Element: Season One by Nick Venom (ebook reader with highlighter .txt) 📕

“Four people were tied to the bank robbery and connected to the hostage situation taking place at Blackflag school.” A news anchor said. “Two out of the four people were killed by police after threatening the safety of the children. The other two were captured and taken to prison, their trials are pending. Meanwhile, the only hostage casualty was a young girl, Madeline Saint.” The news anchor then nodded at the television, the screen changing. Now the television showed the faces and names of the robbers. Three males and one female. Robert and Lillian Linkton were the masterminds of the operation. They were killed “by police”. The other two robbers were the siblings’ friends, Frank Greany and Brenton Hale. Greany and Hale were the robbers captured.

Max looked at the television with scorn. His eyes lit up. He eyed the remaining robbers with a face of distaste. He wanted to kill them. If only he could.

Max dropped his arms, his shoulders softened. His eyes cried the last tears. His brain was in pieces. Sitting in front of him was a casket. The body of his sister laid in the casket, a bullet entering and exiting through her brain. She had died quickly and painless, something that brought Max some relief. 

Max looked around and noticed the appearance of a few people. A few friends and family members. Some strangers here and there.

His mother stood next to him, her eyes were red from tears. She looked pale and sickly. After the preparations were completed, she laid her head on Max’s shoulder. “Why?” She muttered, her voice trembling. She had called off a single day of work to be present for Madeline’s funeral. Unfortunately, she couldn’t mourn for long, or else the bills would pile up. 

Max scanned his surroundings, noticing something. His father wasn’t there. How unfortunate was it that he couldn’t show up for his daughter’s funeral, writing it off as an annoyance? He cared for no one except for himself, drowning in beer and cigarettes. 

Max wished for a long and painful death for him.

The priest blessed the casket before lowering it into the grave. The act took no more than twenty seconds but felt like an eternity to Max and his mother. They lost a part of themselves.

Max took the blow harshly. He thought of himself as a hero who would win every fight, but the death of Madeline crushed that thought. It snapped him back into reality. He wasn’t some element-using superhero. He’s a normal teenager. He is, in all matters, a kid named Max Saint.

On the way home, Max’s mother rushed home suddenly after a thought entered her mind. She came home to Max’s father tearing Madeline’s room apart, stripping them of their memories. He tore picture frames and bedsheets. Everything on her wall was thrown to the ground. His father was growing angry. His anger, however, suddenly changed into sadness. His eyes were filled to the brim with tears. 

He was grieving---if you call it that. He didn’t know how to express his emotions, bottling it up and exploding once it reached maximum capacity. The violent cycle continued, enslaving Max, his mother, and Madeline into it. They were beaten often, but they remained motivated and uplifting. However, that view of life had been corrupted. Max no longer wanted to walk out and sing to the birds. He wanted to kill himself. He was the reason Madeline died.

The next day Guardian appeared in the backyard. Max’s mother was out at work while his father was sitting in the living room drinking beer and smoking.

Max didn’t go to school, skipping the day. The school didn’t call his mother or father, understanding their situation. The news had spread throughout Max’s school and entered the minds of his friends Skylar and Gus. Everybody he knew, knew about Madeline’s death.

Guardian strolled into the house and passed Max’s father, heading up the stairs to Max’s room. He opened the door and walked into the room. Max was slumped over his desk, a puddle forming around his face. “Max, let’s begin your training. I need you to-”

Max shot up from his chair and turned around, forming an ice dagger. He pressed the dagger against Guardian’s throat. “I am not a hero.” He grumbled.

“What do you mean?”

“Take this ice crystal away from me. I killed my sister. I am a murderer.”

TBC…

Guardian tried to force Max into becoming a hero, but he refused and even threatened him. Guardian backed away after his attempts failed, retreating. He left Max to his own devices. 

Max retreated to his room, locking the door behind him. He sat down at his desk, staring blankly at the wall in front of him. His blank stare reflected his memories with his sister. The memories flooded into his head, filling him with laughter and smiles, something the household now lacked.

Harold---his father---acted on his emotions, throwing tantrums frequently, but simmering down after a couple of sips of beer. He had shown some sympathy for Madeline, but not enough to prove to Max that he cared for them.

