Roswell Fanatics

Thanks for the feedback! I know I lost some of it during the server switch last week. I stupidly thought it had happened over the weekend while I was gone and went ahead and updated like an idiot. Oh well, thanks to those who left feedback again, and for those who didn't...poo on ya!:lol: Hope you like this part...only two more. ducking to avoid the rotton fruit aimed at me...


Part10

I can tell that Isabel’s glad that we’re all pitching in to help now. Seeing her relief makes me feel even worse for staying away for so long. I went home early this morning and gave my parents some lame excuse about falling asleep over at Maria’s while we were watching movies. They gave me their best disappointed look and told me to call next time.

I tried to point out that I couldn’t call if I was asleep, but that didn’t seem to make it any better. Thankful that I don’t have to work today, I showered and changed before coming back over here to help. Kyle was here when I got here and we volunteered to clean up Max and his room while Isabel got some sleep.

Kyle helped me change the sheets on Max’s bed and now we’re attempting to bathe Max. Not as easy as it sounds since he’s basically dead weight.

“So how do you wanna do this?” Kyle asks as we both stand at the foot of the bed looking down at Max. He’s covered in sweat and the sheets are tangled in his legs. “You wanna try to get him in the tub, or are we just going for the sponge bath?”

“What does Isabel usually do?” The thought of getting Max in a tub, naked, with Kyle in the room seems a little uncomfortable to me. But if that’s what we have to do, I’ll do it.

“I think she gives him a sponge bath. She never asked me to help carry him to the bathroom, and I’m guessing she didn’t carry him herself.” Kyle sounds like he’s voting against the naked bathtub scene, too, so I readily agree to the sponge method.

As I do my best with a washcloth and a bowl of soapy water, I’m impressed by Kyle’s attitude toward this whole thing. He helps lift arms and legs, and he rolls Max over on his stomach when I ask. All without any smartass comments or digs at Max.

I take my time. Partly to make myself feel better for neglecting him these past weeks, partly because I’ve never had the opportunity to see Max or touch him like this. I know he’s sick, and I wonder how it can be possible for his skin to look like it does, but I can’t help but enjoy what little bit I can from this experience.

When I’m done with his back and Kyle flips him back over, we both look down at Max, uncomfortable silence between us. “So,” he says, both of our gazes glued to Max’s boxers. “What do we do about the rest?”

I feel my face flame red with heat. No one knows what I did, and I’m completely embarrassed. When Max was out the second time, when he wouldn’t wake up for three days, I left Michael’s room while he changed Max’s clothes. When Michael came out carrying a bundle of clothes and headed toward the laundry room, he told me not to go in yet because Max was naked.

So I sat by myself in the living room chewing on my lip and staring at the closed bedroom door. I just couldn’t help it. Anyone would do the same, right? Thank God Michael didn’t catch me.

“Let’s just change his boxers and call it good,” I offer.

Kyle nods and grabs a clean pair from Max’s dresser. “Maybe you should leave. I don’t think Max would like the idea of you ogling his goodies.”

“And he would feel better about you doing it?” I challenge him.

Kyle shrugs and says, “I’m a guy. And he’s not in love with me. Trust me, it’s different.”

I roll my eyes and say, “Fine.” I gather the towels, washcloth and bowl and leave the room thinking about what he said. And I feel even worse about what I did at Michael’s apartment. I might have to kill myself if Max ever finds out.

As I stand in the laundry room stuffing the washer with sheets and towels, I glance back to see that Ava’s sitting at the table watching me. “Hey.”

“I bet if I go in there and tell Max you’re givin’ him sponge baths, that’ll make him come back.” She’s smirking at me and I shut the lid on the washer before joining her at the table.

“Yah, I’m not too sure about that. The other me that’s there is a nurse, so I’m sure he’s getting regular sponge baths already.” I think about that for a minute and ask, “Did you see anyone else there besides me and Alex?”

“No, why?”

“I don’t know, I just thought maybe Tess would be there.” I shrug and lean my elbows on the table. I’m not sure why I thought she would be. I guess I was thinking that since he slept with her, there would be some version of her in that world, too.

“I been thinkin’,” Ava says, interrupting my not so pleasant thoughts about Tess. “Maybe I should try to bring someone with me.”

I never thought of that. I didn’t even think it might be possible. “That’s a good idea. He doesn’t really know you, so it would probably be more effective if someone was there that he knows. You should ask Isabel.”

“I was thinkin’ it should be you.” Off my surprised look, she says, “Listen, I didn’t wanna say nothin’ to Michael or Isabel because I don’t know for sure. But they’re off.”

“Off?”

