Hatchetfield.

Okay? Okay.

"I thought you guys were a bunch of nerds," Max said with a small laugh, then continued. "But you guys know how to throw one hell of a par-" Suddenly, a board snapped after Max shifted his weight on the window seal. That was the straw that broke the camel's back for the Waylons.

Max jumped immediately after he felt the break. The house echoed with a sickening and supernatural groan. Everyone seemed to freeze in place, as if any twitch of muscle could kill them with a creek of wood. Except for Max Jägerman. There were very few perks to living with James Jägerman, one of those few was developing very fast reflexes. "GO! GO! GO! GO! GO! GO!" he yelled while sprinting to the front door. Thankfully, everyone got the message but, the group was nowhere near as fast as Max. The stained-glass that was behind Max shattered into millions of pieces. The rest of the third floor began to cave in after several heavy foot falls.

The house didn't quite cave in or crumble like old fragile wood. The cracks of the floor boards followed them as they tried to make their escape. The Old Waylon's Place cried in hunger. Grace seemed to be keeping pace with Max, while Richie tried and failed to keep up with Pete in front of him. Richie and Pete were by no means athletes, but Richie fared worse due to his asthma. Running down those two flights of stairs felt like ages. There is only so much dust he could inhale before falling onto Pete with a cry for help. "SHIT, we need help over here!" Pete panicked, shouting to Steph. Richie could hear himself wheezing, feeling like all the oxygen had just left his body. Of course, his inhaler was in his backpack on the third floor! Steph doubled back to Pete as Max and Grace went ahead. "Fuck, he is having an asthma attack," "NO SHIT SHERLOCK! Now help me carry him!" Pete And Steph managed to get under Richie's arms and rush out while Ruth repeatedly asked and screamed "WHERE IS YOUR INHALER?!" He barely had enough energy to keep himself conscious, let alone speak. The last thing he heard was a loud crashing of wood and Max yelling in anger, "THE HELL CHASTITY-"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was 3 hours ago, and he could hear his uncle snoring with the overlapping sound of a heart monitor beeping. He knew where he was before he opened his eyes, every hospital and/or ER smelled the same. He reached to take off his oxygen mask, and sat up with a groan. He grabbed his phone, which was still on him, thankfully. "Hey, heeey," Richie shook Paul awake. Paul blinked a couple of times and yawned, "Heeey Richie, are you ready to get out of here? Cause I am," and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. Richie nodded with a small smile and looked at the time as Paul left the room.

1:12am, and 7 text messages, what the fuck? OH, WAIT YEAH

The realization and memories came rushing back to him, or at least the parts he was semi-conscious for. Paul walked back in the room and said, "Hey, they said we are good to go, but we are gonna talk on the way back, okay?" "Okay."

The drive was awkward, neither of them were good at stern conversions. In both Richie's and Paul's defense, this has never happened before, not even close. "Why were you at the Waylon's Place?" Paul questioned. "We wanted to play a prank on Max Jägerman, so he would stop bullying us," Richie mumbled. "Okay," The tone in Paul's voice had no anger, no animosity not even frustration, Richie assumed Paul would at least say something about how that was a dumb idea. "I'm assuming this was Grace Chastity's idea, then?" How did he know? After a moment of silence, Richie nodded solemnly, "Okay, just don't do it again." "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay."

Paul had a teasing grin on his face, "So, Max Jägerman seems to be nicer? Does that mean you two are friends or...?" "I don't know," the rest of the drive was silent.

—-

Richie sat down on his bed and finally opened his phone. Him, Ruth, and Pete had a small group chat where they would do homework and plan for the occasional Dungeons and Dragons session.

Peter 12:56am
Can i invite Steph to the chat?

Ruth
OHMYGOD YES

Peter
Richie are u still unconscious?

Ruth
I think he died of embarrassment

Peter
rich if you don't start talking i'm going to assume your dead

Ruth
*you're

Peter
shut up ruth

1:29am
I live

No one was going to respond at this hour, but he figured he could just leave the message there. The group chat was renamed to 'WAYLONS HOUSE SURVIVORS' that name was definitely Ruth's idea. Scrolling through his text messages, he noticed he had a message from an unknown number.

(734) 764-1817
1:31am
hey dweeb its max
you know max jagerman

There was no way in hell this was real. The night was pretty unbelievable already, but Max Jägerman having his phone number was by far the most unbelievable.

1:32am
i just wanna say im sorry for a lot of shit
im gonna apolojize in person but i just wanted to say that just in case
so yeah
how r ur lungs
u gud

The moment Max thought that the 'nerds' had done something for him, his body language and whole demeanor had changed. He almost seemed wholesome and sweet. Who was Richie kidding? Max Jägerman was BEING sweet, or his version of sweet. It doesn't take a certified psychologist to assume Max's home life wasn't great based on how he treated others. There were always rumors about why and how Max got bruises all over his body, but since he was Max Jägerman, all rumors were squashed by him personally.

1:33am
why are you still up? Also, my lungs are doing ok now was anyone else hurt?

1:33am
HELL YEAH
every one is ok i think but i might have rolled my ankle

Max needs an English tutor.

1:34am
well then I am going to sleep, good night

1:34am
night richie :)

(I think that is the first time he has called me by my name ever, WAIT A SECOND WHAT DOES A SMILEY FACE MEAN IN THIS SITUATION-)

Richie adds Max as a contact on his phone under 'MJ' Richie will always choose anime as his favorite art medium, but he will always have a special place for comics and superheroes.

"Hey kiddo, I know it is not a school night but," Paul let out a small sigh, "Tonight, I need you to get some rest."

"Can do." Richie was never good at hiding his facial expressions or lying. He could feel Paul looking at the blush on Richie's cheeks.

"Okay, remember to take your meds."

"Okay."

"Love you, kiddo." A look of concern crossed his face.

"Love you too, Uncle Paul."