A second chance

Chapter 4

Max was glad that it was Friday, meaning he only had to worry about school today. Staying awake at school after last night was a difficult task, but he managed to pull it off with Phoebe's help. When he arrived home the first thing he did was to sleep until dinner. After dinner, he spent some watching TV before going to bed. He needed to save his strength, he had a feeling that he would stay awake after midnight for a long time from now on.

Max opened his eyes and found himself in the living room of his house. The living room was dark, he could barely see the furniture and it would appear that the house was devoid of life.

"Hello Max," a cold voice said. Max went stiff as he recognized that voice. He turned and gasped in horror. It wasn't the evil smirk, the blood-red eyes or the malice in them that turned his stomach turn. It was the stab wound in her stomach, the blood stain on her black suit that made him recoil. "What's the matter, Max? You don't look so hot. Funny, I always thought you would be more happy to see me dead."

"No! I would never be happy to see you dead Phoebe!"

Phoebe laughed maniacally. "Don't lie, Max! You always hated me because everyone loved me more than you! The day I turned evil must have been the happiest day of your life!"

"No! That's not true!" he denied with desperation. "I was jealous of you, but I would never hurt you. Remember the night of the prom? I couldn't take your powers away, I couldn't lose you. You mean a lot to me Phoebe, more than you know."

"If you care then why did you kill me?" she asked with a sneer.

"It was an accident, I swear," he said, desperately trying to convince her, tears forming in his eyes.

His twin smirked evilly. "So, you feel guilty, do you? For all those times you've hurt me, you've abandoned me. That's the reason for your little confession a few days ago. Is that what I'm supposed to believe?"

"It's the truth, I swear," he said, his voice tight because of the node that was forming in his throat. "I'll make this right, I swear. I'll stop Mayhem, you won't become evil and we will be heroes."

The evil version of his twin just stared at him, looking into his very soul. "And what if that doesn't happen?" she asked making Max dumbstruck. "What if something else happens and only one of us can become a hero and the other one will either fall to darkness or losses his powers and be forgotten?" Phoebe ignored him and looked out the window seeing the sun rising. "The sun is almost up, it's time to wake up," she said as she walked towards the window.

"No, wait!"

Evil Phoebe turned to Max. "Goodbye, Max"

"NO, DON'T GO" he yelled as he desperately reaches for her.

"NO, DON'T GO!" Max yelled as stand up from his bed.

"Max! What's wrong?" asked a concern Colosso.

The young man let out a tired sigh. "Nothing, just a bad dream. Go back to sleep."

While Colosso was able to go back to sleep, Max wasn't so lucky. The clock read 6:30 AM, two hours early from his usual time when he woke up. With a frustrated groan, he got up and sketched the blueprints for his new suits. At 7:30 he finished and decided to prep his workbench for work and went upstairs and wait for his family. This weekend his parents are going to go to Metrobourg to read his mother's late uncle's will, leaving Max in peace to work. He estimated that building the suits and to upgrade his jetpack will take 15 days.

"Suits?" Colosso asked once he told him after breakfast.

"Yeah. One for combat and the other for stealth," he explained as he worked.