“Their power, or energy. Their essence, I guess. It’s hard to explain. I don’t know what happened here, but Max isn’t the only one who’s been screwed with. They’re different, what I feel from them is different from the last time I was here.”

“So you think Tess did this? Do you think she did something to all three of them?” Possibilities start running through my head. If she had the power to alter memories, she had to have a lot of access to the brain. It’s possible she could have done something devastating to any one of us by just rearranging a few nerve responses. The thought of that terrifies me.

“Nah, this don’t feel like somethin’ we could do. I can’t just go in there and screw with Michael’s powers. It ain’t possible. Somethin’ else happened here.”

“Ok, but what does that have to do with bringing me instead of Isabel?” I need a piece of paper to get all my ideas down. But overriding all of my curiosity is fear. Could Isabel and Michael be next? What are we supposed to do with three comatose aliens?

“I told you before. Max changed you. I felt it last time I was here. And you feel the same, your energy is the same as it was. Whatever’s happenin’ to them isn’t doin’ anything to you.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, I’ll admit it. This has gotten out of control. This whole thing with Max is completely crazy. At first, I was too mad at Max and what Tess had done to worry about him that much. I knew he’d get better. We’d all find a way to fix what was wrong. We always do. I was so sure. Liz and I would swoop in and save the day, like we usually do, and Michael would take all the credit. It’s how we work.

But I don’t think that’ll happen now. I think we’ve lost Max. And I feel like a jerk because I haven’t been a very good friend to him lately. Granted, he didn’t go out of his way for me either. But I’m not the one who’s dying in the other room.

Michael’s been quiet ever since he got back from New York. Once we found out Ava couldn’t help Max like we were expecting, he’s just retreated into himself. He knows Max isn’t going to make it. I don’t know what to do for him besides be here.

I turn the TV on and flip around the channels until I see some kind of sports. I leave it there, but he doesn’t look at it. He just stares back toward the hallway that leads to Max’s room.

Suddenly, I hear Kyle yell, “A little help back here!” Liz goes racing from the kitchen down the hallway and we quickly follow, Ava bringing up the rear.

When I walk through the door, I see Liz and Kyle already on the bed turning Max on his side. I’ve been through this before so I slip back into the hallway and grab some clean towels from the linen closet. I soak one of them in the bathroom sink and rush them back into Max’s room.

He’s convulsing on the bed while Liz and Kyle do their best to make sure he stays on his side. Michael’s not moving, so I have to shove him to the side to get the towels and a bucket over there before it’s too late. Kyle’s telling Liz what to do and I can tell she’s getting overwhelmed, more with fear than anything else. She’s never seen him do this.

I move her out of the way as tactfully as possible and say, “I’ve got it, Liz. Kyle and I know what to do.” She stumbles away from the bed as Kyle helps me move Max so that he’s at the edge of the bed on his side, the bucket on the floor at the ready. Good, maybe this time it won’t be so messy.

He’s still seizing when I see that foam stuff start to seep out of his mouth. “Someone get the bucket,” Kyle says. We’re still struggling to keep Max on the bed. I don’t remember him convulsing this bad the last time.

I see Liz kneel down on the floor in front of us and she lifts the bucket up. Our eyes meet over Max’s shaking head and I see her look of horror when Max vomits up whatever that stuff is. It’s slimy and yellow and it smells worse than anything I’ve ever smelled in my life. I see her chin start quivering and her eyes immediately fill with tears.

“It’ll be over in a minute,” I tell her. “It’s ok.”

When it finally ends, I get off the bed in relief and grab the wet towel as Kyle gets Max situated in the middle of the bed again. As I wipe off Max’s face, I glance over toward Michael. The look on his face matches the one Liz had. He finally snaps out of it and realizes that he’s just been standing there staring and he sends me a look of apology for not helping.

I send him a smile telling him it’s ok and we finish cleaning up. Thankfully, none of the alien goo got on any of the sheets this time. I think we have this thing down to an art and Kyle and I congratulate ourselves on a relatively goo-free ordeal.

He makes a quick escape, having done his duty for the day, and says he’s going home for a while. Liz stays with Max while the rest of us go back to the living room.

“I had no idea,” Michael says as he falls onto the couch. “Is this what you’ve been dealing with while I was in New York?”

“Isabel’s the one who’s been dealing with it. This is my third slime-a-thon. I think Kyle’s been here when it happened a couple of times. But it happens so fast that Isabel’s usually the only one here.” I opt to leave out the part about the first time I witnessed it, I kind of passed out after puking up my breakfast all over the floor. He doesn’t need to know that.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jesus, I need a shower. If I never see or smell that nasty shit that comes out of Max’s mouth again, it’ll be too soon. I strip my clothes off as soon as I close the front door and race to the bathroom. The water can’t get hot enough for me.

