Alien_Friend: Ha ha, yes, only Michael would use the threat of no more Maria nudity as his motivation to go to church. And yes, Max is very trusting of Maria and Michael's friendship. Probably a bit too trusting.
pookie76:
Exactly! That's the ideal relationship, but it's also scary, because you run the risk of ruining a friendship if you start something romantic/sexual. I'm glad you enjoyed the last part so much! It was definitely a fun one to write, too.Isn't that what a relationship should be like? Besides sex etc it should be like the closest friendship and that's exactly what Maria and Michael have
Mag:
That's very true. Max really truly is in love, but the problem is that he's in love with a girl who doesn't exist. I'm glad you thought the "fake sex" scene in the church was daring! It seemed appropriate for the fic.To answer your little note about Max, I doubt that he is in love with Maria. He seems more in love with the picture of her he has created in his mind. But that Maria isn't real.
Sara: Yep, Michael and Maria are definitely getting close. And they've been pretty close since the beginning, so they're now getting VERY close. And they will get closer, eventually, I promise.
SweetnSpicy: I think that, within the next few parts, you'll have decided how you feel about Amy.
Tine: Well, to answer your question, as of right now, I have . . . brace yourself . . . 1,056 pages written. And it's not done yet. There's still a lot of stuff that I need to write. (Crazy, isn't it?) I think you guys are on page 370, so there's still a long ride ahead.
Elle: You have wedding plans? Aw, congratulations! That must be stressful, but exciting! I'm prolonging planning my own wedding. (I've been engaged for about a year and a half! lol) Oh, and you say I'm nudging you into Candyland? My mission in life! This must be a tough story for a Dreamer to read, so thanks for sticking with it.
spacegirl23: Yes, I had a feeling no one would miss Liz in the last part. And it's not really that Max is less hot than Michael, it's just that he's less confident. If he had some confidence, he would be a confident gentleman. And that would be very hot. Thanks for reading!
nibbles:
lol, well as long as they're burning together, they should be alright.they're so going to burn in hell.
Thank you ALL for the wonderful feedback and investment in this story!
THE SONG USED IN THIS PART IS "BIG CHAIR" BY TRAVIS.
Part 41
“Come on, Maria. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s one class. It’s not like I’m really gonna miss anything.”
“Oh, yeah,” Maria said sarcastically. “Just the day before a test, prime review time. No big deal. Yeah, skip it.”
Liz gave Maria a look. “Oh, come on, don’t act like you’ve never skipped a class before.”
“Exactly. And look at me now, Liz. Actually having to study my senior year to make sure I pass.” She made a face of disgust.
“I’ll be fine,” Liz assured her. “I’m smart. Not that you’re not. It’s just that you’re more, you know, street-smart.”
“I sure am,” Maria agreed. “Street-smart enough to know that crocs are a fashion red-herring. Seriously, Liz? Those are the ugliest shoes I’ve ever seen.”
“They’re comfy,” Liz reasoned. She took off one shoe anyway and threw it at Maria. Maria laughed.
“Don’t skip class, Liz,” she warned then, turning serious again. “I want you to be popular, not dumb.”
“Maria, I have to,” Liz insisted, checking out her reflection in the mirror. “It’s Valentine’s Day. I need to find a dress to wear tonight.”
“Just buy one from Tess.”
“I tried. She’s all sold out, and she doesn’t have time to make another one.”
Maria sighed, resigning herself to the fact that her friend was mall-bound and would probably receive her first failing grade on her upcoming sociology exam. “So you and Michael are going out?” she inquired.
“Yeah, apparently to this really nice, really fancy restaurant.”
“Yeah, that’s code for Chuck E. Cheese,” Maria informed her, knowing Michael’s lack of refinement well.
Liz rolled her eyes and continued to look at herself in the mirror. “So what are you and Max doing?” she asked as she picked a piece of food out of her teeth.
“Sadly, nothing,” she replied. “He has a huge exam tomorrow and promised to lead this study group, so . . .”
“Oh. That is sad. A study group on Valentine's Day? That's the kind of thing I used to do in high school.”
“Yeah. But he did get me a nice present, though. See?” She held out the heart-shaped necklace she was wearing for Liz to see.
“Oh my god, that is nice,” Liz said as she looked over the necklace. “Are those real diamonds?”
“I think so, but he wouldn’t say.”
Liz smiled. “We have studly boyfriends, Maria.”
Maria smiled, too. “So what’d your so-called stud give you?”
