“Max, where are we?”
He had let go of my hand and was standing over by the cliff.
I was terrified to go that close just in case I would slip and fall over the mountainside.
“This is where it all happened.” Max took a few steps backward so that he was by my side again.
“Where are we and what happened?” My fingers stroked his arm, and I could see wherever I touched goosebumps formed.
He took hold of my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine. “We are in Becket, Massachusetts. This place is the Old Granite Quarry.” Max motioned to the cliff he had stepped away from and all the others that were around it. “I was a dumb arse and took the dare to jump.”
“Is that how you ended up here, you know where we’re at?”
“Yep.” Max walked closer to the edge again. “I was with my mates, and we decided to come up here for a get-together. Well, alcohol and I didn’t mix too well that day.” He took another step closer to the edge. “They kept egging me on, telling me not to wimp out, just jump. So, I did.”
“Do you remember the jump and fall?”
Max nodded his head and took another step closer. “I started running from back there.” He pointed to the tree behind us, which gave him a good twenty-yard running start. “Then as started running, I must’ve tripped on something because instead of jumping, I ended up tumbling over the cliff. I think I hit every rock and edge on the way down.” Now, his toes were hanging off the edge.
“What are you doing?” My God, was he going to jump again.
“I gotta try again.”
“No, wait. MAX!”
He hurdled over the side of the cliff and sailed through the air. I stood there stunned for a few seconds. What hell did he just do? “Don’t leave me!” I screamed out into the nothingness that surrounded me.
“Mara.” Max wrapped his arms around me tight and pulled me close. “I didn’t leave. I’m right here.”
I slapped him on the chest and pushed myself away from his grasp. “Why the hell did you do that? Isn’t one bad accident enough and you go and do it again?”
He tried to reach out to me again.
I brushed off his hands and backed away a few steps.
“I knew nothing was going to happen. Nothing can happen to us here like it does in the real world.” Max reached for me again.
This time, I let him hold my hand. “You did that before?” If he said yes, I was going to punch him so hard, that he would go flying off for a second time today.
“Well, yeah.” He gave me that sheepish look and hung his head down a bit. “I’ve been here several times. Each time I do it, nothing happens. I just end up back up here, completely dry and unhurt, like I didn’t just jump off a cliff into the water.”
“Yeah well, just don’t do that anymore.” I was getting a weird sense from him like he was up to something. I pulled my hand away from his and clasped them together in front of me.
“C’mon.” Max tried to grab for my hand again. “You can come with me this time.”
“That would be a hell no.” I scooted my feet back a few more steps so that I wasn’t in arm’s reach from him. I didn’t want him just to grab me and go for another quick jump pulling me along with him.
“Okay, I won’t push you today,” He smirked at me still backing away. “Mara, you won’t get hurt.”
I shook my head no again. “I’m not doing that. Not in this lifetime or whatever life we are in right now.” I just couldn’t be so sure that what he was telling me was all real. I’d seen him jump and come back up perfectly fine, but I’m not willing to put my life in jeopardy once again, for another guy.
Max shrugged his shoulders. “Okay. Let’s do something else then.” He held out his hand once again for me to take.
I contemplated if I should. I still didn’t like the fact that him having my hand would give him an advantage of jumping with me along for the ride.
“I promise to be nice.” He used his pointer finger to cross a big x over his heart. “C’mon.” He held his hand out.
I slowly reached mine out.
“Gotcha.” He grabbed onto my hand and pulled like he was going to start running back to the cliff.
“Max!” I screamed his name.
He stopped and doubled over laughing.
“You’re not funny.” I ripped my hand away from his.
Max straightened himself back up. “Okay, I’m done. Shit Mara, just loosen up a bit.”
The way that he said that reminded me of how Ashley and Van used to tell me the same thing. I crossed my arms over my chest and turned away from him.
“Did I say something wrong?” Max came around and stood in front of me. I tried to turn back the other way, but he grabbed hold of my shoulders so that I couldn’t turn. “I’m sorry, Mara.”
I felt he was truly genuine and cared that what he said and did had hurt me. It was like we had this connection that I couldn’t explain. “It’s all right.” I looked up to his big brown eyes watching me with such an intensity that it scared me. Not frightened, like in a way where I feared for my life, but in a way that I knew somehow we were destined to meet, and we were meant to go through this together. “Okay then, let’s go.”
He put his arm around my shoulder and led me far away from the place that had changed his life forever.
Chapter Five
“Max, how do we know what day it is?”
We were walking along once again, going nowhere in particular. I had no clue how long I’d been here. What day it was, the week, the month, the year just seemed to have vanished. Max and I had come to learn a lot about each other over the course of us constantly being together. I learned that his family was close, and he had two younger sisters and one older brother. Max had lots of girlfriends before, but none of which ever developed into anything serious on his end. He had the same issue as me, it just never felt right. I had told him about my parents, about Ashley and me being besties forever, and of course about Van. I mean I loved Van, how could I not? I’d been with him off and on since tenth grade, but after meeting Max, I knew that Van wasn’t the one for me. Not that I’m saying Max was, because who knows where anything goes from here?
