Flames | Madwheeler |✗|

7 | Broken & Bruised

"I'm only human, and I crash, and I break down."

[ chapter seven ] → broken & bruised

     Over the course of the next few days, Max had begun to hang around Annika more, until she eventually became friends with the blonde haired beauty. Max was happy to have someone to talk to, someone that wouldn't give her pity glances when Mike would take them away from her.

     They had a delicate friendship, Annika being the quiet girl she was, barely spoke, and when she did it tended to be only to Max. She never spoke of her home life, only talking about topics that didn't involve her personal life. Max felt her heart go out to the blonde haired girl, she knew how hard it was to have a difficult home life, and she just prayed that if it was as bad she thought it was, that Annika was at least letting someone know.

     Max had also begun her project with Mike, the pair had worked on it in class for the last four days, but had yet to meet outside of class to continue working. She had almost brought up the idea once, but decided against it, not wanting to get in Mike's bad books. They had come to an unspoken agreement that they would be civil to each other when working on the project, and Max liked it. She liked being able to hold a conversation with Mike, without them having to constantly take jabs at one another. She was slowly starting to discover a softer, sweeter side to the Wheeler boy, and she couldn't help but drink it all up. She slowly drifted off to sleep, thoughts still lingering in the back of her mind.

- o -

     When Maxine Mayfield woke up the next morning, she could tell something was off. The house was silent, too silent. It felt like all the life had been sucked out of it, she couldn't hear the tv running downstairs, nor could she hear Billy's obnoxiously loud heavy rock music seeping through the walls of her room.

     Deciding to go investigate she slipped out of bed, her feet padding quietly against the carpet as she made her way out of her room. Max searched the whole house twice before deciding that no one was home. She walked over to the kitchen, stomach rumbling with hunger when a yellow post-it note caught her eye. She scanned it over, realizing her parents had gone out of town for the weekend, leaving Billy in charge. Clearly, Billy wasn't home if the dead silence in the house was anything to go by.

      Max grabbed some food before situating herself on the couch, aimlessly flicking through the channels on the TV.

      She was halfway through an episode of 'The Golden Girls' when she heard the front door slam open, and Billy walk in, face red with anger,

      "MAX, YOU BITCH!" He shouted, stomping over to her.

      Max scrambled out of her seat, fear flowing through her veins, shaking her to her very core.

     He shoved her against the wall, hand slamming the wall behind her, as he backed her up against the wall, face inches from hers, eyes filled with the utmost hatred,

     "You lying, deceiving bitch, you told me you had no idea who crashed my car, or where it was, and then I find your green jacket in my trunk. I paid a thousand dollars to get it fixed, and now you're going to fucking pay," He screamed, voice rising with every word he spoke.

     She didn't say anything, afraid that if she did, it would only get worse.

     Billy growled in frustration when she kept silent, grabbing her hair and using it to slam her head against the wall.

     Max felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. She felt tears flow down her cheeks, the pain penetrating through her head, her hair felt like it was being ripped out of her skull. She loud out a cry of pain when she felt Billy push her to the floor before he kicked her in the ribs. She tried to protect herself the best she could, curling up into a fetal position, but it did nothing to stop the pain that was flowing through her entire body.