The Calm Before The Storm

The Call

~Chloe~

I'm shaking. I've been shaking for the past five minutes, trying to prosses the fact that David is still alive.

Does that mean mom is alive too? I think, desperately trying not to get my hopes up.

After Ryan told us David has been calling around looking for us for nearly a year, Max quickly shoved him out the door before he saw me break down a small bit, all the emotion and feelings I tried to suppress floating to the surface.

"Okay, okay, calm down," Max mutters to herself, pacing the floor as I sit numbly on the couch, rocking myself back and forth.

She has his number in her hand, hesitant to give it to me which I'm glad for. I'm honestly not sure if I'd rip it up or call right away.

My feelings towards David are still mixed. He did save the love of my life, but he also made my life a living hell for 5 years.

"W- what do we do?" I finally ask, Max's pacing making me even more anxious.

She pauses and looks at me, her eyes wide with fear and uncertainty.

"I don't know," she says, "I really don't know".

"You're supposed to know everything," I tell her, sorta depending on her to get me out of this.

"I-..." Max pauses and walks over to me, kneeling down and taking my shaking hands in hers. "Listen to me," she says, "I don't know what to do. This isn't something I can decide for you, Chloe. Either you can call him, reunite with your family... or we can continue living like this".

She gestures to the apartment, the life we've built around the tragedy that brought us here.

I swallow hard and look at her again, then at the phone I left sitting on the couch beside me.

I don't even know if he'll recognize my number since Max and I decided to ditch out old phones and trade them in for new ones just as a precaution.

"I'll do it".

Max sighs and kisses my nose, lingering there for a few seconds. "Okay...".

I wrap my arms around her and give her a gentle squeeze, feeling as she holds me back.

"It's going to be okay," she reassures, "It's going to be okay. Just put the phone on speaker and we'll talk to him together"

I nod and take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down a bit.

"It's going to be okay," I repeat, punching in the number Ryan gave us, this one being different from David's old number. "It's going to be okay".

Finally, I get the number saved in my phone and dial, immediately regretting it...

No, no... I can't do this. I can't. What if Mom is dead, I can't live knowing she died instead of me.

I knew that was selfish thinking, Max had done everything she could to keep me safe and out of trouble just like mom asked, but still...

She didn't deserve this... no one did.

Not even us.

Max scenes my inner turmoil and hugs me again, rocking me slowly in her arms.

"I'm right here," she whispers, her soft warm breath tickling my skin.

I shiver slightly, closing my eyes once the phone stops ringing.

["Hello?"] A rough scratchy voice says, heavy with sleep.

Max and I stay silent, both startled that he actually answered even though we were expecting it.