Coming Home

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Venice dreaded the morning after. Her muscles ached from an awkward angle she'd woken up to. Her head pounded while her eyes were swollen from crying last night. Memories from last night came crashing down on her. The plane crash. Max had gone missing. A sob caught in her throat; tears immediately filling her eyes up the more she recalled her husband's face. She missed him terribly.

A knock on the door brought her back to reality. "Who is it?" she asked, wiping her face quickly.

"It's me," Caleb said after poking his head through the door. He flashed her a small smile and Venice didn't have the will to return it. "You look crap," her brother-in-law complimented.

"Well, thanks for the compliment," she said sarcastically.

"Here, I brought you coffee. I hope you like it with cream." He placed the cup down gently on the bedside table, wringing his hands together as silence stretched between them.

"Any news from Max yet?" Venice asked after daring herself to ask.

Just as she'd known he would, Caleb shook his head. "Nothing yet. Although, I'm not going to lose hope, I know my brother's still alive, I'm not sure how he'll be found if no one knows where his body is. I have a feeling he survived the crash."

"Don't say things like that," she said. "Don't make me hopeful, Caleb."

The younger man stared at her in shock. "You don't believe he's dead, do you?"

She shook her head. "I don't believe that but I just don't want to get my hopes up."

"Don't lose hope." He reached out and squeezed her hand. "Max will come back."

***

A few more days passed by and not a single phone call was received. The rest of Smiths were starting to lose hope after another report on the incident revealed that no one had managed to survive from the crash. They hadn't mentioned Max's name and it made her wonder if he was really alive. What if he was trapped somewhere? Out there where he was all alone, hungry, tired and unknown to others. How could he possibly ask for help then?

"I'm not sure how I can survive this," Janine said after flopping down on the couch. She looked exhausted; dark circles were evident in her eyes and they were still swollen from crying. The majority of the people in this house had spent most of their time crying, including her. Everyone felt the loss of her husband, and it didn't help that everything in this house reminded her of him.

"I've sent a search troop over to Sydney so they can investigate what happened," George said after he walked in. "I'm determined that he's there somewhere, waiting for someone to help him. It would take 24 hours before they land but I'm hoping they'd find something at least. Something that would point out he's still alive."

"They'll find him, don't worry," Caleb reassured, but it would take more than words to convince them that Max was alive.

***

Days continued to pass by without a care. She was starting to lose hope when a call from the search troop came in. George picked up his cellphone and locked himself up in his office. None of them were allowed to get inside, and Venice found herself one of the person intently listening through the door.

She almost jumped in the air when the door suddenly burst open. Caleb, Eunice and Janine staggered back in a rush, pretending not to have heard the conversation. She'd barely made out his voice since he'd spoken in soft murmurs.

"So?" Janine asked, anticipation killing all of them.

A massive grin broke out on his face and George lifted his wife off the floor, twirling them both around. "They've found him!"

"They've found him!" Caleb and Eunice shouted in unison.

Everything blurred out and her legs bucked. She slid down the wall, relief and happiness bursting inside her chest. He was alive! She'd be able to see him soon.

"Where did they find him?" Eunice asked, asking the question for him.

"They found him in a local hospital in Melbourne," George answered. "He managed to survive from the crash after realizing there was a bomb strapped at the back seat. He immediately strapped on his parachute and before he can even warn the pilots, the bomb had exploded already."

"But how did he get out?" Caleb questioned.

"The door came off first and I'm guessing he took that chance to jump." George shook his head, as if unable to believe what he'd just heard on the phone. "The reason why they couldn't find him in Sydney, a good Samaritan had found him somewhere in the wilds and since none of the Sydney hospitals were near by the wild, he'd brought Max to Melbourne."

"I don't care where he'd landed as long as he's safe and gets back here as soon as possible," Janine interjected.

"He'll be here in a few days."