As I stand under the steaming showerhead, I can’t stop thinking about how screwed up this whole situation is. At first, I found it kind of amusing. Then annoying. Now, I actually feel bad for the guy. He really doesn’t deserve this.

Evans isn’t my favorite person in the world. And we’ve never resorted to calling each other friend. During the best of times we can maybe play some hoops together. During the worst we can threaten each other’s lives. But through all the bickering and all the jealousy, we’ve been able to have a little respect for each other.

It’s the only reason I’m helping. He saved my life. At a time when I was nothing but a threat to him, and we pretty much hated each other, he made the split decision to save my life. That is how I know that underneath all the self-importance, arrogance, and general assholish behavior is a good person.

After changing into clean clothes, I pass by my room and nudge the door open with my foot. Tess’ things are still scattered around, forgotten. I turn the light on and briefly think that I wouldn’t want to get caught snooping. Then I remember. Screw that.

I open all the dresser drawers and rummage through her clothes, tossing them out on the floor. Nothing there. I go to the closet next. It’s stuffed with clothes and shoes and it still smells like her. When all the clothes are dumped on the floor and the shoes tossed into the hall, I search all the corners and find nothing.

She had to hide things. Everyone hides things. I kneel on the floor next to the bed with the flowered bedspread we got for her. I look under it. Nothing. Then I remember my old hiding place and lift up the mattress. At first I think there’s nothing there either, but I lift the mattress completely off and throw it to the side. In the back corner is a small notebook. I. Am. Awesome.

I sit on the floor with the notebook and flip through it. At first glance, I know I’ve hit gold. It looks like a diary or something. It’s filled with her handwriting and I’m pretty sure it’s not notes from school. I flip toward the middle and read an entry dated November 15, 2000.

If only Ed could see me now. Everything is going perfectly. All with Liz Parker’s help. How hilarious is that? She handed me Max on a silver platter and I’m not about to pass it up. With a little help, he’ll be in my bed by the end of the year. And now that I’m almost ready for Alex’s help, it won’t be long before we get that stupid book translated and get off this planet. Whittaker almost screwed it all up, but Isabel took care of that. Which is almost as funny as the whole Liz sleeping with Kyle thing. I don’t know why she’s lying and I don’t care. I wish I didn’t have to make Kyle forget about what happened, though, but I can’t take the chance that Max will find out. Not now. I’m so close to getting everything I ever wanted.

“Holy shit.” I slam the book closed and drop it to the floor, staring at the cover filled with Tess’ flower doodles in horror.

~TBC~

This was updated everywhere else Monday, so expect the next (and final) part next Monday. Thanks for all the great feedback!

Part 11

My first visitor of the morning is Dr. White. I suspect he’s here because Beth told him about the vision I saw yesterday. She told me that’s never happened before. That I’ve never seen anyone from that other world come to this one.

The fact that it was Ava that I saw makes me believe even more that I belong here. Because if someone were going to get through, why would it be Ava? It wouldn’t. It would be Isabel.

“So I hear we had a little set back yesterday,” Dr. White says as he pulls a chair over to my bed. “Would you like to tell me about it?”

I look over to the doorway where Ava first appeared and say, “Ava, she’s Tess’ duplicate, showed up right over there. She said that they sent her to bring me back. That they’re worried about me.”

He doesn’t look at me strangely. He’s heard my stories about our dupes. He’s heard my stories about Tess. Nothing surprises him anymore. “Why do you think they sent her and not your sister?” He’s playing along, trying to further prove that those people aren’t real by pointing out inconsistencies.

“They think Tess did something to me. They think Ava will be able to help because she has the same powers.” Man, that sounds stupid.

Dr. White starts talking but I see something out of the corner of my eye. It’s Ava again. But this time Liz is with her. That’s low. Dr. White sees that I’m distracted and he looks in the general direction I am. “Is she here again, Max?”

I nod my head and say, “Liz is with her.”

“Max?” Liz steps toward my bed after glancing at Ava for support. She smiles and stops next to me. “It’s good to see you.”

“They’re not real, Max. Tell them to go away and they will,” Dr. White says. “You have to start ridding your mind of these things that support your hallucinations. There are things in that world that you cling to. Safe holds. But they’re traps for your mind. You have to break them down.”

Liz glances at Dr. White briefly before looking back at me. She looks so sad, and tired. “Max, I am real. And I’m waiting for you at home. I know it seems better here and…and I don’t really have anything I can say that will change your mind.”

