We Call Him Max.

==Prologue==
Max.
That was his name. We saw him as a saviour when we first met him. We were dead wrong. The more we theorized, the more the truth became clear. As we found out more, we figured out what this monster had done, and why he was alone. If we had figured it out sooner and just kept our mouths shut, we might not have come back, well, different. But curiosity got the best of us, and we were mesmerized by the truth. In the end, greed had gotten the best of us. None of us were the same after finding Max. But then again, we didn't really know how to be normal again, especially with the burden we carried. As I sit here, writing this story, one wretched name runs through my head over and over again.
Max.
==Chapter 1: Prevalence==
I stared up at the sky. My stomach ached. My hair was long and dirty. My men were moaning and groaning. The air was salty, the sky gray. There was nothing in sight that could save us. We were adrift in uncharted waters, all out of supplies with no hope for survival. We were on the edge of sanity. It had been days since we had last seen land. We were all going to die at sea, alone, with our families wondering what had become of us.
Or at least, that's what we thought... until we saw another ship floating towards us. It was rather large and very dark. It seemed as though it was a vessel of death from a distance. Nothing but a gray blob headed straight towards us. However, as it neared, we each realized it was not death, but instead salvation. We all rubbed our eyes and started to question our sanity. Were we all being tricked? Could it be just a ship of rats? What if we were dead? Was this the afterlife? Or was this a real ship that could actually save us from a fate too dark to think of?
Our questions were answered as the ship steered itself to be right alongside our small dinghy. A tall well-built man set down a ladder and slid it off the side of his ship. As it collapsed on our boat, the man beckoned towards his ship, and the other sailors scrambled to set it up the end of the ladder was at the edge of the railing atop the large dark boat. The man jumped off his ship and onto ours. He introduced himself with a deep voice. "Hello, I'm Max." He held out a hand. I, the captain of this small fishing boat, grabbed his hand and gladly shook it. The crew stared in horror as if the man was an apparition. Murmur amongst the men included questions like "Is he a ghost?" and "Where the bloody hell did he come from? The sky?".
I explained our situation to the man. "We're merely a crew of fishermen who ran out of supplies. We've been adrift amongst these uncharted waters for days. If you're willing, we'd like to board your boat and go to the nearest dock." The man, Max, managed a positive but confused expression. "I'll gladly let you onto my boat, but you do realize the nearest port is Port Royal, which is hundreds of leagues off of here?" I looked at him, bewildered. Did we really float that far off? "No matter, you can still stay on my ship" Max said. He then glanced towards the crew. "All of you." He said, trying to catch their attention. They were still pondering his mere existence, They then loaded onto the ship.
We grabbed our fishing rods, empty bait pales, broken navigational tools, and any extra things we had brought with us. As we loaded onto the ship, I felt an odd feeling. It felt as if we were walking into something of a false paradise. I waved goodbye to our last piece of home we'd see for a while. As Max steered us away, I couldn't help but feel as if that solemn boat was our last hope, and it had just been left to be forgotten and drift amongst the waves.
And so began our time upon the vessel afloat our own River Styx, Max's ship.
==Chapter 2: Internal Expeditions==
We had all boarded the large ship no more than a few minutes ago, but it had felt like an eternity. We were all lost in its deep bowels. My crew had spread out and wandered off around the ship. I decided to join in, and I too becamse lost in the ships immense depths. I wandered for what felt like hours. It was so much larger internally. You could even say it was bigger on the inside than out. I occasionally ran into other crewmen, but we were all so amazed ships massive insides that we simply nodded at each other and continued wandering.
Eventually, I found the door. It was a dark crimson door. It was rather large and stiff, and the handle on it seemed very shiny and had a heavy lock built into it. I tried the handle and it wouldn't budge.. It had occured to me that this door was the only secure one within the lower bowels of the ship, containing a lock and having no windows or holes. As I backed up from the hard wooden door, I looked it up and down. It was rather off putting. It smelt something like very thick sea salt mixed with a familiar whiff of what was similar to that of fresh soil. I put my ear against the door and heard clinking of many small and metallic objects. I backed up a bit and looked the door up and down again.
