Spoiler! :
Important spoiler here... Don't click on it and you will be haunted by micro pigs.
Spoiler! :
Can You See Me? ~ Chapter One
Maxxie warily stepped one foot out of the window, glancing back into his bedroom for a moment. One small slip up, one noise, and he'd be screwed. Turning back around, the cold air hit his face. He looked down at his front garden. His heart slid up his throat a little. Stop being such a woman, he thought to himself. Do you want a good time or not?
He pulled his other leg out onto the outside windowsill when he felt a sudden scraping feeling jolt through his ankle. His foot slipped, almost causing him to lose his balance. Bloody windowsill.A loud yelp escaped from his lips, followed by a curse. Did he want to wake the entire house up? He glanced down at his ankle to see a long scram mark; the wound was slowly dripping with blood. Great.
Maxxie waited by the window for a moment, his heart racing. What would he have said if anyone came in? I just wanted to check the windowsill for mould and dead bugs? He certainly didn’t think that his dad would have appreciated that answer.
He shook his head. Why was he even thinking about that? He could have been on the ground by now. Trying to forget about the drop below him, he grasped onto the drainpipe that led down the front of his house. He should have been used to this by now; he did it practically every weekend. He sighed heavily. He never had liked heights. Loosening his grip slightly, Maxxie carefully slid down the side of his house as silently as he possibly could.
The moment his feet touched the moist ground, he exhaled heavily. He was seriously going to have to find a better way of getting out of the house. If his sister didn’t stay up so late, he’d have just been able to leave his room through the door, sneak downstairs, maybe grab a sandwich or something of that nature, and there we go, Bob’s your uncle. He’d have been out of the house in no time.
Realising that he was only wasting more time, he zipped up his jacket and strolled up the driveway. The sad thing about this is that it isn't even twelve o’ clock yet. Hardly late. Fair enough, it might be kind of late to be going outside, but it is way better than being cramped in my room all night. He let out a long breath, shutting his eyes for a second or two.
Turning the street corner, Maxxie shoved his hands into his jean pockets. He was almost sixteen; why did his dad have to treat him like such a child? He supposed he should have been used to it by now.
Not allowing his mind to delve deeper into the subject, he cursed under his breath. Why was he thinking about that now? The only reason he snuck out of his house at night was to get away from all of that crap. He paused. It was his birthday soon... Great. He shoved the thoughts out of his head and continued walking.
The tall street lights brightened as he reached the centre of the small town. Soon enough, he spotted the newsagents. Almost there. He then noticed Sion, the one friend he’d known since childhood, sitting on the steps by the car park. There were a couple of other people there too; some he knew, some he didn’t. Sion soon spotted him, then lifted his arm up into the air in recognition, a can of cider in his hand
“Oi! Max!” Sion called, sipping the cider before placing it onto the concrete ground.
He jogged across the road to meet Maxxie, who was now wandering in his direction.
Sion messed up Maxxie's already scruffy hair as he greeted him, laughing. Maxxie smoothed his hair back down as a smile crept onto his face. Sion was always able to cheer him up with one simple action or comment.
“Your old man didn’t catch you then?” Sion lead Maxxie, who shook his head, back towards the car park. “The guy’s a prick. It’s like you can’t have a blooming life.”
Maxxie shrugged. “He’s not that bad.”
“Maxxie, he practically has you on a leash.” Sion tapped his knees, telling Maxxie to roll over. He soon burst out laughing.
Maxxie slapped Sion's head, resulting in the two boys laughing. They sat down on the car park steps, Sion grabbing his unfinished can of cider from the ground. He offered Maxxie a can, but he simply shook his head. He never really drank much. Besides, it was a hell of a lot more fun to see the other guys drunk, and then being able to make fun of them the next day.
A few of the guys said hello to him; the ones he knew cracking the odd joke, which he just went along with. It didn’t take long for Maxxie to relax, talking to the people around him with ease. Besides his brother, they were the only people he could really speak to comfortably. It was like they were part of another world; no dad, no school, no one ordering him around, no worries. Nothing. It was wonderful.
His mind traced back to the countless amount of lectures he'd had in school. They were constantly warning him that he should never give in to peer pressure, never do something he didn't want to, blah, blah, blah. He wasn't doing any of that though; he wanted to hang out with these people. The things they did constantly gave him an adrenaline rush. He supposed that because of that, he wasn't really doing much wrong. Everyone told him not to give into peer pressure, not that he shouldn't mess about because he wanted to. It made perfect sense.
As the boys spoke, steam rapidly burst out of their mouths. There were some trees dotted around the car park, all of which were thin and bare, their branches stretching out like a witch's fingers. Maxxie shivered.
"Hey, Max, you all right?" Sion's voice caught him by surprise.
