Chapter Text
Max almost screamed as he woke up from his intense nightmare. Luckily, he still had a bit of composure left as he escaped from his unbearable deepest parts of his mind. He was awake and in control now.
"Fuck." He muttered under his breath as his nerdy and slightly annoying friend, Neil, stumbled a bit towards his small gruff friend, and whispered, "Max, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare again?"
"No." Max grumbled, and crossed his arms over his chest, not wanting anyone to know how weak he truly was. "Fuck no."
"I seriously doubt it. You know what? I am getting sick of you lying to us all the time. Nikki and I, I mean. We're your friends! We could help you." Neil said, his voice a teensy bit pleading.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up. I don't care. It happens every time I sleep, so what? Most kids have nightmares all the time! Do you?" Max was genuinely curious for once.
"Very rarely. I usually only have dreams about science and destroying astronomy."
"Agh, damn it. What about Nikki?"
"What about her? How should I know how her dreams go? I don't want to have to stalk her of all people!"
"No! That's not what I am trying to ask! I just want to know if you can guess what she dreams about, smartass."
"Well... maybe she dreams about herself becoming the Queen of Nature. I don't know." Neil shrugged his shoulders.
"You're right. Maybe I am the only one who suffers around here." Max sighed.
"Hey!" Neil exclaimed excitedly. "What about Nurf? He's a bully, he surely would have some negative dreams here and there."
"Hm. No. He may be a bit of a pussy, but I don't think anything could have him get nightmares, you know... cause he's a bully." Max said, completely uninterested about the big bastard.
"You never know, Max." Neil murmured.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Maybe I can fall asleep again so I could-"
"Goooood morning, campers!" David's voice rung out through the whole area without mercy.
Max groaned loud as he slid out of his bed in the most sluggish and slowest way possible, then he and Neil exited out their tent to stand with the others. Nikki joined by their side, as usual.
"Since you all know that this is going to be your last week at Camp Campbell," David reminded the campers as Max's heart sunk. Max did not want this. He suffered whenever David reminded them of when camp was going to end. His hands were sweaty and shaky as David explained, "I've decided the most special activities we could do for our last week here! Today: Nikki for nature and adventure, tomorrow: Neil for fun science facts, Tuesday: Ered for sports and exercise, Wednesday: Dolph for arts and crafts, Thursday: Preston for entertaining theater, Friday: Scotty for the giggles to cheer us up!, then Saturday: Max for-"
"Nothing." Max sneered. "I don't want to participate in anything."
"Max," David's voice had a bit of a warning edge to it, though he still held his overenthusiastic smile. "You all will be participating anyways. Your day will only be more special when it comes."
"Ugh, whatever." Max grumbled as he knew that nothing could change the jolliness and determination of that damn counselor.
"Okay, fellow campers! Let's start walking along the trail here."
Of course, Max was the last in line as they all entered the forest, with Nikki and Neil sandwiching him.
"Oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD! I can't believe David chose me first! Adventure Camp here we come!!!" Nikki didn't stay alongside with the boys too long. She sped into the forest with David on her tail, preventing her from disappearing from his sight.
"Huh, I'm surprised he didn't force Gwen with us." Neil realized as they walked on and on.
"Wow, the bitch was actually able to convince him to not come with us. Lucky." Max said with mostly sarcasm and a bit of jealousy.
"Yeah, but if we were to go back, we definitely wouldn't join her." Neil admitted.
"I'd hide in our tent. No one would bother us til they come back." Max sighed.
"Mmmhm." Neil nodded. "However, we have gone too far into this forest at this point. We wouldn't be able to go back as easily."
"Damn it. I don't want to do this." Max pouted at the ground, shoving his fists in his pockets.
"You think you're the only one who feels this way? All of us hate this."
"Besides Nikki." Max added.
"Besides Nikki." Neil repeated in agreement.
"And Space Kid." Max grumbled without care.
As they went further and further, Max began to see things. One of the big trees had a huge shadow hidden behind it. Once he noticed it, the shadow jumped out at him. Max gasped then fell hard on the ground. His hands and knees were sore. One of his knees felt like they were bleeding, but he could care less. What he truly cared about was if anyone saw how he reacted to literally nothing. Sadly, everyone did.
Nikki stared at him in intrigued shock like he was an interesting rare species to her. Neil looked at him with pity and helped the grumpy Indian boy off the ground. David looked worried and went right over to the hurt boy. Max hated it when anyone noticed him, especially out of pity. It's not like he hated Neil as a person... he just hated the nerd for that exact moment. He wanted so badly to snap at him and say to not treat him with pity that it had his eye twitch a bit more than just in pain. Everyone else immediately lost interest and continued on, but not too far for David to get worried. For now, three people who cared for Max were gonna deal with him once they all returned to camp.
Of course, Max told them nothing. He only could glare at the ground as David and Neil continuously asked him questions. Nikki left a while ago, not knowing what to do.
*Monday*
"Alright!" Neil exclaimed as he had the chalkboard in front of him as he wrote a few facts on it to intrigue the other campers. "Did any of you know that water can boil and freeze at the same time?"
