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Suddenly my door slammed open and in walked Damon.

“Are you okay, Max?!” He yelled as he moved over to my bed. He turned on the nightstand light. “Why are you shaking?” He asked looking down at me.

“I just had a bad dream.” I said and wiped my eyes.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Just like I always am.” I mumbled as I turned away from him, and pulled the blankets all the way up to my chin.

“No, I won’t let you act like this.” Damon said as he turned me around. “You aren’t going to shut me out!” He said looking into my eyes.

I had the sudden urge to hug him, but I pushed it down. I can’t allow myself to rely on anyone because everyone will eventually leave me.

“Why?” I asked him

“Because you don’t have to only rely on yourself anymore. You have me…And Jake and Mark.” He said in a soft voice.

“No, you don’t understand. I don’t have anyone, and I never will!” I said turning away not wanting to continue this conversation. I heard a sigh which made me believe he was giving up.

“Max, I don’t know what you’ve been through, but I can almost guarantee that Jake won’t leave you alone and I definitely won’t either.” Damon said as he let out another sigh. “I just wish that you would open up a little bit. You’ve been put through a lot of stuff that you shouldn’t have just within the past few days and I don’t want you to bottle all of that up.”

“I don’t know how to talk about things.” I said. It wasn’t a lie because I’ve never, ever shared my feelings or anything about my life. The last time I did open up was the worst experience I’ve ever lived through in my entire life.

“That’s fine, Max. I just want you to know that you can trust me with anything.” Damon said as he sat on the side of my bed.

“I want to be able to talk to people about certain things, but I’m just to afraid.” I said and sat up so that I was nearly eye to eye with Damon.

“Why?” He asked

“It’s just stuff from the past…”