She reaches her hand out as if she’s going to touch my face, but I jerk my head away and squeeze my eyes shut, willing them away. I think about them being gone and when I open my eyes, they are. Cool.

I talk to Dr. White for a little while longer. We talk more about letting go of the things I hold onto from that world and he tells me my mind is tricking me. I ask him about the trips I’m still making back to the other place and he says they won’t last much longer.

About an hour after Dr. White leaves, Ava and Liz are back. At least I’m the only one in the room now and I won’t have to explain my delusional rambling to anyone. “Go away,” I tell them. “Why are you doing this to me?”

Liz doesn’t say anything. She crosses the room and sits next to me on the bed and kisses me instead. I push her away and close my eyes again, wishing them away like I did before. When I open my eyes, she’s gone. I can still taste her on my lips, though. And I remember what it was like to kiss her. I remember the nights we would sit up on her balcony and kiss like crazy.

And then I think of Beth. I wonder if kissing her will feel the same. I hope so. I pick up a magazine from my nightstand. I can’t concentrate on it, though, because I keep expecting to look up and see Ava and Liz appear in my doorway again.

Two hours later, they do. I throw the magazine down and yell at them to leave. But Liz gets a determined look on her face and marches over to my bed.

“Max, listen to me. You’re not well. If you don’t wake up, you’re going to die. Do you understand me? If you stay here, you will never see any of us again.” She sounds angry and it reminds me of the time right after Alex died when she was so determined to prove that he was murdered.

“I’m not going to die.” I smile indulgently at her. “I’m just fine.”

She rolls her eyes and lets out an exasperated sound. “You’re wasting away right in front of my eyes, Max. Please, just come back to us. I promise that we’ll work everything out. Everyone’s helping to take care of you, even Kyle. That’s how much we care about you.”

“Yah, Liz is even givin’ you sponge baths,” Ava adds from across the room.

Liz throws her an annoyed look and turns back to me. “Kyle helped.” Her face is red from embarrassment, but I don’t pay too much attention. I’m slightly horrified at the thought of Kyle giving me a sponge bath.

“Please leave,” I whisper. I don’t want Liz here. I don’t want her talking to me and telling me everything will be better if I just go back. She’s wrong. She doesn’t belong here.

She has that sad look on her face again and she says, “Max, I love you.”

That makes me pause. The last time Liz told me she loved me was that night she came through my window and told me she wanted to be with normal boys and have a normal life. Of course, that ‘I love you’ was followed by her telling me she didn’t want to die for me. And then she left and broke my heart into a thousand pieces before dropping it to the ground and smashing it with her shoe. So that kinda sucked.

“You don’t love me, Liz. You want normal boys, remember?” I wonder why I’m still hurt by this considering there’s a very good possibility that she’s not real. Beth never told me she wanted to be with normal boys. She likes me the way I am. Crazy and all. “You need to leave now. I don’t want you here.”

