Chapter 12
Turning to the left, turning to the right. Then on her belly, then on her back. Repeat.
For hours, Rachel tried to find some sleep, but to no avail. Sleep avoided her this night, no matter what.
Back, when the blonde had been a child, it hadn't been something unusual to be sleepless the night before Christmas-morning. Catching Santa Clause while he was laying the gifts under the tree, that was every child's dream and Rachel had always been ambitious enough to try it every year since she had been four years old. Every Christmas night she had tried to stay awake, listening into the darkness while the hours went by. And every night she had fallen asleep nonetheless, only to wake up late the next day, her bad mood about the failure solely compensated by numerous gifts.
At the age of fourteen, Rachel had eventually stopped to believe in Santa and all this Christmas-miracle stuff, leading to the logical result that staying awake the night before Christmas was somewhat pointless.
But this night it was neither about Christmas nor Santa, no. This time, it was simply an inner bad feeling. Something strange that was keeping her awake. A feeling that told her, that something was very off.
Her first suspects were raging hormones. Yes, Rachel's body could react pretty intense to changes in her hormone-levels, her PMS telling a clear story about that. Yet, it was way too soon for that, her last menstruation only lying five days back.
Her second idea about something that could keep her awake was stress. But why should she have stress right now? School was on a break until next year and she had already decided to do her homework during the time Max wasn't around. Sexual stress could also be ruled out. Yes, there had been times Rachel had so much to do that she hadn't found time to give in to her urges. But the night before had been more than satisfying. It had been even so good that the memories alone had gifted her with another most satisfying relief before she had gone to bed.
No, it was something different. But somehow she had the feeling that it actually concerned Max. She missed him. She missed him like she had missed nothing else before. His absence was painful, yet bearable as long as she had some distraction. But was this really the reason for her lack of sleep?
Maybe hearing his voice would help, and the only way to put this to the test, was to call him. So, Rachel reached for her phone on the nightstand and activated the display.
'Fuck! 2 am. Let's hope that Max isn't pissed at me that I call him now. Ugh, that's just so stupid!' she thought with a sigh and initiated the call.
It rang. Once, twice, thrice and more. But she would give her boyfriend the time to wake up. With a wry smirk, she already awaited to hear his drowsy voice and already use his confusion to mock him a bit. But everything went upside-down and took her aback as a deep, heavy masculine answered her call.
"Who the fuck's calling at this time of night?!" it yelled through the line, startling the young girl.
Who the hell was that? Was this Max's father? Why was he answering her boyfriend's phone? And why was he yelling?
"Uh…M-Mr. Caulfield?" she answered unusual timidly upon hearing such an angry, authoritarian tone. "This…um…I'm Rachel…uh…M-Max's girlfriend. Can I talk to M-…"
"Rachel?! Girlfriend?!" it barked in return. "Ha! Listen, girlie, maybe you should reconsider dating this lil' fuck, 'cause he's a cheatin' piece of shit, who gives a fuck 'bout you! Don't waste your fuckin' life with him! You got that?"
Rachel was confused beyond everything. What this person on the other end of the line just rambled about didn't make any sense to her. Why would Max's own father talk so low about his own son? And why would he say that she shouldn't have a relationship with him?
"Uh…I…Mr. Caulfield…? Wh- wha-…?"
"Want me to get into the ugly details? Fine! This lil' asshole fucked with my girlfriend and I threw him out, period! Now, do me a favor and call his bitch of a mother and tell her, that she should pick up his crap or I'll throw it onto the streets, too!"
The call got immediately terminated, leaving Rachel with a wild mix of negative feelings that were stunning her.
The phone still on her clenched hands, she tried to bring this confusing mess into a logical order. But there was none. The idea that Max would cheat on her with another woman was something that refused to get compiled by her mind and let her remain in shock.
With shacking hands she scrolled through her contacts and called the only person that she could trust with her feelings right now.
She snuck through the darkness like a Dark-Elf that tried to avoid the king's guards…or simply didn't want to wake up her lover's parents, because, if they would see her, it would get pretty awkward since she was still entirely naked.
Her parents spending the holidays in Hawaii again, Steph had decided to stay in snowy Arcadia Bay, because, what would Christmas be without snow and ice anyway? Vanessa and William had been okay with it, so everything was set for an awesome vacation with her beloved Chloe.
