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David pushed Max up the ladder first, looking back to see Daniel struggling to right himself. Well, David knew it was Daniel, but it looked just like him. It looked like it was David attacking Max, pulling a knife on him, and David’s heart broke.
Daniel had jumped David when David was in town, buying some groceries for camp (Mr. Campbell ate more than any of the children). David didn’t remember much after a hit to the back of the head, only seeing an eerily familiar faces smiling down at him, but he came to alone and underground, staring at a tv that looked like it was old in the 1990s. Dark spots swirled in his vision, and his tongue felt heavy in his mouth.
Head pounding, David glanced slowly around the room. “He didn’t even bring my groceries . . .”
Talking was hard, looking was hard, and David was pretty sure he passed out again because he only remembered being completely surprised whenever the tv turned on.
He screamed. No sugarcoating it.
The image was staticy for a while, and David was sure the sound and the sight were going to send him hurling his guts out and that was a bit no-no right now because he couldn’t move. Pain pounded at the back of his head and it felt like it was echoing inside his skull like a drum or something.
Wait.
Did he just imply that his head was hollow?
Talking with Max everyday made David realize how many insults he just walked into on a daily basis.
“Before we start brainstorming ideas, I feel compelled to ask something . . .”
David lolled his head up to looked at the tv (when did it fall?) and saw something that drove any doubt that he might have a concussion out of his mind.
It was David. It was him sitting in a tent talking to . . . Max? But, David shook his head to clear it, but that didn’t make anything better. He could barely focus . . what, what was going on?
The video wasn’t the best quality, but Max was . . . looking really weird. Almost like he was nervous? Or exhausted? Was he okay? David knew leaving the coffee maker with him wouldn’t be good; the kid looked like he was ready to fall over.
“Max,” the David on the screen began, an expression that was too carefully controlled to be real David. “Do you hate me?”
Max’s eyes widened and the video buffered, freezing on his startling face, Daniel waiting for his answer. Was this being live streamed? It will take forever if so, what the heck was happening right now?
Wait.
Daniel.
Holy fuck, how did David forget that? So Daniel was, oh no. Oh no, oh no, OH NO.
“Max!” David pulled harder against his restraints, head clearing a bit as adrenaline kicked in. A psychopath was in a tent alone with one of his campers. With Max, and no way was David making the same mistake twice. He knew what Daniel could do, what he wanted to do, and there was no way David could just let it happen.
Why was he with Max anyway?
David had to rest a bit, still spent and the strength needed to break free was not within his possession.
“ - look, I know I was a bit of a dick lately, but you’ve just been acting so weird all day!”
The video was back, the image not moving, but the sound coming through loud and clear. Max’s surprised expression still frozen on the screen, Daniel looking at him with a falsely concerned gaze. But this was good; Max was insanely smart, and he noticed that something was up. He only had to put the pieces together. David tugged again on the restraints. The sound cut out again, and suddenly the images on the screen moved rapidly, speeding up to keep up with audio that already passed. It was now a slightly glitchy mess of movement before it froze again.
“Hey - there was one thing I didn’t understand . . .”
It was Max again, sounding like he was trying to make light of something. What was David missing? He wasn’t hearing half of this!
“I saw you messing with your eyes earlier, but I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation of that, right?” There was laughter.
David felt both relieved that Max could tell something was up, and fearful about what Daniel would do to the kid once he was caught.
The video picked up again, and David got to see Daniel robotically laugh along with the camper before just giving up and drawing his face into a lazy smile.
“ . . . right?” Max asked, looking uneasy.
“Run, Max.” David talked as if he could hear him. ‘Get out of there.”
“Oh, Max,” Daniel stood up, and David’s heart fell to the floor. ‘So clever, yet so naive.”
Daniel took out the contacts, cold blue eyes revealed under a fake green. Daniel smiled, holding them out like it was a big 'tada' moment.
“You’re not David! You’re - you’re -” Max was stuttering. Max never stuttered, he was always so quick with his next comment, and David was feeling more terrified by the minute.