“Nothing I can talk about,” Liz said coyly.
“What? Parker! He didn’t, did he?” Maria shrieked. “He lost the bet! He’s supposed to be abstaining!”
“Oh, and he’s all about the abstinence, trust me,” Liz assured her. “It’s driving me insane. No, he just used his fingers.”
Maria cringed. “Oh. Kay. That’s . . .”
“You wanted to know,” Liz reminded her.
Before either of the girls could say more, there was a knock on the door.
“Ooh, Michael!” Liz squealed, skipping over to answer it. Her excitement decreased noticeably when she saw that it was not Michael on the other side, but some random guy.
“Hey,” he said. “My name’s Brad. You don’t know me, but I know you. I’m on the sixth floor.”
“Oh. Hi, Brad.”
Maria rolled her eyes in annoyance. She had never understood the guys who just went around and knocked on dorm room doors to meet girls. It wasn’t romantic. Dorm rooms weren’t exactly the stuff dreams were made of.
“Anyway, I just wanted to invite you to this party at Alpha Sigma tonight. It’s gonna be pretty wild, but it’s only gonna be cool if you’re there.”
Maria raised an eyebrow. That was quite a bold thing to say to little Liz Parker.
Liz blushed and said. “Uh, yeah, maybe I’ll make an appearance.”
Maria couldn’t believe it. Liz was . . . playing it cool. Flirting, even.
Liz was officially popular.
Wasn’t that supposed to be a good thing?
“Awesome,” Brad said. He peeked into the room and said to Maria, “You can come, too, if you want.”
Something about the way he said those words didn’t sit right with Maria. Didn’t he remember who he was talking to? He might have the love-bug for Liz, she thought, but I’m still the queen of campus.
Aren’t I?
“Thanks,” she said, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach. As crazy as it sounded, that was the first time ever in her life that a guy had been within ten feet of her and not focused on her. Maybe it was selfish and stupid to let it bother her so much, but she couldn’t help it.
“Alright. Bye, Liz,” he said.
“Bye!” she chirped, waving at him as he walked on down the hallway. She shut the door and turned to face Maria, her eyes and mouth open wide.
“You have a boyfriend,” Maria reminded her.
“Yeah, but I also have an admirer!” Liz exclaimed. “Actually, I think I have a lot of admirers now, Maria. It’s like, ever since I started dating Michael, guys have been noticing me. It’s like all of a sudden . . . people like me, Maria. I like me.”
I actually prefer the old Liz, Maria thought sadly, wondering how that girl had vanished so quickly, wishing she hadn’t played a part in it.
“Oh, I’m so excited!” Liz squealed, jumping up and down for a moment.
Maria just smiled, trying to hide her feelings on the matter for fear of bursting Liz’s bubble.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Maria stormed into the house that evening, bypassing her mother before she could ask any questions or toss out any infuriating remarks. She stomped down the hallway to her room, the events of the day still bothering her. After she had left Liz’s room and headed off to class, she’d heard a group of people talking about Liz. Not about her, but about Liz. Talking about how beautiful she was, how great of a dancer she was, how cool she was. Those were the things people said about Maria DeLuca, not Liz Parker.
Until now.
She slammed the door to her bedroom and tossed her backpack onto the floor. She wished Michael were home so she could take it out on him. He would end up making her laugh, somehow, and then she would feel a lot better.
She sat down at her desk and searched around the cluttered area for her favorite DVD, the one Michael had made her. She found it finally, opened up the case, and took out a permanent marker to write on the top of the DVD itself in capital letters: MARIA’S GLORY DAYS. Because that’s what they had been.
She shoved the DVD into her computer then, and leaned back in her desk chair, all prepared to watch it. But when she pressed play, nothing happened.
What the . . .? She ejected the DVD, even more angry now because nothing was going her way, and took a look at the shiny silver surface.
It was all scratched up.
“Uh!” she gasped in outrage, wondering how it could have gotten that way. She’d always been so careful with it, and it wasn’t as though anyone would do that on purpose . . .
. . . except her god-awful mother.
“You bitch!” she screamed when she stormed back out into the living room a few seconds later. “This was a gift!”
“It was a joke,” Amy said, standing up and backing away. “You know you’re never going to be a dancer.”
“I already am a dancer!” Maria roared, feeling tears stinging at her eyes. But she refused to let them fall. She refused to let her mother see her like that. It wasn’t worth it. It just wasn’t worth it.
