Burn Bright ×Maxian×

7

[Song: Imaginary Monster by Our Last Night]

Total darkness wasn't ever much of a comfort to me. I was one of those kids who was afraid of the dark and that fear never died out even when I was too old for it.

The room was pitch black so my first reaction was to find a light. I reached out blindly until I felt the wall and flipped the switch on.

Bright light burst consumed the room, making me have to shield my eyes before even attempting to adjust.

The first thing I noticed was a blue wall, this was odd because our whole house was painted an off-white color. The next thing that caught my eye was the light brown dresser that was right next to me, I didn't have a dresser, just a closet.

I looked around the room and noticed all the differences around it in contrast to my own room. Between the child size bed and toys, I came to the conclusion that this had to be a young child's room. There were pictures of the child, a little boy, on the dresser. He had brown hair, eyes that resembled an ocean, and the biggest smile.

On the wall above the dresser, three big letters were on the wall:

"州 凡 ㄨ"

I tried my hardest to figure out what they meant but my inability to read was holding me back.

Giving up, I walked out of the room and found myself in a decently sized house, it had to be at least ten times larger than our apartment.

I walked into the first door that I saw and found a little girl's room. Her room was set up similar to the little boy's except not as tidy and the bed was a little bigger.

I left that room and walked into the next. It was a larger room, one obviously meant for adults judging by the size of the bed and how it was set up overall.

A rustling sound alerted me that someone was in the bed. I looked and saw the sleeping forms of two people, a man and woman.

I crept out of the room and shut the door quietly behind me.

The sudden smell of smoke hit me like a slap in the face. Within going into that room, a large fire began spreading throughout the house. Fear ran throughout my body at the sight of the rapidly growing fire. I had to get out, but I couldn't just leave these people.

I rushed back into the room where the man and woman were sleeping away.

Wake up!

Get out!

Your house is on fire!

You need to leave!

Get out!

I was screaming, yet no audible words came out. The man and woman didn't move.

Then a sound filled the room, the cries of a baby.

"Sweetie the baby is crying again," the  woman spoke, oblivious and half asleep.

My heart sank. There was a child in one of the two rooms that I entered before and didn't even notice.

"Isn't it your turn?" The man groaned.

"I don- what's that smell?" The woman sat up quickly. "Somethings burning."

The man sat up two now and I could see both of them. The little boy, presumably their son, had a lot of their features, but at the same time they had features that were a lot like my own.

The man and woman rushed to door, the man reached for the doorknob but quickly retracted his hand after touching it. "Jesus Christ, the knob is blazing hot."

"What do we do? We need to get to Max," the woman looked like she was about to cry.

But she said my name.

And they look like me.

The realization of what was happening hit me hard. This wasn't the present, this was the past. This was the night my parents died. This was the night Ian took me away from them.

I felt like flames were engulfing my body. The searing pain made me scream out, yet it was silent. Everything was bright. I couldn't see if I tried.

The light quickly turned to darkness again and I was left in a state of confusion. What's happening to me? Am I dead? Am I in my own head? Am I comatose?

I couldn't feel anything anymore. My whole body was numb. I felt like I had become one with the darkness around me.

"Max?" The sound of someone saying my name broke through the deafening silence.  

I focussed my hardest going towards the voice, the feeling starting coming back. The first thing I felt was my hands, I moved them around, wiggling my fingers and making grabbing gestures to work them. Some held my hand and I tightly gripped back.

The next thing I felt was my mouth. I opened it and closed it, as if silent words were spilling from it. And then I coughed. My whole body screamed in agony at the feeling of my muscles moving in order for the cough to happen. I felt like I was on fire all over again and my lungs felt full of smoke.

But then I could open my eyes. The light burned, but not as bad as it had before. I saw the off-white ceiling that i recognized from the apartment and sighed with relief.

And then I saw him.

There Ian was. Sitting, holding my hand like everything was fine between us.

Tears began to fall like waterfalls. I wanted to get up and run away but i hadn't gotten feeling fully back in my legs yet.

"Max It's okay, you're okay," Ian hugged me tightly.

I pushed at him and tried to get him away from me. "Don't touch me, you monster!"

"Max stop it," Ian scoffed and moved so I couldn't hit him anymore. "You're being irrational."

"You killed my parents!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Lower your voice before the neighbors hear," Ian growled. "Yelling at me will not help anything so just stop it."

"You killed them," I sobbed. "You killed them, Ian."

"Max..." Ian sighed. "I didn't know."

"How would you feel if I killed your parents, Ian? Would you expect me to forgive you?" I asked him through the tears.

"You know, honestly I'd thank you because they were pieces of fucking shit," countered. "Don't try to act like you're the only one that had a messed up past because honestly, Max, do I seem like I have a better life than you?"

"But I could've had a nice life," I sniffed.

"And I could've stayed home and let my parents slowly kill me," Ian was getting angrier with each word.

"Stop trying to make me feel sorry for you!" I yelled at him.

"I'm not, I'm trying to get you to see that other people have problems too!" Ian yelled back. "You act like I can fucking change the past."

"Maybe I'd just like a little fucking sympathy."

Ian sighed and spoke sincerely "I'm sorry, Max. I made a mistake and it ruined your life forever."

I nodded and looked down.

"Can you forgive me?" He asked quietly.

"Not yet," I shook my head. "I'm not ready."