Author: Shadowgrl
Disclaimer: And again I say, not mine. More’s the pity.
Description: Isabel takes action after Max’s threats.
Rating: PG
Feedback would be terrific.
Isabel hovered outside her parents’ bedroom door. Her dad was out of town but her mom was there. And that was who Isabel wanted. She felt safe with her mom. Like nothing could harm her. Not even Max. And after what she was about to do, Max would most definitely want to harm her.
Isabel knocked. She heard her mom call out for her to come in. She took a deep breath. This was it.
“Hi Mom,” she said quietly.
“Hi honey. How are you?”
“I’m okay.”
Her mom looked at her. Isabel’s eyes were swollen from the tears she’d cried in the broken girls’ bathroom in the basement at school. Her make-up was completely gone, her clothes wrinkled. Her eyes no longer held their sparkle.
“Honey, I can see you’re not okay. Do you want to talk to me about it? You know I’ll do everything I can to make it better.”
Isabel smiled. Isabel could make it better by herself, but she would need her mom’s help. Her mom’s unwitting help. “It’s just, well, I kinda had a fight with Max.” Isabel kept her voice low and even allowed it to wobble. Like Maria’s had when she was singing at Alex’s. . . No! Isabel firmly clamped down on that thought. It just hurt too much.
“A fight? You two never fight. Was it a big one?”
Isabel nodded. If she only knew how big! “I think, Mom, I’m really worried about Max. He’s not acting himself.”
“What do you mean dear? I know he’s been awfully quiet but-” She was interrupted by Isabel’s snort.
“Honey?”
“He hasn’t been quiet around me. Mom, he’s acting so strange. He’s gotten so possessive lately. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to get him in trouble.”
“Isabel, if Max is in some kind of trouble you need to tell me about it so I can get him some help.”
I don’t think you can get him help unless you give him a lobotomy Isabel thought. She smiled shakily up at her mother. “Would you hold me while I tell you? I’m afraid to hurt you.”
When her mom nodded, Isabel crossed the room and sank into her mother’s open arms. She hated the worry lines she had put there, but it was necessary. For her and for Max. There was something wrong with Max but Isabel couldn’t help him. So she would turn him over to someone who could.
Taking a deep breath, she proceeded to tell her mom some of what Max had done in the last few weeks. “I think he’s afraid of life, Mom. He’s gotten irrational and violent. Just this morning he grabbed Liz’s arm so hard it left bruises.” Her mother gasped in horror. “And that’s not counting what he’s done to Michael, Tess and even me.”
“Isabel, has he hurt you?” Mrs. Evans wanted to cry. Her baby girl was afraid of her own brother. She hadn’t said it but it was obvious in the small hesitations, the tight grip that was even now cutting off her circulation, the burrowing into her Isabel was doing.
“Not physically. Maria is the only one he hasn’t been nasty to. I don’t know what to do, Mom. I’ve tried everything. From talking to him, to trying to help him get Liz back, but nothing has helped. And when I finally gave up and tried to have my own life he went ballistic on me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Max doesn’t want me to leave Roswell. He doesn’t want me going to college.”
“Isabel, I’m sure that’s your imagination. Max loves you; he’s thrilled you get to graduate a year early. He told me so this morning before he left for school.”
Isabel snorted. “Then I don’t even want to know what happened to make him change his mind because that wasn’t what he said when he found me at school.”
“What did he say?” Diane was getting a bad feeling. She had noticed differences in Max herself but now it seemed Isabel was afraid of him. Maybe she had let this go on for too long.
“He. . . he threatened me.”
“What?” Diane stated in a low voice. Surely, she must have heard wrong. She felt Isabel try to pull away from her and tightened her grip. Isabel was crying and apologizing, saying she shouldn’t have come in and upset her with Max. She would handle him. “Isabel stop. I want you to tell me every word Max said to you today. And then I want to hear about what he did to Michael, Tess, and Liz. Okay?” Her daughter nodded shakily.
