Somewhere In-Between ~ An Adventure in the Afterlife

CHAPTER 26 - THE BATHROOM

As the bus approached the school that morning, Max was surprised not to be greeted by Dave's gang. Everything looked normal as they all exited the bus. Max was downright disappointed, having concocted a pretty decent plan. No matter, he shrugged. He was sure to come across Dave at some point in the day. After all, Dave did say he would "get him when he least expected it."

Half the day went by, and still no sign of Dave and his nasty cohorts. Max wandered the halls of the school, waiting for some kind of action. He had no interest in sitting in on any classes. Bored out of his mind, he walked by the trophy case, and stopped to look at the group photos of winning teams from decades past. There were group shots that went all the way back to the 1920's. Max leaned in, and found a shot with a plaque reading "Amherst Football Championship Team ~ 1948." He squinted at the faded black and white photo behind aged glass, scanning the faces, searching. Finally he stopped at one familiar face. It was Dave, all right.

"Wow, he was on the football team, too," Max muttered to himself.

Movement caught his attention from the hallway beside him. He noticed a girl walking down the hall. He recognized her. It was Mary, the girl who threw up on Friday after hearing about his death. She walked very slowly. Something didn't look right about her. She looked colorless, just like the black and white photographs on the trophy wall. He watched her closely, confused, starting to follow as she moped down the hallway. Something was wrong with her. He knew it.

He followed her until he saw her enter the girl's bathroom. Instinctively, he didn't want to follow any further, until he heard a gentle voice whisper behind him, "Go on, Max. She needs your help."

Still not used to moving through walls or doors, Max cringed with closed eyes and moved through the bathroom door. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't believe what he saw.

The bathroom was entirely covered with slippery black goo. The slime oozed over every surface, pulsating, as if it was alive. Max drew back with disgust. "What the heck is this?" He let the words escape from his lips. Mary was looking into the mirror blankly. It was the only surface not covered in black, slippery, sliding muck. Tears seeped from her eyes, but her face was stoic, her expression blank.

Max didn't know what to think, until he finally saw something familiar. A tall, cloaked shape moved out from one of the stalls, placing a clawed hand on Mary's shoulder. It turned to Max and smiled. Max shivered. It was the same being from Lizzie's room... the one who beckoned the spider-demons. It hissed a familiar phrase to him through lipless jaws. "She's mine!"

Max froze, and watched the scene reveal itself in slow motion. Mary set her purse up on the sink and withdrew a shiny object. At first Max thought it was a knife, but then realized it was a metal nail file. He watched as she began scratching the back of her hand with it. He ran forward, yelling, "Stop!"

The creature pushed him back and bared its teeth in a terrible grin. Max began to feel the slime from the floor begin to move up onto his feet. "Ack!" He shrieked instinctively. Realizing there was no Bertha, Bob or Lizzie to help him through this, it was time to find his strength and be the hero. He closed his eyes to concentrate, imagining the place of Light. The Light in his imagination grew brighter and brighter until it was bright as the sun. He held his arms out to reach for it, and then opened his eyes to see that not only was he holding the light, he was covered with it.

The creature sneered at him. "It will take more than that!" It hissed.

Max threw the ball of light at the creature and it screamed, stumbling backward. The slime where Max stood was sizzling and evaporating – turning to ash. The slime that first oozed from the walls even looked as though it was retreating through cracks – disappearing into nothingness to escape.

Mary collapsed on the floor and wept, dropping the nail file. Max knelt at her side. "I wish I could give you a hug," he said sadly.

Just as the tall creature took a step towards them, Lizzie miraculously entered the bathroom. At first she was shocked to see Max and prepared to scold him for being in the girls' bathroom. When she saw the scene in front of her, she gave Max a wide-eyed look that meant, What did I miss?

Max just looked at Lizzie in disbelief, ignoring the demon in the room. "I can't believe you just showed up like this! You have no idea. Mary really needs help. She was hurting herself!"

Lizzie's eyes widened, looking at the girl crying on the floor in front of Max. She knelt down with them. "Mary?"

Mary looked up at Lizzie, her face wet with tears. "Please don't tell anyone," she sobbed. "I don't know what I was trying to do. It just kind of happened. I was just trying to make the inside pain go away. I just feel dead inside." She fell into Lizzie arms and sobbed.

The monster grinned wide, looming over them. "You see? She's mine now!"

Lizzie wrapped her arms around the girl. She stroked her hair to calm her, the way her dad used to do. "Everything's gonna be okay," Lizzie whispered. She suddenly remembered a Peter Gabriel song her dad used to sing to her when she was down, and started singing softly, "Don't give up..."

Max saw as Lizzie stroked the girl's hair, Lizzie's whole body began to glow -- more than usual. But this time the glow was a pink color, and it seemed to bring color back to Mary.

"No!" The creature growled, and backed away.

Mary's skin slowly changed from gray to its natural hue. Max watched, mesmerized. "Keep doing that, Lizzie. It's helping her. It's amazing!"

Lizzie kept singing softly into Mary's ear until she felt Mary hug her back, squeezing her tight. "Thank you so much!" She wiped her face dry with her sleeve. "I can't tell you how badly I needed that."

Max looked around to see that the creature had disappeared.

Lizzie let Mary go, still sitting on the floor with her. "Are you going to be okay?" She asked.

Mary nodded. "I've just been feeling so hopeless these past few days. I don't know what's come over me. Everything just seems to be getting me down."

"Well, you let me know anytime you need a hug, okay, Mary?"

Mary smiled. "Okay."

As they stood up, Lizzie looked at the scratches on Mary's hand. "You really should have the nurse take a look at that," she said.

Mary nodded, wiping her eyes again. "Sure, okay. Thanks again, Lizzie." She started out of the bathroom.

Lizzie blocked her. "I mean it, Mary, okay? If you start to feel sad like that again, you come and tell me. Nobody needs to suffer alone." She looked down. "I know how it feels."

Mary smiled and hugged her. "Thanks. You really helped me feel better." She let Lizzie go and smiled.

"Tell you what," Lizzie said, "You go straight to the nurse's office and I'll meet you there, okay? I just have to take care of something in here first, if you know what I mean." She chuckled.

"Okay, I'll see you there." Mary smiled and left the bathroom.

Max stared at Lizzie. "I can't believe you showed up when you did, Liz! That was like a miracle!"

Lizzie shrugged. "I just get these feelings sometimes. You know – like the voice of an angel on your shoulder telling you to do something? Well, this little angel was telling me I had to get to the bathroom, right away. Jeez, I'm glad I listened."

"Me too!" Max grinned.

"Well, I guess it's time for you to leave now, Max."

"Leave? What do you mean?" He was confused. "We're a team now, Liz. Do you just realize between the two of us, we might have just saved a girl's life! I don't know if I should leave... or if I want to leave. Maybe I'm supposed to stay here with you, Liz."

Lizzie blushed. "Oh, um... yeah. I'm glad to hear you say that, Max, but..."

"But what, Liz?"

"I actually meant for you to leave the bathroom, Max." She squirmed uncomfortably. "I have to pee."