Left Behind

a Maximum Ride one shot by chanceXinfinity

They'd been talking about it all day. It was just mumbles I heard here and there, stuff like "Jeb Batchelder", "Colorado", and "Gone". Nothing made sense. I hadn't seen my dad all day, and I was starting to get worried. Max would help. She would know what to do. She always did.

I walked into the small, dark room where Max and her few friends were kept. The cages were all empty. That wasn't anything new. They were probably out playing with the Erasers. Max spent more time with the Erasers than she did with me these days. Maybe if I was an Eraser, she'd pay more attention to me.

I went outside to the yard where Max played with the Erasers. The Erasers were there, but Max was nowhere to be seen. This wasn't anything new either. She was probably with the scientists, or "whitecoats" as she called them. If that was the case, there was no telling when she'd be back.

Feeling disappointed, I walked back inside and to my dad's office. He wasn't in there, but other whitecoats were. They were going through his desk and putting stuff in boxes. I entered the room and looked around in confusion.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

They ignored me. They always did.

"Hey!" I pulled on one's lab coat until she looked down at me. "What are you doing?"

She looked me over with a bored expression. "You Batchelder's kid?"

I nodded my head. "Who're you?"

She sighed. "I have a name tag for a reason." She gestured to a plate attached to her coat with scribbles and lines on it.

"He's illiterate," another whitecoat told the lady from where he stood behind my dad's desk, going through the drawers. No one was allowed in those drawers, but I decided against telling the man that.

"What's illiterate?" I asked instead, struggling with pronouncing the word. I was ignored.

The girl whitecoat shook her head. "It's truly a shame Batchelder taught the avian hybrids to read even before he bothered to teach his own son."

"That's Batchelder's boy?" a third whitecoat asked, coming over to me. "Don't you think he'd be perfect for the new Eraser experiment?"

"Eraser experiment?" I asked, but I was ignored.

"Do you think Batchelder would mind?" the second whitecoat questioned, joining the group with a box full of my father's things.

"Not at all. He left him here, after all."

"Where's my dad?" I demanded, looking around at all three whitecoats. Finally, they acknowledged my presence.

"He left, Ari, and he took Maximum Ride and the other winged children with him," the first whitecoat explained. She looked at me in something like pity.

"He ... left?" My voice broke, and I felt tears burning behind my eyes. "With Max?"

"Yes," she replied gently. "Come with me." She offered me her hand, and I took it, wiping tears off my cheeks with my jacket sleeve.

"How would you like to be big and strong?" she asked as she led me through the halls. "How would you like to be an Eraser?"

"An Eraser? Me?" I looked down at my skinny body and ill-fitting clothes in wonderment. How could I be an Eraser?

"Your dad would be proud to find out his son is serving Itex," she told me with a smile.

"Would Max like me?" I asked quietly, smiling with her. The thought of my dad being proud of me and Max paying attention to me filled me with warmth.

The whitecoat gave me a harsh look. "Max stole your father from you."

"She ..." The warmth drained out of me as I realized what the whitecoat said was true. Dad always paid more attention to Max. He pushed me aside when she was around. "She stole him."

"Yes, Ari, she did. But, if you're an Eraser you can get rid of Max and have your dad all for yourself. He would be very, very proud of you."

She stopped in front of a big metal door and bent down to my level. "What do you say, Ari? Want to make Daddy pay attention to you? Do you want to make him proud?" She looked me dead in the eyes. "Do you want to be an Eraser?"

I nodded slowly, her words washing over me and giving me a sense of determination. "I want to be an Eraser."

She smiled at me and stood up. "Excellent."

-oOo-

My dad left me behind when he escaped with his precious flock. I agreed to let the whitecoats experiment on me, just to get his attention. He still didn't bother to give me the time of day. He didn't pay attention when Max broke my neck and killed me, when I got wings almost just like Max's, when I hung around Max II, when I had an expiration date plastered on the back of my neck, or when I escaped the School with Max. He never cared about me. He had eyes for Max and Max only. I spent my life trying to get the approval of someone who didn't notice until it was too late.

It wasn't worth it.

A/N: Most people seem to view Ari as an evil Eraser, but he's more than just that. Inside that mutated body is the heart and mind of an innocent seven-year-old who didn't live to see his eighth birthday. His situation was extremely unfair. It's not like it was his decision to become an Eraser. He was only three when he was experimented on. Even if he hadn't agreed, the whitecoats still would've done it. So, before you judge a character consider their past as well as their present. Truth be told, Ari is more similar to most of us than any other character in the books. He's young and trying to grow up too fast, searching for the approval of those he admires and trying to find a place where he fits in. It's tragic, honestly. If you won't review for me, review for Ari's sake. May he rest in peace with no further resurrections.

Chance xx