“Maria, all you are is an immature, selfish--”
“Shut up!” she screamed, throwing the DVD at the wall, accidently cracking it in half. She almost broke down when she saw what she had done to the nicest, most meaningful present she had ever received, but again she refused. She didn’t cry. She didn’t.
“You know, I had a bad day,” she said. “And as usual, you just made it worse.” Shaking her head angrily, she walked past the broken remains of the DVD and out the door.
Alpha Sigma, she remembered. Precious Liz Parker might not be going to the party, but I sure as hell am.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Maria walked to the party in hopes that it would be in full swing by the time she got there. And it was. It really was. Alpha Sigma parties had always been notorious, and being that this was a holiday party, it promised to be a rager. Just what Maria was looking for.
I’m gonna get drunk and flaunt it to my mom, she decided, just to piss her off.
She headed straight for the keg, but a few people got in her way. Since when did people not clear a path for her? When had everything changed?
“Move,” she said, shoving past them. “Get out of my way.” She was not in a pleasant mood.
Finally, she got to the keg. She filled up a beer for herself and began drinking greedily. If she got drunk enough, maybe she’d forget what a suck day she’d had.
“Hey, is Liz here?”
She spun around and accidently spilled some of her beer on the person who asked her that. She recognized him from earlier that day. It was Brad, the guy who had stopped by Liz’s dorm room and been completely obvious in his intent to seduce her.
“No,” she said. “Sorry to disappoint, but it’s just me.”
Brad turned back around to a few of his male friends and said, “She’s not here.”
Maria grunted, drinking the rest of the beer out of the cup. What the hell was going on with the world? She was at a party. Why wasn’t she the center of attention? She realized that the thoughts racing through her brain were immature and selfish, but she wasn’t going to censor herself.
“She’s a little old,” she heard one of Brad’s friends comment as he eyed her, “but she’ll do.”
She got it. Liz was new meat, and suddenly Maria DeLuca didn't look so hot. Since when was she the girl guys settled for?
“What’s her name again?” another asked.
What’s my name?! she thought in outrage. Who the hell on this campus doesn’t know my name?
Angry and bitter, she was happy when a scrawny pledge wearing a wig and bra approached her with a tray of shots in his hand and offered her one. “Shot?”
Without thinking, she took two of them, vodka, and tossed her head back, downing them with no problem at all. Her daringness seemed to evoke a sudden intrigue among Brad and his friends, as they all began to smile.
But she didn’t want to hop into bed with them. She just wanted to forget about her problems for awhile. Just for a little while.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Liz had had her doubts about where Michael would be taking her out to dinner that night. She knew it would be nice, but she didn’t know just how nice it would be. He took her to a restaurant called The Palace that served all her favorite kinds of food. It was really expensive, too, but he promised to pay for the whole thing.
“I feel really bad,” she said as saw the waiter approaching with their dessert.
“What, food poisoning?” he asked.
“No, I mean, bad about the fact that you’re spending all this money on me.”
“Liz, it’s Valentine’s Day. You’re my girlfriend. I’m supposed to.”
“Yeah, but . . .” She trailed off as their waiter came by and set their desserts down in front of them. Michael had gotten cherry cheesecake. She had opted for lemon meringue pie. Once the waiter left, she finished what she was saying. “This is, like, really nice. How are you paying for this?”
“Why the hell else do I have a job?” was his response. “It’s all about keeping the female happy.”
“Ooh, I like that,” she said. “So in the interest of happiness, what’s next?”
“Next?”
“Yeah.” She took a bite of her pie, trying to read the expression on his face. “What do we do after dinner?”
He grinned. “Let’s just say there’s a reason why I told you to skip the chocolate pie.”
She wrinkled her forehead in confusion. “Okay, remember, you’re talking to a former virgin here.”
“We’re all former virgins.”
“Yeah, but I was . . . recently. So you’re gonna have to be more specific.”
He set down his fork and leaned for. “Well,” he said, “I definitely see chocolate in our future, but . . ." He motioned between the two of them and said, "We’re sort of gonna be the pies.”
“We?” she echoed. “What . . .” She trailed off when it dawned on her what he was talking about. She had done numerous internet searches to figure out what kinds of kinky sex stuff people did so Michael wouldn’t think she was a complete virginal retard. “Oh,” she said. “That sounds . . . very fun.”
“It is,” he promised her. “We’re gonna melt down some chocolate, have ourselves a good time.”
