The Oddities of Grand Marquis - Book 3: Elegant Armageddon 🪼✔️

Twenty-Third

sorry it's a little long!

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MAX

I woke up and looked around, confused as to where I was. I thought for a moment and looked at the pillow, where a large stain of blood was bleeding into the fabric. I stared at it for a moment, trying to find a picture in the blood. There was nothing there, but it passed the time for a little bit as I tried to figure out what was going on and where I was. I heard the door open and sat up quickly, finding Dad in the doorway. I blinked as he watched me for a second and then cleared his throat.

"Um... there's breakfast if you... um... You're bleeding."

"It's normal." I said, wiping my nose subconsciously.

"David is coming back to take you back to the clinic."

"Oh."

We sat there in silence, the quietness getting heavier and heavier like a boulder weighing down on the middle of a tightrope. Finally, Dad walked in and closed the door behind him. He walked over me and I pulled away, confused as to what was going to happen. Was this even real? He reached out to me and wiped away something on my face and then crossed his arms. He looked away and adjusted his glasses, fidgeting for a bit. I just watched him because I have no idea what he was doing.

"I just... I don't want you to go with David."

"Why?" I asked softly.

My throat was still sore from crying myself to sleep the night before.

"Because I don't know what to do anymore. I see you and you're just like my son. But I buried you... I held you in my arms and your life left right in front of my eyes. I felt you go cold... And now..."

"Yeah..."

"Please don't hate us, Max... or whoever you are."

"I'm Max. It hasn't changed since I was abducted... since I was born..."

"I want to believe you. I want to believe that you're really my son and that all of this was some really weird blown out of proportion gimmick, but Max died in my arms."

"I know. No hard feelings."

Now it was just hard. It was clear that my parents didn't believe I was who I said I was. If I hadn't 'died' here, things would be just a matter of convincing them that I was me, just like they had to do. But this was different and there wasn't much I could really do about it. They made their decision and I guess I had to live with that.

"David said he found something in your blood that indicated you really were our Max and not a clone. I strongly want to believe that whatever he has is true... I am hoping and praying that it's right."

"Yeah..."

Dad turned around and looked at me for a moment.

"Can... Would...Um..."

"What?"

"Could I... hug you?" he asked, looking lost and confused.

"Wouldn't that make things worse?"

"Would it?"

I thought for a second and stood up, wobbling from losing too much blood. Dad straightened out his glasses in nervousness and he stopped crossing his arms, coming in to hug me. He was nervous and hesitant but finally, he wrapped his arms around me. His warmth was everything, his scene was everything... I hated that this wasn't exactly real. He was hugging me and I was hugging him, but there was no love in him. He was doing it because I looked like the boy he lost and he missed him so very much... he didn't love me. Just the memory of me. It still didn't stop me from trying.