As I was about to reach for the handle again just to feel it, a voice, at a level between a whisper and regular talking, said "Don't." I jumped. I turned around to see Max, his face dark. "You scared me. Sorry if I'm being intrusive, I just saw this door and got distracted." He gave me a look that was a mixture of pity and sympathy. "It's okay. Supper's ready in the upper bowels of the ship. Follow me." He said.
And so I followed him, noticing that the candles were lit, and all windows on the upper deck were sealed shut. "Why are the candles lit? It's not dark outside yet. And why are the windows sealed shut?" Max simply shrugged and said "I'm afraid of the dark" in an unconvincing tone. I didn't talk anymore after that, as I didn't want to intrude anymore, especially after having invaded his privacy by exploring half the ship without even consulting him.
We arrived in the supper room, a rather large, well-lit room in which there was 3 long tables lined up. It looked like something out of a palace, except everything was made of wood. Many of the crewmen were already there. "Wait here while I go round up the rest," said Max. I sat down at one of the tables. I looked around. This room was huge. How it fit within the ship boggled my mind. The question on my mind that had just occured to me as Max entered the room was how he had gotten such a large ship all by himself. I didn't want to intrude anymore, but the more and more I thought about it, the more it bothered me. Had he killed his crewmates? Was he the lone survivor of some terrible attack? What if he was just an insane Englishman who ran off with one of the navy ships?
My thoughts were interrupted as Max set out the dinner and then held up his glass. "A toast...to you brave men who almost died at sea." I found myself moving without hesitation. It felt as I was riding passenger in my own body. "No," I said. "A toast to you, Max. For saving us from what was almost certain death." I managed to say while eyeing the food. I just realized I this was my first plate of food in days. As the rest of the crewmen chanted "Cheers!" and tapped glasses, I blacked out for a second. When I regained consciousness, I was gnawing away at the food. "Gee, you must've been hungry." One of the crewmen said to me. I smiled and then continued stuffing my face.
Later, when it was time to rest, I found myself thinking more and more about who Max really was. He didn't seem like an Englishman, or else he would have probably had a crew with him. Could he be a privateer? No. He doesn't seem like the greedy type. I lie across my hammock. Then it hit me. I was avoiding the obvious; Max was a pirate. He may have taken this ship from Navy men. But where was his crew? And why was he so nice? From what I'd heard and seen of pirates, they were vicious cruel unhygenic vermin who travelled in packs. Could Max really be one of them? I decided to go to sleep. I could think more in the morning. As my eyes drifted to a close, all i could think of was that dark crimson door. Then, finally, I drifted off into a deep dream.
==Chapter 3: The Dream==
I was standing in front of the dark crimson door. My mind was blank. I was simply staring at it. I could hear thumping coming from it. I also heard trampling coming down the hallway. I eyed the door as the trampling got louder and louder. Finally, the trampling stopped as a figure had stood next to me. "Don't" it kept repeating in Max's voice. This thing, however, did not look like Max. It was all black, as if it were a shadow. It's face illuminated by the candles on the walls. It had simply a dark shape in the place of a face. It's eyes were small red flames, its pupils small black flames amongst the red. It looked me up and down. "Don't," it repeated.
"Don't what?" I asked it. Then I remembered what Max had said to me earlier when I reached for the knob. I looked at the door. The thumping had stopped. Now there were just quiet moans of agony. and the clinking of some kind of small metal. "Don't" the figure repeated. I finally gave in. I reached for the doorknob. "DON'T" the figure said louder. As my hand inched closer, it got louder and quicker, until all I could hear was the word "DON'T" over and over again. I gripped the handle. The shadow-y figure started to shriek and his dark figure started to become more detailed. I turned the knob, but the door was still locked. I noticed a key on the ground. I bent down to pick it up.
When I had stood upright again, then figure looked very different. He looked as if he were a rotting, somewhat skeletal version of Max. He had blood across his dark chest and his right hand was all bone. He had gone quiet. His eyes were simply dark holes now. His head followed my head, wherever it went. I slipped the key in the lock. It fit perfectly. I turned it. The anticipation was killing me. I gripped the knob and turned it.