Max shrugged as everyone else gasped in shock. David had his fists in front of him in pure excitement as he listened more to what else Neil had to say.
"Yes, it can. It really can. I can even show you!"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_1cuPTOXeS4
"See?" Neil stood there proud as everyone stared in complete amazement at something that shouldn't be happening in front of them.
"Neil, that is amazing!" David cheered.
"Yes, yes. Thank you, thank you." Neil bowed as Max and especially Harrison rolled their eyes.
"Now, 2nd fact: Did you all know that lasers can get trapped in waterfalls?"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9O5xY3Z1WE
Max actually enjoyed the laser one more as everyone cheered louder.
"That was actually pretty fucking cool!" Gwen shouted out.
"Yep, lasers will never be uncool to me." Ered agreed with a nod. "Even Max agrees."
Max couldn't deny that. He could only nod as Neil made it to his last fact.
"Lastly, an egg looks like a crazy jellyfish when it is placed underwater."
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wXCDeqjWuDg
Most of them were disgusted, especially when Neil(Like in the video) squished the egg into pieces. They all cheered anyways.
"You and I have to admit, fake magic boy," Nerris said, "that that egg was the coolest thing we've seen all day."
"Yeah, yeah. I suppose it was worth the time." Harrison sighed as all the kids went back to their tents to rest and/or hang out.
Space Kid took the longest to convincing that they all had to go to their tents since there was nothing else to do for the rest of the day. A huge disappointment for Nikki and Space Kid while Max and Neil didn't complain at all.
"You tired?" Max grumbled as he curled up within his own bed.
"Yeah, a little. I had to make sure my experiments were well done." Neil yawned as he sat down on his bed. "It's only noon, though."
"I know." Max groaned. "Just be quiet. I'm gonna try to sleep a little more."
"Do whatever you like. We have to remain in our tents anyways. I will play with my scientific equipment for a little bit, then I can start sleeping myself."
Max made a grunt as an answer, then began to fall asleep in no time.
...
He entered his usual dream world as he slept on and on. There, he stood on the ground in front of an ocean. Luckily, he was as far as he could be from the scary currents. He was enjoying his dream for once as he spread his arms out wide, feeling the wind soar through his body.
His closed eyes opened as he squinted deep within the ocean's merciless movements. His usual jaded eyes were filled with happiness and comfort as he never dared to look away from the beautiful scenery before him. Something caught his eye.
He saw the same egg as the one that Neil showed everyone that day. It flowed flawlessly like a jellyfish in the sea. The yolk of the egg glowed beneath the rays of the golden sun as the wind picked up a bit. Max began to grow a genuine smile as he saw all of what was happening in front of his sight.
Then suddenly, a cold feeling washed over his entire life form as things began to dim more and more around him. The egg was slowly transforming into what looked like a human embryo! He almost threw up cause he began to feel woozy and sick.
"Shit." He muttered under his breath as the wind began to pick up without warning. The embryo was transitioning to a human baby... a baby that resembled him without second thought. It had the same bits of hair and the same bright glowing green eyes. He shivered in shock and fear as the wind got stronger and stronger. The waves were shifting at impossible speed as the baby began to screech in an uncomforting way that was sure to haunt Max for a while.
Max didn't realize that he was on the edge of a cliff until the wind became impossible to endure. It was pushing him back and forth. Then, he fell off the cliff. He screamed and stretched his arms forward as he was descending further and further into the crazy whirls of the ocean. Max squeezed his eyes shut, expecting to feel his body slap into the surface of the water...
...
Luckily, his dream never finished because someone was attempting to shake him awake. Even though his body swam with relief, he still opened his eyes and glared at the person who would dare interrupt his sleeping pattern.
"Max! Max! Are you okay?" David asked worriedly as his hands still remained on Max's shoulders. Neil was standing in the entrance of the tent, never looking as nervous and scared as he did then.
"Of course I'm fine, David! Leave me alone!"
"Max," David sighed. "You have to let spill your problems, otherwise they're gonna make you lose it at the worst time possible."
"Fucking hell... do none of you idiots ever listen to me? I said I'm fine."
Max was not willing to spill any of his guts to anyone anytime soon. Neil and even David knew this. They both sensed the aggressiveness and impatience of the boy.
"Max, language." Max rolled his eyes. "Well, if you can't tell us now, then surely you will be able to some other time." David said.
"Yeah, whatever..." Max murmured then laid his head back on his pillow. As David left their tent, Neil went right over to Max's side, then hissed in his ear, "Seriously, Max? You're fucking impossible sometimes. We're all trying to help you!"
"Oh, and how do you suppose you will do that?" Max asked sarcastically.
"By talking with you. You need to talk to someone about this, Max, whether you'll like it or not."
"Yeah, sometime... not now." Max stretched his arms over his head.
"Ugh, Max. Sometimes, you make me wanna... well, that doesn't matter. What matters is that you speak now, or I will force it out of you if I have to."
