Gwen's Worst Nightmare (One Of Them At Least)...

Chapter 10: Epilogue

The dreaded Friday rolled around. Gwen felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders after confessing to David about her long-term fear. But today, she didn't feel miserable at all. No panic attacks or intrusive thoughts, it was just a normal Friday at Camp Campbell to her. David decided to let the kids have another field day since it was the end of the week and maybe the kids would wanna do something else that wasn't tied to a specific camp. Gwen sat on the cabin porch, watching some of the campers engage in a squirt gun fight. What threw her off was how Max had joined in. He usually would be sitting under a tree or even on the porch as well. "Well I'll be damned..." She muttered. "Hey, don't get my fucking cast wet!" Max shouted at one of the other kids. "Then why are you participating in a WATER gun match?" Gwen replied from the porch, Max just gave her a "death glare" and ran off to chase whoever aimed for his cast. 

"Room for one more?" Someone asked, Gwen turned to see David standing in front of her, she moved over so he could sit down. "TGIF, right?" Gwen said. "You bet." David replied. "You won't believe me when I say this, but Max actually joined a squirt gun match." Gwen said, pointing to the group of campers playing by the tent, all of them squirting water at Max as he begged for them to stop. David made sure he took as many photos and videos as he could so he could have more proof that Max is capable of more than his bitter exterior. "Y'know I've never seen him laugh that hard before." Gwen pointed out. David lowered his phone for a moment after getting all his footage and looked at Gwen. "...Are you sure you're alright?" He asked. "Oh yeah, I'll be fine." Gwen replied, knowing David was concerned. She just wanted to focus on work until it was time to leave. She got up to go get her journal, only to be caught off guard by Max being chased towards the porch. By now, the boy was sopping wet from head to toe. "I'll get a towel..." Gwen said before opening the door to the cabin. 

"David! You've gotta help me!" Max begged as he grabbed David by the shirt. At this point, both of them were being hit with water. "Just run inside, Max. I'll hold them off!" David suggested, Max ran inside while the counselor was hit with water. Gwen was just about to leave before she saw the drenched child standing behind her. "So you finally managed to escape, huh?" She smirked. "Yeah, David is holding them off. Now towel me!" Max ordered as Gwen threw the towel in his face. "You're welcome, you little shit." Gwen replied. David began to bang on the windows, calling for help. "You said you wanted the kids to have a field day, David!" Gwen said, taunting the other counselor. She went over to the window and closed the curtains. "Save yourself!!!" She said, hearing David's screams while the kids chased him. Max came out of the bathroom and noticed a binder of sorts sitting next to Gwen's purse. "What's that for?" He asked. "I've... Got somewhere to be later." Gwen said. Max raised an eyebrow, he wanted to know what Gwen was talking about. The counselor could tell he wanted to know, so she gestured him to sit next to her on David's bed. 

"Remember that conversation we had back at the hospital?" Gwen asked softly. "....The one where I called David so he could apologize to you?" Max replied. Gwen shook her head. "No the....Other one." She said. Max realized what she meant and turned his head towards her. "You're seeing a doctor?" He said. "Yep." Gwen replied, sighing. "That hospital made me realize something." She said. Max tilted his head to the side. "If you could manage to tough out a visit for a broken arm when you were bawling your eyes out in the car beforehand... Then..." Gwen paused. "Then...What. Also I thought we agreed that never happened!" Max said. "Then I can go to a standard doctor's appointment like everyone else." Gwen finally confessed. Max shrugged, hiding the fact that he was actually impressed with Gwen's determination. "Well... Good luck I guess." Max said. "Thank you, Max." Gwen replied. The sound of tires screeching could be ehard outside as David frantically pulled his car up, almost crashing into the cabin. Gwen ran outside to make sure everyone was ok. "Get in before you get soaked!!!!" David exclaimed, causing Gwen to run to the car as fast as she could. 

"Team Nikki: 3, Team Max: 0." Nikki said confidently. "Yeah, you scared David so badly he drove off with Gwen." Neil replied. "Well, it was worth it." Nikki shrugged, setting her squirt gun down. The door creaked open and Max stepped out slowly. "Don't shoot!" Max exclaimed, holding his one arm up. "Calm down, Max. The game is over." Nerris said, reassuring the boy. Max carefully tiptoed down the porch and met up with the other campers. "David and Gwen managed to escape, I take it?" He asked, the rest of the campers nodding. "They probably went to get booze or something." Nurf replied. Max knew the answer, but he was loyal enough not to tell anybody. "You could very well be right, Nurf." Max put his hand in his pocket. 

After a while, David and Gwen made it into town 5 minutes early. They sat in the car for a moment. David turned to Gwen, "Are you sure you're ready, Gwen?" He asked. Gwen nodded, "If I wasn't ready, I wouldn't have made you drive out here." She said. "Well, I drove because we needed to get away from a group of campers who were dowsing me with water." David commented. "Seriously, let's just get this shit over with." Gwen switched back to her bored monotone and the two got out of the car. Just as they entered the waiting room, Gwen could hear the nurse call her by name. "I guess I should go..." She said, looking back at David. "I'll be waiting for you the entire time." David replied with a weak smile. He took a seat as he watched Gwen walk away. 

The End...