||Pretenders||☄️

(79).

"This Person"

       Alicia had met with Jake and Dawn at the Inn for dinner and drove herself home after chatting all day. She was exhausted from the laughs. She ran to the bathroom and soaked herself in the tub. After the bath, she slipped into a t-shirt and threw herself on the bed. "Advantages of having a rich ex boyfriend. Lucky me." She laughed and covered herself with the sheets.

      She drenched herself in sleep and these weird dreams woke her up in the middle of the night. In her dream, Max was calling for her in tears. It was so real she had to sit up on the bed. She slammed her face with her palm and sighed. She looked ahead of her and someone was in there. This person was sitting by the bed, head bowed down. She was so scared to move.

    "Who.. who is there?" She trembled. She reached for the bed lamp and turned it on. "Max?" She got up from the bed and walked to where he sat. He wasn't taking his head up and he was trembling. He took his hands away from his knees and she saw something had stained on his hands. "Maxwell, what are those?" She feared it was what she was thinking. "Maxwell." His eyes bored into hers and all that flame had died out. She bent next to him and held his hand. He smelt like blood and his shirt and hands were all stained with it. "What did you do Max?"

     She trembled at this thought. Who did he do this to? What is really going on with him? Why did he come to her of all people? She asked herself all these questions and had no answer to it. She offered her shoulders to him and hugged him. He cried on it and her weakened heart, got her shedding tears. She did not know what was wrong with him but she was right he was hurting. He was hurting so much for being the monster everyone believed he was.

      Alicia felt she should've tried to understand him like he said. Something wasn't right with him and she did think she hadn't done enough for him. She did not do enough for him but how does she understand him if he doesn't tell her what was going on with him. He expected more from her and she couldn't do more or less if she didn't know what she was getting herself into. He took down those burglars like it didn't matter. He didn't budge when they pointed a gun at him and he didn't think twice when he snapped off someone's head and choked someone with a broken bottle. She was sure all this led to Alia. That girl had something to do with his breakdown. Alia was the cause of all this and he took Alicia out of his life when she came.

      "Max, can you tell me what is going on? I'm getting worried." He let go off her and she held onto him. "Don't push me away. Please don't." She sniffed back tears.

     "Sorry for coming here. I gotta go." She held his hand and forced him to look at her. "I know what you're trying to do Ali. Trust me, you can't... help me and I can't help you either."

      "Why'd you come here if I can't? You need me, don't you?"

     "I don't. What I need you to do is move on, be happy and meet lots of guys who are better than me. This should be easy for you. I'm willing to help whenever you need anything. Anything at all."

     "Anything at all?" She asked.

     "Yes."

    "I want what we had back." He took her hand off and she assumed that was a no. "Max we were okay before she came. You allowed her to ruin us and she's ruining you now. Are you going to let her keep doing this to you?"

     "None of you know me. You don't know what I am and what I'm capable of. You don't know if I'm pretending with you right now. Ali, I don't even know who I am. I lied to you about a lot of things and you're not going to forgive me if I tell you half of it. I'm... I'm not a good person Ali.."