Steph quietly opened the door to Chloe's room and squeezed her slim body through the narrow gap. Bridging the last few feet towards her girlfriend's bed then was the easiest task.
Normally, she avoided hitting the loo in the middle of the night, because she disliked getting up at this ungodly hours, because it mostly caused that she couldn't easily get back to sleep, and also because the hallways of the Blackwell dorms weren't heated in any way, so that catching a cold was an uncomfortable event waiting to happen.
But at the Caulfield/Price household it was something entirely different. It was warm, cozy and the house filled with a familiar, welcoming atmosphere. Here, she enjoyed being herself…at least, in the privacy of Chloe's room.
With a quite sigh, she cuddled back under warm blanket and wrapped her arm around the also garmentless body of her beloved Chloe as she was spooning her, causing the blonde to squirm and groan.
Warmth and happiness filled Steph's heart as she was reminded of her luck. Chloe and she had finally found back to their relationship and were now closer than ever. Beforehand, the brunette's love-life had mainly consisted of crushes and sexual desires, but not with Chloe. For the first time of her life she was deeply in love and she enjoyed it every second. It was actually so relaxing, that her problems of falling asleep had vanished with it, evident as she was drifting back to sleep in merely a minute.
Sadly, the constant buzzing of a phone induced that her eyes shot open again and she was literally forced to turn around to reach for her communication device. The enlightened screen told her that Rachel was calling, which caused her to frown as she took the call.
"Hey Rach, 'sup?" she spoke quietly, trying to not disturb her girlfriend's sleep. But as she heard a half-suppressed sob from the speaker, she couldn't do anything else than to shoot up straight. "Rach?! What's goin' on? Did something happen?"
It took Rachel some time to regain her composure, but Steph gave her that much needed space to do so, until the budding actress told her under tears what had occurred.
Muttering a quiet "Shit!", Steph continuously patted Chloe's shoulder as she tried to wake her up, but instead only received a groan and some lazily tries to swat her hand away.
"Goddammit, Chloe, wake up!" she urged some more, intensifying her pushes until Chloe finally sat up as well, giving her girlfriend a pissed-off glare, which was answered equally as Steph reached her the phone. "Some really fucked shit happened in Seattle. Ryan threw Max out after he had sex with his girlfriend. Now he wants Van to get his stuff."
Not believing what she just heard and almost calling it a stupid joke, Chloe raised one eyebrow, but realized that it must be somehow true upon her girlfriend's still stern glare. With a heavy sigh and not caring that she was still undressed, Chloe grabbed the phone and walked with drowsy, wavering steps into her parent's bedroom, not even caring to knock.
"Chloe, what the…?" Vanessa was already about to flare up upon this sudden intrusion, but went silent as soon as she witnessed her step-daughter's stern demeanor and the phone that got literally held into her face.
Being curious what this was all about, the mid-aged woman frowned and took over the call.
"Hello? Vanessa Caulfield's speaking!"
Once again, Rachel told her story, and as Steph had done before, she shot up right away.
"What?! Rachel…honey, calm down! I'm sure that this isn't true… You know Maximilian as well as I do and he's not like that… Rachel… No, I… Listen… Rachel, darlin', I'm gonna call Ryan and settle this mess, okay! I'll call you as soon as I know more… Yeah… Okay… Bye, sweetie!"
"Hey, what's wrong, sweetheart?" asked William as he got woken up by all this commotion and switched on the lamp on his side of the bed. "And why the heck are you naked, Chloe?"
Not being able nor wanting to answer, the bold daughter simply rolled with her eyes, snapped Steph's phone out of her step-mother's hand and went back to her room.
"I knew it was a mistake. Why have I been so stupid?" spoke Vanessa more to herself than to her husband and took her phone out of the drawer of her nightstand. "I knew exactly how he is. And now this…"
"Darlin'…" Will said as he tried to stop his wife's rambling, but she squirmed away from him and right away made her way down to the kitchen to make herself a coffee, while dialing the number of her ex-husband.
It rang and she waited, yet nobody took the call. "Dammit!" she cursed and took a deep sip of freshly brewed, extra-strong coffee. At the same time, William came sauntered into the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee as well.