I turn away from her and pick up my magazine again. I flip through a few pages and when I look up, she’s gone.

~~~~~~~~~~

I don’t think I can read anymore. By the look on Isabel’s face, I don’t think she does either. “This is just so unbelievable,” she says. “Do you know what this means?”

“That we’ve all had our memories and our heads screwed with for the past year? Yah.” The more I read of Tess’ diary, the more I wonder what’s been real this last year and what hasn’t. No wonder my old friends at school have started to look at me like I’m schizo.

Speaking of schizos, it looks like Max got the brunt of Tess’ efforts. Reading about some of the things she did to him, I’m starting to get a better understanding of why he’s been acting the way he has for the last few months.

“Listen to this. She wrote this in January. I had a close call today. Got caught climbing up onto Liz’s balcony tonight. It was late enough that I knew she’d be in bed and all I needed was to give her a few memories while she was sleeping. But the stupid bitch was awake and Max was with her. From the looks of it they were having a pretty serious conversation, I think it was about Kyle. Liz was crying and Max seemed really upset. But I nipped all of that in the bud. I sent Max happily on his way and Liz to bed, with some fresh memories of Alex calling her from Sweden.” Isabel looks up at me and I shake my head. How are any of us supposed to know what’s really happened for the past year? Our entire lives could be a figment of Tess’ imagination.

“Liz is gonna bust a blood vessel when she sees this,” I say. Not to mention Maria. Once Maria finds out what Tess has done, especially to her, I don’t think I wanna be within a five mile radius.

Isabel closes the diary and sets it down on my coffee table. “Kyle, why do you think Ava asked Liz to go instead of me?” I look over at her and shrug.

“Why do you think she did?”

She doesn’t answer, just stares down at Tess’ diary for a couple of minutes. When she finally looks back up at me, I see fear in her eyes. “What is it?”

She looks down at her hands and says, “Please don’t tell anyone about this, but I think there’s something wrong with me.”

“What do mean? You’re not starting to visit alternate universes, are you?” Please let her say no. One slime-puking, comatose alien is enough for me.

“No, nothing like that. But something’s wrong with my powers, and I feel…different.” She hesitates with her explanation and I can tell she’s scared.

“What, like your powers are out of control?”

She shakes her head. “More like they’re getting weaker. It’s getting harder for me to do little things that I used to do all the time without effort.”

Wow. “Is it happening to Michael, too? Maybe this is related to what’s happening to Max.” I jump up from the couch intending to go get the phone. “Michael should know about this, and Liz, too.”

“Kyle!” She grabs my arm to stop me and I’m confused. “You can’t tell anyone.”

I wait a beat, then ask, “Don’t you think this is important? I think we need to tell Michael and Liz.”

“There’s nothing they can do for me, Kyle.” She stands up and paces in front of me. “We can’t do anything about Max, what makes you think we can do anything about this? I mean, so what if it’s related? Maybe this is how Max felt right before he started passing out. I’m gonna end up just like Max.”

This is totally beyond my scope. I’m not the alien expert, Liz is. “Isabel, listen to me. We need to at least tell Michael. What if this is happening to him, too?” I pick up the diary and my car keys and head toward the door. “Come on. We need to at least show this to everyone else. Then let’s talk to Liz about your powers, she’ll know what to do.” I wait for her to argue with me, but she just sighs and follows me out the door. Which is good, because if she didn’t agree to tell anyone about her powers, I was gonna do it for her.

~~~~~~~~~~

It doesn’t happen very often. I’ll admit, I tend to talk a lot when I’m stressed. That’s just how I cope. But this? I don’t even know what to say. I’m speechless. I don’t know how much longer I can sit here and listen to Liz and the others talk about all of this.

Michael left a few minutes ago. Probably to go test out their theory. It’s not like he can blast stuff in the house. He wants to prove them wrong. Michael will always be an alien first, human second. He may have embraced his human side a little bit more over the last year, but he’d never willingly give up the alien side. I’m scared to think about how Michael will deal with it if he’s losing that part of himself.

“Did I miss the part about why this doesn’t seem to be affecting you?” I ask Ava.

“Maybe because she wasn’t anywhere near the Granolith? Or maybe because she’s part of the other set?” Liz shrugs and looks toward Ava to see if she has a better explanation. She doesn’t.

“And you think that’s why Max is so sick? Because the Granolith is gone?” I still don’t understand. And I don’t understand why Max would be so far gone and Isabel and Michael seem to be fine. Well, besides the losing their powers thing.

Isabel tosses Tess’ diary across the table and says, “You should read that. You should read about how often she mindwarped Max. How often she rearranged his memories. Almost every day. If he were human, it would have…it would have killed him.” She whispers the last part and our eyes meet across the table, each of us silently adding the conclusion to that statement. It would have killed him, like Alex.

“I think we should take a look at your blood cells,” Liz says to Isabel. “If I’m right…”

“If you’re right, it still doesn’t help us with Max,” Isabel cuts in. “If Tess’ mindwarps have somehow screwed up this process, then the simple thing would be to heal him. But we have a tiny problem.”

Liz gets up and leaves the kitchen, returning with Max’s microscope. Max and Liz are the only two people I know who have their very own microscope. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Liz says as she gets a slide ready. I can hear the hope in her voice and I can actually feel a new energy in the air. This theory is a little far fetched, but if it’s true we might just have a shot at bringing Max back.

While Liz gets blood from Isabel, I hear Michael slam the door and stomp his way into the kitchen. I know what that stomp means.

“I’m all messed up, too,” he announces as soon as he walks in and I see Kyle open his mouth to say something, but he doesn’t. He’s been pretty quiet throughout all of this. I guess even he doesn’t feel like joking right now. Michael looks at the microscope and asks, “What are you doing?”

“I’ll need some of your blood, too, Michael,” Liz tells him and places the slide under the microscope and adjusts the little doohickeys. We all kind of lean in and wait. When she looks up at Isabel, I know. “Your blood has human blood cells in it. Not a lot, maybe twenty five percent, but they’re there.”

Isabel looks down at her hand as if she’ll be able to see through her skin and see the proof for herself. After a few seconds, she shoves Liz out of the way and looks through the microscope herself. “Oh my God,” she whispers.