Maxxie turned to his friend who was drinking the remains of his can. He watched as Sion shook the drink, checking that there wasn't anything left.
"You seem a bit off," he continued. He glanced around the group before turning back to his friend. Maxxie shrugged. "Come take this to the bin with me for a sec." Sion held the empty can up.
Not giving it much thought, he followed Sion as he began to wander over towards the end of the car park.
Maxxie highly doubted that his friend needed any help to put a can of cider in the bin, but he followed him anyway. He probably wanted to talk to him about something that he wouldn't have liked to have been asked out loud. Probably to ask him if he was okay again. That was his guess, anyway.
While the boys headed over to the bin, they heard one of the other guys, David, call behind them. They spun around to see him grinning.
"Don't make out for too long!"
"We won't!" Maxxie called back as he winked. "I need to make sure I've got enough energy left for you!"
Both he and Sion laughed as they reached the bin. Sion dropped the can in before leaning against the bench beside it. Maxxie eventually did the same.
"So, yeah, what's up, Max?"
He shrugged. "Birthday soon... You know."
He didn't need to say any more than that; Sion knew exactly what he meant. A gentle smile spread across his face as he tapped Maxxie's back.
"Don't worry about it," he said. "Besides, I'm getting you something epic. I should get you a puppy or something... One of those shaved ones."
The both of them started laughing, lifting Maxxie's spirit a little. If there was one thing he hated about the end of the year, it was easily his birthday. He'd spent the last couple over either Sion or Aiden's house just so that he could avoid being at home.
Maxxie stood straight as he tapped his friend's shoulder, signalling to follow him back towards the others. The strong stench of the bin was getting a bit too much. Sion jogged up to him as he strolled back towards the group at the other end of the car park.
Once they reached the others, David unsurprisingly made a few comments about them spending every other night at each other's houses, sleeping with scented candles and a jasmine incense. He was chuckling when there was a sudden gust of wind, blowing the empty food packets around the road and pavements.
“Hey, Sion,” David called. “Go and grab another pack of cider? We’re completely out.”
“I’ve already been in there without ‘buying’ anything,” Sion replied. “They’re going to notice if I go in again.” He turned to Maxxie. “You go and grab some, Maxxie.” He handed him his old sports bag. "Well, if you want."
The rest of the guys turned to him, expecting an answer. He felt his face light up as he smiled. Why not? Another adrenaline rush.
“Yeah, sure,” he answered, taking the bag.
He put it over his shoulder before putting his hands into his pockets. He glanced back and forth at the road, checking that there weren’t any cars, not that there really would be at this time of night. It wasn’t long until he was on the other side of the road. He could hear his friends behind him, continuing with their chattering, not taking much notice of Maxxie as he entered the shop.
He looked at the posters on the walls for a moment. The biggest one read Now open 24/7! The rest of them seemed to be advertising some local dance club or something. Maxxie turned his attention away from the walls and glanced around the shop. Where was the alcohol...?
The middle-aged man behind the counter watched Maxxie as he made his way to the back of the shop. He could feel the man’s eyes on him, observing his every move. By the time he was out of sight, Maxxie had reached the refrigerated beverages at the end of the small shop.
He’d only ever done this once before, but he had a fair idea of what the best thing to do was. Besides, the riskier it was, the better. Darren Christopher, the shop owner, was good friends with Maxxie’s dad. If he found out about this whole situation, all hell would break lose. Maxxie shrugged. Darren wasn’t here now, so technically, he wasn’t taking anything from the shop owner.
Remembering that there were five guys outside waiting for him, he reached out for the six pack of cans. He could almost feel the excitement pumping through his veins. Perfect.
“Don’t you dare take my daddy’s stuff!”
A high-pitched voice almost made Maxxie whack his arm against the giant fridge as he pulled away from the cans. Spinning around, he was welcomed by the face of a young, pale girl. Her eyes were narrowed and her black plaits reached the top of her hips.
He realised that he’d just had the living daylights scared out of him by a little girl. A bit embarrassing. As he bent to the side so that he could see the shopkeeper, he sighed in relief. The shopkeeper wasn’t even looking in their direction. That relief soon vanished, realisation kicking in. Maxxie groaned, turning back to the girl. Oh, God... Not another one...
At that moment, Maxxie knew that he had to do this quickly. Her bright eyes still blazing, the girl that barely reached the middle of his torso, continued with her rant.
“Why are you people always naughty! Your friend was bad enou-”
She suddenly stopped talking. She must have been staring at Maxxie for a good part of a minute before saying anything else.
“Wait... You can see me?” Her voice was shaky.
No shit, Sherlock. Maxxie couldn’t help but chuckle at the young girl’s reaction. The reactions were always something similar to that.