Once more, Vanessa tried to reach Ryan, and once again it failed, causing her to furiously say "This asshole is doing this on purpose! Those are his fucked-up games. His way to flip me the bird."
"Darlin'," Will tried to sooth in a second attempt, "It's 2 in the morning. You really think that this lazy son of a bitch is on his feet that fast?"
Right at this moment, the brunette woman's phone chimed, her ex-husband being in the line. She took the call and simultaneously signed her husband to stay out of the conversation.
"Hello?"
"Well-well, if this isn't the bitch of an ex-wife that calls humble me." It chimed with chuckled amusement from the speaker, almost turning Vanessa into a fury.
"Cut the crap, asshole!" she barked back, already feeling the need to cancel the call, if it wasn't for her son. "Rachel just called and told me what happened. Mind filling me in on the details before I come over to Seattle and kick your balls?"
"Ooh, now I'm scared…not! But if you insist so politely… I caught your precious son fucking my girlfriend. So, I threw him out."
"You threw your own son out?!" she literally shrieked into the speaker, having a hard time to not freak entirely. "Are you even aware that it's freezin' cold outside?"
"I actually just wanted to teach him a lesson and let him in again after a minute, but this idiot ran away. What should I do?"
This was simply too much! The fact that her son was alone in the big city in this weather, plus the nonchalant way her ex-husband was taking this severe situation drove over the mental cliff. Under heavy breathing she steadied herself by putting her hand on the counter and then said quietly yet angry "So, lemme get this straight. You're tellin' me that you threw our son out of your apartment, forced him to run away and that he's now out there, all by himself, in this weather?"
"Again: he ran away, I…"
"Just shut it and listen closely, you piece of useless shit!" she hissed threatening into the speaker. "You're gonna call the police and let 'em search for Max and you will do the same or I'll drag your sorry ass to court not only for neglected supervision, but also for domestic abuse. And if something happened to him, I'll kill you with my bare hands, you fucking asshole!"
With these words said and not waiting for a reply, Vanessa canceled the call and threw her phone on the counter. With shaking hands she picked up her cup and wanted to drink some more coffee, yet failed to do so as she exhaled deeply and put it back on the top, while William embraced her soothingly from behind, in order to give her some comfort.
"I need to find him!" the brunette woman said quietly, just staring into empty space as a million horrible ways what could happen to her poor son, rushed through her mind.
"Van," Will answered, "the police will probably already found him before you get there and…"
"…and bringing him back to his ass of a father?!" she blurted back and spun around. "Hell no, I'm gonna drive to Seattle and get him back home! Either you help me packing some stuff or get at least outta my way!"
Having made an adamant decision and already infuriated, Vanessa walked past her husband in a fast pace and upstairs again, where she begun to pack a bag and got dressed.
Of course, William knew better than contradicting his wife and helped her, saying "Maybe you should take Rachel with you. She seemed pretty upset and in need for some answers. Plus, I don't like the idea of you, traveling all alone in this weather."
For a moment Vanessa gazed at her husband whose stern demeanor told her that he was serious about it. At the same time she realized that Chloe and Steph – thankfully dressed now – were up as well, standing in the doorframe, whereas her step-daughter signed He has a point.
After a deep sigh of defeat, Van nodded in agreement and zipped close her bag. "Steph, please call Rachel and tell her that I'm gonna pick her up in 15 minutes!"
"I'm on it!" the brunette nerd replied and went to get her phone.
A few minutes later, Vanessa was entirely dressed and packed for her long journey to Seattle. She said goodbye to her husband, her step-daughter and Steph, and then was on her way.
Warmth. Coziness. Soft sheets on his skin. A warm body beside him.
Max felt like he was back at home again and all those horrible events in Seattle had been nothing more than a bad nightmare. Yet he knew that this was just wishful thinking. Rachel and his home were far away and the beat-up by his dad had been more than real.
The more his senses woke up, the more he could feel how sore his body was. Every bone hurt and through his right shoulder went a stinging pain as soon as he tried to move it, causing him to groan. Additionally, his full bladder told the young teenager that he had to visit the toilet soon.
As Max opened his eyes, darkness engulfed him. He wasn't outside anymore, that's for sure. It was way too warm for that. But where was he anyway? Was he back at his dad's place?
