it’s just chemicals

- Alex

Since it’s still the same outfit I’m not adding an outfit link

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He was drenched in sweat and he was taking deep breaths, with Rian stroking his back and trying to calm him down. Never had he been so afraid. Never had he felt his heart beat so hard in his chest. And the constant ringing in his ears was deafening.
"It’s just chemicals" he whispered.
"Exactly" Rian nodded and looked at him.
"It’s just chemicals" Alex whispered again and closed his eyes. Trying to calm himself down.

But then of course he heard the scream of Max just outside the door.
"Jack!" she screamed and Alex looked up. His heart stopped for a second and they all stared towards the slightly opened door.
"Calm down Max, if you stress yourself up you will only get worse" Jack said and they all breathed in. Jack was conscious, Max as well.
"MAX?" Alex yelled out of nowhere.
"ALEX?!" she called back.
"MAX" Jack yelled, and then they heard a slam and the corridor outside was left in silence. Then the door opened and Ricky came in again. He looked at Alex.
"You were not supposed to hear that" he said.
"What the fuck did you do to her?" Alex yelled.

- - -

Max struggled and tried to break free of her belt, and Jack tried to calm her down.
"Max, relax… You can stress yourself up" he said.
"For fuck sake Jack… Alex is just in the room next to ours, and he believes that I’m all beaten up and God knows what… I need to get there" she said and teared up. She felt so sorry for Alex. He must be so scared. What if he got an attack? What was he thinking? She trembled and started to cry.
"Why is she crying?" Ricky asked when he walked inside.
"Because Alex is next door, thinking she’s all beaten up and she’s scared he’ll get an attack" Jack said and looked at Max with worried eyes.
"Attack?" Ricky asked.
"Anxiety or panic attack, he get’s them sometimes" he said. Ricky nodded and then he walked out again.

Jack walked over to Max and he untied the belt from her wrists. She had red marks and she was even bleeding just a little. He swallowed and looked at the man standing by the door.
"Can you get her something to drink? A wound like this can cause her to go into shock" Jack said and looked at him.
"No" he said, and Jack shot Max a look. She understood exactly wheat he wanted so she forced more tears and started to breath with fast short breaths.
"Max, calm down… It’s okay" Jack pretended and Max looked into his eyes. She trusted him with whatever he was doing.
"What is going on?" the man asked.
"She’s going into shock, she needs sugar" Jack said and the man hurried outside.
"Finally" Jack muttered and took off his own roped around his wrists, and then hurried over to a black curtain. He moved it back and behind it was a door. He opened it and listened for a second.
"This is an escape door, come on" he said and gestured for Max to hurry. She did and he closed the curtain behind them, and closed the door.
"What about Alex?" she whispered.
"We’ll get him, right now we just need to stay here for a short moment" he whispered back. Then they heard the door open and Jack placed his foot at the door and leaned against it.
"Where the fuck did they go?" they heard Ricky shout. Just inside the door they heard them look around and then Jack felt how they tried to open the door.
"This one is locked, so they are out n the corridors" one said.

Jack sighed in relief and looked at Max. She was just standing there and tears streamed down her cheeks. Causing her mascara to make zebra patterns in her face. He hushed her as loud as he dared, and wrapped his arms around her. He heart was beating so fast and he could feel it as she stood there and hugged him. But his hug and slow breath calmed her down, and when she was calm enough he took her hand and lead her through the dark corridors. They walked slow and every time they heard a sound they stopped to see if it was from behind a door, or from the corridors. So far it was just from behind the doors. Then they heard the voice of Ricky and Rian. Rian was mad and yelling, and then they heard that someone was breathing really heavy.
"Alex, calm down… He’s probably lying" Zack said, and they could hear that his voice almost cracked. What had Ricky said to them?
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY’RE GONE?!" Rian yelled.
"As I said. They’re gone. You don’t have to worry about them anymore" Ricky said and Max covered her mouth. Jack wrapped his arms around her again, and quietly hushed her. Then Ricky walked out and Jack listened to the door. It seemed like there was no one inside. He opened the door and moved the curtain just enough to see that Rian, Alex and Zack were all alone in the room. So Jack ran out and threw himself at the dressing room door. Locked it and took a deep breath.
"Jack?" Rian asked. They just stared at him since he was just like he had left them earlier. The same messy hair, a grin on his face and no bruises at all. No blood either.
"Hurry, get inside the escape door" Jack said and pushed them towards the door. He grabbed one of the chairs and placed it in front of the door, so no one could open it.
"And Max?" Alex asked and stared at Jack, and felt two arms wrap themselves around him, and he felt the belly against his hip. He looked to his left and looked down on her. She cried quietly. The only thing that was different about her was her red puffy eyes, the mascara stripes on her cheeks and the red marks around her wrists. other than that she was just as fine as Jack. In her blue dress, black tights and dark red vans. Her hair was a little bit of a mess though, but other than that she was fine. Never had Alex felt so relieved. Never, and he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as tight as he possible dared, and could.
"They told me you were gone and I thought the worst" he whispered.
"We heard that" she sobbed.
"But I guess they just meant you were gone, as in you had escaped" he said and felt his own tears fall down on her head.

They all slowly walked through the narrowed corridors before Rian stopped.
"What about our fans?" he asked.
"As soon as we get out of here the police can take care of them" Jack said.
"We can’t just leave them" Rian said.
"What if we get caught by them? What will they do to us then?" Zack asked. The others nodded and Alex squeezed Max hand.
"Let’s just get out of here, most of them are drugged into sleeping anyway" Max said.
"They are?" Alex asked.
"They tried to drug me as well, but I noticed that they had slipped me some champagne and came with them to avoid a fight" she whispered. Alex looked at her and nodded.
"You are going to be just fine, okay?" he said and looked into her eyes. She nodded and bit her lip, and they all continued to walk through the corridor.
"How long can they be?" Jack muttered and Rian sighed.
"Pretty long I guess" he said. Alex sighed as well and puled fingers through his messy hair. Then he felt that Max squeezed his hand and teared up. He looked over his shoulder and saw that she was in pain.
"Are you okay?" he asked and she shook her head. She trembled and he noticed she was looking more and more scared.
"What is it?" he whispered, to not alert the others. They continued to walk slowly through the corridor and he looked at Max. She moved her hand to her inner thigh and when she raised it he saw why she was so scared. It was bloody. Whatever had happened and caused it was unclear, but Max was bleeding. Heavy.
"Guys, we really need to get out of here" Alex said and looked towards the others.
"Yeah, I know that" Jack said.
"No, I mean like now. Max is bleeding… pretty bad" he said and they looked at them, and noticed Max bloody hand. Jack stared and didn’t know what to say.
"Fuck" he whispered.