voyager // max mayfield

TWENTY SEVEN: WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU

"Evangeline."

The sound felt less like her name and more like a warning, the sound of it made her skin crawl now. She'd never liked it to begin with, but after this place there's no way she could hear it the same again. 

The practices of that hell haunted her mind as she lay in her bed, no longer in that awful institution, but in her bed at her parents house. 

She'd been picked up randomly on a Wednesday afternoon, told her that the therapy had been a success, and sent her off with her parents with no less than a smile and a wave.

She hadn't moved from her bed since the second she got back.

"Evangeline, darling, are you awake?" Her mother called, standing at the door of her room. This happened three times a day, one in the morning, one at lunch, one in the afternoon. Eve never replied, staying on her bed, tucked in the foetal position, staring at the wall.

She hadn't slept much, and when she did she woke up terrified thinking she had been shaken awake to go for more 'therapy,' she just stayed there, staring at the wall, her face blank. she hadn't cried, she barely ate, she barely drank. The only time she got up was to go to the bathroom, and that was prolonged as much as possible, going as far as to waiting until she began to feel pain in her bladder before going. 

Steve had no idea she was even back in town, nor did max or any of her friends for that matter, the only people who knew were her parents, who couldn't care less about her.

Her mother walked further into the room, placing a bowl on the bedside table, she picked up the plate she had put there last night, the food on it untouched as she stared at her daughter, "I brought you some cereal, me and your father are going out for the day so I won't be here for lunch. You can sort yourself out, right?"

No response.

"Evangeline?"

Eve's eyes closed tightly at the name.

"Give it up Melissa," The voice of her father was heard, his loud footsteps in the hall, "She's being stubborn. She knew I was right all along, that place fixed her and she's just angry about it."

"I know, Brad, but-"

The man walked into the room now, grabbing the glass of water that laid on his daughters bedside and threw the water over Eve's head. The girl didn't even flinch.

"That should wake you up, get the juices flowing. I want you out of bed by the time we are home." He tells her sternly, "Kate and Mark and their son Daniel are coming round for dinner to talk about the effectiveness of the therapy and I expect you to be there."

She didn't respond. 

Daniel had been through the same things she had, there was no way she could actively sit at a table with him and pretend everything was okay.

At her silence, her father huffed and pulled her mother out of the room, the door slamming behind them as Eve stayed still, waiting until she heard the front door slam and a car drive away before she attempted to move.

She could not stay here while this was going on, there was no way whatsoever she could be a part of that dinner.

-

Her heart was racing as she approached the front door.

The walk from hers to the house was longer than she expected it to be. She was tired and didn't;t have enough energy in her system to really be walking for that long. After everything she'd been through with Will going missing, to the mind flayer, she'd never experienced fatigue like this. Dying was more peaceful.