know that you don't care about me, and you won't care about me, even if you do get to know me – in fact, you have a better chance of caring about me before you get to know me," he shouted. "No one fucking cares about me and especially not people who have gotten to know me! Just ask my sister, my mom, hell, my stepdad is a prime example. He wants me out of the house, he thinks I'm a danger to their perfect fucking family! Ask them, see if they care at all about me."

"Max, if they didn't care about you, you wouldn't be here." Danielle shook her head. "Your mother wouldn't insist that you see someone, that you get help, if she didn't love you."

"No, you're wrong." Max shook his head. "She's got me here, she's doing this because she thinks that if she does, people will stop fucking talking about what a lunatic the Cordon boy is, about what an emo kid he is. She wants a popular son with good grades and a fucking smile on his face, a son who's happy to have some deadbeat taking his father's place, and when she found out that wasn't me, she sent me here." He sat back down on the couch, folding his arms across his chest.

"Wow." Danielle made notes quickly. "How do you feel right now?" She asked, looking up at Max.

"I don't know." Max shrugged. He felt worn out and his voice felt sore, but having finally said all of those things out loud, it kind of actually made him feel a little bit better, though he knew that he wasn't going to admit it. "Tired, mostly," he lied.

"Okay." Danielle nodded. "You can be done for today if you want to be," she said softly.

"But the hour's not up," Max stated.

"You can go early. If you want to stay and talk, of course you're welcome to, but if you want, you can go home now."

"Well fuck that." Max stood up, grabbing his hoodie and iPod, heading out of the door. He wasn't aware of just how much he had opened up to his therapist, but he was aware of the fact that he felt a little better, a little calmer. Granted, he didn't trust Danielle farther than he could throw her, but she had gotten him angry enough to tell the truth, and that was something. It scared him, but at the same time, relieved him.

He got on the bus and grabbed one of the rails, not caring that there was no place to sit. He was about halfway home before a splitting pain arose in his head. He cried out, pressing his hand to his forehead, but it did no good. A second latter, another stabbing pain shot through his head and collapsed to the ground, seizing.

"Max…" he heard far off voices talking to him – Carol and KW. "Max, we need you…"

"No, no you don't!" Max shouted as writhed on the ground. "Leave me alone! You don't need me! Leave me alone, just let me be!"

"Max, only you can save us!" Alexander's voice said. The pain in his head seemed to worsen, and that, combined with the seizing became too much for him. He shrieked in pain, gripping at his head for a couple of minutes, trying to block the voices before, for the third time, he fell unconscious.

A/N I know that you guys are probably getting tired of this back and forth between anger and spasms, but don't worry, the Wild Things and the major plot ARE coming up soon! :)