MadMax

Tired.

     I open my eyes and look around my room. Everyone is gone. I look down and my legs are heavily bandaged. I slowly get out of my bed groaning at every movement. My body hurts so much, I guess this is what they call hungover. I slip on some pants and leave my room. My mom is sitting on the couch with a bottle of beer in her hand.

  "Well, good morning sunshine! I kicked out all of your little friends that I told you not to have." She says with a dangerous smile on her face.

"Whatever." I mutter. I don't even care anymore, i'm too tired to fight back today.

She stands up from the couch and walks over to me. "I don't like your attitude Missy." She kicks me hard in the ribs and I fall fast to the ground with my arms folded against my stomach. She grabs a handful of my hair jerking my head up and punchs me right in the cheeck. I scream out in pain.

  "Maybe that'll teach you." She drops me back onto the ground and leaves the house, slamming the door behind her.

I just lay on the floor in immense pain for a minute until I have the strength to get to the bathroom.

  I pull myself up and use the wall as a crutch. I lift up my shirt and my ribs are spotty purple, I have a black eye and my whole body is just covered in bruises. I don't think my body can handle much more. I make my way back to my bedroom and shut the door. I sit on my bed and notice a messy wrapped gift on my nightstand. I quickly unwrap it to reveal a brand-new walkie talkie with a note attatched.

   "Please don't break this one." -Mike

I chuckle and tune it to the boy's channel.

  "Thank you Mike." I say into the walkie.

"You're welcome MadMax." Mike answers.

"What did my mom do last night?" I question, afraid of the answer.

"She called the cops and Hopper just came and picked us up. No biggie." He answers.

I dislike how nice he is being. It's pitty nice. I cant help but smile though. I set down the walkie-talkie and grab my skateboard. I scribble a note and stick it on the fridge.

  "Have a thing at school to set-up my classes. Don't wait up."  -Max.

  School does start next week so It's sort of believable. She probably won't even come home to see it. I jump on my skateboard and start my way to Mikes house. Every move hurts but I just push through it. I arrive at their house and jump off my skateboard. I ring the doorbell and Mike answers.

"Holy crap, what happened to your face?" He asks in utter shock.

"Oh this? I just wiped out on my skateboard. Uh is Nancy home? I need to see her." I answer.

He nods and lets me in, I make my way up to her room and softly knock on her door.

"Come in." She answers, sounding annoyed.

The door creeks open as I slide in.

"Oh hi Max!" Nancy beams getting up. "Holy shit, what happened to you?" She rubs her hand along my face.

"I wiped out on my board. Anyways, I have a pounding headache and need some pills."

"You are hungover Max. You need some sleep. Here, you can lay in my bed and i'll go get you some Tylenol and a glass of water." She says, folding back her blankets.

"Tylenol doesn't even work anymore!" I whine.

"Your not getting anything else Max, we've had this conversation too many times."

After I hear her footsteps decrease, I jump up and sneak out the back door, careful not to get caught.

I skate to Hopper's cabin hoping El isn't home. I hold my breath and knock on the door. Joyce swings it open and smiles.

"Oh hey Max! I haven't seen you in a minute. What can I do for you?" She stares at the bruises but doesn't mention it.

"Uhhh can I see Jonathon? Nancy asked me to drop off something to him." I lie.

"Sure sweetie, he's in his room." She remarks, holding the door open for me to walk in.

I find my way to his room and knock impatiently.

"Hold on!" He yells, coughing his brains out. I hear a bit of rustling before he finally opens the door.

"Max?! What the hell are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too Jonathon." I barge my way into his room.

He follows me in and shuts the door looking at me waiting for me to say something.

"I need pills. Strong ones." I demand.

"What are you talking about?!" He bluffs.

"I'm not stupid. I know you do drugs, I can pay you. Please!! Give me some and I won't rat you out to your poor mom." I whine.

"Oh my god. Fine." He digs in his drawer and pulls out a small clear bag containing a few pills.

"Here these are the best I got. It'll feel like your floating outside of your body. Best feeling in the world. Came all the way from the sunshine state." He tosses the bag to me.

I dig through my bag and pull out money I stole from my mom. She was just going to spend it on beer anyway.

"You don't have to pay me, first one is free." He answers.

I shrug and shove the money in my pocket.

"Thanks dude." We don't say another word and I sneak out avoiding Joyce.