The warm water washed away the thoughts of yesterday, relaxing her stressed muscles and mind.
At night, nobody was coming in or out of the bathroom, not even Victoria made an appearance. No link to Kate's video was drawn on the mirror.
Max focused on the water, making it's way down the drain. Time seemed to behave in a similar manner, always flowing down the drain.
he scrubbed her hair, letting the soapy suds soak her scalp, she felt the grime as she ran her fingers through it. A slight sting tinged her eyes, but there were other things she was thinking about.
I still can't believe that he believed me, despite how insane it sounds. And how crazy I looked.
Max shuddered thinking about how she basically allowed herself to walk around campus looking like a zombie. She gasped when she'd looked in a mirror, her brown hair stuck up in some areas and was pressed down in others, matted from body grease. Her eyes were sunken, ringed with a dark circle.
She smiled, welcoming the warm water run down her face. She closed her eyes and allowed the shower to rain in her face before rubbing the excess water out of her eyes.
Warren is such a good guy, I should open up more about that week... but I don't know if I should, even about Kate's suicide... how well would he take that? She's his friend too.
She shook her head before washing herself down with a bar of soap.
When she was finished, Max dressed up in a clean set of pajamas and her doe tshirt. She approached the sink and resting her hands on the sides of the basin, looking at herself. The dark circles remained present, but only a proper amount of sleep can fix that.
The clean feeling was refreshing, her skin was relaxed and her neck didn't feel so stiff. She gazed into her own pupils in the mirror, her blue eyes were unchanged, besides the fatigued look.
Max sighed, thinking about sleeping again. She wasn't prepared to enter her subconscious mind, what horrors it may have stored away for her to discover. But she needed some proper rest.
She wrapped herself up in a dry towel and slung the wet one over her shoulder before grabbing her supplies. Exiting the bathroom, the hall was surprisingly quiet for a Friday night. Murmurs escaped through the thin walls, but they didn't bother her.
Going back into her room, she felt uncomfortable with the pure darkness surrounding her. She flipped on her hanging lights and turned the dimmer down, so they gave off a slight glow rather than project the light.
The fan continously spun, drawing the cool evening air into her room. She looked briefly at her guitar, thinking about playing something.
She shook her head, she didn't quite feel like making any music. Instead, she basked in the silence.
Nope, you need to sleep tonight. Existing sure feels exhausting now.
She sat down on her bed, pondering what existence even means, but that was Warren's field.
Max wrapped herself up in her comforter, before poking a foot out to cool her off but retaining the heat.
It wasn't long before she drifted away.
Fluttering her eyes open, she felt resistance tug at her limbs. As soon as she felt that, her eyes shot open. A leather couch and some cameras mounted on tripods surrounded stood in front of her.
Panic set in, she began to hyperventilate.
No, no no no no no.... not here. Not again.
A couple of bottles of drugs and syringes rested on the trolley, a pile of pictures on the bottom shelf.
Max threw up in her mouth, swallowing the wretched bile. The pictures of her were the same ones Jefferson had taken, the one on the chair, she recognized the black shirt. The one when she was on the white floor, contrasting her shirt and dark hair, the shadows merged with her, her bound hands resting right in front of her very eyes. The distant and intoxicated look in her face disgusted her.
Oh shit.
She retched and spit some nasty stomach fluid in front of her, a gob of greenish-brown snot spit landed in front of her.
She shivered.
Then Jefferson walked in, brushing the plastic curtain aside on the far side of the room. His glasses only amplified the menacing look, he pulled his lip tight to form a malevolent smirk.
"You really didn't think you could get rid of me that easy, did you, Max?"
She didn't dignify him with a response, she only narrowed her eyes with an unrelenting rage. A betrayal she should've seen coming.
Jefferson ran his fingers through his hair. Studying his subject. "Why the long face?" He chuckled, "aren't you grateful you locked me away? You let Madsen kill me."
"Yes, I did. You deserve it, and more."
He scoffed, "you know Max, John Lennon once said, "life is what happens-"
"Blah blah blah blah, you can shove what Lennon said up your ass." Her words dripped with venom.
Jefferson smirked again before picking up a syringe. Max's blood ran cold for a second, alarm bells in her mind began to ring.
"You know, despite it all, you're still the best model I've ever had the pleasure of, capturing."
He pricked the needle into her neck, delivering the dose that would end Max's life.
Max yelped before launching up and out of bed. Instead of being restrained to the chair, she looked around her room.
She sat down on her couch and buried her face with her hands, crying quietly into them.
I just want this to end... I don't want to feel this anymore, I just want to rest...
She felt so exhausted, her body was crying out for rest, but her mind wouldn't allow it. Whenever she slept, the nightmares kept crawling out. She turned to her alarm clock, displaying 11:47 on it's red digits.
