Letters From the Lost

~Noah~

Max was still sleeping, I still felt so guilty about what I did to her. It had been weeks but I still felt guilty. I didn't touch her other than when we would cuddle. For some reason, she just felt so fragile. I wanted to do something sweet for her, knowing my abstinence was upsetting her. So I went to get some brownie batter. She had told me that she doesn't like cake a long time ago, so I was going to bake a brownie cake.

The grocery store was a short walk from our house so I just walked. It was a nice day, pretty cold but nice. The thin plastic grocery bag was the only sound to be heard, swishing in the wind. My stomach dropped when I saw someone leaning against the wall. A black hood covered their face but I knew that body. His tall built stature, a cool tone about him. That was Jackson, he was lucky I was in a good mood. I lifted my chin and walked past him without a care. "Hey! Christopher! Stop!" He called after me. His voice was ice cold.

I rolled my eyes and turned around. "What do you want, Jackson?" I replied, coldly. I walked toward him, towering over him.

"I want my slut back," He answered. My body tensed. I dropped the bag of brownie mix and cracked my knuckles.

"What the hell did you just say?" I asked, through my clenched jaw. "I believe you just called the most perfect girl in the world a slut, is that right?" I took a step closer to Jackson. I thought of the many ways to flatten him like a pancake without even getting blood on my shirt.

"Like I said, I want what's rightfully mine back. You took her away like a selfish little asshole, she belongs to me," He growled. I grabbed Jackson's hood and pulled him further into the alleyway.

"She belongs to me, she is mine. It's not a coincidence that she chose me over you. I treat her with nothing but respect and care everyday. You couldn't even let her be herself. You didn't do the minimal of a relationship, why the hell would she want to pick you, her abusive piece of shit ex boyfriend, over the man that treats her with nothing but the utmost respect. I love her, and you didn't care. She's mine, not yours!" I yelled.

Jackson scoffed. "Is that all you have to say? I find it funny that you believe every little thing she tells you, sure I wasn't the best boyfriend. But do you really just believe that I was hurting her? She's a liar, the one time I hurt her was when you saw me hit her and that was it! I apologized and she just left me like the years we had were nothing!" There was a hint of emotion in his voice, but the little emotion he had was just manipulation.

"I'm not dumb, I saw the bruises. I saw the scars, physically and mentally. She has come so far, I'm so proud of how far she's come and I'm not about to let you ruin all her progress just because you're too selfish to realize that you're the problem!" My voice cracked. I took a deep breath shoving my emotion back down.

"She doesn't deserve anything, she's not worth all the time you're putting into this. She's just a worthless broken girl that deserves nothing. She will never be worth anything you give her, your time and money, she's just using you. When you finally realize that she isn't worth your time, she'll just leave." Fury filled my body. I could finally fully understand why Max had this horrible vision of herself that was so wrong. Adrenaline filled my body and I punched Jackson with as much force as possible. He immediately fell to the ground and gripped his face. I kicked him in the stomach three times before bending down to look at him. I punched him again and again and again. Blood was splashing everywhere. I had so much rage filling my body, each punch relieved the rage just a little bit. I wanted to hit him so hard that he would feel the suffering he caused Max. She didn't deserve what he did to her, and he doesn't deserve mercy. But for Max's sake I'll show him mercy.

My hand wrapped around his throat and I squeezed, not enough to completely block his oxygen, but enough to prevent him from breathing. "I hope you know that you broke her. I hope that you suffer every day knowing that you destroyed an innocent girl. I hope you suffer knowing that a girl that was already at her breaking point just wanted someone to love, and you ruined her chance of trusting anyone. We've been dating for months and I know she still doesn't trust me, and that is because you broke her. She didn't deserve it and I hope that makes you suffer. She suffers everyday, she's scared of a man's touch, she's scared about voicing her opinion. She's scared of so much because you abused her into being a voiceless girl. You destroyed a girl who wanted nothing more than someone to love her as much as she loved them. You destroyed a girl who has a heart of gold and would have done anything for you. You destroyed a girl who was so brave and strong, you destroyed the girl who endured so much but didn't break. You broke the unbreakable because you didn't care," I said firmly. I released my hand from his throat. "You will never get Max back, she's gone. If you love her, let her live her life the way she wants to. You ruined your chance of ever having a future again. This is all your fault." I turned around and started walking back home, making sure to grab the bag of brownie mix.

Once I made it home, I saw Max standing in the kitchen, washing dishes. She turned around grinning ear to ear. "Where did you wander off too?" She questioned.

"I wanted to make you some brownies so I went to the store to get some mix." Her eyes wandered down my body then widened when she saw the blood on my shirt and hands.

"Oh my god, Noah! Is that blood?" She asked while rushing over to me. She placed her finger on the small blood spot on my light gray shirt.

"Relax, sweetheart, it isn't my blood." I replied coolly. I forced all the thoughts about Jackson so far in the back of my mind that she wouldn't even be able to read my mind and know what happened. I didn't want her to freak out on me like last time, so I planned on telling her a little later today.

"Is that supposed to make me feel any better?" She replied, almost yelling. Her body language said she wasn't mad at me, I think she was just worried about how I beat up and if I was okay.

"Calm down, I'll tell you about it later. Can you please just fix me up?" I lifted my hand to show my bloody knuckles. She pulled me to the bathroom and had me sit on the counter so she could clean my hand.

"Can you please tell me what you did? Remember what you said; no secrets, no lies, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you." Damn, I hate it when she uses my very great knowledge against me.

"Okay fine, it was Jackson. He was being an asshole and he said some really messed up things about you and I couldn't help but beat the shit out of him." The memories of the words he said about Max. 'She's just a worthless broken girl that deserves nothing.' He was so wrong. She was worth so much and she wasn't broken and she deserved everything in the world and more.

"He said that about me?" She asked, her voice was broken. Shit, I forgot she could read my mind. "Noah..." I knew what she was about to say, she was going to say that he was right, that he was telling the truth.

"Max, don't you dare. Yes, he did say that about you. But he couldn't be more wrong. You are worth so much and you aren't broken. You deserve the world but that's still not enough. Max, Jackson has said so many messed up things about you. But he was wrong. Everything he's said about you is wrong." My voice cracked.

She pressed her forehead against mine. "I love you so much," She whispered. "I don't deserve you."

"No Max, I don't deserve you," I answered. "I love you too, remember that. I love you, and I love you because you are perfect and there is literally nothing I could hate about you. You're perfect and there was literally nothing you could say that would change that."

I pulled Max closer to me and planted a kiss on the tip of her nose. "Tonight, can we just pretend like we're the only two people in the world?" Max asked.

"Of course, sweetheart," I answered.