Demon Years

Days gone by

Max learned a new lesson in misery as she lay in bed, alone, in the hospital for days on end, bored out of her mind. Diana stayed with her as much as she could,but she couldn't be here constantly. Lucas would stop in and visit at night and some of the dancers from her mom's club in the daytime. Still, she spent most of the time by herself. Scariest part?

School was starting to look good. She shivered in revulsion of that awful thought. "Hi . um, Max, wasn't it?"

She opened her eyes to find Faith of all people standing in the doorway. With her hair pulled back into a thick ponytail and dressed in a volunteer's uniform, she came deeper into the room.

Heat stung her cheeks as she looked at her ragged state of ick. Max cleared her throat. "Yeah, it's me, but I like to think I looked better when we met. 'Cause right now, I'm pretty much hogging all the ugly."

She laughed. "No offense, but yeah, you did look a bit better. But I have to say you really rock the crazy lip gear you have going right now. Not an easy thing to do to make that look good." She winked at her.

She could only imagine how foul she appeared. Her head was slightly bruised, her eye was bruised and swollen. One shoulder was in a sling to keep it still and the other arm attached to monitors and an IV. She had a faded-out hospital gown that was freckled with the oh-so-manly-looking flower things all over it. Gah, at this point, she'd rather be back in her shitty hoodie.

All she needed to look like a bigger idiot was to drool on herself. Which she might do if she kept talking to her

She stopped next to her bed and glanced over all the monitors that beeped and hummed. "So what happened to you?"

"I got shot."

Her brows arched high. "In the lip? Is that why it's covered?

"No. I got hit there with a board, a fist, a foot, and probably a few other things. There's a bunch of stitches above my eye. Doc says the bandage for that can come off tomorrow. I'm sure I'll look even better then." Her voice was thick with sarcasm. "I was clipped in the shoulder."

"Oh," she said, calming down as she scowled at his sling. "Did it hurt?"

She wanted to say no, duh, but her common sense caught her tongue before she insulted her. Even though it still hurt, she straightened up into his tough posture. "Nah. I took it like a man."

She shook her head at her and didn't comment on her bravado. "So why did you get shot? One of your witticisms go awry?"

Max wasn't sure how to answer that. She didn't want to take credit for saving people, she hated being the center of attention. So she settled on a lesser truth. "Wrong place. Real wrong time."

"Did you see who shot you?"

"No," she had no clue. She even told the police even though they'd bugged her several times.

"Like they say in the movies and shows, it all happened so fast... "

She fretted over her. "Well, I'm sorry you got shot. It explains why I haven't seen you in school."

Her ears perked up at that. She'd been looking for her? Man, for that news, Id take a bullet any day. It was all she could do not to give her a goofy grin.

She leaned closer. "But I'm happy you lived and that you're okay."

"Yeah, me too. It would have really cramped my future plans had I died. . " She flashed what she hoped was a charming smile at her then changed the topic. "So you work here?"

"Volunteer. Twice a week," she corrected. "I'm told things like this look good on a college application."

Wow, she was worried about that already? It made her feel like a slacker. "We're only in tenth grade."