That Little Letter

Chapter Seventy

Max stared at his phone with a pleading look in his eye, almost as if he were wishing for another day of life as he stared at a flickering star. His father wasn't home yet, which worried Max, but at the same time, he was relieved. Maybe he could get things done quicker or more efficiently if his old man wasn't around. Though Max was still healing from his wounds, he could still move around and walk, so he stood up from his bed and turned off his phone so that he didn't have to be reminded of Dove's words. They had stung him in the deepest parts of his heart, which didn't help him as he swung his legs over the side of his bed. His heart ached and for a moment, he had troubles breathing. It wasn't as bad as the feelings he felt in his legs, though, so he could survive.

With a little bit of effort and frustration, Max managed to stand from his bed and make his way out of his room. The house smelt like old pine wood and bacon, which was hardly eaten in the house. Max rubbed his cold hands together as he continued his journey toward the one place he had yet to search: the attic.

The door was down the hall from his bedroom, which would make it an easy trip for him considering his body wasn't capable of working as well as it did before the injuries. He still wanted to know what happened to him that caused all of them. Maybe the attic had some of those answers that he desperately wanted and needed.

Max stared at the stairs for a long while once he made it to the old floorboards right by the first step. He hadn't remembered ever being this close to the attic door, besides when he was young and playing hide and seek with his father. It was back in the day before little Max grew up, causing him to be more of a handful for his father.

After moments of stalling by thinking of childhood memories, Max took a deep breath and prepared himself. Then, he took a big chance and took a step onto the stair case, causing his nerves to spike from the creak that escaped from the old wood. He took a breath out and prepared himself to do more than just standing around on the first step.

Max struggled to walk up the creaky stairs to get to the old abandoned attic that he had hardly been in. The smell that somehow snuck through the floor boards was irony, causing him to sneeze right before he pushed open the door to reveal the things he had been looking for: memories. His eyes grew wide as he looked around the room with a 180 glance. He started at one wall, and slowly moved to the other, which had a dark stain in the corner that was fairly large. Max gulped and hesitantly stepped into the room, as if it would help his memory. The only thing that came back was voices and yells, words and phrases.

'Come catch me, daddy!' He heard deep within his mind.

'I will, son!' He heard a slightly different voice shout back. Max shook his head after he placed his hands against his temples. It was only a memory. There was nothing more to it.

'Don't go to the attic!' His father had warned him once the attic door creaked open. 'You know you aren't allowed!' But that was too late for little Max.

Max shook his head roughly again, dismissing all of the memories before he carefully knelt down next to the weird stain on the wood. He gulped as he ran his fingers down the boards. It smelt strongly of bleach and other chemicals, which grew suspicion in him. But before he could act on his suspicion, he heard the front door creak open.

"I'm home, Max!" His father's voice rang out.

Uh oh.

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Cliff hanger!!

And the best part about that is that you gotta wait until the next chapter that is in Max's POV. Next chapter focuses on Dove, so enjoy the wait!!

I hope you enjoyed!

God bless you all!

-S