He dreamt of her

Chapter 3: Bad luck

His wheels screeched against the road as he arrived at the site of destruction; a flaming car, displaced tires, a busted engine, malicious dents. They were in the middle of nowhere, what could have happened here? Other people came running with phones pointed right at the scene, some were taking videos, some were flashing photos, and others were calling emergency services. Max's mother always told him that fire was very dangerous and that he should never go near it, but this was different, this was Ella, he dived into the car's open door and safely entered, there was only one person there though. "Wake up, Ella. Come on you have to wake up!" he exclaimed, the sound of blaring ambulances and police cars filled the void of fixed heartbreak. "Kid, get out of there!" an officer shouted, "I'm not leaving" he shouted back. The policeman ran across the fire, slightly cowering behind his bullet-proof vest and helmet, he grabbed Max and struggled to pull him out but he managed to rip him and Ella apart, the tears on his face couldn't be counted; he cared more about this girl than her family. "Don't worry," said the officer, "You'll see your sister again." Max looked up at him, he didn't bother to correct him, he only stared, quietly.

The ambulance zoomed at full speed towards the town hospital making the ride quite bumpy, Max had begged the paramedics to stay in the back with Ella but now, he had no idea what to do but observe how much pain she must've been in. He began to theorize possible scenarios, the question kept repeating itself. What could have happened there? When they finally reached the hospital, the medics and nurses opened the back, pulled the emergency table she was on out, and closed it again, it was as if Max was invisible; he was locked inside. This particular ambulance was different, everything to do with its functions was controlled by a high-tech instrument and without it, nothing could be done, making it the perfect cage, Max tried everything from elbowing the windows to kicking the doors, it was hopeless, and then he found something, something strange, something that wouldn't be expected to be found in an ambulance. A gun. Max was horrified, if there was a suppressed gun in the ambulance, imagine what they could be doing to Ella! He was afraid to have to use it to free himself, but it was worth the risk. The windows cracked, as did Max's expression, he climbed out and hid behind a giant pillar overlooking the town hospital, as white as snow. He sneaked to the reception counter, he had planned on making a distraction and then grabbing the list board on the desk, and that's exactly what he did, he threw a ball he had found outside at a plant vase and it fell to the floor "Perfect!" he thought, he then grabbed the listings and searched for Ella's name, "Room 2005," he answered his own question. Max took the stairs as he wanted to get there quickly and didn't want to make any contact with the people that were there, he scanned the rooms until he found it: Room 2005, he opened the door carefully and shut it behind him. There she was, sleeping like an angel, the blood on her forehead had been cleaned off and she had an IV bag pumping fluid into her system, Max found a nearby chair and lifted it next to the bed to sit, only then did his mind start functioning, "Oh my god, Mom! What have I done, I need to go home, no wait what about Ella? Ella was in an accident, and her Father's body wasn't found, what am I going to tell her, and her Mother!" He stopped, and breathed deeply in and out, then left out the window, he had experience.

Max trudged through the grass on Topmost hill, the hill where he and Ella had first connected, he was going through his depression phase all over again, he had just kissed the love of his life and now she was unconscious! He sighed and stared at the moon, he was too much of a coward to show his face at home but there was one more thing on his to-do list...

Max arrived at Ella's house, it was simply glamorous, there were hand-carved lion statues with manes of gold decorating the entrance, spiral patterns that gave the mansion a hint of visual appeal, even the doors looked as if it were made by mother nature! He closed his eyes, processed the current situation, and rang the doorbell, "I'll be right there," a woman uttered, it sounded like she had been crying, when she opened the door, Max was sure that she had been crying, "Hello, is this Ella's mother, Mrs. Roberts?" Her face grew stern, "Who's asking?" "I am Max Webster, Ella's, umm... B-Boyfriend." She looked confused for a second, Ella must have never told her that she broke up with Jacob.

"Oh, please, just call me flora, how can I help you?" she said kindly and gestured for him to come inside, At this point, Max was beyond a complete mental breakdown; It took all of his guts to say that sentence.