It's not even midnight yet.
The desire to find shelter and comfort elsewhere was too strong, she had to talk to someone. Kate and Warren were probably asleep, who could help her right now?
An imaginary lightbulb appeared over her head.
Dana.
Max didn't bother getting dressed, there was a good possibility that Dana would also be asleep, or fooling around with Justin.
Fuck it.
She walked down the hall, the lack of light unnerved her, but she had to see someone. There was a slight murmur behind her door. Max took a silent breath, and knocked on the thin plywood. The sound stopped, and Dana opened the door in pajamas and a robe.
"Oh, hi, Max, what's up?"
"Hey, Dana, sorry to bug you so late, I hope I didn't bother you." Max clutched her arm with her other hand.
"Max, you could never bother me, I'm just chilling with Justin." Dana opened her door to reveal Justin sitting in a chair by the window. He looked so different without his hat or glasses on.
"Yo, Maximum Overdrive, nice to see you." His eyes were squinted and his voice was slightly slurred and sluggish. He was obviously baked.
Max gave him a wave.
"Why don't you come in?" Dana invited, "we're just smoking a little bit." She giggled innocently.
"Yeah, I just need to talk to someone right now," Max said as she walked past Dana.
Her room wasn't changed from the last time, besides Justin lounging by the window. Max got a proper whiff of a sweet, skunky odor, just weed.
Dana sat on her bed by the window, patting her comforter, inviting Max to sit. She accepted the offer.
"Hey, you don't look so good. Everything okay?" Dana handled her weed better than Justin, who looked like he was dozing off and staring at a crumpled napkin on the floor.
"No, it's not." Max didn't want to cry in front of them.
Dana touched her shoulder, "it's okay, Max, just tell me what's going on..."
"I, I keep having nightmares. Terrible ones, every time I try to sleep, I have them..." Max looked away from them. "I feel like, I won't be able to move on from them. I haven't slept properly in over a week..."
Dana rubbed Max's arm, "from th-the bathroom?"
Max began to figit with her fingers. "No, from, something else. My brain just won't stop letting me relive those moments..."
For the first time, Justin spoke up. "I know a good way to shut your brain off, it'll give you some of the best sleep ever too..." he trailed his voice off.
"J, you know that Max isn't into that..."
He shrugged, returning his gaze to that fascinating ball of paper.
"Into, what?" Max questioned, her interest piqued.
"He's talking about weed, Max. Justin is like a professor when it comes to it, he can pick out different weeds for different needs."
Justin perked up again, "they're strains, Dana. Not weeds, strains."
Max couldn't help but laugh a little at Justin's quip. "I just want to go to sleep and get some decent rest. If you have something, maybe..."
Dana playfully shoved Max and giggled, "Max Caulfield, you aren't thinking about trying drugs are you?"
Max had to laugh, "I mean, not drugs, I'm trying to think of it as, sleep aid."
"Oh, this green shit is an everything aid, a band aid for life. I have exactly what you want." Justin dug into his pocket, and pulled out a silver vape pen that could've been mistaken for a regular one. "You know what a vape pen is, right?"
Max had remembered when Chloe got busted for smoking in her room. The joint she had smelled like a skunk that was lit on fire.
"Yeah, of course I have. It doesn't linger as long as normal weed, right?"
"Yeah, cool, you hold the button and pull, just a few seconds, don't hold it. Thats no buéno."
Okay, here goes nothing. Chloe, I hope you're watching me.
She wrapped her lips around the metal tip of the pen, and held the button. A blue light around the button lit up. Her lungs began to tighten, after a few seconds, she let go and removed the pen.
"Blow it out the window."
Max did as she was told, a small wispy cloud that tasted sweeter than she had expected hovered out the window. Her throat burned in agony, "water." She managed to say before bursting into a coughing fit.
"That's how you knew you got a good rip..." Justin sleepily passed a water bottle to Max, who chugged half the bottle in one go.
Her head felt warm, but tightened, like her brain itself was expanding slightly beyond her skull. She felt sweat start to form on her forehead, a shaky euphoria washed over here.
"I'm, I'm feeling something..."
Dana covered her mouth and laughed, "you're just high, Mad Max."
"This feels, good." Her muscles began to relax, and she dropped her back onto the bed, resting her hands on her abdomen.
Dana joined her, the springs creaking under a sudden change of weight. Max closed her eyes.
Damn, is this what Chloe felt when she had to medicate? I'm starting to understand why...
"I really needed this..." she mumbled.
"I bet, we could all use an escape sometimes."
Max heard Justin laugh, "Itoadaso."
Max and Dana joined him in a giggling fest.
I really did need this...