the girl in the woods ... // elmax

chp 1

Max stormed out of the house, hot tears welling in her eyes as she slammed the door shut, ignoring the yells of her step-father and her mother. She could feel Billy's eyes boring into the back of her head as she clutched onto her skateboard. It wasn't like Billy would try to stop her. He never cared.

She wasn't his sister, after all. Weren't those his words?

She sniffled slightly. No, she wasn't going to cry. Someone who lived in the same house as Billy fucking Hargrove is not going to cry. That would make her weak.

She suddenly heard the slam of a door opening at the same time footsteps echoed in her ears. Max turned around to see her step-father chasing after her on the street. "Shit," she muttered, wiping at her eyes and setting out her skateboard in front.

"Maxine, don't you dare," she heard a voice threaten. She gritted her teeth, hopped onto the skateboard, and started pushing herself forward with her other leg. She continued until she felt a growing numbness and fatigue in her leg, and slowly, she shifted it back onto the skateboard as she skated through the unstable road.

Suddenly, her skateboard flipped, and she landed on the pavement harshly. "Shit!" She cursed, turning around, but there wasn't any sign of her step-father. Her vision blurred, both from tears and dizziness as she stumbled to carry her skateboard. Stupid thing must have tripped on a rock.

Max exhaled a deep breath. She couldn't tell if it was of relief, or whatever, but she vowed to keep her mouth shut as her feet crunched under dead grass. She wasn't on pavement anymore, that was for sure. She was scrambling in the way she landed.

Unknowingly, Max Mayfield was heading into the woods right now.

She dug around aimlessly in her pockets, searching for the flashlight she always packed. Hugging the skateboard to her side, she flicked the light on and pointed it at the sky just as it rumbled. Unfortunately, the light shining only gave way to raindrops starting to patter on the pavement.

Cursing to herself yet again, Max ran deeper into the forest. Her step-father was stubborn. If he wanted to find her, he would. Not even rain could stop that.

Thunder struck and beat across the sky.

Maybe that would stop him. 

Max merged deeper into the forest, occasionally snapping her head around whenever she heard the slightest noise. As the rain got stronger, she regretted not getting her jacket before running off. The chirps of owls quickly became muffled by the rain.

She held up her arm to wipe the raindrops from her forehead and exhaled a large breath as she felt her soaked clothes clinging to her skin with each passing second. She whipped her head around when she suddenly heard something snap, like someone was stepping on a dead branch. Running a hand through her wet hair, she squinted her eyes as she shone her flashlight.

Her step-father wasn't there, so that was good. Squinting further, she realized she was already really deep in the woods. She couldn't even see the pavement where she fell. There were only... trees.

Max turned back to the direction she was facing when she suddenly realized something was different--- she could hear distinct footsteps behind her. She turned to the left, gripping her flashlight and skateboard for dear life.

Nothing there. She exhaled a sigh of relief and was about to consider heading back when she heard suddenly someone else breathing. Slowly moving, she saw someone. It could've been a boy or a girl-- their facial features were mostly androgynous and their hair nearly completely shaved off. They were wearing a yellow shirt, particularly one that was too big for them.

"Holy shit," Max muttered. She nearly felt her heart leap out of her chest at the sight of someone else alone at night in the woods. The blue-ish light of the flashlight didn't offer much except for a circle of radiance on their face. 

Carefully, Max raised an arm to them, but they immediately flinched and retreated backwards. "It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you," Max said, trying to reassure whoever this was. They looked maybe the same age as her-- probably no older than thirteen.

They inched forward slightly, and Max could kind of see more clearly that they were a girl. "Are you lost?" Max asked, dropping her skateboard to focus on her. She nodded slowly, and Max tried asking a more specific question this time. "Where's your family?"

When she didn't answer, Max frowned and tried again. "What about your mother?" Max said, remembering how her mother was usually the one who cared the most about her. 

"Mama is gone," the girl said, finally speaking. Max's eyes widened. 

"What about Papa?"

The girl winced again and cautiously looked behind her, as if she was scared of someone finding them.

Max decided not to ask any more questions about the girl's family. She pursed her lips. "Do you need somewhere to stay?"

The girl nodded, and Max held out her hand, even if it was cold. "Come on." The girl paused, uncertain for a moment before taking it. Max's eyes flickered downwards-- there was something black on the girl's wrist-- 011 tattooed in bold letters. Max didn't think too much about it and brushed it off. It was probably the girl's lucky number, or something. And that was probably marker.

Just as Max started back to her house, she suddenly realized-- she couldn't go back there. Her step-father would probably curse her out for hours.

"Shit," she muttered to herself. Trying not to make the girl think she was leading her out to the middle of nowhere, she turned in the complete opposite direction.

Max would just have to see where the woods took them.