I opened the dark crimson door. Before I could see anything, Max tackled me. He tore my shirt open and stuck his hand straight into my chest. He tore out my heart. I didn't feel a thing, and my emotions seemed to be numbed too as Max proceeded to eat my heart before my very eyes. I passed out. I came too on my hammock. I was sweating. I looked around. Many of my crewmates were awake. Others were shaking in their sleep. I asked the one next to me if anything had happened. He said I was shaking and shivering, and then I began screaming. I could tell by the bags under his eyes and the other sailors' that they had all been having a nightmare too.
I didn't know what to make of this experience, but I didn't want to have to experience it again either, so I simply laid in my hammock, wide awake and very disturbed. One question circled in my head: Who was Max?
==Chapter 4: Yes.==
I awoke to a stir amongst my crewmates. Realizing I had passed out, I sat up and looked around. It was early morning by the looks of it, and light had peaked in through the windows. My crewmates were all staring horrifically at an empty hammock in the corner of the room. I wondered what the big deal was. It was just an empty hammock. Then, I got up to go and look inside the hammock. There were scratches in the bottom of the hammock. Rips and tears covered the blanket.
I looked from the hammock to my crewmates.  "Who's to blame for this?" I cried out. All of the crewmates stood where they were, scared and nervous. Finally, one stepped towards me. "I'm not responisble sir, but I know what is." He said in a stern tone.
"Who then?" I asked.
"It'll sound a might...off, sir, but you have to listen to and believe every word I say." 
I slowly nodded.
"It began late at night. I was awake after a very deep nightmare I had had about this ship. The room was quiet and dark, and everything was dead silent. I lied awake in my hammock, thinking about how grateful I was for this ship, but also about the vivid nightmare I had, when I heard scratching on the door. Suddenly, it creaked open. The candles outside had been put out, leaving nothing for me to see but complete and utter darkness. The sounds of a large form slowly slumped across the room, dragging what sounded like large claws against the walls. Suddenly, I heard it stop in the corner. I was deathly afraid it would come after me, so I tried to stay as still as possible, then, I heard sounds like someone gutting a fish. The sound seemed to continue for a while, as if the thing had been cutting things in the corner at random. Then, I heard a loud thump, and the thing slowly walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. That's all I can remember."
As he said this, I looked at the crewmate, then to the others, bewildered and downright confused. I then looked at the walls leading from the door to the corner and saw long trails leading back and forth between the two. I decided I would not stand for this, and got up without a word. The crewmates started to murmur, and the one who was talking to me began questioning me. I ignored everyone and stormed otu of the room, and straight up to the captain's quarters. I pounded on the door, yelling "MAX! LET ME IN!" repeatedly. After a few minutes, he answered.
"Do you know what happened to my crewmate?" I asked him. He seemed confused but I could tell he had an idea of what I was talking about. I repeated the question.
"Do you know what happened to my crewmate?"
He gave me a stiff, concerned look, then nodded slowly.
"Yes." He said solemnly.
I looked him straight in the eyes. His expression was an odd mix between fear, anger, and sadness.
"Was he taken?"
"Yes."
He repeated this response as I asked him a number of questions. He didn't go into specifics, no matter what  the question was. Then, I asked hima certain question that set him off.
"Can you show me what's behind that crimson door?"
He stood quietly for a few seconds, then shut and locked the door. I banged on it for a few minutes, but he wouldn't open it up again. I then left.
Later on, my crewmates and I waited in the dining hall for Max. There was no food set out on the tables. Not even the silverware or plates were set out. Suddenly, a loud shot, similar to that of a gun, came from the captain's quarters. Everyone quickly ran up, and a few men yelled in terror at what they saw. I proceeded into the captain's quarters to find a sight that made me sick to my stomach.
In front of me was Max, but with a large hole in his head. A flintlock pistol rested in his left hand. That wasn't the only thing that made me cringe. There was a large cut up his left arm, similar to the marks left in the hammock and on the walls of our quarters. Blood covered his left arm, and his right hand was smeared with it. All over the room, a single word, written in blood, had been written all over the walls, ceiling, and floor; "No." But, the worst part was written in blood across Max's desk. It was a message, also written in blood. I read it and assumed it as the answer to my final question to the man. I read the message aloud, slowly.
"Yes."
===To be continued...===
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