Letters From the Lost

~Noah~

Max's face while she was sleeping is so innocent, but so broken. Her frail body was curled up so close to me. I've been getting her a lot of ice packs to get the swelling down in her eyes, which has helped a lot. There was still a lot of swelling around her eyes, but she could still see. She was still gorgeous, but there was no way she couldn't be.

She slowly opened her eyes, she looked up at me and smiled. "Good morning, baby," I whispered and planted a kiss on the top of her head.

She yawned, "Good morning. Have you heard anything from the doctors about when we can go home?" I almost forgot that we were still in the hospital. We've been here for a few weeks and I've only left three or four times. Mostly to get Max some clothes or to shower, I always left while she was sleeping and I always left a note. I hated leaving her, there was so much that could happen in the few minutes that I would be gone. If something happened, I wanted to be there.

"No, I haven't heard anything. But I can go ask if you want," I answered. I was exhausted and just wanted to go home with Max. I hardly slept, not knowing what would happen. I would watch her like a hawk, every little change in breathing pattering or when the heart monitor would change, my heart would skip a beat.

Max tucked her head into my neck, holding on to me a little tighter. "No, I want you to stay here. Have you heard anything about...you know who?" Her voice got quiet. She was talking about Jackson, he deserved so much more than being left off the hook. The only reason he's still alive is because I couldn't handle leaving Max. I didn't want to involve Chief Jones while Max was still recovering from three operations, and a lot of broken bones.

"I can call Chief Jones today, I'm sure if we talk to him, he'll do everything in his power to help you. I'm sorry for not calling him sooner." I held on to Max a little tighter.

"It's okay, you had a lot of things on your mind and that wasn't one of them, it's okay that you didn't call him. But do you mind calling him?" I could hear the exhaustion in Max's voice. I wish I could just make it all better, I know my being here and never leaving her side helps, but it's not going to fix everything.

I smiled, "Yeah, I can call him right now. Do you want to talk to him or do just want me to talk to him?" I let go of Max and slowly climbed out of the bed, terrified of hurting her. I walked across the room and picked up the phone.

"Can you just talk to him? I'm sure he'll drop everything and rush over here. I can just talk to him later." She smiled slightly, I could tell she missed him. He was like her father for a while, he was always so sweet to everyone.

I nodded and started calling the sheriff's station. "Hello, this is Chief Jones speaking, state your emergency," He said so seriously.

I giggled, "Well, Chief, I'd expect something a little less formal for your favorite criminal! I mean last time we saw each other it was more like 'I better not have to arrest you again!' Or something like that, I was high out of my mind, so I don't remember it very well." I laughed. I looked at Max and she was grinning.

"Is that Christopher Samuels I hear? It's been such a long time! What's going on?" He laughed.

"Yeah it is, but there is kind of an emergency that I need to tell you. It's about Max." I leaned against the wall and glanced over at Max lying in the bed, her small and frail body. She hasn't been able to eat solid foods since we got to the hospital.

I heard his breathing accelerate, "Max? Like Max Manson? What are you doing with her?" His voice grew stern.

"She's my girlfriend, but that's not important right now. She's in the hospital, she was attacked."

"Oh my god, what happened? Is she okay? What happened? Who did that to her?" He was horrified.

I took a deep breath, "I think you should get to the hospital and let her explain it to you herself, I still don't know the full story either. Would she be able to press charges if it's been a few weeks?"

"Yeah, she will, as long as I can talk to her doctor, and see all of her medical records from the day it happened then yes. Do you mind telling me what you know so I can start a report?" Well, this was going to be rough.

I took a few deep breaths to compose myself. "Well, a few weeks ago, Max told me she was..." I looked down and felt tears starting to form. "Max told me that she was pregnant, then she told me that it was Jackson's." Tears started streaming down my cheeks as the memories started flooding my mind.

"Jackson Reid? Like the piece of shit that Max was dating? He got her pregnant? Isn't she only seventeen?"

My hand tightened around the phone, hearing his name pierced my soul. "She's eighteen, but yeah, he did. He did it to her without her consent," I whispered, attempting to hide the pain in my voice. "I left to go find him, and I did. But I told him about her being pregnant, and he escaped...he went to her...and attacked her. She has six stitches in her stomach, three surgeries, eight broken ribs, and two black eyes." I pulled my sleeve over my hand and wiped away my tears.

"Oh my god! Is she okay?" He asked, I looked up at her, she was looking at her hands. I saw the sadness in her eyes.

"She will be, but I think you need to get here soon. She still hasn't told me what happened, I didn't want to force her to talk about it when she was still recovering from a lot of things. She only actually woke up a week ago." Not knowing if she was going to wake up felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest, the doctors said it was a miracle that she even did wake up. I knew she was a fighter, and she fought through and I still get to see the glow in her eyes everyday. The glow that was gone until she woke up from the coma.

"I'll be right there, I'm assuming it's Massachusetts General, right?"

"Yeah, just remember, that she is still really fragile so please be careful. I'll see you soon," I said, then hung up the phone. I looked at Max solemnly. "I really need a hug right now." I choked back tears as I walked back across the room and climbed in the bed with Max. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. She wrapped her arms around my abdomen and tucked her head into my chest. "I can't lose you again, Max," I whispered.

Minutes later I heard a knock at the door, I looked up and saw Chief Jones standing in the doorway. I could see the pain in his eyes while looking at Max's broken body. "Max? What happened?"

I looked at Max while she stared at Chief Jones with sad eyes. "Hey, I'm gonna go grab some things from our house. I'll be right back," I whispered. Max nodded her head without breaking eye contact. I climbed out of the bed and walked toward the door.

Chief Jones stopped me, "Hey, thanks for being there for her," He whispered. I peaked over my shoulder and smiled.

"I love her, being there for her is a pleasure for me," I answered. Chief Jones smiled and nodded softly. I brushed past him and left. I will admit, one of the reasons I left was because I couldn't handle hearing her side of the story, I didn't want to hear what happened to her. Knowing what I know is the minimal side of what happened, so hearing all of it would just break my heart more. Maybe one day, when I know that Max is okay, I'll want to hear it, but today is not that day. But another reason I left was because I knew that Max's pregnancy test was still sitting on the bathroom counter, it would only be more proof that what Jackson did actually happened.

I quickly ran home and grabbed the test before driving back, hopefully they weren't talking about what happened when I walked back in.

I stood in front of the door, I took a deep breath and walked in. Chief Jones was sitting on the bed next to Max, writing something down. She was crying. I walked across the room and sat next to Max, pulling her into my arms. "Well, I have everything that I need for now from you, but I am going to need proof of all of this happening."

"I have something." I let go of Max and stood up. I pulled the pregnancy test out of my pocket and stared at it for a second. Seeing the two lines, saying that it was positive. Knowing that Max was pregnant and she didn't give consent, then she had to stomach losing the baby too. It was my fault for not protecting her better. I looked up and handed the test to Chief Jones. He grabbed the test and looked at it then up at me.

"Thank you," He shoved it in his pocket and left. I looked at Max, the pain in her eyes ripped my heart out of my chest.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. I climbed into the bed and held her tight.