August 15th. Journal entry one.A DREAM COME TRUEria Deluca and five days ago, Tess
died. Before that, things got really weird.
August
15th. Journal entry one.
One week ago:
Max paced around his room liked a caged animal. It was two o'clock in the
morning and he was having a moral dilemma. Usually, he would have just
woken Isabel up and asked for her help, but this wasn't the kind of thing he
wanted to involve his sister in. If he woke her up to tell her what had
been happening, he knew he would get a big, fat "I told you so" from her.
When the Jeep had broken down in the middle of nowhere last week, he
explained to her that it would be OK if they used their powers to fix it.
Nobody was around and he wasn't about to wait out in the 105 degree heat for
a tow truck. Isabel had been reluctant but she had finally agreed. After
they had used their powers together, he felt fine, great in fact, but Isabel
had gone straight to bed when they had arrived home, complaining of a
headache. The next day, she had made him promise to never do that again,
they didn't know what effects it would have on them. So, she would flip out
even more if she knew that he had flat out broken his promise to her.
He and Michael had been playing basketball when the ball got wedged up on
the roof. Being that it was so friggin hot outside, neither of them was too
keen on climbing up on the roof to retrieve the ball. Instead, they linked
their powers and the ball floated back down to them. He was eager to feel
the rush that he had felt when he and Isabel had used their powers together.
However, Max didn't think that doing it a second time had agreed with him,
he had felt weak for the rest of the day while Michael had seemed
supercharged. Michael had joked that it was due to the fact that he was the
warrior while Max was just the King. "You probably just sat on your ass all
day while I killed off our enemies," he said while sinking yet another
basket, smiling. Max usually kicked Michael's ass at basketball but Max
just couldn't seem to keep up with Michael.
He smiled when he realized that he was still thinking about a game that he
had lost days ago. "Typical type A personality," he heard a voice that
sounded suspiciously like Maria in his head. Maria. He stared at the
closed yearbook and sighed heavily as he flopped back onto his bed. He was
sure that the Heatwave, which had already been upon them for three weeks,
had something to do with everything. It had happened last year, as well,
people acting crazy, not at all like themselves. However, last year, he
hadn't pick up any new powers. Well, he wouldn't call them "new" powers,
just ones HE had never had.
Two nights ago, he had been pulling an all-nighter to get his history
project done and he had taken a break to keep himself sane. If he had read
one more thing about Lenin or Stalin, he was going to go boom. He passed
what Isabel took to calling his "new wallpaper", sheets with LENIN and
STALIN written on top with all of the notes that he had taken about them
under their names, and gone to his book shelf. He took down the photo album
that Maria had given him for his birthday. He took it over to his desk and
flipped through the pages, smiling at some of the pictures that Maria had
managed to compile.
Isabel and Liz on the bleachers by the football field, obviously checking
out the track team. Kyle and Michael standing over the open hood of Kyle's
car, both looking rather confused at what they saw. He and Alex in Home
Economics, both wearing pink aprons, as they broke eggs over a bowl. Liz at
the Crashdown, making faces behind customers' backs. He was amazed at how
many candid shots there were of his friends. Maria was a good, little
stalker. The rest of his friends weren't too shabby at it, either. When
they had heard about her little present, they set about getting pictures of
her as well. He flipped by several pictures of her and Alex goofing off in
band practice to what was his favorite picture in the whole album. When he
had pointed it out to Isabel, she had been surprised that it wasn't of Liz.
It was hard to explain to himself, so he did a poor job of it to Isabel. He
loved Liz, she was his soulmate. From the first time that he saw her, he
knew it. Maria was something different. She was a surprise that he never
expected. Plus, he usually knew what Liz was thinking, what came out of
Maria's mouth was always a surprise. She was energy personified, constantly
moving. Which was why when he saw this picture of Maria, it spoke to him.
Liz had taken it. She and Maria had gone up to the Pod Chamber one day out
of sheer boredom. Liz had gotten Maria's profile as she looked at the
setting sun. She looked serious, thoughtful, quiet. There was a little
smile on her lips that made Max think that Maria knew the key to all of them
being happy, but was keeping it secret for now.
