Rewritten Version: @doodledump

Chapter 23.

          Max finally opened his eyes, after what had seemed like forever. He was laying on the floor with heavy blankets on him and a wet, damp towel was laying on his forehead.

He slowly sat up and held the towel up to his forehead with his hand. A small trickle of water dropped onto his hand and onto the blankets, that covered his waist.

He looked around his room to see the the sunlight was peering through the blinds.

He then pushed on his other hand to help him up, but he felt his knees and back sting.

"Ah . . ." He hissed.

He rubbed his back with his other hand while he felt a weird substance. This has never happened before . . . He thought, as he hissed again at the pain from his back and knees.

As he waited a few more seconds of wondering what had happened, Mark walks into their bedroom. He looks down then flashes his eyes up, "Feeling better?" He asks.

"Wha . . ." He starts, "What?" He said, squinting his eyes and rubbing his forehead.

"After church you passed out," Mark explains and walks over to his bed, "Mathew carried you into his truck and drove you home. We put a bandage on your back and gave you a warm towel." He smiles. "If you haven't noticed."

Max widened his eyes. The loop! It stopped?!

"What's today?" Max asks.

"Monday."

Oh my god . . . It's over. Finally.

"How long have I been asleep?" Max finally asks.

Mark tapped the side of his head and sighed, "A few hours."

Max sighs as he finally regained the strength to stand up. He rubbed the temples of his head as he groaned. "My head hurts."

"Heh." Mark chuckles as he takes a step towards Max. "Well get better soon, because dad is taking Lauren to an orchestra."

Max widened his eyes and smiled. "Really?!" He exclaims. "Mom always wanted to see that!"

"Yup," Mark smiled, "So put on something fancy."

Mark went to his side of the closet and fished out a black polo with some white shorts, along with some suspenders - also white. "Dad wants us to match today, so put this on." He said, as he threw the outfit at Max.

Max stumbles a bit before catching the clothes. He sighed as he made his way towards the bathroom.

---

          Max remembered as his mother stared down at him with her big green eyes. Her smile. The smile that made his day when he came home from school. One day, she told him, I'm going to take all of you to see an orchestra. She said.

Max widened his eyes and smiles back at his mom. For as long as he remember, that would be all his mother would talk about.

Other than inventing things . . .

But after a while, a year before she left, she stopped talking about it. All she wanted to do, all she cared about, was the travel and collect things for her intentions.

Max thinks about it now: where is she now? What is she doing? What happened?

---

          Max then tucked in the black polo into the white shorts. He picked up the suspenders and clipped the front sides on the top part of his shorts, while clipping the back one on the back of his shorts.

He buttoned up his black polo all the way and tied the checkered bowtie around the collar of his shirt.

He looked at himself in the mirror for a few seconds as he fidgeted with his hair for a few seconds. Before he knew it, Mark and Lauren came walking into the bathroom with the same polo, shorts, suspenders, and bowtie.

Mark smiled at Max before stepping in front of the large mirror that stretched across the bathroom counter.

Lauren took the rubber band off from her wrist and tied her hair back into a low pony tail.

Max silently stared at himself in the mirror awkwardly and blinked a few times. What happens if I have to repeat this over again? He thought to himself.

He sighed before turning over and walking out from the bathroom. He walked down the long hallway and saw Mathew putting his black suspenders on. (Mathew was wearing the opposite colors from Max, Mark and Lauren).

As Mathew finished clipping his suspenders onto his black shorts, he looked up and smiled at his son, "Ready to go?"

Max nodded as his siblings came running down the hallway and met at his side.

"Alright, let's get going." Mathew said as he stuck his hands into his pockets and started to walk from the living room to the front door.

Max had noticed how many places they have been going, recently. It didn't bother him, it just seemed a bit odd that they are going places all of a sudden.

Max sighed as he looked around at Lauren's smiling and beaming face. She hasn't been this happy in a long time.

Would she still be the same if mom was here? Max questioned.

The four of them walked along the stone driveway and entered into Mathew's truck. Lauren sat up from laughing as Mathew joked with her. Max silently got into the car and turned over at his brother.

Mark smiled lightly as he got into Mathew's truck.

Max sighed as he put his seatbelt on and rested his elbow on the door next to him.

He closed his eyes and felt his head start to spin. He groaned quietly as he felt his eyes start to burn. His head and mind started to ease, and he fell asleep.