Time Seizure

Chapter 16 - Reunion

A pair of arms folded under her back and legs, air coasting through her hair, a pair of butterfly wings that were half the size of a sail, and a veil of striking blue hair framing a perfect face also brandishing to the breath of the passing sky; all these ingredients, Max could photograph only through the lens of her half-lidded eyes.

"Chloe..." She could only moan through her chapped lips, but it was enough for Chloe to heed her.

"Yes, keep saying my name!" Cooed the butterfly girl. "Say it as many times as you want! I'll never get tired of it!"

Her response was rather loud for Max in the state she was in, but she didn't mind, because whether this Chloe was real or just another fragment of her tortured mind, she would enjoy her for as much little time as whatever she had left.

Max leaned her head into Chloe's shoulder and breathed in her scent as shut her eyes to rest some more; it was hers, without the stench of smoke and alcohol, and she wanted it forever.

Her best friend and lover reacted to this by holding her even closer and did just the same to her, collecting the scent of her purity and innocence.

"I wanna make love to you, hella bad." She blurted quietly, prompting a small snicker from the smaller girl.

"You're... such a dork."

*****

Back in the hospital, everyone who gathered outside the entrance to Max's hospital room to gawk at the miraculous wonder of the two girls still wrapped around each other while bending the fabric of time within their area scampered, whether to rush home in fear, pace through the building in madness, or call some expert.

The only people who stayed were the two sickly worried parents, reluctant to stand by, but more so to leave them like that, to something they can't grasp.

Despite the overwhelming brightness, Vanessa and Ryan especially could not take their eyes off their daughter's resting face; though she seemed outwardly peaceful, they were more concerned with what could be occurring internally.

By this point, David noticed how the window in that room no longer projected the warm yellow glow from outside; instead, it was washed over in grey again.

Could that be another storm?

That became the least of their worries when Vanessa, with her sharp eyes, squinted further to notice blood trailing out of her child's nose again.

Joyce and David froze up once they saw this too, recognizing it as an omen.

*****

"Max? Max, come on. Stay with me, okay?"

Chloe and Rachel now had Max spread-eagled on a glass surface, the former patting her face gently to keep her conscious.

"We're gonna help you." She made sure to soften her voice with her.

In truth, however, her momentary relief from finding her was getting washed off by a leakage of trepidation. She could neither stomach the sight of her withered tainted body, nor could she take her gaze off; her ribcage was easily traceable, her bellybutton resting on her spine, and cuts, scratches, and bruises all over her cold skin.

What happened to you? What did you have to go through?

"I want it... to end."

Max ignored Chloe's reaction to the words she just grunted out as she peered above her to see a peculiar sight that neither the others truly noticed before; a circular plane far beyond and coated in snow, sparsely adorned with miniscule houses, most notably the tower she was just taken from.