Hide and Go Seek

20. Jacob

About a hundred different questions run through my head at once, but I push them all aside focusing on what is most important; Max is here. In my house. Alan is gone, And Grim has our exact location. Shoot.

"Max, I'm sorry, but I need you to calm down." I say rushing over to her. I grab her by the arm and haul her up as she wipes her eyes and tries to suppress her sobs. "We need to leave– now." She nods. With that. I grab one of my extra machetes, thrust it into her hands, and drag her out the door.

— — — — —

I sit in stunned silence. Max and I are on a train heading south towards Mexico and she just finished telling me what happened. Max is sitting across from me, more tears welling in her eyes, but she doesn't let them fall.

"Max, I–" I don't know what to say. Instead I just reach over and pull her into a hug. "I am so sorry." I pat her back as she sniffles. After a while we break apart and sit in silence. Then a thought occurs to me. Just to be sure I pull out my phone, checking the group chat. There have been no new messages. We never received a text or photo from Grim telling us of Alan's death.

"Max..." I whisper, "You never checked the texts did you?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"I didn't want to see what she did to him. Is it... is it bad?" she replies hesitantly. I look up at her, shaking my head.

"There is no text Max." She freezes.

"...What?" I repeat my statement, letting it sink in for her. Her eyes grow wide.

"He's not dead?" she asks, shocked.

"I don't know, but this happened over twenty four hours ago, right? You said you were all the way in Australia?" Well, I haven't received a text from anyone since I sent my location two weeks ago."

Max whips out her phone powering it on. After checking for herself, she falls back against her seat in shock, dragging a hand down her face.

"He's not dead." She says. "Grim never waited longer than a day to text us about a death. The autopsy reports about the time of death compared to when she texted us proves that. Alan's still alive." I can see the hope and joy in her eyes before they widen in guilt. "Oh, gosh. And I just left him there in Australia with her!" She lets her face fall into her hands.

"Max," I say, "Text him. See if he's still there. If not, we can go to him!" I urge. She nods and starts tapping away at her smashed phone screen, moving to sit next to me as she does so I can read over her shoulder.

Alan? Are you okay? Where are you?-Max

We wait, staring at her screen.

One minute passes, then two. Two becomes five and five becomes ten. Max's shoulders droop.

"Maybe, maybe he lost his phone?" She tries to convince herself. Twenty minutes. Then the 'texting' bubble appears. Max's spine goes rigid as she sits up, waiting for the text to go through.

"He's texting Jacob!!" she calls out in joy, grabbing my arm. I smile back at her, relief flooding through me. He's all right. We're going to find him.

Max! I'm fine! Where did you go? Are you back in the states? I was able to get away from Grim and fly out! I assume you came back to America right? Please tell me I am!-Alan

"See he's back in the states too!" I say getting excited, "We can find him and we can work together to... What's wrong?" Max is slowly shaking her head.

"This isn't Alan." She says.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Alan didn't text me."

"Why do you think so?" I am confused.

"I know so. Texting Alan is like texting a grandpa." She says her face falling. "He never uses exclamation marks or emojis. He is the driest texter I know. This isn't Alan. Also, when we talk about The Entity possessing Grim, We call it 'Thing' or 'It' because it isn't Grim doing all these things. He would never say that he 'Got away from Grim'. He's gone, Jacob. Thing is just using this as bait."

"Oh..." I say, my hopes dashed. Now I feel awful. I gave Max hope only to tear it away once more. "So then I guess just don't reply?" I am such an idiot. I am still mentally kicking myself when Max turns to me, a spark of anger in her eyes.

"Actually, no. I am going to respond." she says, determination strengthening her. "I have– I have a plan." She tells me.