Give Me Vengeance

"Max, hey, wake up" I gently shook him awake, my voice barely above a whisper. He stirred tiredly in the passenger seat, mumbling something
I couldn't understand.

"Max, we're here. Come on"
He opened his eyes slowly, blinking several times before looking at me. "We're here?"

"Yeah"

"We only left like 2 hours ago though"

"No, you were only awake for 2 hours of the ride. You passed out on me after that"

"Oh wow. I'm sorry"

"It's okay. You need to sleep. Come on, we need to get your clothes and get out"

He nodded and I turned the car off and when he opened his door, shivered. The night air was cold and frigid, and I silently prayed that wasn't some
sort of weird omen that was warning me. I followed him up to the front door and took a deep breath before following him inside. I was afraid of what
I was going to see when I stepped foot in there. I walked in and saw he was quickly stuffing something into the corner of the room. When he caught me
looking he avoided my gaze. I shook my head and wandered around, looking for his bedroom. When I found it, it took awhile for me to muster up the
courage to walk in. I swung the door open and the smell of cooked meth hit me like a 10 ton brick wall. I coughed, disgusted, and proceeded into his
room. I kicked things out of my way, not wanting to touch them with my hands, and forged my way to his closet. I opened the door and sighed in relief
when I didn't smell any new drugs. I grabbed armfulls of shirts and pants, searching for a bag to put everything in that wans't already full of drugs. It
wans't the easiest thing in the world to do, but I did it.

"Max!"

"Yeah?"

"Come in here please"

"Why?"

"You know why. I can't trust you to be alone right now"

"Don't treat me like I'm 5 Kay"

"Then stop acting like it and get in here. I need your help anyways"

"With?"

"Your clothes Sherlock"

"They're in the closet"

"Socks and everything?"

"Oh, those clothes. Yeah, I'm coming" I heard his footsteps coming down the hall and he poked his head into the doorway. "Second drawer on the right"

"Come get them for me"

"Why can't you?"

"Because I'm busy folding up your clothes and putting them into your bag so I can save your
life. Again"

"Okay, okay, I get it"

"Finally"

"Look, you don't have to be on my case about it all the time"

"If I'm not hounding you, you'll screw up your life again and end up in jail with Ronnie as a
cell mate"

"Wow, thats a grim outlook"

"No, its a realistic outlook. You think Ronnie would be in jail if I had gotten to him first?"

"No. I think he would be dead"

"What? Why?"

"Because you would have killed him if you had found out what he was doing before he got arrested"

I pondered his words and smiled a little. "You're probably right"

"I know I am. You almost killed me back at Zack's house"

"No, I didn't. If I had wanted you dead, you'd be dead and your body would be missing
already. When will you understand I want nothing more than
to save you? I couldn't stand it if something happened to you again"

His expression softened. "I know. I'm sorry. Its just that things are so hard right now with the band and Ronnie and all that. I've been stressed lately.

That's why I decided to come see you. I knew you would make everything better"

"So you knew I would save you?"

"I knew you were the only one that could save me. I don't trust anyone else enough to let
them save me."

"Come on, lets finish packing your stuff"

"Okay" he walked over to his dresser and began handing me socks and boxers. I stopped
him when I saw a pair of bright pink boxers and looked at him,
eyebrows raised.

"What happened here?"

"Well, lets just say me and the guys get into interesting revenge battles with each other"

"Monte?"

"Yep"

"I knew it. Alright, continue with the passing"

He smiled and did as directed, and in no time we had his bag packed and ready to go. He looked longingly at the drugs, his eyes lingering on a batch
of cocaine. I tugged on his sleeve gently, nudging him towards the door. He nodded and closed the door behind us, but couldn't let go of the door knob.

"Max, come on. We have to go"

"Just one more hit?"

"What? No. Absolutly not Max. You know why I can't let you do that"

"Please. I just want one more"

"No Max"

"You're right. I'm sorry. Let's just go"

"Good"

"Hey, can I drive?"

"Why?

"Well, I figured that you need to sleep cause you've been up all night"

"Oh. Okay. Thanks Max" I smiled and handed him the keys to my truck. He hoisted his bags into the back and I climbed into the passenger side, my eyes
slidding shut almost immedietly. Max was wrong; I wasn't tired. I was exhausted. I felt the truck rumble to life underneath me and the gentle
thrumming of the motor lulled me to sleep almost instantly. Maybe if I had known what was coming next I would've stayed awake and told his I was
driving. Too bad I can't see into the future.