Strawberry Cigarettes | Max Mayfield

24. let off some steam

A dim light fought itself through Chris' eyes.

'what the fuck happened?'

The girl slowly started creaking open her eyes, as the rest of her sense started to restore as well. She heard very faint talking and the thunder that still roared outside. Two people. 

'where am I?'

Just as she almost had her eyes completely open, a harsh light appeared making her squint them back shut. A groan escaped her throat. "Chris, you're awake!" the girl could make out. The voice was so familiar. So soft. "Max?" Chris mumbled, opening her eyes again. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she looked around a bit. She was in Max's room. On Max's bed. 

The girl felt a hand resting on her stomach, and turned to look at the owner. She was met with two blue eyes. "Yes, yes it's me. What happened? Are you okay?" the redhead sitting next to the girl asked.

Max couldn't describe what she felt the moment she saw Chris' limp body laying in the middle of the road, not waking up as the two other girls shook her and called out her name. Not even at gun point. The only thing the redhead for sure knew is that she didn't want to experience it ever again. 

Chris smiled at the blurred out redhead in front of her. "I'm okay." she croaked out, her voice sore. The brunette moved to try and sit up, her still weak body not holding her weight as she fell back onto the bed. Max noticed and helped her. The redhead gently pulled her up into a sitting position. 

Suddenly a headache washed over the brunette like a wave, making her wince slightly. She hoped Max didn't notice. She did. The two sat in silence for a bit as Chris adjusted to sitting. 

A huff escaped Max's lips. "God, you fucking scared me." The redhead leaned over and wrapped her arms around the taller girl. Chris hugged her back and just as she wanted to let her go, she noticed that the girl didn't move. When she did let go, Chris thought something changed about her face. It was.. a different shade? But really without her glasses she couldn't see for shit.

So instead she just gave the redhead a smile and leaned over to grab her glasses. "Hello, visible world." she joked as she put them on. Max smiled. That's when Chris noticed that they were alone in the room. She heard two people. Oh yeah, El. 

"Where's El?" the brunette asked confused. "She's in the bathroom." Max replied, pointing towards the closed door.

'oh that must have been the light'

"What happened?" Max asked again, having not gotten an answer the first time. Chris let out a sigh. "I don't think those were normal cookies." she replied. However she didn't think, she knew. She could taste the chalky residue that pills would leave in the gooey cookie, the tiny bits that didn't get crushed properly. So why didn't she say so?

'that's something for tomorrow.'

Max's eyes scrunched together. She still refused to even consider the fact that her brother might be up to something, denying any evidence that came up. "You sure? I mean, maybe the void from earlier just caught up to you? You know, like the power burnouts?" she tried to reason once more.

"A power burnout would have knocked me out instantly." Chris replied. She understood why Max was trying to deny it. If it would have been Steve she would have done the same. Just as Chris almost slipped further into her thoughts, the door to the bathroom opened. Out came the brunette that Chris mentioned not even a minute ago.

Her eyes widened as she saw her sister up and awake. "You're awake." she said with a smile and walked over to her, wrapping her in a hug as well. "Yeah, I woke up from my peaceful slumber.". El giggled and sat down on the bed. Chris moved a bit so that she would have more room.