Yup, Liz took a really good picture. He flipped through the rest of the
book and returned to that picture. He was dead tired and decided that
resting his eyes for a few minutes couldn't hurt. He used the album as his
pillow and he slept. Almost immediately, a dream unfolded in his mind, but
it wasn't his dream.
He was in the Crashdown and it was absolute anarchy. There were people
everywhere you looked and only one waitress, Maria. She was running around,
at full speed, while people shouted their orders at her. She looked over at
Max casually and he quickly ducked behind the counter. Isabel had told him
that when you dreamwalked, the dreamer could clearly see that you were
different from the rest of the people in their dream. He didn't want Maria
knowing that he had "invaded her mind" as she liked to call dreamwalking.
He had no idea how to get out of her dream so he just watched in amusement
as she tried to keep the hungry masses from rioting. She wasn't too
successful and the dream began to speed up faster and faster. He was
getting dizzy and about ready to pass out when he woke up abruptly, sitting
at his desk. He quickly slammed the album shut, resolving to never
dreamwalk again, even if he could.
That had been two nights ago, and he felt his resolve crumbling. He knew
that somehow, he had gotten a bit of Isabel's dreamwalking powers, he also
knew that he should just wait for it to wear off, that he should use the
powers again. But, Maria's dream/nightmare was highly amusing and he wanted
to know more about what made her tick. But it was wrong. But it was fun.
Wrong. Fun. Wrong. Fun. His mind kept going back and forth. Max picked
up the album and stared at it, as if it would give him the answer to his
dilemma. 'I'll go in, and if it gets weird, I'll just come out again,' he
rationalized, as he opened the book up again. He failed to remember that he
had no idea how to pull himself out of people's dreams. He opened the book
up to her picture and closed his eyes and focused on keeping his breathing
nice and even. 'What's the worst I could see,' he thought before he was
pulled into his friend's unconscious mind.
He saw Maria wandering around the halls of West Roswell High. She appeared
to be in a good mood. In Maria's mind, birds were chirping and the sun was
shining. He followed her as she turned a corner and almost knocked into a
gaggle of people. "Sorry," he muttered and then raced to catch up with her.
He noticed that it had gotten darker. He noticed that her face had
changed into a mask of sheer disgust. He then followed her gaze and knew
why. She was looking at Tess.
Tess was leaning against a random locker. She looked like a clown from a
porn film. Her makeup was heavier than usual and it looked like she was
wearing only about half a yard of clothing. Max didn't like this dream.
"MARIA! Over here, yoo hoo," he heard Tess yell at Maria. Maria tried to
duck out of the way, but she was boxed in by Tess.
"Listen," Tess said as she put her arm around Maria, "I wanted to talk to
you about Max's photo album. I REALLY, REALLY think that I NEED to be in
it. I mean, I'm his wife aren't I?" Both Maria and Max winced at the use
of that word in Tess's mouth.
Max noticed that the light in the hallway was slowly turning red with each
passing utterance that spewed forth from Tess's mouth.
"I mean, Liz and you and Kyle and Al are in there, I heard (she did not tell
Maria that she had "heard" this while eavesdropping on a conversation that
Maria had had with Kyle) through the grapevine. Maxie will be ever so upset
if I'm not in there, he won't even have a picture to show our children."
Max looked at Maria, expecting the eruption at any second, it didn't come.
She smiled sweetly at Tess. Max noticed a spilt second before the carnage
began that Maria's binder had morphed into a baseball bat.
"SHUT UP! MAX THIS. MAX THAT. WE ALL HATE YOU!!!" Maria screamed. Each
word was punctuated by the baseball bat connecting with Tess's now limp
body.
Max couldn't help it. He smiled. One of those rare "You've just made my
day" smiles crossed his face. 'If only it were that simple,' he thought.
Maria had apparently had enough of the bloody mess that was Tess. She threw
the bat aside and clapped her hands. Tess's body disappeared.
"Much better," Maria muttered to herself. She picked up her books, which
had some blood on them left over from the bat, and started in Max's
direction. She was staring right at him. Her eyes widened. He turned and
ran.
He ran down one hallway and the next. He could hear her footfalls coming
after him and her voice calling, "It had better really not be you," getting
closer and closer.
