(2) Love You to Hell and Back (Max Mayfield / (Fem) You)

-Chapter 11: The Holloway House-

"Ill-a-noy. They're going to ill-a-noy" I hear.

It's muffled and soft, like someone is trying to talk to me through a pillow. "Mike! Breakfast!" I hear a faint voice screech, getting louder.

"Not now, Mom!" Another voice says, getting slightly less muffled, like I am finally resurfacing from underwater. "Illinois? Illinois, like the state?" Mike says. "The state of Illinois?" I hear shuffling, my hearing clear now. "Ill-a-noy..." El's voice says.

I groan, peeking an eye open to be met with bright lights before I close it again. "She's waking up." Lucas says. I cough, a metallic taste in my mouth as I feel someone shift from beside me. "Hey." I hear a soft voice. Her soft voice. I open my eyes again, letting them adjust to the light before I turn my head, looking at my girlfriend. "You're awake." She breathes, relief flooding her voice. The others all look at me where I lay on Mike's couch. "You've been out for a bit. We had to carry you back." Mike says, tilting his head. "El did some weird crap on you too." Lucas adds. I look at El who shrugs. "I tried to give you energy. I heard Papa say once some of us could. I don't think it worked."

I look back at Max, who has a frown on her face. "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up." She says, standing and helping me up, I wobble and steady myself, because he hit my face, not my legs. "You too." She says to El, who nods, standing and following as we go to the bathroom. Once inside, Max closes the door, grabbing a paper towel and quickly wiping the blood from below El's nose. El touches the bruise on her neck from where Billy had choked her. "Does it still hurt?" Max asks. "Only when I talk..." El replies.

"Well, it's a good thing you're not Mike, then. Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, and you'd be in constant pain." Max replies, chuckling. Once she is done, she turns to me, taking another tissue. "I cleaned most of your wounds." She says before dabbing at one. "I haven't properly bandaged them though, I wanted you to wake up so I can tell which ones were worse." She says before dabbing at another one, which stung. I recoil, moving back and she eyes me. "So that's one." She says before doing the same with the others. Once she was done, she bandaged them and for the ones which hurt more, she cleaned them more and disinfected it, putting some sort of numbing thing? I don't really know.

While we were doing this, Mike had been talking to Lucas. "It's not over, okay? We're just taking a break." Mike says. "She said she dumped your ass, that doesn't sound like a break." Will replies. Rolling her eyes, Max chuckles. "It wasn't!" Max shouts. "You guys do know we can still hear everything you're saying, right?" She asks, laughing as El does too. Max quickly pecks my lips before we hear a knock. "Not now, Mom!" Mike repeats. "Mike, open the door!" A voice, that isn't Mike's mom, says. Wait, no, that's Nancy!

I walk to the door, opening it and peeking out as Nancy walks in, Jonathan in tow. Max and El follow me out, watching as Nancy quickly walks to the table and lays down some sheets of paper. She then explains to us what happened to her, last night at the hospital when she visited someone who goes by the name of Mrs. Driscoll. "It was the same thing. It was the exact same thing that happened to Will last year." She says, pulling a specific paper out from the stack and pointing. "Look at this. Look at the body temperatures." She says.

I look and notice the dropping of body temperature over time. "He likes it cold..." I mutter, looking at Nancy who nods slowly. "Okay, so this crazy old woman who was eating fertilizer-" "Mrs Driscoll." Nancy corrects. "Right. What time was this attack?" He asks. "Last night." Nancy says. "Right, but what time last night?" I ask, standing from the soft to take the papers. "Around nine." Nancy replies. Jonathan turns to her, hurt in her eyes. "You waited all night to call?" He asks. Nancy shugs, looking away. "I was waiting for the doctors to run some tests." She mutters. "You weren't there?" Will asks his brother, furrowing his eyebrows. Jonathan raises both hands, annoyed. "Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" He asks. Nancy scoffs, rolling her eyes. "Hallelujah." She mutters. Lucas winces at her comment. "Ooooh." He says.