Saving Kate

48. She Called

MAX'S POV

I shove him away.

"What the hell man?" I say loudly.

"She told me that she didn't want you to worry in advance, that you didn't need to call her back because she'd call again," Sam says, "Why are you so mad, she called you back!"

"She would say that! She suffers from depression so she wouldn't tell anyone anything!" I shout, "And it doesn't matter if she called back because that's not the point!"

"Max I-"

"She told me she's in the hospital and not to worry! What do you fucking expect? I'm mad because you listened to her," I say, turning away from him.

"I'm sorry, man, I should have known," Sam says.

"I have to call my mom," I say.

"I'll go," he says.

"It's fine," I say. Anyways, were not going to be speaking English so what does it matter?

I pull my phone out of my pocket and look at Kate on my lock screen. How did I not know this was going to happen?

I dial home and wait for someone to pick up, and finally, Marley's small voice is on the other end.

"Is Mom there?" I ask in German.

"Yeah, but Max, she doesn't know much yet," Marley says in English. Marley doesn't like speaking in German because it's Mom's first language, not ours. She's American, not German, even if we have dual citizenship.

"Can I just talk to her Mar?"

"Yeah, one second," she replies.

I lay down on the bed and listen to Marley run through the house looking for Mom.

"It's Max," Marley says as I hear the exchange of the phone.

"Max, honey," Mom says.

"Mom, I talked to her. She said to not worry but I know it's bad. I can just tell," I say in German.

"I can try to get you a flight to New York or Boston but it might not be until tomorrow," Mom replies in German, "But it might not be necessary. I know you love her, but this might not be as bad as it sounds."

"She's never called me like that. She said she's going to be fine and I believe her because no one knows what she feels but her except I can't always tell when she's trying not to make me nervous. I know she's not telling me everything."

"I will call her father and find out what's happening," Mom says.

"Thank you, Mom. I love you," I say.

"I love you too Max, I will call you back."

"Ok, bye."

"Bye Max. It'll be alright."

I nod, even though she can't see me. Putting the phone down on my night stand, I roll over on my face and shut my eyes. I just need to sleep a little bit. It's late and if I'm awake, all I'll want to do is drive up to Boston.

•

I wake up to Sam hitting me with a pillow. I jolt up and he's sitting up on his bed staring at me, "Dude, you're phone."