The Wild Ones - Part 2 - The Catalyst

17.

"I was just talking to Daniel about getting his stuff ready," Tom said to Lily as she approached Max, Daniel and himself.

"Ah, OK, yeah I need to go pack too I guess. I presume we won't need much."

"Yeah, just the basics."

Max drifted out of the conversation and looked over to Becky. He quietly left the group and went over to talk to her.

"Hey," he said. She seemed to jump slightly, mostly separating herself from her thoughts, he presumed.

"What's up?" she replied.

"You OK? You seem a bit out of it?"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, waving it off. "Just a rough night I guess."

"Sorry about dropping you in it with Lily, by the way. I never even thought."

"Na, not your problem. I had to face it sometime. Did you want something?"

"Yeah I, uh, I thought I should tell you about my mum. Totally of my own accord," Max said with a slight smile.

"Oh, what, now? Sure, I guess. I'll turn around or something so that I don't cast my dark arts on you," she grinned.

Max's smile slowly faded, "So, my mum suffered from, uh, ventricular tachycardia, which basically boils down to a pretty horribly fast heart rate. She was taking pills and stuff but...it was pretty obvious she still suffered, even to me, when I was young. Naturally, I was stupid enough to choose my first time changing to be in the middle of the house. My mum hears some banging, and next thing she knows she's confronted by a snarling bear,"

Max shook his head and gritted his teeth, "I clearly wasn't thinking. She immediately ran, obviously, and when I changed back I hid in my bedroom. Locked the door, blasted out some music and stuck my duvet over my head. My dad was banging on my door for about five minutes, probably trying to get me to come to the hospital with Mum. But the next time I saw her it was way, way too late."

Max wiped the tears from his eyes and laughed, "You sure are getting it piled on you lately huh?"

"It's alright. Never really had myself down as a listener, but there we go," Not really knowing what to do she gently rubbed Max's arm. "You do know it's not your fault, right? I mean, it's pretty clear you blame yourself, but if your mum was that ill...not to make light of it, but it was either you or a car back firing."

Max shrugged, "What am I meant to do? I've tried clearing my conscience, thinking that it was all circumstantial but..."

"Yeah. But at least know I don't blame you. I doubt it's worth much, but it's something. I'm just happy you're not plotting to hack me to death like her," Becky gestured towards Lily.

"I think some part of me wanted to tell someone, anyone, no matter what the reaction. You brought that out of me. Whatever it was that Lily told you, I doubt she wanted to relive it at all."

Becky nodded and sighed.

"But like I said, please don't tell Tom. Dad told him she'd just had a particularly bad episode, and I don't think I could live with him blaming me too. Call me selfish, but I can't cope with it, right now, at least."

Becky nodded, smiled, and walked back over to the others. Max composed himself and followed.