Maybe he could fool her... It could have been fun. Ignoring the girl this time, Maxxie reached his arm out again and grabbed the cans. The little girl shouted in his face, half telling him to answer her question, and half telling him to put the alcohol down.
Trying not to show the frustration of having a kid shouting in his face, he quickly shoved the six-pack of cans into the bag. He was about to turn back around when the girl subtly pushed Sion’s phone out of the bag that contained the alcohol.
Cursing under his breath, Maxxie put the bag onto the refrigerator before he reached down. He could hear the girl giggling beside him as he picked up the phone. Still bent down, he subtly popped his head around one of the aisle’s again, relieved to see that the shopkeeper hadn’t noticed anything.
He put Sion’s phone into his jean’s pocket, grabbing the bag once more. Like it was placed when he’d walked inside, Maxxie lifted the bag over his shoulder. As he passed the sweet aisle, he picked up a Mars bar and a packet of Skittles. He then made his way over to the counter. Now for the best part. It was time for him to see if he had the man fooled.
He could feel the dark-haired girl beside him, but he didn’t dare turn to look at her. The man behind the counter scanned his items. Ninety five pence and not an ounce of suspicion. He fiddled in his pocket until he found a pound coin, and handed it to the man who gave him a five pence piece in return. Maxxie happily thanked the man before turning to leave.
In a split second, the dark haired girl appeared beside the shopkeeper. Her arms were crossed now, her eyes still filled with anger. She frowned. A quick shudder ran down Maxxie's spine.
"Put them back," she said simply.
Maxxie avoided her glare, concentrating as best as he could on the man behind the counter. He could feel the girl's voice; hear it like a harsh whisper in his ear. The girl's eyes dug into him. He almost reached into the sports bag, and almost pulled the cans out. Almost.
The shopkeeper muttered something inaudible, not that he was listening anyway. He was more concentrated on avoiding the young girl's deep eyes. He shut his eyes for a few seconds. All that he needed to do now was to reach the shop door.
Maxxie's heart rate had evened out by now, and by the time he’d reached the shop’s door, it was almost beating at its everyday pace. Almost there. Suddenly, there was a loud clinking sound. He froze. Lying on the floor were six cans of cider, the side pocket of the bag hanging open.
Maxxie stayed in the spot, remaining frozen for a moment. The next thing he heard was the shopkeeper’s voice, shouting, his senses returning.
“Oi! Stay there!” the man called.
Even if he had wanted to, Maxxie couldn’t have moved an inch. He’d closed that bag... He’d zipped it up as tightly as possible. He knew he had. How come the cans fell out? Just his luck.
The rugged man aggressively grabbed the bag that was still hanging over his shoulder, opening the main pocket this time. Maxxie’s eyes widened as the light revealed a pile of items he hadn’t even thought about putting in the bag: more alcohol, a lighter, sweets, chocolate, even some kind of pastry snack. Those things were not in there before...
The next thing he heard was a soft giggle. Shifting his eyes, Maxxie saw the little dark haired girl, a smirk on her young face. She hadn’t...
When the phone fell out; when he bent down to pick it up, leaving the bag unattended. He groaned. He had zipped the bag up properly, someone else had just unzipped it again. Someone an everyday person couldn’t see. In the meantime, throwing in a bunch of other stuff.
The shopkeeper shuffled through the bag, revealing its contents clearly. Maxxie couldn't believe it. He'd probably been so focused on grabbing the stuff and going, he hadn't even noticed that the bag felt too heavy to just be carrying six cans of cider. The shopkeeper ordered him to lift the bag off of his shoulder, and he did as he was told. Crap. His dad was going to kill him. The adrenaline wasn't worth that...
“You kids are disgusting!” the shopkeeper spat in his face. “No respect for anyone anymore!”
Maxxie could feel his cheeks reddening as he swallowed. He'd really let the excitement situation take over him. Why had he been so stupid? He'd done this before easily. Mind you, there wasn't some meddling little girl there then.
He tried to think of something to say... anything that would have been able to justify all of this. He hadn’t even taken half of that stuff.The man pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket, his eyes locked onto the teenager in front of him.
“No, please!” Maxxie tried. “I can explain...”
Ignoring his plea entirely, the shopkeeper held his phone to his ear after pressing the call button. The phone eventually stopped ringing.
“Yes,” the man said, “police please.”
He watched helplessly as the shopkeeper described the whole situation to the man on the other side of the phone. Maybe he could have ran? Maxxie scratched his head.... No, that would have been too risky. It would have been cool to do though...
Placing the phone back into his pocket, the man glared at Maxxie, interrupting his thoughts. The shopkeeper's lips were curled, his unshaven face appearing a lot more rugged than it normally would have. His clothes were lose, making him look even bigger. The apron that covered his round belly was dotted with bland coloured stains. He aggressively took the bag from Maxxie's clammy hands.
