memories ~ elmax ~

pt. 32

el's pov:

i looked over at max and she looked really scared. the social worker was quickly talking to the police, and we were waiting inside her office in silence before max spoke. "you don't think there going to make me go back to indiana, do you?" she asked me. i felt terrible admitting this, but i didn't know. i don't want to tell her one things and get her hopes up, just for something else to happen. "el?" she asked me, touching my arm. i looked over at her and struggled to speak. i didn't know what to say. "i don't know, i wish i did." i told her. she frowned, and was about to speak before the social worker walked inside and sat down at her desk. she looked up at max, and smiled.

"hi, you must be maxine mayfield." she asked. "it's max. max mayfield. nobody calls me maxine." she told the social worker. the social worker looked confused, but grabbed her pen and crossed out maxine, and wrote max. "okay max, you can call me kathryn." she told her. "fine." max agreed. "okay, so max. i have a few questions to ask you, starting off- why did you run away from home?" kathryn asked her. "because it's a fucking shit hole in that house!" max said raising her voice. "okay please calm down, how is it exactly a 'shit hole'?" kathryn asked her. "because neil is always drunk and abusive, and my mom doesn't give two shits about me." max told her. "how is he abusive?" kathryn asked.

max got quiet, and looked down at the ground. "max, how is he abusive?" kathryn repeated herself. she still stayed silent.
"hey, it's okay. you need to tell her.." i told her while placing my hand on her shoulder. she looked over at me and mumbled something that was inaudible. "please speak up." kathryn told her. "fuck off." max blankly said. she set down her clipboard of all the information, and spoke. "maxine, i don't know how i'm supposed to help you if you won't help me." she told max. without speaking or doing anything else, max put both her hands on the desk, revealing the black and blue bruises on her knuckles. as soon as i saw that my heart started to race. what the fuck- how have i never noticed that before? if those were there before i would of definitely noticed them, and neil didn't touch her knuckles or hands at all.

"he did that to you?" she asked max. "what does it look like? who else would do that to me?" she raised her voice kathryn. "okay- did he.. what exactly did he do to you to cause those bruises because those are some pretty sever bruises." she asked trying to grab max's hand to look at the bruises better. "none of your fucking buisness!" she snapped as she pulled her hands away. i touched max's arm, and spoke. "hey, it's okay. just breathe.." i told her. as soon as she looked at me, her gaze softened, and she took a deep breathe. "i'm sorry.." she mumbled. she looked over at kathryn and spoke. "he hits me." she told her. "okay, and max i have one more question for you. did your suicide attempt have anything to do with your home life?" she asked.

she hesitated before speaking, but spoke. "yes, i felt like susan and neil were going to find me soon and that was the only way to not go back to them." she told kathryn. "okay, thank you for telling me all of that maxine," she said completely forgetting it is max, not maxine. "it takes alot of courage to tell the truth." she added. "yeah.." she mumbled. "now i personally don't think it's safe for you to go back to that house, but that is completely up to a judge. for now first of all, i think you need to talk to a therapist, and then they will decide if you will need to stay in the suicide ward or if you can go home to whoever we decide to give you custody to." she explained. "but there is always one more option, you can get minor emancipation, that is where you sue your parents and they looses custody of you and you will be declared a legal adult even if you're still a minor." she told her. "i wanna do that." max said as i was about to speak. "but is there a way max can continue living with me and my family?" i asked her. "i will try my best, now maxine, in a few minutes you are going to see my friend doctor colleen, she is a licensed therapist. just so you have someone to talk to." she explained.