Before Liz can even ask for Michael’s blood, he’s pricking his finger and dropping some on a slide for her. We watch Liz prepare it as she says, “I want to test Max’s, too. Can someone go get some for me?” She’s already got the slide in and is looking at it when Ava rushes back to Max’s room.

By the look on Liz’s face, I can tell that Michael’s blood looks the same as Isabel’s. Is she right? Are they slowly turning human? I think I’m in shock. I need some cedar oil or something. I stumble from my chair in search of my purse as chaos erupts in the kitchen. They’re all talking at once, theories and explanations are flying all over the place.

I don’t know what to feel about this and I don’t even realize I’m crying until Michael sees me. “What’s wrong with you?” he asks in his usual, Neanderthal way.

“I don’t know. I mean, this is so…I don’t know how to feel about this. Why aren’t you freaking out?” He’s just standing there calmly looking at me. As if he didn’t just find out his life is changing. As if he’s not turning human because the Granolith left and they don’t need their alien sides anymore. He picks now to be calm?

He shrugs and says, “Not much I can do about it. Why? Is it so bad that I’m turning into a human? You’re the one who’s always bitching about all the alien stuff.”

I’m about to answer him when I hear Liz in the kitchen. “Max’s cells are different. He has more human blood cells than you two, but it looks strange, almost…violent. Like his alien cells are fighting for control. Look,” she says as she steps aside for Isabel to see.

“Wow.” Isabel looks up at Michael and says, “Come look at this.”

Michael goes to look and I turn to Liz. “You have to go and try to explain what’s happening to Max.”

Her face falls and she glances at Ava before saying, “He won’t even listen to me, Maria. He kept pushing us out. I don’t think he’ll believe me.”

“Then you have to make him believe you. You have to do something while he still has the power to heal himself.” If Max is losing his powers faster than Isabel and Michael, then soon it’ll be too late.

“She’s right,” Ava says. “We need to go. Now.”

Liz looks at me and I can see the fear in her eyes. Fear that she’ll fail. “If he’ll listen to anyone, Liz, it’s you. You can do it.” I nod my head in encouragement, hoping that I’m right. And I sniff some cedar oil, hoping this will work.

~TBC~

Well, here it is...the end. Thank you guys for coming along on the ride, I know it's been a little rough. Thanks for all your great feedback! And thank you, especially, to Kath for being my beta and for telling me this was good. You rock! I've toyed around with the idea of a sequel, but I'm not sure if I want to. I like this the way it is...uncertain. But who knows? So, without further ado, here you go...

Part 12

Oh God, I’m so nervous. I don’t know if I can do this and I don’t want to let anyone down. I can feel Ava’s hand in mine but it offers me no reassurances. Everyone else has come into Max’s room and I can feel their eyes on me. I can feel the weight of their expectation. Isabel, Michael, Maria, even Kyle.

A cell phone rings and both Ava and I turn around and glare at the offending noise. Kyle’s eyes go wide and he digs his phone from his pocket. “Sorry.” When he answers, I realize that it’s his dad calling and he leaves the room. Presumably to explain to him what’s going on.

Settling back by Max’s side, Ava grabs my hand again and I try to concentrate. No easy task with everyone staring at me. No easy task knowing that Max won’t want to see me. When my breathing evens out, I get the familiar feeling of my stomach dropping and I see light.

Everything comes into focus and I see Max’s hospital room. I turn to make sure Ava is next to me. As if she wouldn’t be. “It’s ok,” she says. “Let’s go do this.”

I take a deep breath and walk forward into Max’s room and I freeze. He’s not alone. “Oh God,” I moan. I didn’t expect this. My heart squeezes when I see him and my throat tightens. “Alex.”

My head is swimming and it takes a few moments to get myself under control with the help of Ava squeezing my hand. Now Alex is looking at me and my mouth drops in disbelief. Did he hear me? But then I look toward Max and realize Alex is only looking in the direction that Max is and I feel my heart break a little bit.

I can’t do this. Not with Alex here. My head is reminding me that he’s not real, but my heart…well, my heart is drinking in the sight of him. I feel my feet moving again and they’re carrying me toward Alex against my will. I can’t help it. I have to see him.

But as I get further into the room, I notice there’s someone else there and I’m surprised to see myself. This must be Beth. She’s sitting next to Max with a worried look on her face but my gaze is drawn once again to Alex. As I step next to him, I say, “Alex.” But I know he won’t hear me. I know it’s not really him.

My hands are shaking and when I look over at Max I see a strange look on his face. “Who is it? Is it Liz again?” Alex speaks and my hand flies to my mouth, too late to hold the sob back that escapes.

