AN: Okay, so I got this idea from a dream I had a while ago, and I decided to make a story out of it. This is my first fanfic, so don't eat me! Reviews are appreciated. Also, Max (and Lexi) are 17. Enjoy!
Chapter One
Lexi's POV
Present Time
Some days, I feel so guilty about what I did. Who I tricked, betrayed, double-timed. How I lied, just to leave the School. Today is one of those days.
When I first started, I got a little stabbing feeling in my chest every time I lied. Now it's receded to an easily ignorable ache. I think that's because I've been lying for so long; I lose track of what's the truth and what's not, so I don't really know when I'm lying anymore. That thought kind of scares me. It doesn't matter, though, because I know I can never tell anyone the truth. The scientists at the School (or "whitecoats" as the Flock calls them) made sure of that. In a way, I resent them for it. In another way, I know I should be grateful to them—they gave me a chance to live freely, or something close to it.
I'm thinking about all of this as I walk up the steep, carpeted stairs of the house that the Flock and I share, striding down to the end of long hallway, where my room is. I step in, and close the door after me. I tug my dress over my head, take my honey blonde hair out of its braid, and slide into my nightgown. Then, I pick up my phone and call Fang. He's in the next room over, but I call him every night before we fall asleep.
"Hey, Max," Fang says when he picks up.
"Hi," I say. Even I can hear the smile in my voice.
"What's up?" He, on the other hand, does not seem to be smiling. He's been smiling at me less and less lately.
"You know what's up. I'm just calling you because I love you."
Fang doesn't respond right away. It seems like every time I tell him I love him, he pauses a little longer before saying it back. "I love you, too," he says. Suddenly, I feel like we're a million miles apart. His voice sounds too tinny and artificial through the phone. Maybe that's just his tone.
Or, maybe he knows, a little voice in my head says. Maybe he knows you're not really her. I shove the thought away.
"Gotta go, Max." And then Fang hangs up on me.
I curl up on my bed with my phone in my hand and a sick feeling in my stomach.
I'm not the girl Fang fell in love with in the School. I'm not the girl who's known the Flock since they were babies. My name isn't Max.
My name is Lexi, actually. I named myself. I wish that Maximum, the girl whose life I took, would've chosen something prettier to be named… But I knew Max. The name fits her.
I sigh, and crawl under my thick blankets.
On days like this, my whole life just feels like a lie.
It kind of is.