Chapter 30

Rachel's mom was dying. Not even awake for 24 hours and already bad news.

"Why? Why did you do this?" Max asked quietly into the obscurity of the dimly lit hospital room. And to his surprise he even received an answer.

"As I said, I am merely the messenger, not-..."

"Stop saying that bullshit!" he hissed back in anger, shifting his gaze towards the blueish glowing entity beside his bed. "Why her? Why does Rachel have to suffer like that? Is that another sick game of your fucked up pals? Hasn't she already been through enough?"

Fate bobbed her head to one side again, glaring with her glowing eyes at the young boy in awe.

"You were not supposed to remember your visit in our world."

"And you weren't supposed to kill off Sera! Now undo it!"

"It does not work like that and you know it. Or were you able to stop the catastrophes in your reality? Jefferson would still have murdered Rachel, Chloe would still die, and you would still be forced to watch those things to happen. All those powers and they could not stop the suffering, and this is just a glimpse into my existence."

Max stayed quiet, glaring at the ceiling while a tear emerged from the brim of his eye and rolled down his face.

"Just ask yourself," Fate then continued, her hand touching the boy's head. "Why did Sera reestablish contact with her daughter after so many years of quietness? Why the sudden change? Answer those questions and you will understand that - sometimes - life is just life, and that it is not always somebody else's fault."

The truth hurt, especially when it involved a lie. Rachel hated lies. So, was Max now forced to lie to her too, just to cover her mother's lie? Or would he tell her the truth and therefore reveal Sera's lie?

With a heavy heart, Sera let her gaze wander around her room, which was now getting filled with more and more cardboard boxes.

She was preparing. Preparing for one last journey. A journey, where she couldn't take any belongings with her. So, she needed to take care of them before it would be too late. This whole matter was going to be hard enough for her poor daughter, without her having to take care of all the remnants.

A few weeks, tops. That's all the doctors have given her, along with strong painkillers. They helped so far, but they wouldn't prevent the next seizure, which could easily be the last one.

On each and every box was a remark about what should happen to them after Sera's demise. Some were junk, some for donation and one special one for her daughter.

Rachel…

Rachel hadn't taken the bad news very well. They avoided each other now. But not because the young teenager was angry about her mother, but because she was barely able to look at her without becoming a weeping pile of sadness.

It broke Sera's heart. The one way and the other. Most of the time she heard her daughter crying behind closed doors. And when she wasn't crying, she was mostly entirely shut in, suppressing all emotions, and even avoiding seeing her friends.

This was exactly the reason why she had never told Rachel about the tumor in her head. The reason she had kept it a secret. Yes, lying to her was hard. Very hard. And she hoped by god that this lie would die with her or else Rachel would despise her as well as her father.

The doorbell rang and Sera knew exactly who it was, and she just hoped that it wouldn't end in a catastrophe.

Five minutes later, she was sitting in the living room, along with James.

"How are you, Sera?" he asked politely, but only received a tired scoff in return.

"I've got a tumor the size of a tennis ball in my head and am 'bout to kick the bucket, what do ya think, James? But apart from that, I'm shiny."

"And Rachel?" he then added with concern, showing that he - understandably - cared more about Rachel's well-being than her own.

"She's, um…"

Sera wasn't able to finish as the apartment door's lock clicked, signing that Rachel just returned from shopping groceries. Since the kitchen was built in with the living room, she couldn't avoid seeing her father sitting on the couch.

Taken aback, she instantly dropped the goods, exclaiming with a sour expression "What the fuck is he doin' here?!"

"Darlin'..." Sera immediately intervened, walking over to her daughter and wrapping an arm soothingly around her shoulder. "I know that you better want to avoid this, but there are still a few things that need to be talked about, before…"

Rachel was smart. Very smart. She already knew what this was all about before another word was spoken.

"I'm not gonna move in with him again. No way!" she said, crossing her arms in defiance. "You know how he fucked me over again."

"This is not just about where you'd be living, but also custody. You're still underage and…" answered James, only to get met with rage

"I know and I don't care," the blonde threw in, her anger obviously rising. "And to be honest, I'd rather live on the streets or in Max's small room than under one roof with this lying piece of shit!"

After having said those harsh words, the young girl spun around on her heels and headed for her room, closing its door with a loud bang.

And there they were again, those loud, heartbreaking sobs. Those sobs that were hurting Sera so much. But there was no time to be down right now. James was right, custody needed to be clarified, though this would be the easiest part.

"I'm sorry to say this, Sera, but Rachel needs to accept that…"

"She needs time, James." returned Sera with a heavy sigh, taking a seat again. "She's still a kid, y'know. You can't expect her to be fully aware of the situation."

"But I can expect her to think straight forward. She's old enough to see that some things need to happen, if she likes it or not. And a fact is that she can't live on her own."

Her head started to throb again. An unpleasant pain, yet still bearable.

"She could," Sera answered, massaging her temple. "Though you're right, she shouldn't. But she also shouldn't be forced to stay where she doesn't want to live. Y'know what happened the last time. Besides that the center of her life is here, in Arcadia Bay. Here she's got friends and even a boyfriend. You can't take that away from her."

Now sighing as well, James got up and walked over to the next window, where he looked outside, taking in the scenery.

"So what do you suggest? That she should stay with her boyfriend? I never even met him. What if they break up or he mistreats her?"

"Max? No, he's the sweetest boyfriend I've ever seen." countered Sera adamantly, which didn't satisfy James in the slightest.

"I still have a bad feeling about this. Since they both are dating, Rachel got into more and more mischief. Have you seen her blood test?"

"Yes, I did. So, she smoked some pot, who cares? Not like you hadn't tried it in High School as well, as far as I remember. And if I remember correctly, that wasn't Max's fault."

Angry about this accusation, James scowled at his ex-girlfriend, saying "Then where will she stay?"

"Why don't we let her stay at the Academy? Blackwell's a boarding school. Getting her a place in the dorms next school year shouldn't be difficult. Rachel would be with her friends and you just have to take her in over the summer holidays. Maybe she'll even spend 'em with Max."

"You almost make it sound like I don't want her around me," he eventually growled and left the window, only to head for the kitchen, where the groceries were still scattered on the ground. But as he wanted to pick them up, Sera got there, too, and did so before James had the chance to bend over.

"Sometimes I just fear that she might become a burden to you, like I did back in the days," she returned, bringing the goods into the kitchen, where she dropped them onto the counter before she almost lost her balance upon an upcoming pain-attack.

Being worried that she might fall, James put an arm around her waist to keep her steady.

"I made a lot of mistakes in the past, considering you. I don't want to repeat them with Rachel."

But Sera simply wiggled out of his grasp, took a bottle of pills from her pocket and gulped down one painkiller.

"A lil' too late, James," she replied, taking a sip of water from a bottle. "You're about to lose her too, if you don't give her the space that she needs. Give her some freedom, let her make own choices. Don't cage her in like you did with me, or…or…"

Sera's voice suddenly broke. It was like something had taken away from her the ability to speak. Her dizziness got worse so that she needed to rest against the counter. In shock she had to witness how several red droplets were falling onto the tiled floor in front of her.

'Not now! Oh please, not so soon!' she thought desperately as her legs were giving in and the ground came rapidly closer. But she never hit it. Instead, it felt like she was falling further and further into infinity.