And then the video buffered again.
“Oh my goodness.” David muttered, continuing to pull.
He could hear Daniel scoffing. “I think I’m pretty resistant to Kool-aid poison at this point.”
Usually David was all about second chances, but not when a murderer was near one of his kids. Now that statement was just unfortunate. The audio cut out, the video speeding up to match the right time. This was literally one of David’s worse nightmares. A homicidal maniac returns and the video that was showing him what was happening wouldn’t load at the same time.
“Whatever,” came Max’s flippant response, and David’s chest seemed to seize up when he could picture the ten year old rolling his eyes at Daniel. “You can’t get us to join your stupid cult. You already tried that and failed”
David prayed for the kid to just run. To just get Gwen and get out of there.
The video was back, showing Daniel wearing David’s face, smiling sinisterly. “But I didn’t come here for that. I came here for you.”
David let out a slightly hysterical cry and tugged harder on the bindings, his movement limited and marks were starting to appear on his skin as he struggled. He was looking at Max’s face, going from cocky and uncaring to something more vulnerable.
“You see, Max, the last time I was unfortunate enough to have met you, you got me introspective.” Daniel talked easily and calmly, like that last time wasn’t an attempted massacre of children. “Where did I go wrong? So! After a lengthy conversation with Xemug, I came to a personal realization. In the pursuit of eternal salvation for humanity, I’ve forgotten to salvage myself.”
David was usually all about self care, but he would be lying if he said he cared about Daniel’s sense of self worth and health. He just wanted Max to move, why, oh why was the kid still there?
“And my idea of self care?” Daniel’s face morphed into something more threatening, something dangerous. “Killing Max.”
“NO!” David tried to stand up, but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t move at all, and when Max needed him most, he couldn’t get to him.
“But why come after me?” Max yelled back, “David’s the one who fucked up your plans last time!”
“What would be the fun in that?” Daniel went back to his happy-go-lucky persona, effortlessly switching from psychotic to normal. “I have much better plans for him; watching his favorite camper losing his ever fleeting grip of reality only to be murdered! It’s being live streamed to him as we speak -”
The video buffered again, and David hefted a sigh. “We really need to fix the wi-fi around here.”
Oh yeah, he thought, so you can watch children die in high def?
A few seconds later the sound came back.
“ - wanted to know the entire history of your ridiculous religion. You know, Zemull, the Star Wars, every little detail.” Max sounded actually excited over this. “Even if it takes - I don’t know - several hours?”
Max what? There’s no way Daniel would fall for that.
“Please,” Daniel said, sounding bored, “I’m not going to fall for that, I’m not David.”
“Excuse me.” David muttered angrily. Just because Max had pulled that trick on him multiple times didn’t mean it always worked. It worked a lot of the time but still.
Max nodded, looking disinterested now. “You’re right. He probably would have been able to do it in song.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “And he probably would have been off-key.”
The video buffered again, and David was left along to sputter indignantly alone. How dare he-!
The video was back, but no one was there. No one was inside the tent now, and the camera was only filming objects. The boy and the murderer were gone.
David prayed that was a good thing.
Everything after that seemed like a fever dream, Max rushing into the bomb shelter to save him, Daniel following, and the whole milk thing. Nothing almost seemed real. Except there was Daniel, stilling looking like David’s perfect replica, lying moaning on the floor. The cult leader slowly sat up, holding his stomach. He ruffled in his pockets and pulled out a bottle, popping some pills in his mouth. He made eye contact with David as he smiled. “Lactaid.”
David frowned. “I’m not sure how well that works after you - whOA!”
Max was pulling on his bandana from the surface. “Get your ass up here, you fucker!”
David scrambled up the ladder after him, and once safely above ground, they both shoved the lid back on to the bunker entrance. There was a thump under them, and Max, who had been completely on the lid, started rising as Daniel pushed it open again. Yelping, David added his weight to the lid and it closed, Daniel cursing under them.