He turned a corner and got a nasty surprise. Apparently, in Maria's world
of West Roswell High there were benches lining the hallways. He had
forgotten that she always complained that there was no place to stop and tie
her shoe. He ran, full speed into one of the benches and when crashing into
a wall. Pain radiated out from his legs.
He woke up on the floor of his room. He really hoped that Maria hadn't been
able to tell for certain that it was really him. "Mental note, never do
that again," he muttered to himself. He got to his feet. At least, he
tried to. When he got his legs under him, they buckled. He pulled the
legs of his pants up and revealed what looked like fresh bruises across his
legs. "That's impossible," he said. But possible or not, his dream
injuries had followed him into the waking world. He also noticed that his
hand was slightly scraped from where he had hit the wall. He got hurt in
Maria's dream, and it had happened in the real world. A plan began to form
in his mind.
Across town, while Max was watching Maria beat Tess to death. Michael was
having a dream of his own. In it HE was the one to save Liz, HE was the one
that she loved. Over the past two days, thoughts like these had filled his
mind. He knew that she was his soulmate. If only he could convince her,
things would work out all right. It never occurred to him that he had only
begun to have these thoughts after linking powers with Max. He hadn't
thought of much about anything except Liz after the ball game with Max. He
had come directly home and written Elizabeth Guerin on his notebooks and
then furiously erased it.
A part of his mind piped up, telling him that it was Maria he cared about,
but it was a small, tiny voice. How could he think of Maria when Liz was
out there somewhere? His mind kept going back to the night when he returned
the journal and how breathtaking she had looked in her uniform. Those eyes.
Those lips. Those antennae. Why hadn't he noticed that at the time? Had
he been that blind of his love for her? He knew that he was a fool. He had
to convince her now of his love for her. He knew that she cared for Max a
little, but he knew that Max would step aside if he realized that, for
Michael, the sun rose and set because of Liz Parker.
He quickly climbed out of his bed, out of his apartment and began to run
towards Liz's house. "Michael and Liz, sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g," he
sung over and over again. Finally, he could see the Crashdown, and the
ladder that lead up to his love's bedroom. How could he convince her of his
love for her? It had to be something big, something that left no doubt in
her mind. Max had once told Michael that Liz had compared her and Max to
Romeo and Juliet. She had obviously known then that it wouldn't work out
between the two of them. Maybe she had even known that she was in love with
Michael at that point. But, if she liked Shakespeare enough to cite it in
everyday conversation, Shakespeare is what she would get.
Liz awoke slowly. She looked at her clock and wondered why she had suddenly
awoke at three in the morning. Then she heard a voice outside of her
window. It was Michael.
"But soft what light through yonder window breaks it is the East and
Elizabeth is sun," he said, while clambering through her window and kneeling
by the foot of her bed.
"Michael," Liz whispered, "are you drunk?" It was the only possible
explanation she could come up with. It had made Max crazy, so why not
Michael.
"No my lady, but beholding one so beautiful as yourself does play with a
man's senses," he said while sitting on the edge of her bed.
Liz was thankful that her parents were......well, she couldn't remember
where they had gone this time, just that they were out of town.
She looked around Michael, trying to see if this was some crackhead joke
that Maria had cooked up. But, Maria was nowhere to be seen.
"Michael, I think it's time that you went home," Liz said, while scooting
away from Michael, who had been edging ever so slowly towards her.
"Not before I say this, I love you Liz. The love that burns as bright as a
thousand suns, a love that shall endure for all eternity, a love that
makes..."
But Liz did not want to hear what Michael's love was making. She was
freaking out. What was this? Michael loved her? No, impossible. She
couldn't accept it. The heat must have fried his brain. "Have you gone
insane," she whispered, why she was whispering she didn't know.
"No, baby," he said, "I'm just crazy about you." He then swooped down and
tried to kiss her but she was ready for that. She slid out of the way and
pushed him onto the porch outside of her window. She shut and locked her
window.
"Ohhh...hard to get, I like that," Michael said as he climbed down to the
ground. "She will be mine, oh yes, she will be mine."