“He said he wanted me to go to college in New Mexico. He said we could talk you guys into getting me a car so I could come home whenever he needed me to. I told him I wanted to go to college out of state, and that I had a really good chance of getting in early because of all my recommendations. I even showed him some. But he didn’t care. He said I couldn’t go.” Isabel looked up at her mother, ashamed.
“I told him I didn’t care what he said. I told him I was going. Then I called him on manipulating Michael to try and talk me out of it. He’d sent Michael to tell me I couldn’t go! And then Max, he got angry.”
Isabel stopped then. Oh god, she was reliving it. It was like she was back in the hallway having her life ripped away and crushed by the one person she trusted most in the universe. The pain of betrayal tore through her again and she couldn't control the sobs that ripped through her. Her mom cooed to her and gradually Isabel felt herself calming down. She had to finish it. For herself, for Max, and for the group.
“He said, if I continued with this plan he would tell you I had a drug problem.”
Diane gasped. She looked at her daughter. “He said that to you? Isabel, I would never have believed him. I know you. You are a good kid. You would never play around with drugs. Trust me, your father and I would not have believed him. Okay?” She smiled as her daughter nodded her head. When she made no move to do anything else Diane got eve more worried. “Was that all he said to you?”
No movement. Then a tiny shake of her head no. Trembling, Diane asked, “What else?”
“He said he would tell my teachers I had cheated on every exam for the last three years. He said he would drag me back if I ever left Roswell without his permission. He said I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without his consent. Mom, I’m so scared.” Isabel buried her head in her mom’s chest.
Diane rocked her baby back and forth. She lost track of time. It was nearing dusk when she stirred. “Isabel, tell me the rest. What did he do to Michael and the others?”
And Isabel told her. About the demeaning and patronizing way Max treated Michael. About the violence and obsession he had for Liz. How he refused to let her go even though she broke up with him and he was dating Tess. How he used Tess to make himself feel better, never caring that she loved him. And as Isabel wound down, Diane was in shock. She sent Isabel to bed telling her not to say anything to antagonize Max. But it was Isabel’s parting words that broke Diane. “Mom, I don’t know what to say to him. I don’t know what will set him off anymore. I’m scared to be in the same room with him.” As the door closed behind Isabel, Diane cried. She cried for the loss of her son and the way she had almost lost her daughter. She cried for Michael, for Liz, even for Tess. And she cried for Phillip, who would be devastated at the lengths his son had been willing to go to, to keep his sister from fulfilling her potential.
Max paced furiously back and forth in his room. Today was the day Isabel was leaving for college. His dad had told him, thinking maybe Max would be happy to hear it. It had taken 12 orderlies to get him under control. How dare she. He had told her, warned her. She had betrayed him. This, being put here, he could understand and even forgive. She was his sister and he loved her. But this blatant disregard for his orders. How did she dare? She would pay. So would Michael and Liz and Tess. They had taken part in this farce. He was not insane. He was a leader of a planet. There was no time to sit around and let Isabel spend her time at frat parties. She had to focus on learning to be strong. She outmaneuvered you. How much stronger does she need to get? He ruthlessly squashed the voice in his head. He sat down on the bed. He would bide his time. Let Isabel have her four years in college. Because when she came home, he would be here. And then she would pay.
Isabel looked sadly out the window. She was leaving Roswell. Leaving Michael and Maria who were never seen apart anymore. Leaving Liz and Tess, who after Max’s commitment, had shared their pain and grief and actually become friends. Leaving her parents. Leaving Alex.
But, most importantly, she was leaving Max. Not the Max in the room at the hospital. The Max who had been there for her since she had broken out of her pod. But that Max had left her first. And Isabel had tried oh so hard to find him again. But she had failed. And she had to get away from that failure. So she ran. She would be back though. After graduation. And when she came back she knew Max would be there. She just hoped it would be her Max. But if it wasn’t she would fight for him. She had too much going on here. She hadn’t been able to fight properly for him this time. But next time she would be ready. And she would win. Because he was her brother and she loved him. And she would forgive him.