Max started frantically feeling around the circumference of the top. “Does this thing lock?”
David slowed, frantic eyes meeting green ones. “It would only lock on the inside . . .”
They both jumped as Daniel banged on the door again, only their combined weight keeping him inside. David glanced back at Max, who looked scruffed up and scare and like an actual kid for once. “We’re going to have to run.”
Max’s head snapped to David. He looked terrified, kneeling on the dirt, pushing to keep the bunker lid down as Daniel banged and screamed at them. Suddenly, David watched green eyes harden in acceptance, and David couldn’t help but wonder why it was so easy for Max to do that.
“Okay.” The kid nodded, black hair bouncing. “Okay, let’s ditch this sick fuck.”
“On the count of three.” David told him, “One . . . two . . . -”
“Three!” Max was up and shooting off like a rocket, tearing through the woods back towards camp. Startled, David chased after him, his long legs made it easy enough to catch up to the ten year old. David heard the bang of the lid being opened and footsteps in the distance.
“Oh, Max!” Daniel called, getting closer.
David scooped Max into his arms without hesitation, running faster even with the added weight. Max yelled in surprise but he didn’t struggle too much, easily being maneuvered to grab onto Davids neck as the camp couslier ran through the dark forest.
It was only when David felt Max tighten his grip on his shirt that he realized he placed Max perfectly to look back at watch as Daniel ran after them.
“David,” Max said, trying hard to disguise the tremor that went through his voice. “He has that knife again.”
“Crud.” David muttered, breathing becoming more difficult the more he ran. He couldn’t even risk glancing backwards to see himself.
“Oh, god.” Max groaned. “We are not dying with ‘crud’ being your last word.”
“We’re not dying, Max.” David snapped, tightening his grip on the kid in his arms, legs aching from running so much after being forced to sit for so long. His headache was coming back.
“You might actually be right.” Max told him, sounding distracted as he shifted. “He’s slowing down, he’s pretty far behind now. Maybe his stomach is still trying to crawl its way up his throat.”
David felt sick himself.
Max moved again, “Wait, I don’t see him anymore. Maybe he fell - oh, HEY, David!”
David’s vision had swam, and they were both sprawled on the forest floor. When did they fall? A puff of black hair was by his face, and David rolled so Max could get out from where David was accidently crushing him. The kid looked at his counselor, pissed, before he took in David’s appearance. Hair stuck to his sweaty forehead and face pale, pinched in pain. Max’s expression went from irritated to worry, reaching out but not touching David.
“David?” He asked. “Are you okay? What’s -”
“Maaax.” came Daniel’s voice in the distance. “Where are you?”
Any reservations the camper had about jostling his counselor went out the window, and Max frantically shook David’s arm, wide green eyes scanning the tree line. “David, you have to get up, we gotta get out of here.”
David knew that, but it was really hard to stay awake right now. He groaned.
“David.” Max hissed. “Get the fuck up!”
“Oh, are you that way?” Daniel’s voice was getting closer, and Max slapped one of his hands over his mouth, trying to keep it down.
“David,” Max all but pleaded, “Please, get up.”
The please was what did it, and even though it was way harder than it should be, David found the strength to at least get to his knees, Max hovering by his side. That hardened his resolve, David could not let this kid face this kind of crazy alone. David was ashamed of how much he had to lean on the id to stand up though, his head held in one hand and the other on Max’s shoulder. Max started pushing him forward as soon as possible, whispering “go, go, go, go, go, go!”
They couldn’t really hear Daniel anymore, but Davie couldn’t really hear anything with the blood pounding in his ears, but they were able to pick up the pace after a while, the lights of the mess hall in the distance.
“Jesus, David,” Max muttered, pushing him towards the camp. “What the fuck happened? Did he crack your damn skull or something?”
“I -” David swallowed. “I hope not.”
