Hell Fire (Wild Fire: 2) (FINISHED)

47 - Moody Maddy

After Max cleaned up the mess she made, he sighed and started to her room, knowing there wasn't a lock, so he just knocked briefly.

There was no response.

So he just walked in and looked at her bed, finding it empty.

Pure panic settled in, and he darted over to her closet to find it empty and then dropped down, looking under her bed.

Where the hell did she go?

But when he circled around the mattress, his panic settled, finding Ember on the floor, staring weakly at the window above her.

Max sighed, closing his eyes as he settled down beside her, and she remained still, unphased.

"I know you're angry," he spoke then, "and you should be. I should've never said that."

She was silent.

"I seriously..." he paused. "Can I just... can I just talk to you? I've been holding it in, and... and I didn't want you to worry."

She still was silent but gazed up at him.

"I'll tell you why I've been avoiding getting intimate," he promised her. "And no, it isn't because of what I said at the woods, that was..." he paused, shaking his head, "stupid. Completely and utterly-"

"Talk," she said quietly.

He looked down at her, finding her expression emotionless and blank still, but he urged himself on. "Ember... a week ago or so, I had... I had a nightmare. A really bad one." He closed his eyes, picturing it in hopes of explaining it better. "When we were at the townhome, you fell asleep in your bedroom, and I was in my room, working on my computer. Well... in my dream it was the same, but you came in late at night because you were scared. I helped you get in bed with me, we were kissing. I took off your shirt to examine you. But..." he paused, wincing, "you got stabbed in the stomach while we were kissing. And I was in shock, I didn't heal you, goddamn it. And then you were stabbed in the neck, and you were choking, in pain.

"I laid you down, tried to calm your fears and heal you, but my magic wasn't working... I was panicking. I looked down at you when the magic didn't work, and you were...." He took a shuttering breath. "Dead.

"That wasn't the only one, though," he explained. "I've had multiple over the course of the days we were together. The second one someone shot you in the chest, and your heart was stopping, and I was trying to run to you, but all these pedestrians came at me, blocking me, and... you died then, too." He spoke the next words silently. "They all were so real. I couldn't tell the difference between reality and dreams... I was suffering, and every time you died, we were getting intimate. Whether it was kissing in alleyways or in a motel room with you in my lap. You always died like me getting close to you was a sin." He shook his head, getting frantic. "And then other dreams like you falling off a cliff. Or you getting drowned again, and I couldn't find you. Or you falling into a tree chopper. Or-"

He felt something press to his lips, and his panic settled momentarily.

He opened his eyes, finding her staring at him curiously now with more confusion than anger, and her finger was settled on his mouth, silencing him.

She took her hand away, sitting up fully and sitting crisscross in front of him, listening. "Tell me... what you've been feeling lately."

Max blinked, not used to a woman asking him to talk to her before.

"I haven't been sleeping," he stated. "I've been afraid to. I need to keep my guard up so no one hurts you."

She nodded in understanding, waving a hand a gesturing for him to go on.