Perfect with You

Chapter 34 - The Bolt Slides Away

Her heart escaped to her head, replaced her brain and made a heavy thumb that created a burst of colors in her vision as she saw a face. One more beat and sounds reemerged. The blur sharpened as she saw her hands on the dirt underneath her. She looked up slowly to see the trees with their leaves blowing in the wind.

"Are you... are you okay?" The nervous voice came from her left, but the words were difficult to pick up.

She bent her fingers and opened her mouth in silence. Her mind empty, her nerves not responding, making her feel as if she was floating. Her entire body insensate, her eyes flickering from right to left, left to right. She knew where she was, she remembered seeing her mother as clearly as she remembered the fight with Chloe and both seemed equally real.

"I brought your shirt"

As those meaningless words were used in the short sentence with an ambivalent voice, everything became dark. Visually, everything seemed clear. The sun had just peeked in over the horizon, the leaves playfully flew in the wind, but it was not the surroundings darkening, it was her inclination. Every corner so pointless, every light so dull. The next hour blurred into a single moment. Chloe giving Max her shirt, asking her various questions, ranging from the blood to her parents. Chloe grabbing her arm and leading her to the hotel, but asking her to stay outside in front of the entrance. Chloe talking to the receptionist and handing him some dollar bills. Chloe gesturing for Max to get inside the car, as she does if only to sit down. Chloe starting the car and beginning to drive. Chloe keeping down a yawn, even though the heavy bags under her eyes reveals the amount of sleep deprived she had become. Chloe speaking in the most careful voice she was able to. "Do you want some food?"

Max blinked for what felt like the first time in hours. As if she had just ripped herself free from a long state of hypnagogia, not awake, not asleep. Stuck in the transition. She found herself leaning against the window of the car, having watched but not observed the passing houses and buildings. Every thought had become forgotten and she felt like nothing more than a mindless creature in a meaningless world. Chloe's questions bounced a little around in her head and she knew she hadn't eaten in a long time, but her body felt no hunger.

"There's a Meijer just around the corner. Want me to get you some snacks? I can buy a frozen pizza as well that we can heat when we get home?" In the absence of a response, Chloe spoke once more but felt as if she was just empty space. Unsure if it was because Max was mad at her, or because she was depressed, Chloe decided to not push her friend and accepted the lack of an answer.
"Well, I'm pretty hungry, so I'll just run in there, guns blazing, and be right back with some munchies and maybe the cashiers wallet as well" She looked over at Max with a smile, but her gaze was far away and she hadn't moved ever since they'd gotten in the car.
"Right" her short-lasting smile retracted with a sigh as she turned to the left and drove into the parking space of the small Meijer. Feeling unworthy of opening her mouth, Chloe simply turned off the car, the keys jittering in her hand when she pulled them from the ignition and opened the door. A breeze could be heard entering but failed to be felt. Just as the blue-haired girl stepped out of the car, Max's heart made a particular demanding beat as she felt a shiver shooting up her spine. The door closed with a quiet bang and in the very first second of being alone, fear struck the silent girl. Even though she felt her body urging her to follow her friend, she didn't move. She couldn't move. Even the slightest change, the tiniest adjustment of the atmosphere made her thoughts circle around one feeling and immediately she tried to distract herself with trivial thoughts, but to no avail. She now knew what fear really felt like and every chance the world got, it would remind her of that very feeling, slap her in the face over and over with the sole purpose of driving panic into her feeble center.