They finally crossed between the rows of tents, David stumbling around, and the rest of the camp locked in the mess hall saw them, rushing to the window. Gwen pushed most of the kids back, hands pressed against the glass as she squinted at them. Suddenly her eyes widened and she started talking, but David couldn’t hear a thing. They were close enough to see the rest of the kids frantically waving their arms, all talking, but only a few muffled noises came through.
“What?” Max asked, irritably, helping David stand. “What the fuck are you -”
“Max? Did you make it back in the camp?” Daniel called, “Always so resilient.”
David felt Max start shaking, and David turned and saw something - someone in the distance. And they were walking towards them. David felt a little more strength come to him along with panic, and he steered Max towards the mess hall doors, everyone inside following them. David tried the doors, but it was locked. He patted down his shorts, but his keys were gone. Daniel probably had them. David needs advil, or a MRI, or something.
“David!” Max whisper yelled, tugging on his arm. David shook his head, hoping that his mind would clear up if he did. He might throw up, that adrenaline rush was leaving, and Max was staring around, eyes wide as they jumped from shadow to shadow.
David swallowed and whispered, “We need to call the police . . .”
Max gave him a deadpan look. “And Daniel just would take your keys and not your phone?”
David flushed. “There’s the landline -”
“Max, are you around here?” Daniel called, from almost three rows away. “Oh, I am feeling SO much better, we can talk a bit more now, Max!”
Daniel was getting closer, David could hear his footsteps getting closer, and Max was shaking. Without hesitation, David shoved both of them into the nearest tent. They both collapsed by the cot, the door flap swaying knowingly. The impact made David’s head throb even more, but that didn’t stop him from pushing Max behind him. The footsteps got closer, and Daniel was actually humming a little song as he walked between the tent rows. The lights from the mess hall cast shadows, and David could actually see Daniel walk by, the knife in his hands perfectly outlined. David pushed Max farther away from the open flap, both holding their breath to try and not make any noises.
“Come out, Max.” Daniel called, sounding disappointed. “Haven’t you dragged this out enough? What’s the point, I’m going to find you.”
David listening as Daniel walked farther away, and Max was still shaking, not saying anything, and David didn’t know how to fix this right now. His head was killing him, and someone was literally out to murder his kid. His kid? A kid, Max wasn’t his kid. David wasn’t, like, his dad or anything. Jeez whiz, his head hurt.
David turned slowly and looked at Max who was huddled as close as possible to David, and this would normally warm his heart, but not right now. Nothing was going right today, why don’t some things just work out? Whispering, David told him, “I’m going to go call the police from the landline, stay here and don’t make any noise.”
A look of sheer panic flashed across Max’s face. “Wait - that’s all the way in the councillors cabin -”
“I know, but I’ll be right back, but we really need to call the police -”
“I’ll go with you -”
“I’m fine now,” David forced a smile. “Adrenaline is kicking back in, I’ll be there and back.”
Max was already shaking his head, standing up so he could look David in the eye. “What if he finds me?”
“He won’t, I promise -” David tried.
“You don’t know that, David.” Max interrupted.
“Just trust me, we need to get help -”
“Don’t use that as an excuse to leave me.” Max said bluntly.
David stuttered to a stop, barely comprehending those words. His heart hurt now too, and no, this isn’t, it’s not -
“Max,” David said, sounding gutted. “No, it’s not like that -”
“Don’t lie.” Max snapped, his eyes shiny. He looked away and glared at the floor. “It’s always like that -”
“Would you let me finish.” David interrupted, causing Max to look back at him with surprise. ‘It’s not that I don’t want you with me, or that it would be better if I was on my own, it’s about how much I want to keep you safe right now. And I figured, it would be here, where you can see people outside the tent. I just want us to make it out of this, Max, and right now I’m willing to do whatever it is I have to do to keep you safe. Will you please trust me?”
Max stared at him in shock for a while, his eyes scanning David’s face as if searching for a lie, and once again David wondered about what happened that made Max react this way. The pain of parents day was coming back with some new insight.
Suddenly Max threw his arms around him, holding on for exactly two seconds before jumping back and not facing him.