Definitely not. It smelled different, like a wild mixture of perfume, underlined with cold cigarette smoke, plus the strange scent of an unfamiliar person.
Sitting a bit up, he looked around and tried to make out as much details as possible through the obscurity.
He was in an apartment and lying in a bed. Or better, on a sofa that had been extended into a bed and beside him was sleeping someone. But who? He recalled a strange voice right before he had went unconscious. Recalled that it had been female and had some sort of British accent. But that's it. Everything else was nothing more than a blurry fog in his mind.
Still feeling the need to follow the call of nature, Max cautiously got up, removed the blanket from his barely dressed body and tried to make his way through the darkness of the night.
But where was the bathroom anyway?
This question hit Max so hard that he lost his focus, stumbled, tripped and fell to the ground with a loud groan and a big thud. As a respond, a small light got switched on. It wasn't very bright, yet it had enough power to enlighten most of the room and the person right beside it.
She was sitting up straight in bed, the drowsy glare of her brown eyes resting on the young boy. Her obviously tall and lanky body was covered with a wild and colorful mix of different tattoos and was only clad by a white, rather thin top that left barely place for any imagination, and – hopefully – by some pants. She was young, maybe Maggie's age and definitely a punk since her one-side-undercut, shoulder-long hair had the same polychrome appearance than her skin; not to mention the various piercings that were decorating several parts of her face and other places.
Both stared at each other for some time, until the punky woman spoke, "The loo is right through that door over there. Sit down and don't squirt your piss all over the bowl or I'll use your bloody face to clean it!" With these words said and leaving an entirely stunned Max as he was, the unknown woman laid down again, just adding "And blow out that fuckin' light when you're back. G'night!"
Then, it was silent again and Max remained left with his task. But he didn't get up immediately as he used the chance to scan his surroundings.
The apartment was a typical one-room-apartment with a kitchen in one corner. And it was a mess! Clothes of every thinkable variety were scattered on the floor and the scarce furniture. The wall-in closet was open and in no better shape. On the little desk on the wall were towers of piled-up paper and letters. One of it must've lately collapsed as half of it was also covering a part of the wooden floor. Seeing also the mass of unclean dishes in the kitchen and on the small dining table, Max hurriedly made his way into the separate bathroom, only to avoid a closer look onto this total chaos.
'Geez-Louise, and I thought Chloe's room was a pigsty, but this…' Maxine thought with a sigh to calm herself down. 'But she obviously saved my ass, so I shouldn't be that judgmental on her.'
But if she thought that she had seen it all, the girl in a boy's body soon realized that she couldn't have been even more wrong.
As if the bathroom with its sink, cubicle shower and a toilet wouldn't have been already small by nature, all the utils in it let it almost seem stuffed. Multiple tubes with hair-dye, the small cabinet above the sink full with toiletries. A hairbrush full of colorful hair. The floor dirty as well as the rug. Several bottles with liquid soap in the shower – half of them probably empty – plus an old razor with curly hairs between its partially rusty blades raised Maxine's disgust into infinity.
'Blech, I've never seen such a disgusting bathroom! If my mom would see this, she would flip her shit and lock me up inside here until I'm done licking every tile sparkling clean!'
On tip-toes Max made his way to the toilet and – though at first with some refusal – sat down on it to finish his business. Then, he went over to the sink, splashed some water into his face and checked his appearance in the mirror.
"Holy shit!" he gasped as the young boy saw the big bruise on his right cheekbone. Now he slowly began to recall in detail what had happened after he got thrown out by his father. The fall down the stairs, the car that had hit him, the coldness.
Just now, the young boy realized that he wore different clothes than before, consisting of a black band shirt and some worn-down white boxer shorts, originating from his current host, while his own pajama garments were drying over the bathroom's heater.
In order to inspect his other injuries, Max stripped off the shirt and immediately hissed a quiet "Damn!" as he saw his bruised shoulder, ribs and stomach. At the same time he was wondering why he wasn't in much more pain. But all this rambling came to a halt as it knocked on the door and his host's voice chimed from the other side.
"Oi, mate! If you're wankin' in there, cut it short, or else I'm gonna piss my bloody knickers!"
