Ripped and Stitched

33: The Rabbit Hole

"I don't like this," Brady muttered.

"Do you have a better option?" Max asked as the boys walked to their destination.

"Trusting Jackson is not a good idea," Brady warned.

"Relax, we're pretty close..." Max's voice trailed off.

It was awkward, he and Jackson had grown closer while Brady was missing. Max also knew that Jackson was technically an ex of Julia's and it only made things that much more awkward. Julia had refused to come at all and Brady only came because he was curious what Julia saw in Jackson, even if he was keeping that part to himself.

When they arrived at Jackson's house, he greeted them at the front door.

"Well look who it is," Jackson said with a smirk. "I trust you brought my payment."

Max rolled his eyes and pulled out the pills he had taken from Alison's house. The ones he had hidden after Kate had tried to steal them.

"Here," he said.

Jackson smiled. "All right, give me the phone," he said.

Max begrudgingly handed the phone to his old friend and Jackson's eyes widened.

"You didn't say it was this bad," Jackson protested.

"Well can you fix it or not?" Brady demanded.

Jackson looked over at Brady. "You can talk?"

Brady rolled his eyes. "Can you fix the phone or not?" he repeated.

Jackson shrugged. "I'll look into it," he said.

Max sighed. "And how long is that going to take?"

Jackson smirked. "I suppose it depends on the compensation for speedy work."

Brady clenched his jaw and within seconds Jackson was shoved onto the floor.

"Is my fist incentive enough?" Brady threatened.

Jackson gulped and quickly nodded. "I'll get back to you in a couple hours."

As the boys left, Max looked over at Brady in surprise. For as long as he had known Brady, the boy had never gotten this aggressive before.

"You know Jackson," Brady said, rolling his eyes. "He's all talk, I had to threaten him or he would have never helped us."

"I know," Max shrugged. "I just never thought you would have had it in you to hurt someone. I thought you were all Jesus would want peace or whatever."

Brady stared at Max for a moment. It had been awhile since Brady thought about religion or God all together. He knew his parents were upset that Brady no longer attended church. However, Brady felt wrong going when a dark secret remained in his heart: Brady was no longer sure he believed in God. What kind of God let two teenagers get kidnapped and tortured for a year?

"How do you want to kill the time until Jackson calls?" Max asked when they arrived at Brady's house.

Brady thought about it for a second.

"Who is the one person who might know Ali better than us?" Brady asked Max.

Max thought about it for a moment. "Oh crap," he sighed. "You want to call Hayden?"

Brady shrugged. "I just think he might know Ali's password."

Max considered it. He had no real reason to hate Hayden, but the fact that he kissed Alison will always upset him, but the idea of losing Alison forever scared him more.

"Call him," Max said finally.

Brady nodded and took his phone out.

"What's up, Brady?" Hayden said as he answered. Brady put the phone on speaker.