“You better come back or I’m going to go looking for you.” Max muttered, and David smiled and ruffled his hair much to Max’s annoyance.
“I’ll be right back,” David told him, before he checked for anyone outside the tent. Seeing that the coast was clear, David walked out, feeling a little better, and hurried back towards the mess hall. He krept around the front, making eye contact with Gwen when he reached a window. She looked worried and scared, and David could do nothing but give her a small smile. The rest of the campers were huddled around here, all of them looking nothing like the rough and tumble persona of chaos that they were. They were just terrified kids, but at least they were safe, for now. But one wasn’t, and David hurried around to the side of the mess hall with him in mind.
The councillors cabin was unlocked, thankfully, and it was also empty. It was just dark inside, and David opted to keep it that way for some extra cover. The land line was by his desk, and David dialed 911, waiting the 15 seconds it took for the Camp Campbell service to reach (he has had to call them a lot over this summer).
“911, what’s your emergency?” Can a voice on the other line.
“Jared? It’s David.”
A sigh, “what is it this time -”
“That cultist is back, and he’s roaming the camp with a knife. He’s trying to kill a specific camper and wer need help right now. Please, please hurry and get here, I don’t know what -”
‘That cultist guy?! Okay, I’m sending people right now, stay on the phone until they get here -”
“I can’t” David told him, shaking his head as if Jared could see him. “I have to say with one of the kids.”
“David, I’m serious, you have to -”
A scream.
Someone was screaming.
Max.
David’s hands felt cold and his head clear for the first time in a while. He left the phone dangling off the hook as he tore back outside, no longer hiding but full on sprinting to the tent Max was in.
It had been completely knocked over, and Max was backed up against the mess hall, as if he had crawled out from under it instead of going through the door. The camper’s back was to the window, Gwen and the others stuck on the other side, hands pressed against the glass and it was obvious that they were talking or screaming or crying. Who knows, no one could hear them. Least of all Max who was focused on the man who looked just like David marching towards him with a bloody knife.
Bloody?
David ran to Max, jumping in front of him to create some sort of shield for the boy.
“David?” Max’s voice was high and near hysterical, and also pitched with pain. David couldn’t help but look behind him and saw the arm of his hoodie ripped open and a long angry red line on his tan skin, blood slowly pumping out of it. David saw red, and turned his gaze back to Daniel who had stopped advancing and was just staring with a soulless smile plastered on his blood splattered face.
‘There you are, David.” Daniel’s smile grew, and his neck popped and he tilted his head to the side. “I was wondering where you went. Did you call for help already? I must get along and finish the job, huh?”
Max released a breath that was bordering on a sob, and David all but growls at his doppelganger. “Over my dead body.”
Daniel actually clapped. “I was hoping you would say that!”
There were thumps on the window from the campers inside, but David paid them so mind as he all but charged Daniel who was too startled to react. David took him down, slamming Daniel’s head into the dirt and knocking the knife from his hands. He could barely hear anything over his breathing, and Daniel was putting up a fight. There were fists flying, and hands slapping and pulling on clothes and hair and anything they could grab. David elbowed Daniel in the face so hard, the man actually couldn’t focus because of his contacts whirling around on his eyes.
The distraction didn’t last long, as Daniel kicked David away and pulled both of them out. David was just content to fight what didn’t look like an exact copy of himself. An exact copy and an exact opposite. Daniel charged this time, but David was ready and it was only when Daniel moved to tackle him all the way, did David fall down. They grappled and fought, but one good hit to David’s head left his vision swimming and he almost threw up right then and there from the sudden onslaught of nausea. These distraction was all Daniel needed, and David found himself pinned under the cultist, hands on his throat squeezing.
Daniel laughed hysterically. ‘It was supposed to be the other way around! You were supposed to watch Max die, but this works too. After you’re gone, I’ll string him up too. Rip out his organs and lay them out in the sun to cook and rot and wait for the flies to come. I’ll throw the bastards body in Lake Lilac , so the rest of the camp can see him next year, and the year after that, and the year after that -”
David couldn’t breathe. His throat was closed, and he had no air. His head hurt so much, and he could barely see. He couldn’t breathe, and he lay there gasping under the maniac’s hands. Was he going to die like this? What’s going to happen to Max? This can’t be how it ends . . . there’s
There’s still . . .
