Crime and Punishment 3

Chapter Three
The Awakening

A hand shook Max’s shoulder, waking him up with a jolt. He sat up and stretched, body aching. His vision was blurry from the events of the night before. When everything started to clear up, Justin’s face was the first thing he saw. It made him bounce back against the couch seat. His mouth was dry. Seeing Justin brought the nightmare from the night before right back to him.

“Breakfast is ready, Maxie.” Justin smiled brightly as if nothing had happened the night before.

Max picked up the blanket, pulled his body forward, and wrapped the blanket around his body, covering his face with it, keeping his eyes where he could see Justin’s every move.

Justin plopped down next to Max. “Maxie, I’m sorry about last night. It was necessary. You’re such a good boy.” Justin extended his arm and stroked Max’s hair softly.

Max pulled his face away from his brother. His body became frigid.

“Max...” Justin exhaled. He slowly dropped his arms into his lap.

They sat there silently. Justin looking apologetic. Max looking suspicious of Justin’s every move.

“I’ll just....leave.” Justin got up. His normal swagger was doused into a hunched-back, shuffle. Before he ascended the stairs, he took one last glance back at his brother. He lipped the word sorry, then headed up.

Max just sat there. Though he wasn’t under a frozen spell this time, his body felt so weak and used that he felt unable to move. His stomach growled. Somehow, after the night before, his world seem so far different from what it had been that he couldn’t fathom hunger.

Alas, he got up from the couch, keeping the blanket around him, yet letting his face be uncovered. A sad-puppy frown covered his face.

The trek up the stairs made every muscle in his body ache. Each step was agonizing. It felt like it took forever.

At last, he made it all the way up to their flat. When he entered, his mom instantly ran up to him and pressed her hand against his forehead.

“Oh my oh me. You have a temperature, mi amor.” She frowned. “No school for you today.”

“How come he gets away with it?” Alex asked lazily. She sat in a recliner with her leg crossed over the other, wiggling her stylish boot.

Justin turned away from Max and went up to his room silently.

It didn’t matter any more. Any time Max saw Justin, his heart doubled in speed. A fear always misted over him.

“Jerry, draw Max a bath!” Teresa called. She hustled to the kitchen and started whipping up some waffles. Every time Max was sick, she made him waffles and he always got better quickly.

Only...Max didn’t feel sick. Even if his body had made him sick, the pain he felt was from what his big brother had did to him the night before. It was taking a huge tole on him. It made him weak. It made him want to die. He was too young to die. Wooziness set in. Max started to wobble back and forth.

Justin had appeared just in time to catch him before he fell down. Max wanted to pull away from him, but there was no strength in him. He had proven to just be completely powerless against his big brother. Justin swooped him off his feet and picked him up, holding on to the back of his neck and the back of his upper legs. He carried him over to the couch and laid him down on it, very gently.

“Who are you?” Max asked as Justin knelt down beside him. His voice was only loud enough for Justin to hear.

“Justin. You’re brother.” Tears swelled up in Justin’s eyes. A small victory for Max.

“Not what I meant.” Max coughed. His eyes were starting to be puffy.

“Justin, put a blanket on your hombre. He must of caught cold from being down in the basement all night.” She yelled over her shoulder, then muttered as she fixed up the waffles.

“You two, get to school!” Jerry yelled as he came down the stairs. “The bath is ran. Extra bubbles. The way my champ loves it.” Jerry hustled over to Max and ruffled his hair.

Max looked up at his father, unable to see him clearly.

The rustling of Justin and Alex getting their things together let Max know they were about to leave. Would he feel better when Justin was gone?

The two trampled out the door, each giving a get better farewell to replace their presence.

Max wanted to cry. Being around Justin hurt. Not being around Justin—well—felt wrong. Before any tears could make a dramatic entrance, Max’s mom brought over his waffles. They were all buttery and syrupy. Despite the sudden weirdness of hunger, Max devoured them.

After he finished eating, he helped himself up to the bathroom. He slowly undressed. Each movement sent searing pain through his whole body.

He took his shirt off. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary on his torso. He tried to examine his back. He couldn’t see anything there either. So, he took off his pants and his underwear. There was a blood stain in his underwear right where his hole would press against them. He fell down to his knees and cried.

“Why Justin?” He cried out, burring his face in his hands. “Why?”

After kneeling down for what Max thought was too long, he stood up. He turned his backside toward the mirror. He knew he didn’t want to see what he was going to see, but he had to look. There was a few tiny bruises that had formed on his butt where Justin had hit him.

Max turned the sink water on and ran the back of his underwear through the water, trying to rinse the blood out of it. For the most part, it came out.

