This Is Not the End

Elise’s POV

I woke up on the couch to the sound of Jacky’s soft breathing in my ear. I blinked and looked around me. There was a blanket over us that wasn’t there when I fell asleep. One of the guys must have thrown it over us when they got in last night. I looked at the clock on the cable box. It was 11:36 a.m. Max was probably on his way to my house, if he wasn’t already there. I could only imagine his reaction to my absence. None of them were good scenarios. I sat up slowly, intentionally disturbing Jacky. He blinked and opened his eyes slowly.

“Hey,” he yawned. “You okay?”

“No, not really. I need to get home before Max flips his shit.” I said, standing up. I looked around for my shoes. Once I had located them, I seized them and slid them on. Jacky was already coming back from his bedroom in by the time I had looked up. He grabbed his keys and we set off out the door. While we were in the car, I turned my phone back on. And almost instantly, I received a flood of text messages. All of them were from Max. I opened them one by one.

Where are you?

Elise, why aren’t you home?

Seriously, I’m getting worried. Call me.

Then the texts got more and more urgent.

ELISE! WHERE ARE YOU?!

Fucking answer your phone! If you don’t, I’m calling the police.

Elise, that’s it. I called the police.

“Shit! I think Max called the cops and reported me missing!” I groaned.

“Why would he do that?” Jacky asked as we came to our first red light.

“Because I never turned my phone back on, and I didn’t call him.” I said, lighting a cigarette. “He’s going to be so pissed at me.” I leaned my head against the headrest and closed my eyes. I felt Jacky’s hand cover mine. I opened my eyes and glanced in his direction.

“It’ll be okay. I don’t think he’ll be too mad.” Jacky smiled.

I scoffed. “I think he’s pretty pissed. He’s in my apartment, look.” I said, pointing to Max’s car in the parking lot of my complex. Jacky made a low whistling sound. He parked the car and looked at me.

“I’m not going to let you take the fall.” Jacky said. He started looking around the car for something. I finally extracted a pen from somewhere and began writing something on a napkin. He handed it to me. On it was his phone number and email address, as well as his Skype information. I smiled and thanked him. Then, I got out of the car to face Max. Jacky held my hand all the way up to my floor. Once we made it to my door I released it and opened the door.

“Where the fuck were you?” Was the greeting I received as soon as I got in the door. I looked at Max. He looked as though he hadn’t slept all night. And the heavy smoke smell the clung in the air of my apartment only backed my assumption up to the fullest. “WELL?” he shouted, causing me to jump backwards into Jacky.

“I- I was with Jacky, at his house.” I said.

“Jesus effing Christ, I leave you here from one day and you run off without telling me!” He shouted.

“Max! I’m eighteen! I should be able to leave with my friends. And the last time I checked, you weren’t my father! And the very last time I checked, HE WAS DEAD!” I shouted, feeling the sting of fresh tears forming in my eyes.

“I ALMOST LOST YOU!” Max screamed.

“WHY DO YOU CARE NOW? AFTER MY DAD DIED, YOU NEVER SPOKE TO ME! WHY NOW MAX?” I shouted, feeling the tears rolling down my cheeks.

“Because you are blood, and I care about blood relatives!” Max shouted. I laughed coldly and wiped my eyes.

“I’m just going to go…” I heard Jacky say from behind me.

“NO! You stay right where you are, Vincent!” Max yelled. “I have a fucking bone to pick with you.”

“Don’t you fucking start on him, Max! He did nothing wrong.” I said coldly.

“He took you out of the house!” Max shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.

“I FUCKING LEFT THE HOUSE WITH HIM! I’M NOT A GODDAMNED PRISONER!” I shouted. I turned to Jacky. “Thank you for taking me out, but I think you should go for now.” I said.
“Alright, let me know how things go.” Jacky said, pulling me into a hug. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max giving him a dirty look with his arms folded over his chest. Jacky pulled away and left. I turned back to Max as the door shut.

“Are you ever going to let me be happy?” I seethed. “What are you fucking protecting me from exactly? And why don’t you like Jacky? You should be thanking him! Because of him, I’m still here! He’s the one who saved my fucking life!”

“No, he just prevented you from dying! The doctors saved your life.” Max said. I just stared at him, feeling anger bubble inside me. How could he say that?

“How could you say that? You just don’t like him because I LIKE HIM!” I shouted, storming past him on my way to my room. “You know what? FUCK YOUR SHIT MAX! FUCK YOUR SHIT!” I shouted from my room and I slammed the door. I threw myself onto my bed and began to cry. Without a second thought, I flung myself upwards and rushed to the bathroom. I found a disposable razor and began prying it apart with a pair of tweezers. Once I had broken it, I grabbed the razor and sat down on the toilet. I posed the blade in my right hand over my left upper arm. I slid the razor over my skin and watched as it broke apart and was delighted at the sight of the blood pouring out of my arm. After a few more cuts, I could literally feel the anger flowing out of me. It was a nice feeling.

I stood up and hid the razor blade in my medicine cabinet and walked out of the bathroom. I went to my dresser and opened my shirt drawer. I selected a black shirt that had sleeves that went down to my elbow. I pulled a pair of red plaid skinny jeans from the drawer below it. I got changed and did my hair. I really did like what Mika did to it. It suit me better than blonde had. When he went to get the hair dye, I saw that he had black, and I asked him if he could dye it that color with red tips, instead of keeping it blonde.

I did my eyeliner and walked out of the room. I found Max sitting on the couch with his head in one hand, and his phone to his ear. He had a cigarette smoldering in the ashtray in front of him. I walked over to it, and took it out of the ashtray. I brought it to my lips and inhaled. I laughed silently as I watched Max’s hand move toward the empty ashtray. When he realized that his cigarette wasn’t there, he looked up.

“Hey. Give that back.” He growled.

“Hang up the phone. We need to talk.” I told him.

“Dude, I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” He said, and hung up the phone. He looked back up at me. “Let’s start with this: When did you start smoking?” he asked.

“It’s a recent habit. Now, to the issue at hand,” I said. “You need to stop being a dictator, and let me do what I want.” I said, taking another drag off his cigarette before handing it back.

Max took his cigarette and brought it to his lips. “I didn’t mean to turn into a prison warden. And I’m sorry for going off on you like that. And I’m sorry for what I said about Jacky. I just don’t want you to be with him. He’s no good for you.”

“What makes you think that? Why do you say that?” I demanded.

“He’s a musician.” Max stated simply.

“Yeah, so are you!” I shouted.

“That’s true. That’s how I know that he’s no good for you. I don’t want you to see him anymore. You can have your freedom, but you just can’t see him.” Max said. I opened my mouth to protest, but Max cut over me. “No arguments. That’s that. I mean it Ellie.”

I screamed and stamped my foot and stormed off to my room. Once again, I crashed down on my bed and cried. Jacky was a good person. He was sweet, nice, and I found it easier to talk to him after a while. I really did like him. He had a lot in common. Who was Max to take that away from me? He sure as hell wasn’t my father. I wasn’t going to let him get in the way of matters of my own heart.