His mother, Janie, was nowhere to be seen, disappearing from his sight. She worked longer at work, leaving Max and Harold behind.

Max didn’t care much. He was focused on the past too much, overlooking the present. However, with every laughter and smile came regret and anger. Each memory was joined with a flash of the word ‘murderer’. He believed he was the one who killed his sister, no matter how untrue it was. 

Max rested on his bed for the third day, reflecting on the past. He barely ate, talked, and slept. His eyes stayed open, watching the ceiling with glazed eyes. He stared up at the ceiling, ignoring any disruptions that came his way. Harold crept into his room with long drunk-fuelled tangents, eventually falling asleep on the downstairs couch. His mother would then arrive from her long ten-hour shift from the nearby factory. She dropped her stuff by the door and went over to Harold, picking him up and leaving him in the guest bed.

They didn’t sleep together anymore.

Max listened to the arguments they had downstairs. Harold yelling his lungs out, blaming his mother for Madeline’s death. His mother would then break down, crying her heart out; a process they would repeat for an entire week.

After nearly a week of mourning, his mother approached Max with open arms. Her eyes were bloodshot red, her makeup scattered everywhere, and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She was a total mess. 

She brought Max in, embracing him. She began softly crying into his shoulder, small sobs escaping her mouth. Max stood still as if he was facing a bear. Unable to connect to his mother, he waited for her grief to be over. So his grief could continue.

“Sometimes I wonder how life would’ve been if we didn’t move here,” She remarked, standing up, releasing Max. “I wonder how Madeline would’ve-” She couldn’t bear to finish the sentence. 

Max remained silent, softly nodding. 

His mother sat next to him, staring up at the ceiling. “What would you say if I were to go back to school?”

Max looked at her, his eyebrows raised. “School? You want to go back to college?”

His mother nodded her head. “I want to get a degree, maybe get a better paying job.” She let out a heavy sigh. The stress of work and Madeline’s death was getting to her. She looked older than she was; being fifty years old. 

“I found out, through one of my friends, that a new company is making their home near us. If I could get an Associates' Degree, maybe I could apply for a job there. I’ll spend a few more years and get my Bachelor’s, advancing up the corporate ladder.” She turned around and smiled a small smile. “We could go on vacation overseas, maybe to London or Spain.” She joked.

Max slightly smiled. He nodded. “Hawaii doesn’t sound bad.”

“Hawaii?” She repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Wait a few years and we could-” She stopped herself. “Will go there.” She stood up and turned around to face him. “Don’t say anything to your dad, but only two of us will be going..”

“Only two of us… divorce?” Max shouted, repeating himself in a whisper.

“It’s clear that Harold and I have no more love. Madel… her death has shown our true colors. After finding out who he is, I cannot allow my baby to be stuck with him.” She glanced at the door. “Wait until I get a better job. That’s when we’ll start from scratch.”

Max nodded. He knew that their love was breaking apart, but wasn’t expecting a sudden declaration of divorce. However, he understood her intentions.  

“Rest easy tonight. I know it’s going to be hard, but I want you to try to go to school, even if it's for a few hours. Stomach as much as you can. If you can’t take the entire day, then come here. There won’t be a punishment for skipping.” She said before leaving the room, shooting him a small smile before doing so. 

Max nodded, looking down at the floor. He tried to process what his mother had set. Divorce, college, vacations, death, and high school bounced around his brain. He pondered hard, his gaze focused in front of him. He watched as dust collected to form a small dust human. The human walked around the floor, slightly waving at him, before the dust departed, almost as if this was a sign from Madeline. She wasn’t angry at him nor disappointed. She wanted the best for him like his mother also did. Like mother, like daughter.

TBC…

Max returned to school, a week after Madeline’s funeral. During this time, news of Madeline’s death had spread throughout the school. Every student knew about her death and the surviving robbers' imprisonment. However, the cause of death for the dead robbers was unknown, most theorizing the involvement of aliens or the FBI.

Nobody knew the true cause of death.

He arrived at school early Monday morning, entering the school grounds with one heavy sight. Upon entering, he was bombarded with classmates and teachers gifting him kind words. He took the gifts in, but none reached his closed-off heart. 

Skylar and Gus, his best friends, arrived after the crowd dispersed. Skylar, a slim redhead,