Isabel was very confused the next day at school. She had seen Max limping
around the house, trying to make breakfast. When she asked him if he had
rough dreams, he looked at her guilty and before she could question him
anymore, their parents had come in, effectively killing that conversation.
He had blared the radio on the way to school when she had tried to talk to
him, the only good thing to come out of that was that the weather guy told
them the heatwave should break after midnight tonight. Then, when he saw
Maria in the hallway, who looked royally pissed about something, he ran into
the Janitor's Closet.
And then, there was Michael. She met up with him at his locker, as usual.
But that had been the last 'usual' thing that happened with Michael that
day.
The first thing that she noticed was that his locker door was festooned with
what looked like sketches that Michael had done. She smiled, thinking that
they would be of Maria. When she got closer, she was so shocked that she
actually stopped dead in her tracks. They were all of Liz. Liz at the
Crashdown. Liz in the hallway. Liz in class. Liz driving her parents car.
Liz laughing. Liz crying. When her feet finally began listening to her
brain again, she walked over to where Michael was standing, softly stroking
Liz's hair in one of the drawings, and coughed loudly to announce her
presence.
Michael whipped around with a great look of hope on his face. When he saw
that it was Isabel, he looked crestfallen. He recovered quickly, however.
"Isabel," he said, "I'm so glad to see you. You've got to help me out with
Liz. I went to her place last night and she actually threw me out of her
room. And when I tried to give her the roses I bought her this morning,
well, I thought that she ran away from me. But, I must be wrong, I mean why
would she do that?"
Isabel, was too stunned to even respond. She was looking at him for some
sign that this was a huge joke. But he was looking at her earnestly.
"Michael," she said, as if speaking to a small child, "who is it that you
say you are in love with?"
"Liz," he answered, immediately.
"Ok, and what about Maria," she asked as she noticed numerous students
looking their way. Obviously, she wasn't the only one who had noticed the
new decor of Michael's locker. She shut it quickly and prayed that it
wouldn't get back to Maria before she could sort this out.
"Maria's my friend. I like Maria. Especially when we hung out last summer,
she helped me with Liz," he answered quickly.
"You didn't even TALK to Maria last summer Michael. Max was the one...."
she trailed off and took a good look at Michael.
He had cut his hair, he was actually at school on time and now that she
stopped to notice, he was wearing J. Crew. The wheels in her mind began
spinning.
"When did you start having these feelings for Liz," she asked.
"I've always known about Liz, on some level. But," he paused, looking a bit
confused himself, "I guess you could say that I knew for sure after I played
ball with Max. Walking home, she was all that I could think about."
"Did anything weird happen when you were playing ball with Max? I need you
to think really hard about that one," she said.
A look of utter concentration crossed his face. "I can't remember," he
said, softly.
"OK," she said, follow me. She took him into a classroom that was not in
use at the moment. She sat him on a desk. She began to put her hands to
his head, and then faltered. Did she really want to go into Michael's head?
I mean, she didn't know what effects doing this could have on both of
them. Then again, she and Max had linked their powers and nothing funky had
happened. She placed her hands on his head and focused on the images that
passed by. They were mostly of Liz. But, then she got one of Maria talking
to some guy she didn't recognize. She felt total jealously sweep over her.
A flash of Alex. The, finally, what she was looking for. A flash of
Michael and Max using their powers together. So, that was it. Michael had
gotten a little bit of Max when they had done that. Hopefully, it would go
away.
"Michael," she said, "I want you to do me a little favor. Lay low today.
Don't talk to anyone," he opened his mouth to protest and she kept on
talking, "ESPECIALLY to Liz. I need some time to sort this thing out."
"But, Isabel, not talking to her is like torture," he said.
"I realize that, but, um, think about how much greater your love will be
being that you sacrificed your own happiness for her," she responded.
"Fine," he said, dejected at the turn the conversation had taken. "I'll be
quiet today, but only cause you asked me to."
He then walked out of the room. She couldn't believe that Max had done
something so stupid. If Michael had gotten a bit of Max, had Max gotten
anything from her the week before? It was a good question, but Isabel
forgot to ask one more...what had she gotten from Michael?