“I have no clue. All I know is what year it is since you could remember that far back and now, I hope it’s still the same. Why Mara, are you tired of our long walks to nowhere?”
I bumped my shoulder against him, which only hit right above his elbow. I could pick up some of his feelings and could tell that he was sincerely upset that I may be tired of him and what we did. “No, I’m not sick of us just hanging out. Just curious as to what is going on in that life.”
“Yeah, I’ve been down that road so many times that I just quit worrying about it.” Max took hold of my hand like he usually did when we walked. It just seemed to bring a sense of tranquility to both of us.
I’d remembered that he said he was able to look in on his family and friends at one point, but never explained how he did it. “How were you able to see into our other life? You know, see what your friends and family were doing?”
“I just concentrated hard on that one point in my life. I pictured them all in my head, and somehow, I ended up watching them at the hospital. I couldn’t see myself, but I saw my mum lying with her forehead down on the side of a bed. My dad was standing behind her rubbing her shoulders.” Max lifted his eyes from the ground and met mine. “Is that what you want to do, Mara?”
I nodded my head. I wanted to see what was happening when I wasn’t there. I’m sure life had gone on without me, but I was still curious about how everyone else was. Did they miss me as much as I missed them? Or did I miss any of them at all? I mean, I wanted to be with my mom and dad, but I was quite content being here with Max.
“Okay. I can try to help you.” Max didn’t seem to happy that I wanted to look back, but held out his hands.
I placed both of mine in his and closed my eyes like had instructed. The tingling feeling began and sprea
d throughout my body. I knew that Max felt it too, he would always try to suppress a smile when we touched, but somehow I just knew that he had the same experiences as me.
“Now, you need to concentrate hard. Think about who you want to see the most. It’s easier to pick one person than many. I picked my mum, and that’s most likely why I saw only her and my dad.”
I squeezed my eyes shut even more and gripped his hands tight. “Okay, I’ll try.” I pictured my mom, dad, Ashley, and Van. I couldn’t just get one clear thought on any one person. I was getting too frustrated with myself and knew this wasn’t going to work. I tried once again, but everyone’s faces just kept popping up at the same time. “I can’t.” I knew I sounded like a whiny brat, but it pissed me off that I just couldn’t do this one little thing.
“Mara. Just concentrate. You can do this.”
Max’s voice was soothing like he was coaching me to complete a marathon. I felt his forehead touch mine and his soft breath on my face. I felt the pace of my breathing pick up a notch from him being this close. I don’t know why it happened since we don’t have the need to breathe here, but it did, and I didn’t question it. I didn’t want to ruin this moment, this feeling, this overwhelming desire that I had coursing through me. Max’s lips softly touched the tip of my nose, and my body felt like it was spiraling out of control.
I saw my mom and dad. They were both seated on the sofa at our home. They had the scrapbook out on the coffee table and were looking at pictures. I saw my mom cry and laugh at the same time at whatever they were looking through. I couldn’t get a clear sight on actual details, but my guess is they were looking at pictures of me. Dad was smiling, but there was still sadness written all over his face. The shelves behind them caught my attention. One sight that I wasn’t ready for were the bouquets of flowers with cards on them all around the room. It looked as though they had or were planning for a funeral, which could only be mine. I didn’t want them to give up on me yet. I didn’t want to leave Max, but I didn’t want to leave them either.
“You’re all right. Calm down.”
I heard Max’s sweet sounding voice and felt his hand caress my cheek. I slowly opened my eyes.
His look was one of panic and concern.
I touched his warm, soft hand ever so gently with my fingertips. I just needed to make sure he was present and here with me.
“Did you see what you wanted?” His voice was questioning as to what I’d seen. He probably thinks I wanted to see Van, since he was my boyfriend at the time and mainly the reason I was here.
“I saw my mom and dad.”
A look of relief crossed over Max’s face.
See, I knew he thought I went looking for Van. “They were looking at a picture scrapbook. I couldn’t see the pictures, but they were laughing and crying all at the same time.”
Max nodded his head for me to continue.
“Then I saw a lot of bouquets of flowers all around our living room. It was like they were preparing or had already been to a funeral.” I wiped my eyes when I felt the first teardrops fall. “Does that mean I-I’m…”
Max’s thumb lightly touched my cheek. He wiped away the tears that continued to fall. “Mara, shush.” I laid my head on his chest as he wrapped me up in his arms. “That doesn’t mean anything. You’re still here, so you’re still alive back there.”
I nodded my head, but I still felt like something was wrong.
“They probably were well wishes that friends and family sent, not that your mum and dad were giving up.” Max tilted my chin so that I was looking up at him. His dark brown tresses had fallen into his eyes.
I ran my fingers through them, like he would’ve done, and brushed them back away from his face. His eyes closed and a look of peacefulness took hold of him. I carefully leaned upwards and let our lips touch ever so softly.
The little zing I felt when we connected before was nothing like what I’d just experienced. It was like a lightning bolt hit me from out of the sky. Instantly, Max deepened our kiss to the point I thought our faces were going to mold together. His tongue danced with mine as if we’d been down this road many times before with one another.
