Max's eyes were tirelessly looking for Julie, but she didn't come to school that day, nor for the next two days...

He was now getting impatient. He had to make sure she was okay.

Max opened the car door and entered in slowly as if he was dragging his body to do so.

"She didn't come yet?" asked Kevin.

Max's face turned down like a wet weekend.

"Then shouldn't you go to check on her? After all, she is your friend, Max," said Kevin as he kept his left had on Max's shoulder.

His eyes lit up. No matter how hard he tried to stay away from her, Julie still cared about him and so did he.

"You know where her house is?"

"Nope... I mean not exactly, but it won't be much difficult to find. Moonvale's not that big, plus, I know that the Millers live in Glenleche Street," Kevin winked at him.

"What about your work? Won't you get late?"

"Chill Maxie... they won't miss me. Actually, they don't like me much in there. I'll drop you at Julie's and then leave. Keep up your love talks for about two hours, and then I'll be back to pick you up," he winked again.

"That's because you always keep hanging out with me even during your work hours," Max teased, "and also... don't you dare wink at me again! It looks so..."

"Irresistible?" Kevin interrupted as he winked for the third time.

Max punched him on his biceps. "Gross!" he yelled and Kevin started laughing.

In about 15 minutes, they reached Glenleche Street. It had a quaint vibe to it, with old fashioned street lamps standing at regular intervals. The street boasted an entire row of dawn redwoods. Max opened the window to let the delicate floral scent in.

Finding Julie's house wasn't much of a problem. They soon came across a beautiful house, with the name board saying 'The Millers Residence' hung outside. It had a dark brown roof, beige walls, and a very well maintained lawn. Purple orchids lay on both sides of the main door, giving out a warm, welcoming feel. It was a happy house, concealing some terrible memories inside it.

Max got off the car and waved Kevin goodbye. He went towards the door. Hesitating for a moment, he then wrung the bell. An old woman's voice was heard from inside, mumbling something as she came to open the door.

"Yes?" she asked in a flat voice, adjusting her glasses and squinting her eyes at him. She had grey hair, and a skeletonic frame with loose, crinkly skin. She was wearing a long, loose polka dots dress.

"I came to see Julie. She hasn't been coming to school..." he said but the old woman kept staring at him.

"I am Max, Max Wilson," he said suddenly remembering that he didn't even introduce himself.

"So you're Max! Julie had told me about you. Come in dear," she said with a smile and left the door wide open. Her voice turned all fruity.

She took Max through the hallway towards the staircase. Different paintings hung on the walls, but what bothered Max was that there was not a single family photo, maybe they didn't want to be reminded of what had happened. 

She stopped by the door. "Dear, your friend has come to see you," she said as she opened the door. She then turned back and signaled him to enter. "You both talk, I won't bother."

She went back down. 

Max entered the room and saw Julie sitting by the window, staring outside blankly. It was as if she didn't even hear what her grandma said.

"Hey," Max said gently as he stood in front of her, leaning on the other side of the window plane folding his arms. He noticed that she was holding something, a picture maybe.

She was at first scared of seeing him in front of her.

"Max, how, um, when did you..." she started saying but Max interrupted in between.

"Are you okay?" Max saw that her eyes looked a bit swollen as if she had been crying a lot lately. Even at that moment, there was moisture sparkling in her eyes.

"Yeah, I- I am fine," she said as she smiled politely at him.

She got off the windowpane, and they both sat on her bed. 

After a moment of silence, Max said, "You like Lady Gaga?" looking at the posters on one wall.

"Yeah," she giggled. That was the expression Max had been waiting to see since the moment he came. But it didn't last long.

"Why did you run away like that?" 

Julie looked away, unable to explain what was going inside her.

Max kept his hand on hers, trying to assure her that everything was just fine and she could unload whatever burden she was carrying with her.

She looked at him with a little smile on her face.

"Whatever happened that day triggered some terrible memories which I've been trying to conceal for a while," she said. 

"You can talk to me about it..... only if you think it'll make you feel better," he said, "No pressure!"

She seemed to be struggling with some hesitation, but Max's deep, golden amber eyes made her throw all the doubts away.

She showed Max the picture she had been holding all the while.

"That's my mum and my dad," she said with a heavy smile.

He looked at the picture. They seemed to be such a happy family. She looked about one or two in it. She was in her father's arms, and her mother held them from behind. The smile on their faces was so content. Moreover, her mother looked perfectly normal. Max wondered what happened after that.

"She was not insane," Julie said as a drop of tear escaped her eye. It was as if she read what Max was thinking.

Max kept his hand on her shoulder, trying to console her. He had nothing to say.

"You have no idea what happened that night," she said.

"Kevin told me what happened, you don't have to..." he said but was snapped by her.

"No you don't, no one does!" She broke into tears.

Max grabbed her gently into a hug, holding her head over his shoulder while she cried her eyes out.

'Is there really something that no one knows? Or, is she just sad about what happened?' Max thought.

She didn't get up or try to get away from the unexpected hug. Rather, she let herself drown into tears in his arms, for she knew he was there to hold her.

After about ten minutes, she loosened her hold. Max felt that and got his hands off her too.

"You wanna see what happened that night?" she asked.

Max was confused now.

"What?"

"Come with me," she said as she held his hand and pulled him along.

She took him to a room on the terrace. It was filled with different kinds of plants. Max was not an expert in all this, but a lot of pots had plants which he had never seen in Moonvale.

"Whatever's about to happen, you cannot talk about this to anyone!"

"What? What is about to happen?"

Without saying anything, she walked away and came back after a minute with a tiny potted plant in her hands.

It looked like a tiny echeveria, but it was a strange one. It was black coloured and had blue highlights at some edges, but what caught the eye was a glowing blue orb at the center of it.

"What is this?" Max asked, unable to figure out what was about to happen.

"It's called Cronos flower..." she said and moved back towards her room. Max followed her.

She then locked the door and kept the pot on the bed. She sat beside it and asked Max to sit on the other side, such that the plant was between them.

"Give me your hands," she said as she moved her open palms towards him.

"What?"

"Just do as I say."

"What are you even trying to do? Some kind of black magic?" he said as he kept his hands on hers.

"Something like that."

She closed her eyes and literally started reciting something!

"Tired of going through this pain,
Bring me down the memory lane."

Suddenly, the orb at the center of the echeveria started glowing even more, and soon, some kind of shiny, blue threads began coming out of it and surrounding them both.

The light coming from it kept increasing, and ultimately reached a point where it was impossible for Max to keep his eyes open!