. . . . so much . . .
. . . . . . . to do . . . .
The pressure was gone. David sucked in greedy lungfuls of air, and choked and spat as he tried to regulate his breathing. Something wet fell on his face and shirt, and David opened his eyes (when did he close them?). Daniel was still there, but he was hunched forward, his eyes staring right into David’s, and his smile still on his face. Something red was leaking out of his mouth and falling.
David didn’t have enough strength to scream, but he was able to shift Daniel off him. The cultist fell to the side with a thunk, not moving and not responding, and David forced himself to sit up. David was able to see the knife in his back.
“David?”
Max was there, standing in front of him, looking terrified and frozen, handing shaking from where they were held out in front of him. His face was pale and there was blood still running out of the cut on his arm. There was blood on his hands and face now too.
“David,” Max swayed, “I don’t feel good.”
The ten year old fell forwards, and David was lucky that he caught him. Max didn’t move afterwards, and David just held the boy close and all but started rocking him, his mind trying to comprehend what just happened. What just ended.
Red and blue lights lit up the trees, and David was only somewhat aware of people suddenly kneeling by him and talking to him. He didn’t respond, couldn’t, there was nothing but a sense of being underwater. Everything felt far away and muddled.
It was only when someone tried to pry Max out of his arms that David reacted.
“NO!” He screamed, tightening his grip on the unconscious boy, and scooting as far away from the people around him as he could.
More people tried to talk to him, but David couldn’t understand so he didn’t and finally, they were both loaded in an ambulance together. David fell asleep still holding Max as tight as he could.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
David woke up to soft voices and in warm blankets. He felt like he was floating on Lake Lilac, and David smiled as he swayed and rocked with the waves, completely content to lie there and rest. But a voice kept coming.
“David? Are you awake?”
Was he? When was the last time? Did he want to wake up?
“David, it’s Gwen, please wake up.”
Wake up? Gwen? He’d wake up for her, totally. How did he do that again?
“Stop being a dumbass.”
David opened his eyes and ended up looking directly into Gwen’s violet ones. She smiled softly, and David suddenly became away of how pretty she was, which caused him to flush.
“David?” She asked, “are you okay? Your face is red- “
“I’m good” was what he tried to say but it came out more like a weird croaked out, frog version of that.
Gwen leaned away from him and sat by a chair that was right next to his . . . hospital bed?
“Don’t talk. Daniel really did his best to kill you, and your vocal cords are a little tender right now. So as hard as it may be fore you, just shut up okay?”
Her words were harsh but her tone was kind, and David was more than happy to listen to her. Except her had questions. Very, very important questions.
“M-” David coughed. “Ma-x?”
Gwen rolled her eyes good naturedly. “What did I literally just say. But I get you, yeah Max is fine. He got 10 stitches in his right arm, and he’s gonna have some hella PTSD from this, but he’s okay. I feel like nothing can take that little demon down”
Gwen’s eyes turned said, and she focused on David again, looking far more haunted than he wanted her too. “You were pretty fucked up though. You had a major concussion and, un - you know, the whole strangling thing.”
David motioned for her to keep talking, but it was a little sloppy. There’s so much more to know - what happened to Daniel, how the rest of the campers are, how she was, if David needed to talk to the police -
His heart monitor was flaring, and Gwen gave him a reproachful look. “Calm the fuck down or they’ll tell me to leave.”
David tried, but it wasn’t that easy.
Gwen started talking like she knew what he thought. “Max woke up before you, and he talked to the police with me there, so I have a bit of a run down of what happened. Apparently, Daniel found his tent and pretended to be you. It’s a good thing Max isn’t stupid, or -well . . . we would’ve lost the little shit.”
