Deep Asleep

Chapter 10 : Out

Max was woken up with good news. Or bad news, she didn't know yet. She was allowed to leave the hospital; the secretary called her mother to pick her up. She was happy because she was beginning to feel bored in this room, but a part of her knew she would miss Jane, talking to her was peaceful, relaxing, and very pleasant. She didn't know why, certainly because she couldn't cut her while she was talking, or because she was actually listening to her, probably both. But all of this was over now. She was packing her stuff, wearing normal clothes (which was the good part of all of this), and was waiting for her mother to come. She waited, again and again; she waited hours after hours. Now the day was finishing, and her mother was still not here.

- "I thought you were supposed to leave?" Meredith frowned, entering the room.

- "I guess my mom forgot about me," Max answered.

- "I'll call her again. If she doesn't answer, I guess you're spending one more night with us!"

- "Awesome."

The nurse warmly smiled to her, trying to be comforting, but being forgotten by their own mother was hard to swallow. Max sighed loudly with her mouth before limping to Jane. The brunette looked up at her without doing more.

- "(Max raises her arm, puts her finger on Jane's nose, and softly pushes it) Boop! (Takes off her finger) Sorry, I don't know why I did that. I'm leaving, well, if my mom shows up, which seems improbable, but, anyway, I hope you won't miss me too much. No, don't answer, I don't wanna know."

Jane weakly raised her arm and gently wrapped her fingers around Max's arm, like if she wanted to tell her something. The redhead thought it was her way to tell her she would actually miss her, and this idea kinda warmed her heart and made her smile like she never did before. The soft moment between the two girls was cut by Max's mother entering the room.

- "Maxine, you shouldn't stand like that whereas your leg is still in a plaster cast!"

- "Hi mom, I'm happy to see you too."

- "It's not the moment to joke, Maxine, I don't really have time."

- "Yeah, I'm sorry that your daughter's life bothers your busy schedule! I've been waiting the entire day for you to come! You could at least seem to have missed me!"

- "Just sit in this wheelchair and let's go!"

Max sighed loudly with her nose and clenched her jaw, trying to not answer. Jane's nurses entered and looked angrily at the redhead again.

- "You really need to stop playing with her! She is not a toy!"

- "I was saying goodbye!"

- "Yeah, whatever!"

- "I'm going to visit her anyway."

- "No, family only, and you're not her family, they won't let you in."

Max turned to Jane and affirmed:

- "I'll find a way."

Jane blinked one time, which made smirk the redhead. Max sat on the wheelchair, allowing her mother to get out of here in peace.

- "Did you annoy this girl!?" the mother firmly asked.

- "No! I was just talking to her, to change her thoughts, that's all! I did nothing wrong!"

- "That's not what the nurses implied!"

- "They are crazy! I didn't do anything wrong!"

- "Stop lying."

- "I'm not lying! You were not here, how could you know!? Stop talking like if you actually knew me!?"

- "You're my daughter, I know you."

- "Some times, I wonder if it's true."

On their way out, they met Meredith in the halls.

- "Hi, Ms. Mayfield, how are you?"

- "I'm good, I guess."

- "Good. I'll see you for your check-up in two weeks, okay?"

- "Yeah, sure, okay. Um, bye."

- "Bye," the nurse smiled.

Susan kept pushing the wheelchair through the halls, while Max was leaving this place with a knot in her stomach. She missed her house, but now that she was going back home, she wasn't feeling as happy as she thought. She would spend her summer laying down on her bed or sitting on the couch, watching TV, alone. It wasn't the dreaming situation, but she hoped Neil and her mother wouldn't be at home too often, if she was going to spend a boring summer, she might as well spend it alone.

The atmosphere in the car was calm, apparently her mother didn't care to know how she was or how she spent her week in hospital. Cool, Max was so scared that her mother could be worried! She thought she was going home, but her mother parked in a street.

- "Where are we going?" Max frowned.

- "You, nowhere, but me, I've some shopping to do. Do you need anything?"

- "(rolls her eyes) A new family!?"

- "Stop joking, Maxine."

Susan opened her door and got out of the car. When she was going to close it again, Max stopped her by saying:

- "Um, do you think you could find me a book about chess? And a chess set?"

- "Chess!? You play chess!?" Susan asked with a light mocking tone.

- "I, I wanna try."

- "Pff, if it can entertain you."

The mother slammed the door and let her daughter alone in the car. Max hated when her mother was like that, she had no rights to judge her like that. She knew nothing about her, the redhead knew she could learn how to play chess, she wasn't stupider than any other teen of her age! But her mother would never admit it, she never took her seriously anyway. But she stopped trying to prove her anything, it was a waste of time and energy. She was more trying to prove herself that she was capable of doing more than just skateboarding, and now that she couldn't skate for a while, why not learning something else? And, when she saw Jane again, she would help her to remind her how to play chess, or she would already be able to play again, and she would have someone to play with. She knew it would make her happy.