What a relief, Venice said as she walked back to her room. She stopped by her husband's old room and locked herself inside. She fell in his bed, wrapping his sheets around her, breathing in his scent. He'd be here in a couple of days. She couldn't wait.

***

Max came back fully intact but he looked different. Cuts and bruises covered his body and his face showed how much weight he'd lost. He'd been away for a week and he'd gotten so thin. She found herself standing by the door, unable to get her feet to move, to get to him and wrap her arms around him. What human being could do such thing to him? He looked so traumatized; his eyes had looked around a few times as if he couldn't tell where he was.

Could he remember her? Or was he too traumatized by what had happened? She'd read somewhere that a certain event that traumatized a person could possibly wipe away memories or even cause the person to have amnesia.

"Max, you're here," Janine said as she fussed over him. "I can't believe you're here."

"Mom," Max whispered before returning the embrace. "I'm here. I'm right here."

"Yes, you are," Janine soothed.

There were tears involved and a few more added up when Venice took a step forward, toward the man she'd felt like had been missing for years. Max looked over his sister's shoulder, meeting her gaze and she couldn't help it, she cried. And then there she was, trapped in his embrace, her face buried in his neck familiarising the way he'd smelled and felt against her. He was truly here.

"I can't believe you're finally here," she said through broken sobs. "I thought I'd never see you again. I thought you left me already."

"How can I leave my wife when she's worried sick?" Max teased.

She playfully slapped him before hugging him tightly to her again. Everyone fell away and all that mattered at that moment was him.

"We should leave them for a bit," she heard George said before everyone went to their own rooms. They had time to catch up with him but she needed to talk to him now about what happened. She'd spent worried sick the past week that felt like she'd been trapped in hell. It was pure torture; not being able to see the love of her life.

"What happened to you?" Venice touched his face, checking him for any other possible wounds.

"My dad has told you, right?" she nodded and wished she hadn't brought up the topic. In spite of the guilt, she knew he'd have to relive what had happened. It would be hard and could possibly traumatize him more, but she'd be beside him throughout the process.

"Who did this to you?"

"I don't know yet," Max answered truthfully. "But I've got people looking into the matter already."

She wiped away the tears that was falling down her cheeks, continously and without stopping. Her husband reached out and captured a teardrop, rubbing his fingers together. "You know what I thought when I jumped off that plane? There were two things that came to mind. The first one was my family. I thought I'd never ever see them again. Mom, dad and my siblings. And then there was the second one, which was you. Just as when things are starting to get better between us, something like this happens."

"Do you know how that made me feel? Knowing that, at that moment, I thought I would never see you smile again. I've only then I realized, how much I have to lose."

"Hey, don't say that." She caressed his face, learning the shape and the texture of how his five o' clock shadows had felt beneath her fingers. "You're here already."

"Spending a week in a foreign environment do really get scary," Max said after a moment. "I'm just really glad to be back. I'll have to talk to my lawyer tomorrow morning."

"You should go to the hospital," Venice encouraged.

Just as she'd known he would, Ma shook his head stubbornly. "I was confined in the hospital for a week and I don't want to see another person in white or I will go crazy."

"You barely survived from that crash!" she screeched, throwing her hands up in the air. "We have to make sure that you're all right."

"Don't worry too much about me. I'm all right. I just need to rest up a bit."

She grabbed his arm and led him back into his room. Max immediately fell on the bed, exhausted written all over his face as his eyes closed, shutting everyone in this world. She was still worried about him but at least he was back to where she needed him to be. He was home and that was all that mattered to her.

"How is he doing?" Janine asked the moment she walked into the living room.

"He's asleep," Venice sighed as she sat down next to Eunice.

"He hasn't caused much fuss about going to the hospital again, did he?" Janine added.

"He doesn't want to go to the hospital," Venice shook her head. "The idea drives him crazy."

"It's best to leave him be for a while. We can start asking him questions when he's well rested tomorrow."