Ripped and Stitched

11: Apart and Together

She ended up at the skatepark. Alison went and sat in one of the long tunnels at the edge of the park. With her knees up against her chest, Alison leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her folded legs. She rested her chin on her knees and looked around. The tunnel was covered in graffiti and littered with cigarette buds and beer cans, but she liked it here. Back before everything had happened, Alison used to sit here and watch Max as he graffitied the walls of the tunnel. She would never tell him, but she often admired his eye for beauty. In fact, if Alison had to guess, the graffiti directly across from her had been done by Max.

Alison found herself lost in the art, her mind drifting away from the chaos at home until finally she felt herself calm down. Her peace was interrupted though not less than an hour after she had arrived by a familiar voice.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Alison didn't even look up. It was him. The one person she wanted to see more than anyone else and he was here. Standing over her, watching as she tried not to cry. Alison didn't move, she felt such a whirlwind of emotions. Here he was, this one person out of everyone in the world who might possibly understand how she felt, and still she was scared to talk to him. So much had changed in so many different ways for the two of them. She didn't even know where to begin, but she wanted to try.

"Hey Max," she said softly.

"I tried to see you at the hospital but they said it was family only," he said quietly as he sat down next to her.

"Yeah, not my choice," she whispered.

"Your dad is worried about you," he said.

"You saw him?"

"I was coming by your place, I heard you got discharged and wanted to come see you, when he told me you were upset and ran off I knew where'd you go."

"Seems like the only place that hasn't changed," Alison murmured as she nodded her head slightly to the skatepark.

They both looked around. Alison was right the park had not changed much, only the people. New kids replaced the ones who had outgrown it.

"I still can't believe you're alive," he said.

"Yeah," Alison sighed. "Me too."

Max looked over at her. She had changed over the past year, which was expected given all that had happened. Her hair and the scars were the most obvious but her demeanor too, she looked so beaten down. The Alison he knew had always been a fighter.

"What happened?" he finally asked. "I mean, with your dad."

She sniffled and that was when Max realized she was crying.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No you didn't do anything, Max," she whispered. "It's just that my dad cleared out my room, and got rid of all my stuff. And I know it's just stuff but it hurts so bad. He just moved on, just like that and now it's like my whole life was just erased."

"Hey, it's okay," Max said soothingly. "I got some of your things."

She looked up at him. "What?" Alison asked in a small voice.

"Yeah, I snuck into your room the week you disappeared and grabbed the things I figured were important," he explained. "The skateboards in your closet, your favorite hoodie, some of those t-shirts you always wore, your journals, Indigo, the jewelry box-"

"Indigo's alive?" she asked, cutting him off.

Max nodded. "Thriving actually."

Alison wiped her tears. "That's good, I thought maybe, well I knew my parents weren't going to feed him."

"I can bring it all over later," he offered. "Right now though, I think you should go back, you know, before your dad calls the police."

Alison sighed. "I hate that house, it's not my home anymore. All the renovations in the world and I don't have a bedroom now."

Max didn't know what to say. She was right. Everyone had been forcing themselves to move on and now they had to backtrack.

"Come on, I'll walk you there," he said quietly.

As they walked back, it grew silent between them. Alison didn't mind, she had grown used to the silence, but Max minded, it was driving him crazy.

"Is what the news reports are saying true?" he asked, to fill the silence.

"I don't want to talk about it, Max," she said.

"How's Brady?" he questioned instead.

"Traumatized," she murmured. "You haven't seen him yet?"

Max scratched the back of his head. In all honesty, Max wasn't even sure what he would say to Brady considering how things were going with Alison.

"And you?" Max asked, changing the subject. "How are you given everything?"

Alison bit her lip. "I think I was already a bit too broken to get broken again."

They had arrived at her house now. He turned and faced her.

"I live about a ten minute drive from here now, we moved in with our dad," he explained. "Can I call you or can we talk later or something?"

"I don't have a phone," Alison said. "I lost it that night."

"Oh," Max said quietly. "Can I come by later?"

"We'll see," she said tiredly.

That wasn't really what Max was hoping to hear but Alison was too bitter about the way her house looked to notice.

"All right, bye Ali," he said.

She nodded and went inside. Her dad was anxiously pacing in the living room and she noticed Gabriella with the baby on the couch.

"Alison!" he said angrily when he saw her at the door. "You can't just run off like that."

"Yeah, well you can't just replace your daughter, but you seemed to do that quite well," she quipped back.

Her father let out an exasperated sigh. "What do you want from me, Alison? I made a mistake okay? I'm sorry. Do you want my credit card? You can go buy whatever you want," he offered.

"I want the guest house," Alison said at once.

"What?" he asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"You heard me," she muttered. "You made it quite clear who your family is and it seems like you're stuck with me either way, so I want to live outside in the guest house."

"Paul," Gabriella protested. "She can't just live on her own out there."

Alison's father pinched the bridge of his nose. He seemed like he was upset. Alison wasn't sure why, but she watched as his expression twisted up in pain.

"Is that really what you want?" he asked his daughter.

Alison nodded her head.

"Okay," he gave in. "Take this too you can go buy whatever you want for the place."

Mr. Hart handed his daughter a credit card much to the chagrin of his wife, then he took the keys off the hook near the door and handed it to his daughter.

Alison glanced back at her father and saw tears in his eyes. Well great, now she did feel bad.

Still, she walked out of their house and into her new place. The guesthouse was quite bare, perhaps they hadn't decorated it yet. Alison didn't mind, she was not into her stepmother's taste anyway.

The front door of the guest house opened into a living room with a gray couch and television. Then behind it was a small kitchen and a bathroom on the side. The stairs on the left led to a loft where a big bed and small closet were. There was a dresser with a mirror above it, Alison went over and before she could look at herself, she ripped a blanket off the bed and covered up the mirror. Still scared of her own reflection that would reveal how much had changed.