“But are we gonna break any rules?” Liz asked.
“Nope. We’re not goin’ down on each other,” he said. “It’s not sex, but it’s sexy.”
Everything about you is, Michael, she thought.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll make you cum anyway.”
She blushed and smiled. He always did, and every time, it just got better and better. She couldn’t imagine going back to being a virgin now, not knowing what it was like to feel the way Michael made her feel with the touch of his hand or his . . . other body parts.
He grinned, picked up his fork again, and took another bite of his pie. “Save room,” he cautioned her.
She smiled. Something told her that chocolate-covered Michael would taste much better than this lemon meringue pie.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
How long have I been here? Maria wondered dizzily as she looked around for some sort of clock. It couldn’t have been more than forty-five minutes, but she already felt so drunk and disoriented. She wasn’t sure what was wrong with her. Usually, she could handle her alcohol well. This felt different.
There was a group of guys around her urging her to keep drinking. But she didn’t know who they were. When had they gotten there? What was happening? She felt so out of it.
“No, I . . . I-I need to stop,” she struggled to get out. This was not normal. She felt strange. She felt hot, yet cold at the same time. She felt unsteady on her feet. She felt her breath coming in ragged pants, each one harder and harder to get out.
“No, don’t stop,” the guys chorused. “Just one more. Go for one more.” They handed her another shot glass.
“I can’t,” she said, shaking her head.
“Come on.”
Dazedly, she took the small glass from them and tried to toss it back in one shot, but she felt as though she were going to throw up, and she couldn’t do it. She spit some of it out and onto the floor, still shaking her head. “No,” she said. “I need to . . . go.” She could barely even think of the words she wanted to say. Go. She needed to go.
She stumbled away from them, trying to remember how she had gotten there. Had she driven? Or walked? Where were her friends? What was she going to do? She could barely stand.
When her vision started to blur, she became even more unstable. “Michael?” she choked out, reaching out her hand for him.
But it wasn’t Michael who reached out in return. It was that other guy, Brad. “Steady there, delicious,” he said.
“No,” she said, weakly pulling her arm away from him. “Max? Kyle?” She held her hand to her forehead and moaned. It hurt so much. “No,” she said again, not sure what she was saying no to, exactly.
“Come with me. I’ll take care of you,” Brad offered.
“Just . . .” She staggered away from him, really worried about herself. She had never felt this way before. She felt so drunk that she could barely think straight. And she couldn’t see. Everything was so blurry. And everything hurt. And why was breathing so hard?
Don’t pass out, she told herself as she stumbled through the crowd over to a wall. Even in her drunken state, she knew passing out was the worst thing she could do. She had no real friends there, no one to help her if the situation escalated too far out of control.
She leaned against the wall and took her cell phone out of her pocket. It took all of her unfocused concentration to remember the number to dial. 2. 3. 9. 6. Or was it 7?
She punched the numbers in slowly, unable to do anything fast. It took all of her strength and energy then just to hold the phone up to her ear and listen to it ring.
“Michael, please pick up,” she whispered, praying. She needed him. She needed him there.
After a few more rings, his voicemail picked up. No.
“Hey, it’s Michael. You know you want me. I'm probably busy gettin' laid right now . . .”
Pick up the phone, Michael, she thought. Please.
“. . . but leave me a message, and I’ll call you back.”
A beep signaled her to say something, but all she could do was whimper, “Michael, help me,” before her phone cut off. The call was lost. “No,” she cried, feeling tears stinging her already clouded eyes. She wanted to go home. She wished she’d never come.
She barely noticed Brad come up to her again and grab her arm. “You’re not leavin’ already, are you?” she heard him ask before his voice started to fade in and out. “Because . . . party’s . . . you.”
What? she thought. She could feel him dragging her over to the couch to rejoin him and his friends, but she couldn’t do anything about it.
She couldn’t do anything at all.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“So is it white chocolate or dark chocolate?” Liz asked as she and Michael arrived back home at his house that night.
“Dark,” he replied. “White chocolate would look like cum.” He stopped in place and raised his eyebrows when he thought of that. His girlfriend’s body covered in white chocolate . . . “Although that could be cool.”
“So who gets to eat first?” she asked mischievously, resting her chin against his shoulder as she stroked her hands across his stomach and back.
“That’s up to you,” he told her.
“Hmm, I think I’ll eat first,” she decided, surprising him.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. I know I’ve never done this before, but I think I can figure it out.”