Sighing in defeat of making any sense out of this new mess, Max simply put on his shirt again and wanted to wash his hands as suddenly the punk girl just opened the unlocked door with a barrage of mumbled curses, pulled down her shorts and went for number one with a loud sigh of relieve, without even bothering that Max was still present.
"Bloody hell! Don't ever drink tea before going to bed or you'll get up all night long only to piss like a horse," she simply stated with smirk, glimpsing at the young boy, who was watching the whole scene with befuddlement. "Jesus Christ, don't just stand there, love. Either say somethin' or get the fuck out!"
Nodding frantically, Max just rushed past the half-naked punk and closed the door behind him.
'Gosh, is it this timeline or have I never noticed that the women of this city are somewhat strange?' asked Maxine herself as she made her way back to the bed, which also was in a poor condition, much like the rest of the apartment.
The flush sounded and just a moment later the punky woman emerged from the bathroom, now at least having her shorts back up again. But instead of going back to bed, she just yawned and walked over to the kitchen, entirely ignoring that with every footfall she stepped on something that was lying on the ground.
"Want some tea, love?" she asked as she filled the water heater. Max however, shifted his gaze to the tiny digital clock on the bedside table, noticing that it's just 4 am.
"Don't you wanna go back to sleep?"
"Pft," was the plainly scoffed response. "I'm up now. Why wastin' time with hours of trying to get back to sleep? Besides, you don't look like you wanna sleep right now, mate."
Surprisingly, the woman was right. Max didn't feel like sleeping at all. Right on the contrary, he was fully awake and his head swirling with a lot of questions and things he needed to get off his chest.
Again, he was caught in his thoughts, and again startled as the punky woman, patted his uninjured shoulder with the hand that was reaching him a cup of freshly brewed tea. With an appreciating nod he accepted the hot beverage while the tattooed woman sat down beside him.
"The name's Rita, by the way." said the woman with a smirk, reaching her hand towards Max, who timidly shook it.
"M-Max. And…um…thanks for saving my butt!"
"Dunno what you took, love, but you shouldn't run around the city at night and during such bloody weather, only wearing ya PJs. Lucky, I found ya before some psycho wanker did. Would've really been a shame." she replied and took a big gulp of her beverage. "So, how come?"
"Long story, short:" stated Max more dryly than intended, "my dad beat the crap outta me and threw me out, 'cause he thought I had slept with his girlfriend. And since all my stuff is still at his apartment, I can't even go back to my mom."
"What a wanker!" commented Rita, which got replied with a faint scoff by Max, and for a few minutes, both stayed quiet and caught in deep thoughts, until the punky woman asked "And, did you?"
"Did what?"
"Fuck her?"
The question was hovering above them for a moment. Of course, Max could simply say no and be done with it. However, in the presence of someone like Rita – bold and direct like Chloe – Max felt comfortable enough to be a bit cheeky.
"I could've, but I already got a hot girlfriend and didn't wanna cheat on her."
But whatever he expected from his counterpart upon this comment, he didn't expect to be patronized.
"You betcha, love! Otherwise I would've ripped ya a new one."
He heard the bitterness in her words, telling the young boy that she must've already made some harsh experience with that sort of heart-squashing things. Or at least, he assumed so, but never got a confirmation since both stayed quiet again, until Rita changed the topic.
"Sorry 'bout the mess, love. I know I'm not the cleanest person and got some sorta cleaning-disorder 'n' shite and…uh…yeah…"
"No problem," replied Max however with an honest smile. "My step-sis isn't that much different. Even your boldness is almost the same."
"Good to hear," said Rita, drinking the last swig of her tea. And then continued "Listen, I'm normally not used to have visitors. I just went through some tough shite in my life and…y'know. Besides, that I don't give a rat's arse about this gender-separation crap. You got a dick, I got tits and a pussy. Everything's normal, so why hiding it? Buuut…ugh, I totally forget that you're young and…um…sorry, if I made you uncomfortable, mate."
"Well…" was everything Max could reply while scratching the back of his head out of shyness. "I-it's okay. I…uh, I actually haven't seen anything."
"Pft, rubbish!" scoffed Rita in response and stretched her limbs with a groan. "Listen, luv, I need a smoke. You should try to get some more sleep and in the morning we're gonna getcha stuff back and send ya back home, savvy?"