Isabel walked out of the classroom and right into Vickey Delaney. She
muttered sorry and then continued on her way. It took her a second to
realize that Vickey wasn't alone, she had been holding Alex's hand. After
Alex got back from Sweden he seemed to be full of confidence, it appeared
that she was not the only one who realized this. But, she was confident
that if she gave it time, she would be able to get Alex back. And now he
was holding hands with Vicky Delaney? No, she would not stand for THAT.
Alex was HERS.
She quickly turned around and walked up to the two of them at Vickey's
locker. "What in the hell do you think you're doing," she yelled at Vickey.
"Isabel, hi," the blonde said, "What are you talking about?"
"Are you OK, Is," Alex asked, concern streaking his voice. Damn he looked
good today, she thought.
"What I'm talking about is you taking your hands off of what is mine," she
said menacingly as she stepped closer to Vickey. "Or else, you may find
yourself picking up each and every one of those fake blonde strands off of
the floor. Whitman's spoken for."
Vickey opened and closed her mouth a few times, looking like a goldfish
gasping for air. Alex was too shocked for words. As was the rest of the
crowd that had begun to gather in the hopes of a full on chick fight.
Isabel stepped within kissing distance of Vickey. "Do we understand each
other," she said so quietly that even Alex couldn't make out what she was
saying, "You DON'T want to mess with me."
Vickey attempted to stare her down, but, seeing the crazy look in Isabel's
eyes, thought better of it. Alex wasn't worth it. They had only gone out
once, for god's sake, and she was just holding his hand to make Kyle
jealous. Yes, this was not worth dying for.
"I understand you," Vickey whispered.
"What, I can't hear you," Isabel yelled so the whole crowd could hear it.
"I'll stay away from Alex," Vickey yelled, much to the amazement of Alex and
the rest of the crowd. Most of the guys were looking at Alex with a new
found respect and the girls were wondering what, exactly, he had that Isabel
wanted so badly.
Isabel smiled and said, "Thanks, Vickey. I knew we could work it out," and
then grabbed Alex's hands and dragged him down the hallway.
Alex was about to ask where she was taking him, then they were stopping and
she was roughly pushing him into the eraser room. She locked the door
quickly, spun around, and pushed roughly him against the wall. "Isabel, I
think we need to talk," he began.
She put her fingers against his lips. "Talking is highly overrated," she
said, seductively and then swooped down upon his lips.
After a few minutes, Alex had to agree with that.
Maria walked rapidly down the halls. Where was Max? She couldn't wait to
find him. And kill him. She KNEW that he had gone into her dreams, and for
that, he must pay. She didn't know how it had happened, but she would just
beat it out of him. Her suspicions had been confirmed when she saw him run
away from her. The last thing she remembered about her dream was seeing Max
crash first into a bench and then the wall. Then, this morning, she had
noticed he was limping. She hadn't known that if the aliens got hurt in
your dream, it carried over into the real world, but she was glad. He knew
how she felt about mindwarping and the like, she couldn’t believe that a) he
had done it and b) that he had thought she wouldn't have known. She was so
preoccupied with her thoughts, that she almost knocked Liz down.
"Oh, sorry Lizzie," she said, "I didn't see you there."
"That's ok," Liz said, while her eyes scanned the hallways.
"Are you looking for someone," Maria asked. "And have you seen Michael, I
need to talk to him."
"Why would I be looking for Michael," Liz asked quickly. "I don't even LIKE
Michael ok?"
"OK, OK, sorry I asked," she said. "I have to go, I'm gonna be late for
History." She didn't mention to Liz that she wanted to get their early to
have a little chat with her good buddy Max.
She set off for class, leaving Liz to cautiously walk to her next class.
She was so focused on watching the doorway to her next class, that she
didn't notice when a figure began walking right next to her.
Then, she felt herself being jerked down the hallway to her left. It was
Max.
"MAX, I'M GOING TO..." was all she was able to get out before his hand
covered her mouth.
"We'll discuss what you're going to do to be in a second. I need to talk to
you first. I need you to promise me that you're not going to yell at me when
I take my hand away." He felt her nod. He slowly retracted his hand.
"Ok, but this had better be good," she said, still clearly livid.
"Oh, it is. But, we shouldn't talk about it out here," he said, staring
down the hallway. "Follow me."