What Was Missing

Six: -Maximilian-

Note: Once again, Maximilian's section takes place a short amount of time before the previous one. It seems that he is eager to have his story told. It begins with a dream...

The old barn looms before me, rising into the sky.

I've never thought of it as scary, but for some reason it now seems ominous. It's nighttime, and though I realize I'm dreaming, fear courses through me. Something's not right in there. Something... I shake my head. What could possibly go wrong? This is a dream. With that, I begin to walk in.

The barn seems never to get any closer no matter how much I walk. I frown. Why...? I look back, and a long path stretches endlessly south. That's awkward.

Turning to face the barn once more, I see it visibly shrinking. "Hey!" I exclaim, running towards it, but to no avail. It just keeps shrinking. The path begins to twist, but I sprint on.

Suddenly, it stops, and with a blinding flash, rushes towards me. I try to back away, to fight the blurry light, but trip on something and fall. It's sucking me in, feet first, and I grab the doorway's edges before I fall in. For whatever reason, I don't want to be in there. I've changed my mind.

I begin to lose my grip, and I try to yell. Nothing comes out of my gaping mouth. Barely holding on, legs dangling helplessly into the barn, I painfully whip my head around. I look over my shoulders, and my eyes widen. A whirlwind has begun to writhe inside the barn, a pitch-black tornado, and my eyes are forced shut. When I open them, the blackness has filled up the room. A deformed face slowly appears, all sunken eyes and gaping mouth. It's unnatural. Grotesque. To my horror, writhing tentacles of black begin to reach out at me. I try to move, but fail, and as it snakes its tendrils into my body, it opens its mouth and screams!

I shoot up to a sitting position as I wake, and suck in a breath of air. Slow down, Max, slow down. Just a dream.

Horrified, I realize I can't. My breath starts to quicken, and I sip the air in tight gasps. Faster and faster. Faster and faster. I'm hyperventilating! With a stab of pain in my head, my hands are squirted with something wet, and I realize I've clenched so hard that my fingernails broke the skin. "Oh!" I think, my fading brain numbing my reaction. Ow.

Faster and faster, faster and faster! I can't slow down my intake, and I begin to struggle. I'm writhing on the bench, writhing like the tentacles.

The tentacles.

With the memory of the gruesome dream, I get a rush of adrenaline. Screaming in frustration, with one last fleeting attempt, I push against the wall with my bloody hand. Success! My eyes widen, and I fall off of the rough wooden bench.

I can't breathe at all for a second, the wind painfully knocked out of me, but to my relief, I'm quickly able to once more. My breathing readjusts until it becomes even, and then I just lay there for a moment. Sometimes, you don't realize how great something is until you lose it.

After a while, I pull myself to my feet, yawn, and stretch. I want to take a rest again, but glancing at my stolen watch, I know I can't if I want to get into the Iss before nightfall. I freeze for a sec. The Iss. In the dream...

I look at the spot where the swirling cloud had formed, and grimace. The headsets are sitting right where it was, on the splintering picnic bench I call a table. Something's wrong with the Iss, I just don't know what. I almost want to give up on it now...

No. I can't give up. All the research, all the time I've spent in this wretched mess of a home: It can't all be for nothing. And mum...

My fist clenches.

I rinse my hands in my rain collector, full of now-useless drinking water, and hold a few rags to my bloody head. Soon enough, the bleeding stops, and I wet the crimson-blotted cloth to scrub all of the extra red crust from my skin. When I'm done, I scrub my hands in the basin once more, until the final traces of blood are gone from under my fingernails. Time to grab my gear and go. I'll need to run to the center of town, then activate the headset there. When my body goes limp and cracks against the sizzling concrete, I'll hopefully be rushed to the hospital like my Mum was. Hopefully. Partially resolved, I walk back inside.

Once I near the table, I reach towards the headsets. I hesitate for a sec, not wanting to touch them. Sighing, I know I have to. I push my hand forward once more.

I suddenly hear a car's movement and freeze. Nobody ever comes back here, not so far away from the main population. I stealthily inch into a darkened corner, pull out a shovel, and wield it like a club. It must be the people from the orphanage, finally come to get me. I suck in a breath. I'll knock them out if I need to.

Peering out from the edge of the door, I see a grey truck, an older Honda, slowing to a stop. The headlights die, and the passenger door flies open.

A guy who looks about my age strides out haughtily. He has blond, crop-cut hair, studying eyes... He looks slightly familiar. Suddenly, I recognize him. "Jacob?" I exclaim, and drop the shovel, walking into the open. He looks blank for a second, and my eyes narrow. Is it really him? Then he smiles, the odd smirk he always wore. That's Jacob, all right.

"Hey... Max." Again, that odd hesitation. It hasn't really been that long, has it?

"Hey, Jacob!" I reply, trying to act normal. He grins, and holds out a palm for a high-five. I meet it, and he pulls me into the man-hug that he and some of the other popular kids love to do. Loved to do. Or do they still? He pats my back, and falls back. "I haven't seen you for a while," I tell him. He nods and replies, looking grim. "Not since the Iss Accident."

My eyes widen as I recall. Oh, right! He was one of the others!

"I'm sorry," I mumble, and he smiles half-heartedly. "It's okay. Actually, that's what I'm here to talk to you about." I think my heart skips a beat, and I shudder. Why right now?

"I'm trying to gather everyone who's going into the Iss," he tells me. I nod slowly. First the girl in the elevator, then this... What is going on today? And... how did he know?

"I know you're trying to get in, and I need to warn you," he continues, cutting off any possible response. "I went in alone, and barely made it out." My mouth opens. "What was in there?" I query, my voice speeding up with excitement. Then, slowing down. Suspicious. "...and how did you find me?"

He seems to ponder, then puts a hand on my shoulder. "You need to trust me. Have I ever misguided you?" I shake my head, and he smiles.

"Good. There's two more of us I need to get before we enter the Iss, so I would appreciate it if we could hurry."

"Okay," I reply. He nods, and heads towards the car. A window rolls down, and an irritated-looking man peers out. "Are you sure we have to do this, Jacob?" he asks, and my friend nods. The man sighs, rolls down the window, and unlocks the car. I raise my eyebrows. "Is that your dad?" He laughs, a lasting guffaw full of incredulity. "No, Max. He's just my guardian."

Right. I forgot, both of his parents were in the Iss. But he said he hated his parents...

I halt in my tracks. "Jacob, why are you going into the Iss?" He looks back, and for a second, an unspeakable rage passes over his face. He was so happy a moment ago...

"For revenge, Max. For revenge." He turns to face the Honda, and without another word, walks in. The man calls out to me one last time. "You coming?"

I nod, and run back and grab my headsets. Reaching out again, I grab the tablet just in case.

Quickly, I jump into the back seat. Before the door closes, I look back once more to stare at my barn with a bittersweet gaze.

My scavenged home, my one-year home. Will I ever come back to it?

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