Snow.
Snow could be so wonderful. It could paint even the ugliest landscape in a beautiful white. In a town or city, it could dampen every noise and make everything peaceful. You could even have a lot of fun with it, may it be when you're making snowball fights, winter sports or building the looniest snow figures.
Originally, Rachel loved snow. But right at the moment, she hated these enormous masses of this white stuff, which were prolonging this already long enough drive to Seattle even more.
Another road sign passed by, showing that it was still another 100 Miles to their destination and caused her to groan in frustration.
"What is it, Rachel?" asked Vanessa with a soft smile, knowing that this long travel into an unknown situation seemed like torture for that young girl. Having already had the one or other talk, Rachel had no problem speak out what bothered her.
"Ugh, it's this long drive. My butt is hurting and I've the feelin' that the snow's getting worse."
"We could play a game, if you want to," was the mature woman's suggestion, but that got negated by the blonde with a headshake.
"Nah," she scoffed, "always hated it when my dad did this during our travels. But…" Suddenly, Rachel paused and stayed silent for a moment as she had to gather her thoughts. "Van, I…I kinda wanted to know. Did…uh…did you realize that Max…somehow…kinda…has changed? I-I mean…y'know… You, as his mother."
For a moment, Vanessa stayed quiet as well, simply focusing on the road in front of them, before she answered "Well, as well as you, he's right in the middle of puberty. So, changes happen fast."
At first, Rachel thought that Vanessa might let the topic drop at this point. However, after a deep sigh, she added "But I know what you mean. After his father had left and since mine and Will's marriage had become an issue, he got more and more rebellious. Jeez, at some point I even thought that he might become like Chloe, and she's already a handful."
"Yeah," replied Rachel, now shifting her gaze outside the window as well as she reminisced "he was sometimes…so…pretentious and stubborn when it came to his opinion. It was so annoying."
"Maybe, in the end, he changed for a certain girl? Can't be by chance that it happened at the same time you two got serious."
Seeing the toothy grin of her boyfriend's mother, a wry smirk was forming on the young blonde's lips, before she replied a timidly spoken "Maybe," and shifted her attention to the darkness outside the vehicle again, until Vanessa's soft touch on her shoulder caught her attention once more.
"Hey, don't believe any of that crap Ryan has told you. Maximilian would never cheat on a girl like you."
Rachel knew that Vanessa was right…or, at least, she hoped so, hence she stayed silent to don't express her doubts and decided to look back out of the window.
"Damn!" coursed Vanessa out of sudden, explaining "If the snow doesn't get any better, we have to stop in the next town and wait till the plows managed to clear the roads."
Of course, Rachel didn't like this idea of prolonging their arrival at Seattle. Max was still missing and the hell would she give up just because of this stupid snow!
"We can't," she eventually said with a low voice. "Max is still out there and…"
"And we won't help him, if we get stuck on the road or worse, have an accident. No, the best way is to drive slow and take a break if it gets too dicey."
"I can drive, if you…"
"Rachel," interrupted Vanessa again, throwing a short yet adamant glimpse at her son's girlfriend, "I took you with me out of two reasons. One: to keep me awake during driving. And two: that you and Max can be there for each other once we found him."
The next sign a while later showed that it were still 85 miles, and like a supernatural power wanted it, the snowing got even heavier, leading to that Vanessa eventually decided to stop at the next available Motel. Very much to Rachel's dismay, of course. But she swallowed it down like big lump and wordlessly followed Vanessa to their room.
Being entirely exhausted and because it was about 5 am, Max's mother just brushed her teeth and then went to bed to get at least a few hours of sleep, falling asleep in merely a minute. But Rachel couldn't find any sleep. The thoughts that had kept her awake earlier that night were back again. And like before she just turned from the left to the right, continuously. Nothing helped. And then she did something that she had never done before: she silently prayed.
"Whoever is up there, please…please, let Max be okay! Please, let him be warm and safe! Because, without him…I'm…I'm gonna…"
Quiet sobs were chime through the small, dark room as Rachel realized how much her heart felt empty without the person that literally made her whole. Without him she felt like nothing. Like she would fall apart any second. But she couldn't afford this at the moment. Max was missing, and Rachel would move heaven and hell, if necessary, to find him again.