The Secrets We Keep In The Dark (The Grabber fan-fiction)

Chapter 23

( I'll say it so you don't have to.. Finney this whole chapter 👁️👄👁️...)

You could hear a pin drop in the overwhelming silence that surrounded them. Max had a firm grip on the door knob that led to the basement. He held his hand there for a few moments. He didn't move, he didn't even blink. Then instead of opening the door he dropped his hand from it and turned around to face her.

"This whole thing is just-" he paused."It's ridiculous, isn't it?" Max slowly backed up into the door. In some strange way it was as if he was guarding it.

"Maybe we're being paranoid about this," Abigail pushed a strand of her hair away from her face. Max laughed nervously, and tried to cover up his discomfort with an disingenuous smile. She mimicked his expression. Abigail thought about how forced that smile must have looked from his perspective.

Max's eyes were wide open; he looked petrified from where she was standing. Max nodded his head slowly. He didn't respond, at least not at first.

"Right," he eventually stuttered out. "Yes that's it, we're just paranoid." He laughed, and the laugh itself was a dry and joyless sound.

"Max, I feel like I'm losing my mind," she whispered. Abigail covered her face with both hands. She began to massage her fingertips gently into her fleshy eyelids.

Abigail took a deep breath and then blew out all of the air from her lungs. Max placed his hand on her shoulder massaging his thumb into her skin, "Abby, it's okay. I do too."

"I feel terrible,"she scoffed. "I can't believe we really thought-" Abigail didn't finish, because she couldn't even bring herself to admit it aloud.

"It was pretty stupid wasn't it," he said softly. "So stupid."

Abigail watched Max fiddling anxiously with his jacket zipper. She had been so distracted by her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed Max removing his hand from her shoulder. Max and Abigail were avoiding each other's gaze. Things had gotten too real too quick.

"Well, I guess I better go check on Sam."Abigail hiked her thumb in the direction of the living room where Samson was currently panting and sitting in a puddle of his own drool.

Abigail couldn't even bring herself to look in the direction of the door. Abigail turned away, and began to walk towards the living room. She was prepared to pretend this had never happened.

"Wait," Max grabbed her wrist gently and tugged her back. He took a labored breath. "Just hear me out."

Abigail curled the edges of her mouth upward. She gave him a soft smile. "Oh boy,  that's  never a good way to start."

"Please," Max smiled and beckoned her to listen. He had a hopeful look in his eyes. "Let's play detective one last time?"

There was something grim about the way he said it. It didn't feel  light hearted like the last time. Abigail wasn't sure she wanted to know the truth much anymore, but she owed it to Finney, and to all the other boys. Even to George she thought.

"Alright, Max," she shrugged her shoulders, "I'm all ears."

Max took another deep breath, mentally preparing himself to have this conversation. "I just think that if it's truly nothing, like we said then what's the harm in-"

Abigail finished his sentence almost immediately, "Then what's the harm in checking." Max nodded. He seemed relieved that Abigail knew exactly what he was thinking.

Truth be told she was thinking the same thing. Though Abigail was thinking something else too. Say they check, and there's no one there. This would be a line, a boundary that they could never come back from. Abigail spoke a big game on trust, but in reality would she ever actually trust him? Even when he did nothing wrong she found a way to villainize him.