"Leave me the fuck alone!" Max exploded a bit. "Do you ever see me helping you? No. Then why the fuck won't you just avoid me? Because when you try to help me, all you guys expose is pity. That's all you guys ever do. Don't try to disagree cause you know it's true. You are literally only my friend, and that's it. We've only been friends for a few months, so why should I receive your help, huh? God, you all are funny."
Neil couldn't even speak to Max as he stared at his small tanned friend in shock and disappointment, then left the tent without looking back.
*Skipping to Saturday*
Max still couldn't believe it. Out of all the days, Friday ended up being his only best day of the week. Scotty was a jokester who could make anyone laugh with the acts he performs without uttering a single word. He only laughed hard once with a true smile on his face, but he made sure to not expose his emotions too often. They would think that he wasn't being himself.
Who ever thought a clown would make things better?
Luckily, it was already Saturday.
However, Max groaned, as that day was going to be about him and his own talent. Funny thing was was that he had no talent, in his opinion. His parents didn't choose a camp for him to be a part of anyways.
The whole morning and noon only consisted of Max arguing with everyone's ridiculous logic. He just wanted to be ignored for the rest of his life. Of course, deep down he knew how false that statement was when he shouted it out in anger. When he said that with such an aggressive tone, that all the other campers couldn't even hang out with him without fearing about him killing them all in a millisecond.
Once it was afternoon, the parents came to the camp to pick up their kids. David had tears in his eyes while Gwen was silently celebrating the whole ordeal. It was all finally coming to a close. Of course, it will all start again next summer, but Gwen didn't care about that.
Once Max and his two close friends were the only ones left, Gwen decided to leave, leaving David to make sure things didn't go wrong.
"Oh no! We all have to leave soon!" Nikki was close to sobbing. "I will miss nature so much, but especially you guys."
Max grunted while Neil said, "Um... have you forgotten that you and I are brother and sister?"
"Woah! That's right, Neil! Yay! At least I still have one of you!" She hugged Neil tight as he began to struggle shaking her off.
"Ugh, of course you both will be in contact. I don't think I ever will anytime soon." Max shoved his hands in his pockets in slight sadness, anger, and jealousy.
"Um, Max... what do you mean by that?" Neil asked nervously.
"Well, uh... n-nevermind!" Max snapped as he stomped away to his and Neil's tent. Once he entered through the folds, Neil and Nikki had to go with their parents back home.
David panicked as he realized he saw Max nowhere. He scrambled about until he heard sniffs in a tent. He went inside the tent and found Max curled up within himself, holding Mr. Honeynuts tightly, never wanting to be bothered ever again. He began to sob silently as David stammered, "M-Max? Are you okay?"
"DOES IT FUCKING LOOK LIKE I AM!? GET OUT!" Max screamed, never this enraged before.
"Max, please-" Before David could continue on, they both heard a distant car stop. Then, they heard a man's gruff voice reverberate through the whole camp, "Max! Your mother and father are here!" The man known as Max's father seemed tired like he never got sleep.
Max peeked out of his tent in complete fear, still not letting go of his bear. "S-Sir," David frowned at what Max called his father. "I-I have a few t-things I still need t-to pack." Max acted completely different and vulnerable, words David never thought could ever relate to Max.
"What, like your fucking bear?" David frowned even more as Max's mother spat, "Forget about it! Just get in the damn car!"
"E-Excuse me." David said as he and Max were completely out of Max's tent. David stood in front of the boy as if he was a shield. "Are you Max's parents?"
"Yes. What does it fucking look like we are?" Max's mother snapped. His mom mostly looked like him while his dad was white.
"Well, uh, then, could you guys please be a little more polite to him?" David began to sweat. He did not know where this determination was coming from, but it was coming strong.
"Okay, dear, we're definitely leaving this asshole behind. He doesn't seem to understand what it is like to be a parent." The father huffed as he reached out for Max's wrist and drug him to their car.
"Let me go!" Max cried out. "You're hurting me!"
David's fatherly instincts came in at Max's cry for help, but it became ten times stronger once the father slapped the poor boy across the face. Max fell on his hands and knees, holding onto his hurting cheek with a shaky hand. Tears poured down his face as he turned around to sit down on the grass as David immediately took action. David kicked the father in the balls. Max's father screamed as he fell on his knees, holding onto his hurting sack. The mother tried to attack David, but the camp counselor only delicately slapped her across the face. She fell down dramatically like she was punched across the face with full force.
What a bitch.
Anyways, David carried Max in his arms as Max's parents fled to their car and drove away as fast as possible.
Once Max's crying minimized to sniffles, he stammered to David, "D-David, what- how- when- why-"
"It's because I can't handle seeing kids suffer, especially if it is caused by adults who are cruel and have no heart whatsoever, Max. I couldn't help it. I had to do something. I had to protect you because somebody fucking has to."
Max's eyes were wide with respect and shock as David decided to adopt Max and go to his- no, their home.
Max knew this was gonna be a bright new beginning, even if he never wanted to admit it out loud.