Hellions of Arcadia

Chapter 44: This Is The End, Maxine.

This is it, folks! This is the final chapter of Hellions of Arcadia. I want to thank all of your for sticking by my side for all 44 chapters of this fanfic. You made my dreams come true.

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Max - 9:15am

I wake with a start, my whole body is tense and sore. Over about a minute's time, my muscles begin to relax, and I can move again. The crappy hotel room around me is unfamiliar for a while, until I start to remember everything from before I passed out. I ran away to Arcadia,  used the last of my cash to buy a hotel room, and crashed here for the night.

When I feel the touch of a hand on my shoulder, I flinch. There was no one with me when I passed out. I look up at Chloe, who is staring right down at me. She's here? Oh, she must have traveled all the way from home to find me. I can't bear to look at her eyes, which are now wide with relief.

"Max!" She shouts, wrapping me in a wonderful hug. My reaction is slow, squeezing her to me seconds after she has already pulled me into her arms. Oh I missed this, it feels like I've been away from her for a century, I missed the smell of smoke that always clung to her. I missed my Chloe.

Behind us, Nathan and Warren halted what they were doing, rushing over to the scene. Nathan came in first, pulling me to him. Surprisingly, Chloe let him. "Oh, thank God you're okay Max." He says into my ear, crushing me so hard I feel I may never breathe again. I smile into his shoulder.

Finally, Warren gets his turn. He pushes his way to me, and hugs me with delicacy, unlike the other two. "How are you holding up, Max?" He asks, his chest a careful pressure against my ribs.

"I'm... better..." I say into his shoulder, but I doubt he can hear me from how much my voice is muffled. We stay in this embrace for a while, I allow myself to become reconnected with reality, and relish the feeling of my friends at my side.

When Warren and I split, I'm all Chloe's again. She pulls me in this awkward kind of side-hug, because of the way she is siting beside me. I rest my head on her chest, and close my eyes, but then soon reopen them. I officially hate darkness now.

Chloe's sniffle above my head makes me twist my neck in a weird way to be able to look at her. My partner's eyes are red and puffy, not from weed, but from crying. My heart twists in a thousand ways. I push myself closer onto her. "Chloe..." 

She sniffles again, using an arm to wipe at her face. "I'm okay." She says, "it's okay."

I try to question her, but she blocks the question with one of her own. "What happened Max? You were hella knocked out. Rough night?"

My laugh is hollow. "No, I actually confronted myself. My power." I say, the weightless feeling in my head feels sad, and alone. Everyone in the room gawks at me. I let myself chuckle a little. "It's so much to explain right now, I just wanna get out of here."

Chloe nods in understanding, she doesn't even try to corner me with questions, to my luck. Despite how much I know Warren wants to, he doesn't, either. Chloe moves away so I can stand up, I stretch my legs and arms, which feel so sore and stiff. How long was I even out? I look around for the clock.

Noticing my confusion, Chloe rises to her feet. "What is it, Max?" She asks, "what do you need?"

"Just looking for the time, I don't know how long I was out for." I answer, feeling weird that I don't automatically know what time it is. Chloe notices too, then checks her watch.

"It's about 9:20am." She says.

9:20? So I was barely out for an hour? No way, that doesn't seem real. I felt like I was running through that abyss for hours, maybe even days. I guess Chronos's presence made the perception of time warped.