Animals

Chapter 5: Max's POV

At first nothing comes out of my mouth. Once Mark talks, it brings me back to Earth.

"Max?" Mark asks pulling his head up. "Is that really you?" I don't know whether I'm glad, or upset to see him, but I don't have time to decide right now.

"Don't kill him!" I shout to no one in particular. "I know him. Don't kill him."

"You know him?" The Mayor asks me kindly. I'm glad that he's the leader of this place, or I'd probably be dead. At the same time, it's not safe to be that nice if there were real intruders.

"Yes." I respond back after snapping out of my day dream.

"Then he shall live too."

"What?!" Jessica replies angrily. "You're just going to let people random people go against the law, but when people in here do it it's terrible!"

"Jessica." The Gate Opener says in a calm voice.

"Don't Jessica me!" Wow. Jessica has a short temper. "I will say what I want to say!" Jessica shouts. I can't tell if she's still just angry at me, or everyone.

"You won't say whatever you want to say!" The Mayor yells. I never expected to hear him sound angry. "You are not the mayor! You are just a citizen! You do not choose what happens here!" The mayor has such a loud voice. Even if he is a little nice, he's so controlling. I can see why he's mayor now.

"Yes, sir." Is all Jessica can say, but she can't take away the anger in her voice.

"Good." The mayor tells her. His face goes from angry to calm in a second. "He has the same punishment as the boy."

"Max." I tell him. I can trust him with my name.

"My apologies. Max. Now, everyone is dismissed." He says obviously tired of all the drama. I feel like I've been here for days.

When the mayor gets out of his chair I can see him a little better. He's on the chubby side, and has a black tuxedo on. I guess they were in the middle of a meeting before I interrupted them.

That's when I see the girl, Taylor, stand up from her chair wiping her tears away. I feel the guilt I had come back again. She walks up to me and I don't know what I expected. Her to try to choke me? All she does is walk past me like I'm not even there.

She looks exactly like Arnold. I can see that they're related. I have to keep reminding myself that it's not my fault that he died. I don't notice that Mark is behind me until he puts his arm on my shoulder.

"What happened?" Is all he asks me. I can't blame him. I would want to know too, but I don't feel like explaining right now. All I want to do is sleep, and wake up in my bed when I was a kid. Before those stupid animals.

"Tell you later." Is what I tell him. Then I try to catch up to the Mayor to figure out where I'll be sleeping.

The Mayor tells me that they're is only one empty house that has a bed. I decide to give it to Mark, but I regret making that decision the second I figure out where I'll be sleeping. The only empty bed left in the village. Arnold's bed. I'm just hoping he doesn't live with his sister.

When I walk in I automatically see Taylor sitting on a couch reading a book. I don't know whether to interrupt her, or just try to find a bed myself.

"Hey." She says not looking away from the book. I don't know whether to be happy or scared that she's so calm.

"Hi." I say back. " I was-"

"I know. The governor told me before you got here. You're here to sleep in my brother's bed."

"I can sleep on the couch." I tell her.

"No, it's fine. I'll show you where his bedroom is." She says to me while dropping her book and walking towards what I 'm guessing is where I'll be sleeping. I really just wish that my mom could just be here right now with the twins. That way all of us could live here.

'My Mom!' I shout in my head. How could I have forgotten about her? I was so caught up in the meeting. I didn't have time to ask Mark if she was okay.

"Are you coming?" Taylor asks me impatiently, but she sounds nothing like Arnold. She seems... Nicer.

"Yeah." I respond. "Right behind you."

I decide to worry about my mom tomorrow. So, I just follow Taylor. She's standing in a room with a bed that's unmade. The room is white, and completely empty. I can't see anything in the dark. Man, I miss electricity.

"How is it?" Taylor asks me.

"It's great." I tell her.

"Well, it's better than the floor." She says, and then takes a deep breathe as if she's been trying to say something this whole time.

"You remind me of him." She says. "You may not look alike, but you remind me of him."

I take that as an insult, but I didn't know him. He could've been a nice, wonderful man. I should have just went with him.

"I know that doesn't seem like a compliment." She continues. "It is, trust me. You may have seen his bad side, but he had a good one. Seems like the same for you. So, I forgive you."

I honestly don't know how to feel. If someone came and told me that a random guy killed Hannah I would not have been happy. Even if that guy did say he didn't do it. All I do is say, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She tells me. "Now go get some sleep. You have a busy day tomorrow. I'm going to go read some more."

She leaves the room and I fall on the bed taking a sigh of relief that I lived through today. It's been a long day. I just close my eyes and wonder what awaits me tomorrow.