Speak Soft // p.w.

>Better<> Chapter 22 <

Max's POV

"Hey." Patty smiles as I walk into his room. He's sitting on the bed so I place my water on the night stand in his room and lay down on the bed next to him. The overhead light is of but the lamp slightly illuminates the room.

"Hi, whatcha doing?" I ask.

"Just informing the media that I am in fact not dead." He laughs. I look over at the screen on his computer and he is on Twitter.

"Nice." I laugh. "Hey, does anyone have anything coming up soon?" I question Patty since Christmas is coming up soon and people may be leaving.

"Umm, I know Luke is going to be with his parents but he won't leave until the 23rd so in exactly ten days but I think everyone else is staying." He explains.

I say okay and pull out my phone to check the time. It's already past 1:30am and I am exhausted. "Are you tired?" I ask Patty as I put my phone on the night stand and take a sip of my water.

"Yeah, are you?"

"Mhmm, I'm super sleepy. I'm gonna try to go to sleep." I say as I turn over onto my side and close my eyes. I see the lamp light turn off through my eyelids.

"Goodnight Max." I hear Patty breathe from over my shoulder. I hear the thud of him placing his laptop on the ground and feel the mattress sink behind me as he lays down and wraps an arm around my waist.

"Goodnight."

Five hours later

I sit up in the bed and rub my eyes. I woke up about half an hour ago and cannot for the life of me fall back asleep. I keep on thinking about what had happened at the police station. The thoughts of what happened repeat in my head over and over again until I'm covered in them, like what happened with the memories of him. Before I quite have time to process any more thoughts I start crying. I had stopped myself from before and I guess it had bottled up inside of me because I start bawling. Its not a quiet cry either, it's loud.

I stand up to walk into the bathroom and get some tissue to wipe away the tears. I go back and sit down in the bed but quickly start crying again. Patty shifts on the bed. Please don't wake up, please don't wake up. I only cry more.

"Max?" Patty asks as he sits up on the bed and turns on the lamp. I don't respond. I keep my face buried in my hands. "Max, Max, what's wrong?" Still no response.

"Max, why are you crying?" He continues. He places one hand behind my back and one behind my knees and scoops me into his lap. "Shh, shh..." Patty whispers as I place my head on his shoulder and continue crying.

"T-the cop di-idn't keep me i-in there for longer because I h-had a misdemeanor. I l-lied. I'm s-orry." I say with a broken voice through tears.

"It's okay, don't be sorry." Patty breathes as he gently rocks me back and forth. "Here, calm down and then we can talk."

It takes about five minutes but I eventually stop crying and I hold onto Patty's hand as tight as I humanly can. "Do you want to talk now?" He asks and I nod. I lift up my head and open my eyes.

"When I was in the room with him he kept repeating himself saying that I was a 'pretty girl' and that he could keep me in there with him for as long as he wanted." I feel Patty's hand grasp onto mine tighter. "He asked if I would like that and I said no, he started yelling and banging his fist on the table and I got scared and started crying. He kept repeating 'such a shame, a pretty girl into trouble.' He would walk behind me and run his hands across my back." I explain fully, causing me to start crying again.

"Max, look, I'm here. I'm here now and nothing bad is going to happen." Patty says as he squeezes tightly onto my hand. I don't stop crying for another five minutes. With my hand that wasn't in Patty's, I had been digging my nails into the bottom of my palm and it had started bleeding.