as loose ends get tied up, catch up from the beginning at the links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, and 48.
part 49 continues after the jump...
They assembled in Max’s room quietly. Michael and Liz stretched his body out on his bed, and Isabel set to work soundproofing the room. They stared at each other shell-shocked, stunned. They still couldn’t figure out what happened.
Kyle helped seat his father at Max’s desk and watched as Liz gently brushed Max’s hair off his face. They both saw the letter propped up against the lamp on his night table.
“Michael,” Liz whispered.
“Yeah?”
“He left something for you,” Michael glanced at her sharply and looked at where she was pointing. With shaking hands he took the envelope and tore it open.
Isabel seated herself on the bed, “Read it aloud.”
The others nodded as they settled themselves; Kyle perched on the desk, Liz on the floor her back propped against the bed, and Michael on the windowsill.
Michael cleared his throat and began reading:
Michael—
I know that my decision will be hardest for you to accept. That you will want to blame yourself for not stopping me. That you will hurt because I didn’t warn you. That you will think I was shutting you out of making a decision. Well don’t.
Don’t blame yourself. This is not your fault. None of this is.
I wanted to warn you. I wanted to talk to you the way we used to when you’d sleep on the floor of my bedroom. Or when we’d shoot hoops on the basketball court. But if I warned you, I knew you wouldn’t accept it. You wouldn’t allow me to do this. And I had to.
I didn’t shut you out on purpose. But it was my decision to make. And you guys were worth it.
I know you guys feel lost. But I’d felt lost for such a long time. And then I read Alex’s letter to me. He warned me that I’d have to make a choice. I’ve enclosed his letter to me so that you could understand why or at least gain some insight.
I know the biggest question in the room is: what do we do now? I wish I could tell you what to do, I think it might have something to do with my controlling nature, but I can’t.
I do have several ideas that I’d like to share with you.
Tell my parents the truth.
Or fake my suicide. At least that’s a half-truth.
Or lie. Say I ran away.
The choice is yours. I left behind letters for each of those options.
Michael, you’ve been a wonderful friend. We may not have always seen eye to eye, but since when is that important. You were the one person to always call me on my shit. And as much as I complained, I was better for it. I want you to be happy. With Liz by your side I know you will be. I know you will share this amazing life together, and I hope that once in a while you think of me.
You’re in charge now, and I’m pretty sure you’re pissed at me cause now you don’t want it. But Michael, trust me, you are the right man for the job.
You’ve been my best friend for two lifetimes. In this one you’ve been more than that, you’ve been my brother.
Please tell Isabel that I love her. That she’s been an amazing sister, and that I’m sorry I’ve been such a pain in the ass all these years. She’s stronger than she thinks she is.
Tell Kyle that he better treat my big sister right. They make an amazing couple, and there really is no one better for her.
Tell Jim not to blame himself. That he has helped us more ways than we can ever repay him. He’s been a great person to have on our side.
Tell Maria that she was an amazing friend. I’m sorry we tangled her up in this mess. I hope she follows her dreams. She’d be an awesome rock star.
Tell my parents I love them. That without them life would have been a whole lot scarier. Their love, their concern, their patience, their generosity in opening their heart and home to two kids they found walking in the desert, meant more to me than they’ll ever know.
And finally tell Liz I love her. That I always will.
Be happy. Both of you.
All of you.
All my love,
Max
“Is that it?” asked Liz breaking the silence that punctuated the end of the letter.
“Yeah, well here’s Alex’s letter to him. I can read that if you guys want.”
“Please Michael,” Isabel requested, “I need to understand.”
Michael nodded before unfolding the worn printout and reading:
Max—
By now you know you’ve been tricked.
By now you know that nothing is as you thought it should be.
And I know that this is hard for you to accept.
Thank you for trusting me with your secret. Thank you for being a friend and for trying to save me when it was too late.
I know that for a while you weren’t yourself. Please don’t blame yourself, it was all Tess. There was no way to protect us from her. Please know that when you believed in her you were really doing the right thing. She wasn’t deserving of the chance, but that is her own fault, not yours.
Max, I wish I had good news. I wish I could tell you that love and happiness and joy were all around the corner.
But Liz is with Michael. And that’s where she belongs. You know that.
And what the future holds is harsh.
You will be faced with a terrible decision. Both of them lead to death. I know this from the Destiny Book. The reason I’m telling you this, is because in the end I believe it’s better if you know your options.
Kivar will come to Earth, he will take on a form you will not be able to fight. And either he will kill all of you, or you give him what he wants. What he’s always wanted. The Royal Seal.
To do that, you must sacrifice yourself.
I wish the words I were writing were different. I wish that I could tell you happy things. But I need to be sure that my death wasn’t in vain. You have to do that for the both of us.
Good Luck Max.
I’m behind you all the way.
Alex
They looked at Michael when he finished reading. Tears streaking their faces. There were no words. There was nothing they could say. In the end Max had chosen to save them. Who were they to say anything but thank you? How could they do that when all they wanted was to see him laugh and tell them it was all just a horrible joke?