“Oh, I know you can,” he said. He leaned down to kiss her, but before their lips could meet, he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. “Dammit,” he said. “Just a minute.”
Liz frowned.
He flipped open his phone and saw that he had one new voice message from Maria. “What the hell?” he said. He pressed a few buttons to access his voicemail and held his phone up to his ear to hear the message.
He heard a sound, her voice, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying. There was too much noise in the background, and it was so brief that he didn’t have time to process it. “Huh,” he said, replaying the message. Still, he couldn’t understand what she said. “That’s weird,” he commented.
“What?” Liz asked.
“Maria left me a message, but I can’t understand what the hell she was saying.”
“Weird,” Liz agreed. “I thought she’d be home.”
“Yeah, me, too,” he said, suddenly getting a bad feeling. Max was off with some study group. Where would Maria be? It was Valentine’s Day. She had to be somewhere. “Hey, Kyle!” he called.
“He’s not home,” Liz reminded him.
“Crap. Amy!”
“No, not her,” Liz said.
He didn’t particularly want to deal with the mother from hell, either, but if she knew where her daughter was . . . “Amy!” he called again.
“What?” she said, walking briskly out of the hallway. She’d probably been snooping through her daughter’s bedroom.
“You know where Maria is?” he asked her.
“Of course not,” she said. “She went out about an hour and a half ago. I don’t know where.”
Michael didn’t want to hear that. He wanted to hear that she was safe and sound, because for some reason, he was really worried.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Amy asked.
“Nothin’,” he said, thinking about where she might be. There were lots of parties happening, but she rarely went to a party by herself. Usually he went with her, and he liked it that way, because then he could keep an eye on her. (His girl was practically a guy when it came to holding her liquor, but sometimes she went overboard.) He thought about calling Max, but then Max wouldn’t know where she was, either. Study group.
He turned to Liz and said, “I think I should go find her.”
Liz looked a little disappointed. “Michael, I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Yeah, I know, I just . . . I really . . . think I should go find her.” He couldn’t explain it. He just had a feeling that she needed him.
“Well, you have no idea where to look,” Liz pointed out.
“I’ll try callin’ her back. If I can’t get a hold of her, I’ll just check all the parties.”
Liz opened her mouth to say something, then closed it for a moment, then opened it again. “You know, she might have gone to the Sigma Alpha party.”
“Alpha Sigma?”
“Yeah, that one. This guy stopped by my room, invited me, sort of invited Maria, too.”
“Alpha Sigma,” he repeated, shaking his head. Those guys threw some wild parties.
Liz sighed heavily and said, “I’ll go with you.”
“No, you stay here,” he said. “Those parties get out of control. If Maria is in trouble . . .” He trailed off, hoping that wasn’t the case. “I’d just rather have you here.”
“But Michael--”
“I’ll call you when I find her,” he said, heading for the door. He should have given her a kiss on the cheek or something to make up for bailing on their Valentine’s Day plans, but he was too determined for that.
He had to find his friend.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
What’s happening?
Maria felt hands on her, more than one pair. At least six or seven. Someone was inching her shirt upwards. Someone else was trying to pull her jeans down. But she didn’t want them to.
“No,” she said, trying to kick at the guys around her, but she was too weak to do anything much. “Stop.” She couldn’t open her eyes to see them. She could barely even squirm against them.
She could hear music, though. And talking. She was still at the party, still right in the middle of it. Why wouldn’t anyone help her?
“Help,” she cried, but she wasn’t sure if she spoke the word loud enough for anyone to hear.
She felt a chill hit her skin as her pants came off, but she was too far gone to do anything about it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Michael started out walking over to Alpha Sigma, but then he thought to himself, Why am I walking? and he started to run. If Kyle hadn’t had the car, he would have driven . . . he just wanted to get there as fast as he could in case something really was wrong.
He tried giving her a call, but she didn’t pick up; so he listened to Maria’s voicemail at least four more times, but he still couldn’t understand it. All he knew was that she had him worried, and he was going to yell at her about it later.
When he got to the frat party, he was surprised that the cops weren’t there. It looked to be about the wildest party of the decade, from what he could tell, and he hated the thought of Maria being there all alone. She was a wild child, so it was her natural environment, but . . . he should’ve been there with her.
Please be alright, he thought as he walked into the house. The party-goers immediately stopped whatever they were doing and cheered when he entered.
“Michael, we loooove you!” a group of three drunk girls screamed.
