The Boy With The Wrong Body

Chapter 2

No prank is worth the torture Max was currently going through. He was going to be an angel for the rest of his life. Because right now they were going on a hike and he had to hold David's stupid fucking hand.

"Now, you all be careful campers, this is a steep hill and I don't want you getting hurt!" David said in his stupid, stupid fucking cheery tone. It was getting on Max's nerves.

He tried to slowly slide his hand out of David's, but the latter just grinned and held on tighter. "Uggh… cmon, David! Let go! I won't run away or whatever!" Max groaned, glaring up at the older man.

"Nuh-uh! You already tried to run once, Max!" David responded, making Max groan once more.

He mumbled curses under his breath, rolling his eyes. "Ass."

"Language."

"Oh, you want me to watch my goddamn fucking language? Will do shitty fucking campman." He retorts bitterly, looking down and sending his harsh glares to the ground.

After around 10 minutes of walking, they finally come to a halt at a mountain top, David and Max's hands sweating against each other.

Max sighed out and whined for probably the 100th time, "David, can you let go of my fucking hand now? This shit is hot as hell."

David looked down at Max and shook his head. "No can do. If you're so hot, why not take that sweatshirt off?"

"No." He immediately replied, glaring at the ground. That would make his chest more noticeable. And no fucking way that was happening.

"Huh..? Are you sure? It'll be way less-" David started, but was quickly interrupted.

"David, I said no, so back the fuck off!" Max snarled, glaring up at the 24 year old again.

David flinched slightly, barley noticeable. "...okay." He mumbled. Why would he respond like that? Why was he so adamant to take his hoodie off? Was something wrong? He felt he needed to find out. But first.. 

He took a deep breath and turned back around to face the campers. "Anyways! This here is a special mountain! Can anyone guess why? Dolph, what about you?"

"Is it… um… Is it vhere you vere born??" Dolph asked dumbly, unsure why he raised his hand.

"Um… No, not… not quite… uh… anyone else..?" David slightly stuttered, thrown off by the strange answer.

"Did Campbell take you here to do something or some dumb shit?" Max mumbled, making David grin and nod.

"Yes, very good Max! Mr. Campbell did in fact take us here for a hike, and oh boy was it great." He began, his eyes shining wistfully. "It was-"
   
"NO NO, no. Nobody gives a shit so don't start with the long ass story." Max cut in with an annoyed look.

“But-”

“NO!” The campers all said in unison. They’d all grown tired of David’s constant stories.

“If you’re gonna make us hike just get it over with without any stories.” The indian boy voiced, rolling his eyes. God, this was torture. He just wanted this to be over already.

    David frowned but hesitantly continued up the trail. “Okay…” He mumbled, making the campers sigh with relief that they wouldn’t have to sit through some stupid story.

    They all continued to hike up the trail, Max trying and failing to pull his hand away several times. As they hiked, David hummed some tunes that went along with camp songs he learned all those years ago. It brought back happy memories to him, and he loved being able to relive that. Bettermore, he loved giving his campers that same feeling.

    That was probably why he tried so hard to constantly let the kids have fun, and why he encouraged them to go out and about. Why he would keep trying to make all of them happy. To make Max happy. Especially Max, for the boy was so, so cynical for his age, and it hurt David’s heart to see. How could a 10 year old seem to hate the world to that extent?

    Anyways, they were still walking up the hiking trail, the campers tiny legs growing tired, when they heard slight rumbling, causing David to halt. “Huh? Do you all hear that?” David asked the campers, one eyebrow raising quizzically.

     They then all felt the ground tremble slightly. “Hey, yeah, what the hell is that?” Max asked, looking around, He then looked up at the hill beside them and saw a big rock tumbling down straight towards him and David.

    “DAVID, MOVE!” Max yelled loudly, pushing David and simultaneously unhooking their hands. The rock collided onto one of his arms, a crunch sound filling the air as it pinned his arm to the ground.

    Max let out a loud yell of pain, and all the campers and counselors gasped in unison. Max groaned out in pain, putting a hand to his mouth as he trembled, tears in his eyes. “A-Ah… Dav-vid…” He mumbled shakily, his eyes wide.

    David immediately rushed over to him, his eyes mimicking Max’s. “Oh, Max… O-Oh, gosh, what… oh no…” David rambled shakily, his hands trembling as he looked down at the pained boy. ⁸

    He didn’t know what to do, this situation had never happened before. Max whimpered shakily, blood pooling under the rock. He looked up at David weakly, fear filling his eyes, something only a select few had ever seen.

    “Oh go-osh… Um, it’s ok-kay Max, you’re okay, I’ll get you ou-out.” David stuttered, running his hands through his hair shakily. “Okay, um, Gwen, ca-call 911 and I’ll… I-I’ll try to mo-move the rock.” He gulped, tears stinging his eyes. But he couldn’t cry, he had to put a brave face on for Max.

    “Ok-kay.” Gwen said, tears also in her eyes as she shaily dialed 9-1-1. “He-Hello, m-my- uh, I’m a counselor at Ca-Camp Campbell and o-one of the campers is… he-he’s hurt. ...ye-yeah, um, a gi-giant rock or someth-thing just fell from a hill… ye-yeah, it crushed his whole fu-fucking arm, oh god the-there’s so much blood. Yeah, sorry, the add-dress is xxx xxxxxx grove. ...ye-yes, thank you.” Gwen said into the phone, her voice trembling as she stuttered.

    As she did this, David was trying to find a good way to get the big rock off Max’s arm without hurting it anymore. He bit his nail anxiously as he inspected it. He took a deep breath as he slowly tried to lift the rock off Max’s arm. Max whimpered and groaned, trembling as the pain shot up his arm.

    Tears rolled down his face as his whole body trembled. God fuck oh god fuck, it hurt so fucking bad. Was that blood?! Holy shit, it was all so terrifying and painful, and all he could do was whimper and cry into the ground.

    David threw the rock to the side with a grunt and quickly got down on his knees. “Oh, Max… Hey, stay with me bu-buddy. How many fin-fingers am I holding up?” David asked shakily, a trembling smile plastered on his face in an attempt to comfort the boy, holding up four fingers on his left hand.

    Max panted, his face filled with pain, but he dizzily looked up at David’s fingers. “N-Nn… f… fo-our…” He mumbled weakly.

'”Yes! Good, tha-that's good!” He said in a fake, cheerful voice. “Oh, that’s great, Max!”

“Huh, his name? O-Oh, it’s Max… u-um… M-Ma- David, what’s his last na-ame?” Gwen asked, the 9-1-1 operator having asked.

    “Oh, it’s um… darn,, I do-don’t know. Campers, do an-ny of you know?”  He asked, whimpering slightly when nobody spoke up.

    God fucking damnit. So this is how they’d find out? So un-fucking-fair. “My fu-full name… It’s…” He sighed, clenching his not injured, trembling fist.

     They’d have found out eventually anyways. He guessed he’d have to say goodbye to the one place he felt safe. To the one place he could be who he was. The one place he could be a boy named Max.

    But he had to let it go. He had to let everything go

    “I-It’s Lillith Faith Singh.”