Max Hella Caulfield

The Hospital

Max's POV

I quickly pulled up to the ER, where I yelled for help and helped Chloe out of the car. A group of nurses ran out with a stretcher and placed Chloe on it. They rushed her into the doors, leaving me alone in the piercing white hallway. A few moments later, I hear someone rush through the doors. It was Joyce. Her eyes were red, she was still in her waitress outfit. She looked around until we met eyes.

She ran up and hugged me. "Oh Max, sweetie, are you okay?!"

I couldn't help but squeeze her tight. I can't imagine how much stress she's in. "I'm fine Joyce. Chloe's fine as well, I hope. They just brought her in. She---she was still conscious when we got here and... well... I guess just being Chloe." Hell, I was almost gonna punch her in the car on the way here. When will she stop getting in trouble... "I know she'll be fine Joyce. She's strong."

Joyce flashed a small smile. "Oh I am so glad to hear that. She's my baby Max. And you are too. I'm just so glad you're okay."

I look behind Joyce to see if David was behind her. No sign of him. Really David.

Joyce looks behind her to see what I was looking at, but then she realized... "David saw the car you guys came in. The boy's car. He saw the body in the back..." Oh shit I forgot Warren was in the back seat. Oh well. Good job, David. "...and he was waking up so David told me to go inside and he would handle it. I trust he'll do what's right."

"Yeah. I'm still pretty startled at the whole thing. I never thought Warren would do something like that or even think about it." 

"Yes I know. I've seen that boy come in the diner several times and he looks so harmless and so sweet... but he.... oh my..." Joyce broke down crying again, thinking about Chloe. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and comfort her the best I can.

David finally came into the hospital after an hour or so. He looked exhausted. "Are you okay Max? Is Chloe okay? Where is she? What's going on?"

I put my hand on David's shoulder to calm him down. "It's okay David. I mean it's not but... I don't... Warren shot Chloe, David. The bullet went clean through. She seemed to be holding up a while ago but.... but we have yet to hear from the doctor on how she's is doing. I know... it's killing me and Joyce as well."

David slowly took a seat in the waiting room next to Joyce.  He didn't ask anything about what happened at the junkyard or the reason why whatever happened at the junkyard did... therefore, I didn't ask him about Warren...yet. I knew he was shaken up by what happened to Chloe and he completely zoned out. He put his arm around Joyce and cradled her under his arm. They both look physically and emotionally exhausted. It kills me to see them like this.

Max. What are you doing. You could go back and pretend like this never even happened. You can go back and warn Chloe! You can prevent this from happening! Fuck why didn't I think of this before. Right. I was too panicked to even think straight... but now I've collected my thoughts and I could focus now. I could prevent Chloe from having to go through whatever is going on in that operation room right now. I could prevent so much that she has to go through. But no. Maybe this was supposed to happen. I can't fuck with time like this. Who knows. If I change what happened, something worse might happen in the future. But I can't see Joyce or David or Chloe like this. I just can't. 

I open my bag to reach for my diary, until I came across the photo that Chloe took of me earlier today. I look at it and I see the picture distort a bit. Joyce sees me staring and asks, "What's that, honey?" I know Joyce didn't really care, she just needed something to get her mind off of things.

"It's a picture Chloe took of me earlier today. I just remembered I had it when I saw it in my bag." I handed the photo to Joyce to look at. 

"Your hair looks mighty fine here. You've grown into such a beautiful young lady Max." Joyce looked up and smiled at me and gave the photo back. I could go back to where Chloe took this photo and stop us from going to the junkyard. Perfect.... I hope. I get up from my seat and tell David and Joyce that I was going to use the restroom. They just nodded and went back to their conversation. I walk into the bathroom and go into the last stall and lock the door. I hold out the picture in front of me and start to focus on it. Oh please let this work. Everything around me went bright and I was no longer in the bathroom of the hospital anymore. 

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I was sitting right in front of Chloe, on her couch, in her house. Chloe was okay, Warren was gone, everything seemed okay, until my nose started bleeding.

Chloe handed that picture to me, when she noticed my bloody nose. "Max I.... Max...." I wiped the blood away from my nose, hopefully before Chloe noticed it. "Max you're bleeding," Shit she noticed. Chloe knew what was going on. "Max. What happened."

Damn I really thought this would go another way... "Chloe. After you took this picture, you suggested going to the junkyard, hoping it would cheer us up. And we went. We drank and had a good time, but then... then..." I started to break in tears. The sight of Chloe getting shot replayed over and over in my head. I couldn't get it out.

Chloe put her arm around me and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. "Max. It's okay. I'm here. Just tell me what happened."

Chloe's here... she's alive. Gosh I need to get it together... okay.... "then Warren came Chloe and he... he was... he was crazy. You kept me in the car and you...you got shot. I saw you die Chloe. I couldn't bear to see you or Joyce or David in any pain what so ever. I just couldn't." I burst into tears and Chloe hugged me tightly in her arms. She brushed her hands through my hair to comfort me. I squeezed her tightly. 

I let go and look at her with red, puffy eyes. "Can we not go to the junkyard today?"

Chloe lightly laughed, "Of course SuperMax. We'll just stay in today and have a movie marathon or something." I smile at her, nodded, and leaned my head on her shoulder. I'm just so glad she's okay.

Chloe lifted up my chin and kissed me. She looked into my eyes, with her forehead against mine, "I'm never leaving you Max."