But it wasn’t.
Everything was all too real.
Their only choice was to accept it.
Part 49
Kyle helped seat his father at Max’s desk and watched as Liz gently brushed Max’s hair off his face. They both saw the letter propped up against the lamp on his night table.
“Michael,” Liz whispered.
“Yeah?”
“He left something for you,” Michael glanced at her sharply and looked at where she was pointing. With shaking hands he took the envelope and tore it open.
Isabel seated herself on the bed, “Read it aloud.”
The others nodded as they settled themselves; Kyle perched on the desk, Liz on the floor her back propped against the bed, and Michael on the windowsill.
Michael cleared his throat and began reading:
Michael—
I know that my decision will be hardest for you to accept. That you will want to blame yourself for not stopping me. That you will hurt because I didn’t warn you. That you will think I was shutting you out of making a decision. Well don’t.
Don’t blame yourself. This is not your fault. None of this is.
I wanted to warn you. I wanted to talk to you the way we used to when you’d sleep on the floor of my bedroom. Or when we’d shoot hoops on the basketball court. But if I warned you, I knew you wouldn’t accept it. You wouldn’t allow me to do this. And I had to.
I didn’t shut you out on purpose. But it was my decision to make. And you guys were worth it.
I know you guys feel lost. But I’d felt lost for such a long time. And then I read Alex’s letter to me. He warned me that I’d have to make a choice. I’ve enclosed his letter to me so that you could understand why or at least gain some insight.
I know the biggest question in the room is: what do we do now? I wish I could tell you what to do, I think it might have something to do with my controlling nature, but I can’t.
I do have several ideas that I’d like to share with you.
Tell my parents the truth.
Or fake my suicide. At least that’s a half-truth.
Or lie. Say I ran away.
The choice is yours. I left behind letters for each of those options.
Michael, you’ve been a wonderful friend. We may not have always seen eye to eye, but since when is that important. You were the one person to always call me on my shit. And as much as I complained, I was better for it. I want you to be happy. With Liz by your side I know you will be. I know you will share this amazing life together, and I hope that once in a while you think of me.
You’re in charge now, and I’m pretty sure you’re pissed at me cause now you don’t want it. But Michael, trust me, you are the right man for the job.
You’ve been my best friend for two lifetimes. In this one you’ve been more than that, you’ve been my brother.
Please tell Isabel that I love her. That she’s been an amazing sister, and that I’m sorry I’ve been such a pain in the ass all these years. She’s stronger than she thinks she is.
Tell Kyle that he better treat my big sister right. They make an amazing couple, and there really is no one better for her.
Tell Jim not to blame himself. That he has helped us more ways than we can ever repay him. He’s been a great person to have on our side.
Tell Maria that she was an amazing friend. I’m sorry we tangled her up in this mess. I hope she follows her dreams. She’d be an awesome rock star.
Tell my parents I love them. That without them life would have been a whole lot scarier. Their love, their concern, their patience, their generosity in opening their heart and home to two kids they found walking in the desert, meant more to me than they’ll ever know.
And finally tell Liz I love her. That I always will.
Be happy. Both of you.
All of you.
All my love,
Max
“Is that it?” asked Liz breaking the silence that punctuated the end of the letter.
“Yeah, well here’s Alex’s letter to him. I can read that if you guys want.”
“Please Michael,” Isabel requested, “I need to understand.”
Michael nodded before unfolding the worn printout and reading:
Max—
By now you know you’ve been tricked.
By now you know that nothing is as you thought it should be.
And I know that this is hard for you to accept.
Thank you for trusting me with your secret. Thank you for being a friend and for trying to save me when it was too late.
I know that for a while you weren’t yourself. Please don’t blame yourself, it was all Tess. There was no way to protect us from her. Please know that when you believed in her you were really doing the right thing. She wasn’t deserving of the chance, but that is her own fault, not yours.
Max, I wish I had good news. I wish I could tell you that love and happiness and joy were all around the corner.
But Liz is with Michael. And that’s where she belongs. You know that.
And what the future holds is harsh.
You will be faced with a terrible decision. Both of them lead to death. I know this from the Destiny Book. The reason I’m telling you this, is because in the end I believe it’s better if you know your options.
Kivar will come to Earth, he will take on a form you will not be able to fight. And either he will kill all of you, or you give him what he wants. What he’s always wanted. The Royal Seal.
To do that, you must sacrifice yourself.
I wish the words I were writing were different. I wish that I could tell you happy things. But I need to be sure that my death wasn’t in vain. You have to do that for the both of us.
Good Luck Max.
I’m behind you all the way.
Alex
They looked at Michael when he finished reading. Tears streaking their faces. There were no words. There was nothing they could say. In the end Max had chosen to save them. Who were they to say anything but thank you? How could they do that when all they wanted was to see him laugh and tell them it was all just a horrible joke?
But it wasn’t.
Everything was all too real.
Their only choice was to accept it.
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated. No spam please. Let's keep things fun and nice and respectful.