“Are you even eighteen?” The shopkeeper dropped the bag onto the floor with a loud thud.
His mouth dry, all that Maxxie could do was shake his head. The sound of the girl giggling echoed in his ears as she laughed over by the counter. She waved at him, loosely kicking her legs over the counter.
*****
Liam stopped the car, causing an ear shattering crunching sound. He desperately needed a new car. He pushed the door open, sighing heavily. Duw, it was almost one o' clock. The winter air wrapped around his body as he rubbed his arms in an attempt to warm himself up.
Once he'd reached the concrete steps, he hurriedly jogged up them. This was ridiculous. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to be at a police station in the early hours of the morning. He inhaled heavily as he slowly pushed the building's door open. Here we go.
Liam was welcomed by a powerful waft of alcohol. Scrunching his nose in disgust, his eyes turned to a large man sitting down on one of the plastic chairs. His hair was long and knotted, and his eyes were distant. They stared at the plain wall in front of him as though it was the most interesting thing he'd ever seen. Liam's eyes soon shifted to the light haired boy beside the jagged man. He clenched his jaw.
His teeth gritted, Liam turned to the desk in front of him. There were two police officers stood behind it. Strangely, he didn't recognise the two men. The town was tiny; it was unusual to meet someone you didn't know. It showed how rarely Liam went out nowadays.
Judging by the two mugs full of strong coffee and the purple colour under both of the police officer's eyes, Liam doubted that they were used to the late night shift. He leaned on the desk.
"Liam Bevan," he muttered. "His father."
Liam nodded at the teenager beside the drunken man. The smaller officer glanced down at a book on top of the desk. He scanned it quickly before looking back up at Liam.
"Maxxie Bevan?"
Liam nodded once more.
The man began to explain what had happened. As the story went on, Liam could feel himself getting smaller and smaller. Despite everything that had happened fifteen years ago, he had tried to be fair with Maxxie. Why did the damn boy have to throw it back in his face? What was Liam doing wrong? What was he supposed to do? He scratched his head. Eirin would've known what to do.
After explaining why Maxxie was here, the officer made his way around the desk. Liam followed behind as they strolled over to his son. Like the drunken man beside him, Maxxie was staring at the wall. Along with his son, Liam turned his eyes to the wall as he sat down in the seat next him.
“Can I ask you a couple of questions now that your father’s here?” It was more of a statement than a question.
Liam's eyes were on the police officer's face now. The man was watching Maxxie as he pulled out a pen from his pocket, holding it above the clipboard in his hand.
“Name?” the police officer asked.
“Maxxie Dai Bevan,” Maxxie mumbled.
“Date of birth?”
“Um, the thirteenth of the eleventh, nineteen ninety five.”
The questions continued, and Liam hoped that they were forcing Maxxie to realise how irresponsible he had actually been. His sister would never have even dreamt of doing something like this. Why couldn't Maxxie be like her?
Once the questions had finished, the police man thanked Maxxie before popping his pen back into his pocket. The clipboard in hand, he headed over towards the desk, still keeping a close eye on Maxxie.
“What is wrong with you?” Liam's eyes were still locked on the police officer.
Maxxie turned his head to see Liam shaking his as he stared at the officer. He despised looking at his son's eyes; they were exact copies of Eirin's. He could stay angry with her.
“Everyone’s overreacting anyway,” Maxxie flatly responded.
“I don’t even know what to say to you.” For the first time since he'd been here, Liam locked eyes with him, making his heart wrench for a moment. He turned away again.
He didn't hate his youngest son. He just... He found it so hard to even look at him. It was impossible for him to have the same love for Maxxie as his other two children. Liam hated himself for that. It wasn't because he didn't want to; he wanted that more than anything, but because he struggled to even try. He leaned back in the chair and rubbed his head.
Neither he or Maxxie said a word, not even turning to look at each other. Liam could hear his son shuffling beside him, coughing every couple of minutes. Liam's feet began to tap the floor then, his eyes wandering around the room. He must have been staring at the same withered plant for a good five minutes.
To both Liam and Maxxie's relief, it wasn’t long until the police man returned. He started speaking then, but Liam's son wasn’t listening. Something else had caught his attention. Sitting in the seat to his left was a young girl with long, dark plaits. When she noticed that Maxxie had spotted her, she smiled softly and winked at him. Liam's eyes remained on the police officer as the girl's lips parted. She looked at Maxxie.
“I told you not to take my daddy’s stuff.”
For the Can You See Me? club, click here.
Also, Maxxie seems like a girls name. Later on the character is worried about being a "woman", so maybe his name should reflect that too.
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