“Yes,” he says and I try to force myself to get it together. I can’t get wrapped up in the fact that Alex is here. I have a job to do.

“Max. Please don’t push me out. Listen to what I have to say, and if…and if you want me to leave after that, I will. Just…can you just give me a few minutes?” I hold my breath, hoping that he’ll listen to me. Not that I have any idea what I’m going to say at the moment.

“Don’t listen to her, Max,” the other me says and she runs her hand down the side of his face. “She’s not real.”

Max is looking from her, to me, to Alex, and back to her in bewilderment and I can’t hold it back anymore. I snap. This is too much. I can’t do it. The tears run freely down my face and I practically double over with the pain of my sobs. “Ava, I can’t. I can’t.” I’m practically screaming in an effort to get the words out. I’m faced with the realization that I can’t help Max. I can’t compete with this world, with these people. I can’t handle being in this room with Alex and some twisted version of myself. I can’t face my failure.

~~~~~~~~~~

I’m supposed to go home today. It’s been a while since I’ve gone to that other place or since I’ve seen Liz or Ava. So this turn of events has caught me completely off guard. I thought it was over. I thought I was better, healthy, and I was going home and everything would be perfect.

Until Liz showed up. I find myself speechless and unprepared for her reaction at seeing Alex and Beth. When I saw the look on her face when she saw Alex, I had to fight the urge to comfort her. Her open shock and horror at seeing him made me forget that she’s not real. She’s not real. She’s not real.

So then why is she reacting this way? I assume she came to try to talk me into going back with her again. But she seems to have gotten side-tracked and forgotten her original mission. I was almost ready to agree to her plea for a moment. But she’s not thinking about that now. Because now she’s crying uncontrollably and saying something to Ava about leaving.

I don’t understand. I feel a pain in my heart as I watch her cry and only know that I want her to stop. I can’t stand seeing her this way. I hate that she saw Alex here and that it upset her so much. Without thinking, I swing my legs over the side of the bed and Alex asks, “Max, what is it? Where are you going?” He’s looking around the room as if he’ll be able to see what I’m seeing.

But he can’t. “Liz.” She’s still crying and doesn’t hear me call her name.

“Max, what are you doing?” Beth is up now and walking over. She stops close to where Liz is and looks around. “Is she here? Is this where she is?” I look between the two of them. Liz, doubled over crying and Beth, looking around in anger. I nod, overwhelmed with both of them standing side by side.

“She’s not here, Max,” Beth says. Liz jumps at the sound of her voice and stumbles backwards when she sees Beth standing so close to her. She falls to the floor and I jump to my feet.

“Stop it,” I tell Beth. “You’re scaring her.”

Beth sweeps her arms out to her sides and says, “There’s no one here, Max. Liz isn’t here. There is no Liz.”

I feel Alex step beside me and I glance down at my shoulder to see his hand there. Beth is still talking, saying something about how I have to make them go away, that I just have to believe…believe something. I’m not really paying attention to her because it seems like everything is happening in slow motion.

Ava is standing in the doorway watching Liz, who is on the floor crying now, with sympathy. She looks up at me and says, “Max, we think we figured out what’s happenin’ to you. You’re changing. You’re losin’ your powers and becoming more human. It’s happening to Isabel and Michael, too. When the Granolith left, it must have triggered somethin’ inside of you so that your bodies would get rid of whatever it is that makes you alien. Your human side is taking over. And we think that all the mindwarping Tess did to you screwed up the process somehow, making you really sick.”

Liz stands up and takes a step toward me, struggling to get herself under control. She avoids looking at Alex as she says, “Max, listen to me. Tess mindwarped you almost every day. You need to heal what she did to your brain before you lose the power to do it. We’re running out of time. You’re running out of time. Right now, your body is trying to purge the alien part of you, but it’s happening too fast. I looked at your blood. You have human blood cells, Max.”

I don’t know what to say. So she takes my silence as permission to go on. “Please come back to us, Max. I don’t wanna lose you. Not like this.” She looks up at Alex, then, and over to Beth. “It seems perfect here, doesn’t it? I can see why you’d want to stay.”

I nod my head, still unable to form any words. Beth is watching me in expectation, waiting for me to tell her that Liz is gone. And Alex still has his hand on my shoulder.

“I’d want that, too, Max,” she says as she looks up at Alex. “To be here, with Alex, and know that I wouldn’t have to worry about any of the problems I’ve got in my life right now.” She looks back at me and says, “To be normal.”

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted, Liz,” I whisper.

