Chapter Text
Flashes of scenery pass by as Max’s head leans against the window of the bus. Gentle rhythmic music lulls her into a sense of peace that’s she’s not sure she’ll feel once she reaches the place this bus is headed to. She unconsciously flexes her left hand matching the different cords being strung in the song. Her right leg jitters nervously while her left lays motionless in it’s constricting brace; just as it has for the past four and a half years.
Max doesn’t even have to look around to know that there are most likely people who can’t help but stare at it, stare at her. The strange girl in tattered clothes, wearing a full leg brace, and holding onto a worn guitar that lays on the seat next to her. Max is used to the attention, unwanted as it is, but today she’s too distracted by her jumbled thoughts to care. Will she remember her? Will she hate her? It would only be natural to be pissed at someone who basically ghosted you for five years. Will she even want to listen to Max’s explanation?
Max sighs and closes her eyes after she spots a sign displaying the words, ‘Welcome to Arcadia Bay.’ Home sweet home I guess…fuck, she curses mentally.
• • •
“Only two days left in this place Max, are you feeling nervous?” An older woman in her late thirties asks: she has dark, reddish-brown hair with hazel eyes and she sits patiently across from the young girl. Max is almost 18 years old now, but she feels like she’s lived twice as long as that. Especially after being thrown in this place for almost eight months for something she will never regret doing. “Max?” The woman questions after a long period of silence.
“Yeah, yeah all good here Kass,” the woman known as Kasey, but Max has always called Kass, raises a skeptical eyebrow at her. Max just exhales harshly, “Fine, I’m nervous as fuck okay? I don’t know what to expect after I go back there.”
“That’s completely normal Max, I’d honestly be more worried about you if you weren’t nervous.” Kass instinctually goes to hold Max’s hand only to stop last second when she notices Max flinch and pulls away. “Have you recovered anymore of your memories?”
Max’s shoulders relax after Kass keeps her boundaries from her, knowing how much physical contact from older women makes Max uncomfortable. She shakes her head at the woman’s question, “Not since I found that picture, no.”
“Just give it time, I’m sure returning to the place where you used to live will recover many more.”
Max gazes down at her scarred hands, “I still don’t know how you managed to convince that rich kid elite school to give me a scholarship.”
Kass irritably rolls her eyes at the mention of the school, “As talented as you are Max, and as much as I’d like to believe that they have an altruistic purpose to allowing you to attend, I think we both know that isn’t true.”
Max scoffs, “They probably just want me to be their pity project. Like ‘hey we took in the poor orphan, disabled girl with a track record a mile long and turned her into an actual human being, go us!’”
The older woman snorts in amusement before sighing, “I’m sorry Max. I know going to this school isn’t exactly what you want to do, but it was the only solution that would allow for your early release.”
“Y’know for a social worker, you’re definitely one of the better ones Kass. I’m sure getting stuck with me for over four years must’ve been exhausting.” Max smirks a little when she hears the woman chuckle slightly.
“Not at all,” now it’s Max’s turn to raise her eyebrow, “Okay, maybe a little.” They both laugh at the obvious truth. Max was definitely an ornery teenager, still is actually, but with good reason. “I hope you find the answers you’re looking for Max.”
“Yeah…me too.”
• • •
Max’s eyes shoot open when the bus slows and she hears the driver announce her stop. Her heart-rate picks up rapidly and she clumsily stands up slinging the guitar onto her back and grabbing her bag containing her very little belongings from the floor. Max walks into the middle aisle trying not to jostle her left leg in the small space. When she makes it to the door the driver goes to help her down the steps, but she just waves him away. The other types of people that irritate Max are the ones that try to help her. Logically she understands that there are people who want to help just cause they’re genuinely nice people, but others do it because they believe by helping her they’ll feel better about themselves. Max really despises those people. She’s been taking care of herself just fine for over four years, why stop now?
Once Max’s feet hit the sidewalk and the bus pulls away, only then does she really take in her surroundings. She’s not sure exactly what she was expecting upon arrival, but the familiarity of the place hits her square in the chest. And before she knows it her feet seem to walk of their own accord, as if they’re walking a path that she’s been on many times before. Buildings, houses, trees, all of it becomes an afterthought to wherever it is that she is headed. Max’s left hand that grips the handle on her brace grows sweaty from assisting the movement of her leg. Four years of practice and Max still hasn’t quite mastered walking in what people would refer to as the “normal” way. Her gait is too exaggerated causing her to have a well pronounced limp. Just another reminder of Max’s difference.
All of a sudden Max abruptly stops and turns to look at the weathered house in front of her. I know this place. Max’s hands shake as she gazes mistily at the front door.
“C’mon Long Max Silver! Adventure awaits!”
“Right behind you Captain Bluebeard!”
The echoing laughter of young children in Max’s head is shattered by the front door of the weathered house slamming open.
“Ugh, out of fucking ink again. Goddamit!” A tall punkish girl in a black beanie and short blue hair storms out of the house and in her anger doesn’t even take notice of the strange girl staring at her. “Fucking stepdouche never replacing the fucking ink.”
The punk girl marches towards the beat up truck that sits in the driveway before stopping short and snapping her head in Max’s direction. “Who the fuck are you?”
Max almost smiles in relief at the sight of the girl in front of her, with no thought whatsoever she says, “Hi Chloe. It’s been awhile.”
The only that can be heard after that is the clanging of keys on the ground and a shocked gasp coming from the punk girl.
“M-Max?!”