"I-I just wanted to inf-form you about something that happened to Ella and her Father."

"Yes, I know," she groaned as she waddled back to the large red leather sofa she had been on, there were bottles of alcohol everywhere and two cigarette packets on the glass coffee table, "You know?" Now Max was confused, he understood that she was drunk but that didn't mean that she shouldn't see her daughter, "Yes, I know that my husband, William Roberts has regained custody of our daughter, I bet he did it just to mock me, That Bastard!" Flora threw one of the bottles at the wall and it shattered, but Max was slightly relieved by the revelation of this, "Umm... Mrs Flora, Ella, and Mr.Roberts had an accident around half an hour ago. Ella is seriously hurt and is in the hospital, recovering." This took a while for Flora to process, but when she did, she grabbed another bottle and threw it at the fireplace, she sat on the couch and began to sob, watching the fragments of glass slowly burn.

"What?" It didn't even sound like a question as she said this, "What about William?" This time, he could tell she was asking, "Umm, he wasn't found, no one knows where he is..." Flora's face became pale once more, "William Roberts is an atrocious Man," she spluttered, "He cares not about me, not about his daughter, but you know what he does care about? Money, it always has been and always will be money, he hurt Ella on purpose so that no one else would stand in the way to inherit my money," Max noticed a tiny detail, "But, Miss Flora, to do that he would have to kill every single member of your family, Ella's family, and if he's capable of doing that to his daughter, then I doubt that he'll be patient enough to wait until you die!" Flora looked over her shoulder after Max said this, then she was in shock, she had just realized that her name was on a cereal killer's hit list. She shut all the blinds, she locked every door and window, then she grabbed Max by the wrist and took him outside. She breathed deeply, "For now, let us go to the hospital, I will see to this afterward."

"Right" he recalled

They rushed to the front seats of the car and Flora stepped on the pedal with all her might.

Max and Flora were now in the hospital, the only difference was that Max could walk in public instead of having to sneak in.

"Helo s-sir, could you please tell me which room Ella Roberts is in?" Max stuttered,

"Sure young man, do you have an adult with you or a guardian or a-" The receptionist was interrupted as the doors slammed open and Ella's mother walked in, everyone only dared to eye her confidence as she made her way across the entrance hall.

"Good morning kind sir, I am Flora Roberts and Max is with me," she greeted.

"Of course ma'am, right away, please follow me." The man slid out from behind the counter and escorted him and Flora to the room.

When they reached, Ella was dead asleep and her phone lay next to her, Max grabbed it and put it in his pocket, he was worried, what if her father called again? What if he tracked Ella and is coming here to finish her off? He had over one thousand feelings in his head, all jumping around, trying to escape. Flora's expression was hard to make sense of, first it was happy to see her, then sad for the pain she must've been going through, then to rage belonging to her ex-husband, Max heard the sound of footsteps and then a bullet being reloaded into some kind of weapon, a gun he guessed. He was now afraid, he peered outside and quietly made his way towards the next room, there was a clear window which was usually used for viewing from a distance and Max looked through it, only to see two men talking in the next room, the problem was that there was no patient... Max took out Ella's phone and began recording what he assumed would be a deadly conversation. One man wore a tinted black coat and a stylish fedora whilst the other possessed a hoodie of the same color, a ski mask and a pair of long trousers, the man wearing a black coat handed a stack of cash to the other one. "You did a good job at crashing into my car and hurting my daughter, and now that I've seen it with my own eyes, I know that I can trust you, and maybe now Flora will know how it feels to lose someone close to your heart," he said.

"Thank you, if you need any more help, just give me a call." The other man replied. Max was in shock, he stopped recording and rushed back to Ella's room. He needed proof for Ella but he could barely believe his own eyes, and then the pieces began to fall into place, William must have paid the other guy to crash into Ella's side of the car and help him get out, then he came into the hospital to check if his daughter was still alive; he must have thought that she died, and next he would come for Mrs Flora with the help of his partner. He wondered, could a father be that cruel?