Her mouth curves up in a small smile and she says, “Normal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, believe me. Someone really important to me once asked me what’s so great about normal. And that night…that night I realized that there isn’t anything great about normal.”

I feel a tug at the back of my mind. A memory that I can’t quite reach. I’m pretty sure I’m the one who said that to her, but I don’t remember when.

“I know that things are a little messed up right now. We have a lot of problems to work through, but we will. We’ll work through them together. We’ll work through it and figure everything out. Tess, your son, this thing with your powers…we’ll figure it out. But Max, we can’t do that if we lose you.” I watch a fresh batch of tears spill out over her eyes and she chokes, “I don’t want you to die.”

I reach up and wipe a tear from her cheek with my finger. “Don’t cry, Liz.”

She grabs my hand and kisses it, lingering for moment before she pulls away and smiles at me again. “I’ve said what I came here to say. Thank you. For listening to me. I just…I just want you to know that I still love you, Max. I’ll never stop. And I’ll be waiting for you.”

I feel Alex squeeze my shoulder and he says, “Max, come on. Why don’t you sit down and relax for a minute. Clear your head.” Liz drops my hand and I turn to look at Alex. When I look back, Liz is gone. So is Ava.

I look around the room frantically and Beth comes over and grabs my hand. “Is she gone?”

I nod, distracted. Did she just leave? Did she go away on her own? I’m a little confused about what just happened. Everything Liz told me is still ricocheting around in my head. “Yah, they’re gone.”

Alex leads me back over to the bed and I gratefully sit down, still staring at the spot I last saw Liz. I must look a little shell shocked because Alex pats my back and says, “It’s ok, man. They’re gone now.”

I look at him and then to Beth, and I can’t stop the sudden rush of memories. Memories of Isabel and Michael. Memories of Liz. I remember what it was like when Liz used to walk into a room and see me. How her face lit up and a big smile would come to her face. I remember how it felt to kiss Liz and how my heart would practically burst with happiness and surprise that she would actually kiss me back.

And I find myself wanting to believe her. I want to believe that we can all work out our problems. Because I miss them. I miss everyone. I miss Michael and his impulsiveness. I miss Isabel’s loving tolerance and support. I miss Maria’s chatter and general craziness. I even miss Kyle and the way he can make me laugh, even when I don’t want to.

When was the last time we were all happy? Las Vegas. For one night, we all forgot our problems and we were actually happy. With that one perfect memory in my mind, that’s when I believe her. Liz is right. I don’t belong here. I don’t belong in this perfect world that seems so normal. Because what’s so great about normal?

“Here, lie back down for a little while,” Beth says, guiding me down to the pillows. “It’ll all be ok soon.”

“Thanks,” I tell her and look up into her eyes. I study her for a few moments, marveling at how much she looks like Liz.

She smiles and caresses my cheek with her hand. “Max, I know you can beat this thing. I know you’re afraid. The world feels like a hard place sometimes but you have people who love you and who will help you through it. You just have to believe in yourself.”

I think about this a moment, let it sink in. “You’re right.” I smile up at her and she smiles back. “Thank you.”

I glance over at a smiling Alex and I see those black spots and I start to feel dizzy. “Goodbye,” I choke out at him, seeing a look of surprise on his face before I turn to look at Beth. She has a matching look of surprise, but it quickly turns to horror as realization dawns. It’s the last thing I see before everything goes black.

When I wake up, the first thing I hear is Liz and Michael arguing. He’s yelling at her to go back and try again and she’s trying to tell him that she’s done all she can.

“Hey,” I say weakly and every head in the room whips in my direction.

“Max!” Liz flies across the room, Isabel not too far behind.

“Well, look at that,” Kyle says. “Sleeping Beauty finally decided to wake up.” He smirks and I try to smile in his direction. “You staying?” he asks.

I nod my head and look over at Liz. She’s smiling through her tears and I fight the urge to pull her down close to me. Not that I could. I don’t feel so hot. “So you said something about healing my brain?”

She closes her eyes in relief and nods as she drops her head to my chest.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her before looking up at Isabel and Michael. They both look really tired, but they look happy. Relieved.

“It’ll be ok, Max. Everything’s gonna be ok,” Liz says. And I believe her.

~~~~~~~~~~

The hospital is dark, save for a lone light at Max’s bedside. Dr. White leans over and shines his penlight into Max’s unresponsive eyes before turning to his parents. “I’m sorry. There’s no reaction at all.”

Diane and Phillip Evans hold onto each other, grieving for another lost chance at getting their son back.

Beth and Alex stand together on the other side of the bed, looking down at Max sadly as the doctor says, “I’m afraid we lost him.”

~The End~