Our little session didn’t get much further than the kiss before Max slowly backed his head away. “Um…” He looked at a loss for words. “Wow.”
I giggled at his attempt to describe what we just experienced. “I would have to agree with that, Mr. Carter.”
“Did you ever get that feeling that we…?”
“The feeling that somehow—we know each other.” I couldn’t help but to finish his thought as I knew what exactly he was thinking.
“Right.” He didn’t sound too surprised that I felt the same way. “But, I just don’t get how that could be.” Max bent over and kissed me ever so lightly on the lips once again.
“Maybe it’s the place?” I shrugged my shoulders. I had no clue how any of this was possibly real. “Was it like this with anyone else that you met here?”
Max quickly shook his head. “I never even got to talk to anyone else before you. It was as though I could see them, but that was about it. They were there one second and gone the next. But with you, I instantly knew your name.” He shook his head again as if he was still in disbelief.
“That’s like really weird. I don’t know; maybe there is such a thing as fate.” All that mumbo jumbo bullshit used to fly right over my head. Ashley used to read all those horoscope things and want me to go with her to get some psychic reading, but I just blew all that off as being way out there. Now—now that I was here and met Max, I just didn’t know anymore.
“Maybe we’re here to help each other through this.” Max kissed me again. “But whatever it is, it feels right.”
Chapter Six
Max and I grew closer each and every day, week, month, year, or however long we’d been there. I think he knew more about me than my parents and Ashley. It seemed we could talk about anything and not get mad or upset over what the other person had said. I learned about his ex-girlfriend, and he now knew of my now completely, totally, never, ever again boyfriend, Van. Of course, like I already knew, Max thought Van was a total douche for what he had always done to me, especially the night of the party.
We’d shared several more kisses, but that’s as far as it seemed ever to go. It was this magnetic pull that made us come together, but wouldn’t let us get past this first base status. He admitted that he hadn’t been a virgin since his sophomore year in high school, which was five years ago. The day that he’d gotten hurt was the day that he and his friends were celebrating his twenty-first birthday. He would’ve turned that particular age on a Monday, so they decided to party the weekend before. Needless to say, Max never got to turn twenty-one yet, in a conscious state of mind.
He’d asked me about my past experiences, and there wasn’t much for me to tell. I explained that I was waiting for that special one to come along, but still hadn’t found him yet—or did I. There probably wouldn’t be an issue with giving my virginity up to Max, it always felt so right with everything that went on between us. If that sort of stuff could happen here, I don’t think I would say no.
* * *
“I wanna take you someplace.” Max pulled my hand so I would follow him.
I saw a gleam in his eye and knew I was in a whole hell of a lot of trouble. “Wait.” I pulled back so we couldn’t go any further. “Where do you wanna take me?”
“You’ll see in a second.”
We started walking again. I was still hesitant about what he was up to doing or showing me, but I went along. Our time from getting one place to the next had become almost instantaneous nowadays.
“Max, no.” I knew exactly where we were at, and I didn’t want to have any part of it.
“Do you trust me?”
He didn't give me a chance to answer. Our lips touched, and I succumbed to his charms once again.
“Now give me your hand.” Max held out his hand until I ever so slowly put mine in his. “Loo
k at me.” I looked up and got mesmerized by the dark mysteriousness that was behind his gaze. “I promise nothing will happen. I would never let you get hurt or leave you, okay.”
I nodded my head that I believed him. He turned me to face my big challenge. I was having second thoughts as I stared at the place that had terrified me the last time I saw it. “I—I don’t think I-I can.” I pulled back a bit.
Max still kept a firm hold. “Yes, you can Mara.”
We were now standing on the edge. I didn’t look down as I felt myself being pulled along with him as he jumped. I screamed, but not out of terror but out of pure excitement. We were falling fast into the cavern, and it felt invigorating. Max and I were yelling for joy. This moment that we were sharing seemed so right. We hit the cold water with a huge splash. I kicked my legs fast and hard once we hit and came back up to the surface We were still holding hands and laughing like that one single moment was the best we’d ever had.
Moments later, we were standing back on the edge of the cliff. Our clothes were completely dry, and our bodies didn’t look like they had just gone under into the abyss of water at the bottom.
“Let’s do that again!” This time, it was me who pulled Max to the edge, he went more willing than I did and we jumped again.
* * *
We stayed seated on the cliffside after we’d jumped another five more times. Max had his head lying on my lap, and I was playing with the ringlets in his hair.
With his eyes closed, he looked like he was in deep thought. “Mara.”
“Mmm-Hmm.”
“Do you wanna go back?”
“Into the water?”
“No. To our other selves. Our other lives.”
His question startled me. It had been awhile since I thought about going anywhere. I was content being here with Max. Not really doing anything, but yet doing a lot all at the same time. I loved our long walks, our quiet moments together, our fun times like we just had, and our special moments where all we did was talk. “I don’t know. Do you?”
Somewhere In-Between (Breathless #1) Page 4