Gwen’s hands tightened into fists where they were resting on her knees. Her voice trembled as she spoke. “I didn’t even notice. How could I not have noticed? And then I get stuck inside the mess hall and end up watching you two scramble around for your lives. I watched -”
She bit her lip. “I watched Max kill someone to save you, and I could only sit there and do nothing!”
David watched as fat tears rolled down her face, and he reached out for her hand as he thought over what she just said. Max saved his life by killing Daniel.
Daniel was dead.
Because Max killed him.
And as much as David wanted to cry over the fact that Max took another person’s life, he couldn’t help but feel so damn grateful to the kid.
At that moment, there was a knock at the door, a nurse, a police officer and a little boy all coming inside. David hadn’t realized he was climbing out of bed until almost everyone moved to push him back down.
“Jesus Christ, David, you just proceed to demonstrate your stupidity no matter what, huh.” Green eyes stared at him, concern hidden there despite the harsh words, and David was crying, choked little sobs coming out of his sore throat. He was wearing different clothes, probably donated, and they were too big for him, making him look even smaller than normal. Bandages wound up the right forearm, and David’s chest tightened.
Not knowing how to say anything, David held out his arms, and Max’s expression took a more vulnerable turn. He didn’t run to him (like Max ever would), but he did walk over and sit on the edge of the bed, trying to pull it of as lounging. He still didn’t complain whenever David scooped him up into a hug the second he was within reach.
Max didn’t let the touch linger before pushing David away, scowling. “Get off, you blubbering idiot.”
David could only smile because for some reason everything felt better now. Somehow things were going to look up for them.
The police officer just old him he would need David’s testimony later when he was better and the nurse left as soon as she did her check up. Gwen said that she would given them a second and would be in the cafeteria when Max done visiting. The two were alone in the hospital room, heart monitor beeping incessantly.
Max didn’t say anything for a while, just glared down at his shoes like they had done him a personal injustice. David wanted to reach out and hug the kid more, but he had to remind himself that boundarie were a thing, and not everyone felt better from hugs, David, didn’t knowing Max prove that?
“He looked just like you.” Max said suddenly, gaze still fixated on the floor. David’s head snapped up, his worried gaze trying to meet the ten year old’s. “He looked just like you, and I thought you had come back, but . . .”
Max sniffed and his small hands formed fists by his sides. David thought about that night. Thought about being Max, waiting in the tent and thinking with relief that David was back and that help was on the way, only to have the relief turn to terror as David produced a knife on him. David felt more tears falling down his face, but luckily he could keep quiet a little bit. It Max noticed it would be less about how Max felt and more about directing the subject to making fun of David for crying.
“He even said that everything would be okay now, and that I didn’t have to worry about being hurt anymore.” Max’s voice was wobbling as he fought the urge to cry. “He said all I had to do was wait a little longer and it would all be a bad dream. He- he said -”
Max huffed for some air, his voice breaking and tears falling. “He said he’d keep me safe - and I - I had believed him. But then - then he - he -”
Boundaries be damned, David pulled Max back to his chest, running his fingers through the dark curly hair, and Max didn’t resist at all, only hid his face in David’s chest, hand’s fisting the hospital gown. He was shaking again, and David held on tighter like his arms alone could stop the child from falling apart.
“He said,” Max began, voice now thick with tears, “he then said that - that even if something happened, it would be o-okay because n- no - no one would miss me.”
David shook his head as hard as he could, so Max could feel it without looking up. He even managed to croak out a shaky “no.”
Max cried harder. “Th-that’s when I realized that it wasn’t you. Be-because y-you wouldn’t say something like that because y-you’re David.”
The way he said it, like it was a fact, like simply stating that dogs bark because they’re dogs, made David cry even harder, and if there was one person David hated with his entire being, it was Daniel.
Because he hurt his kid while wearing David’s face.
But David will continue to protect him, nothing will ever stop him from caring about the sobbing child in his arms. Even if Max’s demons looked just like David, he would never abandon this kid.