Clouds of Violet

Chapter Twenty-Three

Friday, October 10th, 19:21

Max is on the ground, clutching his stomach and cursing under his breath.

"Max, you need to put pressure on it," I say. "Like with a shirt or some kind of cloth."

"What the fuck am I supposed to do, pull out my underwear?"

I reach for my phone and hastily dial 911. They pick up almost immediately, while I scramble to find something for Max.

"Hello, 911, what's your emergency?"

"Uh, hi, my friend was just stabbed," I say. "In the stomach. We need an ambulance, right now. Please."
I begin to mouth to Max: Your shirt. Use your shirt.
He pulls his shirt over his head, and the wound looks worse than I expected it to. He throws his head back, wincing as he pushes his shirt down on the wound. "We're at, uh, town square. Right outside Tommy's Trinkets. Please be quick."

"Right, don't panic, we'll have an ambulance sent your way immediately."

"Fuck, I'm dying!" Max yells, as soon as I hang up. "Sky, call my Mom. My phone's in my front pocket, my passcode's 29392."

I grab his phone, my palms slippery with sweat. I open his phone and call his Mom. She picks up on the very last ring.

"Hello, Max?" She's breathless, and sounds worried to death. I put her on speaker, so that Max can hear her as well. "I've been worried sick! You said you were gonna be home soon! Where are you?"

"Hi, mother dearest," he says, gasping for breath. "Uh, I've been impaled."

"What?!"

"Yeah, by that crazy mask girl," he continues. "Think she might like me. Who knows, she could be cute. But I think the murder and cannibalism is a bit of a deal breaker for me, don't you think? Um, anyways, I'm trying to stay alive. Sky's with me and she's called an ambulance. We're...we're waiting. And I don't know when they're gonna get here but I hope soon. But can..." He sniffs, biting down on his lip. "...can you and Jade and Veronica meet me at the hospital?" His voice cracks, and I feel ashamed for watching this happen. "Just...just meet me there, I'm sure they'll fix me. I love you, and tell the girls I love them too."

I can hear his mom crying on the other hand. She chokes on her words, says 'I love you, too,' and hangs up.

"Y'know, if this is my last day on Earth, this is not how I'd want to be spending it," Max says, and I cover my face with my hands. "For one, I'd much rather have my sisters and my mother with me. And one other person, though she'd hate to be here. And Aaron and Ezra, I'd want them to be here. Even if Aaron's a bit of an asshole sometimes, he's still a fun-to-be-around asshole. And you. Those are the people I'd want to be with me if I died today."

"Stop talking like that," I say, looking down at the broken cobblestone. "You're not going to die."

"Yeah, I'm invincible," he says. He turns away from me, and I know he's crying. "I don't wanna die, Sky. I didn't even get to say goodbye to my family. To the people I love. It's not fair. I was...I was supposed to have some epic death. I wasn't destined to die in front of a fucking Tommy's Trinkets."

"And you're not going to! You're going to be fine! The ambulance is coming! You're going to be okay!"

He doesn't turn to look at me, instead he stares at the ground beneath him. We sit in silence, and I know that Max hates it. But I don't know what to say. And even if I did, I wouldn't want to fill the quiet with words that nobody cares about.

I hear sirens in the distance and stand, almost smiling as I see blue lights flashing.

"They're here," I say, as if it isn't the most obvious thing in the world right now. "You're going to be fine."