“Dude, you bring your girlfriend?” the guys immediately asked. “Is she here?”
He ignored them all and glanced around for Maria. He didn’t see her, but this seemed to be the most likely place for her to be.
He spotted a girl who looked halfway sober and went up to her. “Hey, is Maria DeLuca here?”
“Who?” she asked.
“Maria DeLuca.”
She just shrugged.
Big fuckin’ help, he thought, looking around some more. And it was when the crowd cleared just slightly that he was able to see straight into the living room and find the girl he was looking for. Half-naked and with four guys.
It didn’t take him more than a second to realize that they were planning on taking advantage of her. Her eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving. Her body was like a rag-doll’s as they lifted her up and removed her shirt.
“Hey!” he roared, storming towards them. “Get your hands off her!”
Two of the guys immediately ran away. One of them wasn’t fast enough, so Michael grabbed him and literally threw him to the ground, and the other just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights.
“We weren’t doin’ anything,” he insisted.
Michael shoved him back against the wall hard, gave him a good, solid punch to the face, and bent down to look at Maria. “Maria?” he said. “Maria?” She didn’t respond. Everyone was looking at her now. All she was wearing was her bra and panties. He took off his coat, wrapped it around her, and gently scooped her up in his arms. “You’re alright now,” he promised, cradling her close against him. The rest of the people cleared a path for him, and he carried her out of the house without any harassment.
Oh, Maria, he thought. Why were you here?
“Maria,” he said again once they were outside. “Maria, talk to me.” He slowed down to a stop and looked down at the girl in his arms, noting her appearance. She was pale. Her skin was bluish. She was cold, and she felt clammy to the touch.
“Maria, are you alright?” he asked, gently rubbing her, trying to elicit some sort of response. “Maria?”
He kneeled down and lay her down on the grass, starting to freak out. “Maria!” he shouted at her, shaking her more forcefully now. What was wrong with her? “Maria, wake up!”
Why wouldn’t she wake up?
“Open your eyes!”
Why wouldn’t she?
“Now you know that I . . . heart . . .
Everything about you.”
He leaned forward over her lips, praying to feel some air against his cheek, but he felt none.
She wasn’t breathing.
“Somebody call 911!” he shouted frantically.
A girl poked her head out the door. “Do you need help?”
“Call 911!” he said again, trying to remember what to do. CPR. How did you do CPR?
“And that’s why it’s quite . . . hard . . .
To get through this alone.”
“Oh, come on, Maria,” he said, tilting her head backward carefully, lifting her chin up. He pinched her nose in between his index finger and thumb and brought his open mouth down atop hers, releasing as big of a breath as he could into her. He felt her chest rise beneath him, and he breathed into her again.
“You’re the only one . . . I . . .
Can talk to about it.”
He sat back up then and pressed the heel of his hand against the middle of her chest. He placed his other hand on top, interlacing his fingers. “Breathe, Maria,” he ground out, pushing inward with his hands. “Come on, breathe.”
“In my darkest night
I . . . will be on my own.”
He compressed her chest about ten times, still unsure if he was even doing it right. Then he repeated the process, tilting her head backward, plugging her nose, and breathing into her mouth.
“These walls that we climb
Are hard to recognize.”
“Come on, Maria!” he shouted, still getting no response. He compressed her chest again, about ten more times, and kept doing the same thing over and over again.
“They fall when I say your name . . .”
“Maria!” He felt himself getting angry because he was so scared. “Maria, don’t do this to me!”
“Here we go
Fast and slow
On the big chair.”
A surge of relief flooded him as he finally felt her chest rise up against his own, and he sat back and looked down at her. She was breathing. Not well, but she was breathing.
“But we don’t know
Where we’re goin’
On the big chair.”
“Maria?”
Her voice was weak and so unlike her. "Michael?"
“Don’t you know it’s hard . . . quite . . .
In the time of confusion.”
By the time the ambulance arrived, everyone had gathered around outside. The paramedics lay Maria down atop a flatbed and loaded her into the back of the vehicle.
“To tell you that I . . . love . . . you . . .”
Michael didn’t even give them time to ask him if he was going along. He climbed in beside her and held her hand, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest as they sped towards the hospital, watching her breathe.
TBC . . .
-April
Well . . . it might make another appearance. Not too bad, though.
So when is Liz going to walk in on something like that? Within the next few parts! It won't be exactly like that, but it will be something that strikes a nerve.
She's the youngest character in the story. She needs a lot of time.
lol