Together Again

Chapter 6 - The letter (part 3)

  The door creaked as El pushed it into place. Click. The door was closed, blocking her from Mike. From protecting him from the upside down. He was on his own. She heard the wheels of the cars screech out of the driveway. He was gone.

  She looked up from the floor and noticed Max sitting on the couch. Why did I get stuck with her? She thought. Of all the people in that car she got stuck with Max.

  El walked over to the living room and went to sit down on an armchair. She paused before sitting down. Her eyes quickly looked over the chair. It was covered in cat hair. Yuck. El still had a strong dislike for cats. They reminded her of Papa. She couldn't sit there. Reluctantly, she went and sat of the couch with Max, only as far away as possible.

  Max tried to lighten the mood. "Dustin's mom sure likes cats, huh." She had noticed when El made a face at the car hair. El nodded to her comment, but said nothing. There was a few moments of awkward silence before Max asked a question. "Can I tell you something?" Once again, a single nod from El. Max glanced towards her. Eleven was staring at her feet. She had her hair done up beautifully. A braid encircled her head, with some curled strands falling down. She wore a black denim jean skirt with a sky blue loose  t-shirt. It looked like something Nancy would wear. Her eyes were all glassy as if she was holding back tears. She stared right through the floor, angry. Her mouth in a firm line.

  Max took a deep breath and continued speaking. She knew she wasn't supposed to tell anyone this. If anyone found out, she would be in huge trouble. She hadn't even told Lucas the whole story. "I grew up in a small town just south of San Diego. I lived with my Mom and Dad. We were...the happiest family. I can remember my Mom smiling every time my Dad would come home from work. Her eyes would sparkle and her nose would scrunch up." Tears were welling in Max's eyes as she spoke, and occasionally she had to pause to catch her breath. "She looked like the happiest person in the world. I haven't seen that smile in 3 years though. Her eyes don't sparkle like they used to. My Dad was the kindest person I know. He was constantly bringing home little nicknacks for my Mom, like flowers, or decorations, nothing expensive. He got me my first skateboard. When I was 11 years old, my Dad got a new job. It paid a lot more, and instead of bringing home cheap nicknacks he would bring home stuff like a new TV, or microwave every day. My Mom hated that, she said that the stuff was too expensive. He always came home late though and over time, I watched wrinkles appear all over his face. His hair turned from brown to mostly grey in just s matter of months. Whenever I would ask my Mom about it, she would tell me it was from stress, but stress doesn't change a persons physical features that...fast."

  Max paused and looked up at El. The stern, angry face that she saw in El before was no longer there. It had softened. It looked more, concerned now.

  Max continued her story. "My household went from a warm-hearted home feel, to an angry, cold house. My parents were always fighting. Within 6 months of my Dads new job, my parents filed for a divorce. My Mom moved out, and took me with her. She had a court order put against my Dad, not allowing him to have any contact with her or me. I didn't know why at the time. I just missed my Dad. I started to do some digging. In the middle of every night I would sneak downstairs to my Moms office. She had all sorts of papers there. I found a key to a filing cabinet, and began searching through the documents in there. There was only one folder. During this time, my Mother began dating someone. My Stepdad. He acted all sweet around her, but was a jerk. Especially to his son. Billy had always been a mean kid, for as long as I have known him. But he wasn't as Angry before we moved here. After the move, his personality changed from bad to worse over night, he became a bully. Soon after my Mom and Stepdad were married, my mom started to get all sorts of letters in the mail. She never told me what they were. But every night after she got one, I could hear her, hiding in the basement crying. Soon after we packed up and moved here, with barely any warning. At this time I was starting to connect the dots. But what I thought I was reading in my Moms files didn't make sense, until Lucas told me about you. When I saw what you could do, it all made sense in my brain, and that's when I realized that my Dad became one of the test subjects."