MARLEY // Max Mayfield

Act 4 Epilogue A - 1/2 Good Ending

For a moment, when Marley awoke, she wasn't quite sure where she was, disoriented and aching; she fumbled around for anything, but found only the soft sheets of the bed she lay in. Her head throbbed, and she felt a distinct emptiness in her right eye socket, her vision halved. She was in a hospital. The steady beep of the heart monitor the only sound, and for the first time in years, Marley's head was silent, no ticking, no static, nothing. Bliss. Peace. But the fear was quick to creep in, visions of the attic, the Creel House, Max lying motionless in her arms played over and over in her head.

She struggled, her head persistently pounding as she looked down and tugged the wires out of her arm, it was scarred, like rot healed over, her fingers slow to close, creaky, like a rusted gear as she clenched her fist. Blood dripped from the needle marks, a healthy red colour, no longer sludge, no longer dark and the wound did not heal. She didn't let her gaze linger; there was no time, the machines beeped, an alarm sounded from it, but Marley didn't care -- she stood and tugged the nasal cannula off, her bare feet sensitive against the cool linoleum floor. And then came a sound, startled rustling from where she couldn't see in her peripheral, she froze and had to listen, waiting as the footsteps halted on her right. She would have had to turn to see who it was if it weren't for the smell of Farrah Fawcett spray clinging to the air. 

"Steve?" She turned then, looking up at her big brother, his eyes watering and wide as he smiled and let out a shaky laugh, "Steve --"

"Thank God," He blurted and pulled her into his arms, the girl folding slightly to tuck her head under his chin. She closed her eye, fingers digging into the fabric of his jacket that she was pretty sure was hers, but hadn't had a good chance to look at before she had been pulled against his chest. "He's gone...we won, Mars."

"He is?" Marley asked, though she knew the answer, in the back of her mind, she knew, for in the back of her mind, she was finally alone. She just wanted to hear it. Wanted to hear someone else say it. "Christ...he is."

"We killed him...God, and when we came back and Lucas told me you were in this goddamn hospital, I was so worried, Mars, you don't even know, I thought you'd be safer out here!" He said through gritted teeth, clinging to her as if she were his lifeline. "Trouble always follows your ass..."

"I know," Marley replied shakily and pulled away, "where's Max, Steve. Is she ok? Is she --"

"She was hurt, Mars, but --" But nothing, Marley stepped back, knees shaking beneath the weight of herself as she clung to the edge of her hospital bed, using it as leverage to help her walk, her teeth gritted. Steve tried to stop her, calling out to her, trying to get her to lie back down, but she ignored him, following, instead, the crowds of people visiting hospital rooms, her eyes scanning each plaque on each door, looking for names.

It wasn't hard to catch up with her; Steve was hot on her tail, following the limping girl as she pushed the doctors and nurses. He apologised as he went past, picking up dropped paperwork and smiling awkwardly at those his sister had very nearly knocked over until finally, Marley found her. Found Max's room. She pushed through the door, peeking through a gap in the curtained-off bed, her heart pounding in her throat.

She didn't wait, didn't make herself known; there was someone on the other side that she knew and loved, and that was enough. She grabbed the curtain and pulled it back, chest heaving and her eyes wide. There was Max, unconscious, hooked up to a monitor that showed her steady heartbeat, her chest rose and fell, she looked asleep, almost in a dream. Footsteps slowed behind her, and she turned to look up at Steve, who stared at her softly.

"Steve --" Her voice cracked.

"She's just sleeping," Steve said gently, "the Doctors put her into a medically induced coma...her heart stopped in the Creel house, Mars...but -- but they said once she's healed, once she's ok, they can wake her up."