Chapter 13: Going Home
Max said his goodbyes to the four men. They gave him a small sapphire cross, telling him that it was good luck. Max knew what he had to now. He would give the mayor the letter he wrote and try to tell him what happened. Max started walking and in no time, made it out of the canyon. About a mile out or so out he saw the huge town wall. He jogged now, expecting the worst as he approached the wall. When he got there, he gazed at the big black wall surrounding the town. He knew it might be the last time he ever left that place again. Max ran up to the entrance and announced, “I must speak with Mayor George as soon possible!" Immediately more than ten officers ran through the town wall gate and tackled him. "Stand down son! What in the hell are you doing here, are you trying to get yourself shot?" an officer shouted at him. Max yelled aloud still pinned down on his back, “I need to speak with Mayor George, and give him this!" He handed the man the paper who read it quickly and laughed, “Red Death? What the heck is that, are you crazy boy?"
"Please sir just let me see the mayor, please!" Max begged.
"The only place you’re going to is a jail cell." All the policemen burst out in laughter. They put his hands in strong cuffs, and took him into a cell blindfolded as he pleaded, "Please tell the mayor Max is back!"
"You’re Max?" a formal looking official screamed, outraged. "You little bastard, you ran over my best deputy! You’re damn right I'm going to get the mayor. I'm going to ask him if we can kill you!" The officer stormed out of the room. Max stood there, his heart racing. They hadn't patted him down, so he still had his plasma ray gun on his hip. He waited for about a minute or two in complete silence, then he heard loud footsteps.
The jail cell quickly opened up and somebody pulled the blindfold off his face. It was Mayor George, his face was bright red and he looked furious. He stared at Max and at the top of his lungs he yelled, “What the hell are you doing here! Do you know what you've done? Your own sister tried to go out and find you Max, and she was shot down." A single tear fell down Max's face. "Mayor George, the only reason I'm back here is to warn you, warn you about the Red Death." The mayor looked pale as a ghost. "Rich's farm was attacked, he was killed but I was able to fend off the rest of the group." He pulled out his plasma ray gun, “I did it all with this gun." The mayor looked at Max, “If what you’re saying is true boy then we’re all dead, we’re all going to be murdered, or even worse, become infected."
"I have a plan sir, I'm immune to the Red Death. If we use explosives, we could take out at least a couple thousand of them. Rich told me there are about twenty-five thousand of them. We have a small chance sir, but still, it’s a chance. Even the four men told me so."
"You've spoken to the four men?" the mayor asked in complete disbelief. "You must be the chosen one Max, I'm sorry but, but, but,” he stuttered, “I thought we could just hide. Just hoping they'd never find us. That's why everything is chosen for all of us, people can't ask any questions or ever leave. We wanted to make it safe for us."
It dawned on Max why the town functioned as it did. He turned to the Mayor, "We've got a ton of planning to do then. But first I have to see my parents and apologize, they must be heart broken."
The Mayor drove Max to his home. On the way, Max saw all of his old friends’ houses, remembering the feeling of not having any responsibility. He did not miss that feeling, though, he enjoyed knowing he was created for a bigger purpose. Max thought about all the times he was picked up from school and his mother would run up to him and give him a huge hug. Max took a deep breath as they approached his house. "Thanks for the ride Mayor, and sorry for the bad news. I never meant to kill that officer, he shot at me and I tried to get him to run out of the way."
"It's alright Max, if it wasn't for you leaving we wouldn't have any chance of being safe," the Mayor said as Max got out of the car.
He walked slowly up to his front door, just as he used to as a little boy. But instead of walking right in, he rang the doorbell and stood there, waiting. His mother Betty opened the door and let out a loud scream and embraced Max tears falling down her cheeks. "Mom I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anyone!" She squeezed him tightly and whispered, “I love you Max, no matter what happens." They stood together for awhile, his mother not letting go of Max even for a second.
"Max, your sister Betty, she's dead," she said crying. "I know Mom, the Mayor told me everything." "She wanted to find you Max, she didn't feel like she had a purpose."
"Well mom, that's why I left, it had nothing to do with you or anyone else. I just always knew I was created for something bigger than this town. Now I know my purpose. I came back to save the town from a deadly evil. That's why the Mayor let me come back home right now, and why I'm not in a jail cell."
"What evil, Max? What could hurt the town?" adult Betty asked in a scared tone. "The Red Death, mom. These infected people will stop at nothing to infect and kill as many normal people as possible. There are over twenty-five thousand of these things coming to our town soon, and I was chosen to stop them. It wasn't my purpose to stay here, I had to do something extraordinary. I found out I'm immune to the Red Death, and every time I become hurt I instantly am healed. I also found out that you and dad aren't my real parents. I don't blame you for not telling me, it would have made me even more crazy."
"It's true Max, we found you in our backyard one day. You were so adorable and cute we decided to take you in. We always knew you were special Max. As a child whenever you were hurt, you would recover so quickly, faster than any medication or treatment we’d ever seen. Your father and I didn't mention it ever though, we both knew you were different than anyone else."
As Betty was telling Max this, his father walked in the front door. He held two milk bottles, and when he saw Max he dropped them. "Is that you son?" he asked bewildered.
"Dad! It is I, your son Max."
Adult Max ran to his son and swept him off his feet just liked he used to. "Oh Max, where have you been? Your mother and I have been worried sick, we thought both of our children were gone." They held each other close, not saying a word. Eventually Max told his father, “Dad, I just explained everything to mom, but I have something I have to do immediately. I need to go in my room right now and grab something, is that alright?"
"Yes son it's perfectly fine, just make sure you come back home tonight. I'd appreciate it if we had dinner together, as a family." Max nodded and ran up to his room. His room was still perfectly intact, it hadn't been touched since he had left. He went behind his bed, and took out the second floorboard. He pulled out a small note, which was in a glass bottle. He took out the paper carefully and put the floorboard board back together. He opened the paper and scanned it, but there was nothing on it. Max was outraged, when he had been at the fountain, the book he read had told him to go into his room, go behind his bed, and take out the second floorboard. He looked outside his window, seeing his street. He turned around and looked at the paper again. It now had a single sentence on it. It read, “You cannot change everything, but the things you can change are the reasons for existence." Max read this line again and again, understanding it better each time he saw it. He lay on his bed, thinking about all of the things that had happened to him. He still had so many questions, but he knew he had to stay focused. Max repeated the line in his head, “you cannot change everything, but the things you can change are the reasons for existence," and when he did the cross on his neck lit up. He started to feel relaxed and more focused. "Guess those old men really aren't crazy," he thought to himself. He felt good, and for the first time in awhile he actually wanted to sleep.
Just as he was closing his eyes his mother yelled to him, “Max, Mayor George is here!" He really wanted to sleep, but he knew it wasn’t time yet. He looked at the small parchment again, but all the words vanished. He took the bottle, put the paper back in, and placed it back into the second floorboard.