After rolling the underwear up in the rest of his clothing, Max put the tip of his foot into the tub, testing out the heat of the water. Perfect! He got in and sunk down. His body relaxed with the warm water all around him.

Max closed his eyes and waved his hands back and forth over the water, through the bubbles. They sizzled as they popped around him. For a moment, he forgot everything else as he tried to float his body in the middle of the water. His muscles were loosening up.

Little by little, his body started sinking down into the water again. Just his head, hands, and penis tip were floating above the water. But even those were starting to sink below the water.

Before he knew it, his head was below the water. His eyes were shut. Was he even awake? He wasn’t even sure himself.

That’s when he started hearing a voice. It was for him. But hard to make out. There was a static between him and the voice. As it started to clear up, something like finding a signal to a radio station, Max started to recognize the voice. Justin! How could it be, though?

“Please. By Merlin’s beard, or all the magic in the world, even my own, let Max not hate me. If he could just not hate me, I’d let him have my powers if I win. If there’s anything I can do to get all his love back, I’ll do it. Just guide me.”

Max understood that he was hearing Justin’s thoughts somehow. They were very pleading too. This was the real Justin. Something came over him.

Max’s body was still completely submerged, and he felt like he was awake while being asleep. He didn’t move. He didn’t try to wake up. He didn’t even worry that he wasn’t breathing under the water.

Am I dead? He wondered.

“Maxie...I love you. If only you could hear me.” Justin’s voice sounded suddenly again.

“I love you too.” Bubbles floated up from the water.

The door suddenly opened, but Max still didn’t come out of the water.

Some long amount of time passed.

Suddenly, arms were down in the water, wrapping themselves around his upper body and pulling him up.

“Max! MAX!” His dad was yelling.

His eyes fluttered open for a second, then closed back up again.

Jerry grabbed a towel from the rack and wrapped it around Max, drying him off. Then, he quickly carried his naked body downstairs.

Max felt himself being placed on the couch and a blanket being wrapped around him.

The voices of his parents carrying on back and forth were muffled and distorted, but Max knew they were talking about him.

“Maxie...” a light pulsation of Justin’s voice entered Max’s head again. But it was fading. Max wanted to hear more. He wanted to go back upstairs to try to get back in Justin’s head.

“His powers must have cocooned around him, keeping him from dying. Maybe even helping him breathe underwater.” Jerry said in a feign panic.

“Jerry. This is serious. What do we do?” Teresa asked.

“Justin,” Max murmured.

Both his parents went silent.

“Max, hunny?” his mom asked.

“Little man?” his dad followed.

They were both by his side.

Max started shaking his head side to side violently. He started moaning a little. His face contorted negatively. It was all like he was having a bad dream, but he wasn’t dreaming and he wasn’t asleep.

Both parents stood idly by, not knowing what to do. They debated about calling a doctor, but didn’t know if they needed a magic or non-magic one.

Time passed slowly. The door suddenly came open though. Max was headed toward a rainbow light inside himself.

“Maxie! Maxie!” Justin yelled out, pushing Jerry out of the way. He squatted down by his brother and cradled him in his arms. A single tear slowly dripped down, landing on Max’s face. “I love you, little guy. Pull through this.”

“How’d you—?” Jerry asked.

“Just did,” Justin said hurriedly.

Max’s eyes slowly opened. Everything we blurry except for Justin.

“Justin.” Max weakly lifted his arm up. His hand rubbed against Justin’s face.

Justin grabbed it and rubbed his face up and down against Max’s hand.

“I’m going to take him to his room,” Justin announced.

“Justin...I...” Teresa started.

“Please, Justin.” Max spoke.

Justin grabbed him up, wrapping the blanket around him. He picked him up and carried him up to his room. Going in, he waded through the labyrinth of toys, clothing, and “projects” to put him in his bed. Laying him softly down on his bed, resting his head against a pillow, Justin hurriedly went to Max’s dresser and pulled out a pair of basketball shorts. He removed the blanket from his brother and lifted his legs up, putting them in the shorts. Max helped him get them the rest of the way on. His eyes just gazing up at his brother the whole time.

“Max, I’m so sorry...” Justin cried.

“I forgive you. I need you to do something, though.”

“What? Anything, Maxie.”

“Get my clothes out of the bathroom. There’s blood in my undies...”

“Oh Merlin...Maxie...”

Max grabbed on to Justin’s shirt. “Don’t let mom and dad see it!” He pleaded.

“Okay.”

Justin ran out and was back in a hurry.

“I could never hate you.” Max weakly smiled.

“Oh Maxie!” Justin sat in the chair next to Max’s bed. “You should sleep.”

“Hold my hand.” Max put his hand out from under the blanket he’d pulled over him.

Justin complied.

As Max started to doze back to sleep, he felt more awake than he had his entire life.