Case Attraction

I walked up to my desk. It wasn't the cleanest, but hey, I'm the one who works at it. I had a few papers scattered... okay, a little more than 'A few' but it was fine with me. At least I wasn't just another clone- desks spik and span. Not a single paper out of place. Order. Tidiness. It was just... weird.

At my desk, I kept my laptop, a few pictures, and a couple of books... and a ton of scribble-scrabbles pinned up. I kept everything- or at least close to everything. A funny note, a weird drawing, a good memory. Not much. I enjoy the little things.

But, being the youngest employee, I can see how they look down upon me. But my 'hoarding' wasn't because I was young. It was because- it was simply me. Oh yeah, by the way- I'm Fang Ride. I know, weird name. But, my mother had a crazy moment during childbirth and asked for one, as she put it, 'Dying wish' which was to watch a vampire movie. Thus, she named me Fang. My family is... insane.

This one time-

I was brought out of my thoughts as a paper ball hit the side of my head. I looked over to see Iggy- my best friend. He motioned for me to open it.

Knock knock! Someones going cross eyed. His name starts with a 'F' and ends with 'ang'... he's also reading this note as we... write... snap out of it CULLEN!

I looked back up at Iggy. He started calling me either 'Edward' or 'Cullen' from some vampire movie. Which I don't know what to think about at all... Some say its lame, others say its awesome. Team Edward or Team Jacob? Why would I give a fuck? I go with Team 0.

"Whatever you say- Jacob!" I said in a dramatically deeper voice. My deep voice plus a fake deeper voice = weird announcer dude voice.

"Edward!" Iggy imitated me.

It was our joke. Iggy was about the only person I could talk to. He's pale, with strawberry- blonde longish hair, and almost looks as thin as a pole. Yet eats anything edible in sight. He's gotten arrested at least ten times for fires and bomb threats. Or as he calls 'Annual test runs.' Finally, the FBI decided that if they couldn't stop him- hire him. So, he was our teams bomb specialist... Along with his brother- Gazzy. You don't want to know why his nickname is Gazzy.

And yes, I'm in the FBI. And I'm twenty-one.

We stopped joking when Angel walked in with files. She was tall and thin as well, with long blonde curls and blue eyes. She was usually the one to do the interviewing. She had a way with people, and could almost read their minds in a way. Me... I was just good at puzzles. She looked at us and nodded towards us. We nodded back and walked into our meeting room across the hall.

We all sat around our rectangular shaped table and waited for Angel to start talking. While sitting around, I looked at the other three faces in the room. I was almost their exact opposite. They had blonde hair and blue eyes with pale skin. I had olive toned skin, black hair, and deep brown eyes. I couldn't help but feel a little different.

"Okay, Fredrick Hale, last seen-" I interrupted Angel.

"I don't think I have the same files..." I looked down at the opened file in front of me and read.

Maximum Ride

Age: 13

Gender: Female

Birth date: January 13, 1995

Reported missing: January 13, 2008

I looked at the picture of the girl. Her light brown hair with blonde streaks fell down to her elbows, her chocolate brown eyes shining from the cameras flash, and her lips formed in a small closed smile. I read on.

"Oh, sorry Fang. Here, let me take this," Angel reached for the file. I pulled it away before she took it.

"Why didn't we ever hear about this case?" I asked.

"It wasn't important-"

"It wasn't important? She was thirteen Angel! How is that unimportant?" I asked, a little harshly.

"I didn't mean-"

"Oh, yes. You did mean. Don't try to hide it now. Tell me" I demanded.

"We looked into it a little, but we had enough evidence to suspect she wasn't taken" Angel explained.

"So, a straight A student- who skipped two letter grades- just up and ran away?" I defended.

"She had a rough life. Her father left her, her mother worked a lot so she hired a nanny. The nanny went a little crazy, so she... killed herself. In front of Maximum. Others from her school said she had been cutting herself, and some say she was using drugs. She could have ran away." Angel retorted with a harsh shrug.

"So... you just gave up?" Now, I was angry.

"No-"

"Yes. Do you know that she would be sixteen? Do you remember what it was like when you were sixteen? Those experiences? She never got to experience them. I'm not giving up now that I know" I walked out of the room. I walked all the way to my apartment. I don't know why, but something was attracting me to this case. I had to do something.

I searched through all of her records. On everything. Everything.

High school poetry contest 1st place.

School district science project 1st place.

Music festival 2006 1st place award.

Music festival solo 2007 1st place award.

Countless 'A' honor roll certificates.

Short story contest 1st place.

But, then it did go a little bad from there. I read reports from many therapists.

Max seems to be frightened by a figment of the imagination, including a voice in her head. Reoccurring nightmares of survival. Strange animal hybrids. A place called the School...?

I opened my laptop and typed in The School.

I pulled open a blog. Maximum Ride: The Blog.

There were short entries... but mostly pictures. Drawings. Max's drawings. A building, described as the School. Then these part human part wolf creatures named Erasers. A Whitecoat named Jeb. Then some other things. A drawing- or really, countless drawings of wings. Not just wings- her wings.

I looked at her last entry. It was this month. A week ago. But, how is that possible? I wonder if I could find out the location... I called the only person I knew could help me.

"Nudge?" I asked into the phone.

"Fang! Its been soooo long! We should totally hang out one day I mean you-"

"Nudge, I need you to help me track down a location. I need to know where this person was when they posted this on their blog" I said sternly.

"Okie dokie. Send me the link. You know my E-mail address." she got to business.

"Right away" I sent it to her.

"Woah. What are you reading...?" I could hear the clicks and typing of her laptop.

"It's for a case. Well, my case at least" I said.

"Okay... just one second..." she typed more. "Bingo! San Fran, California!" she giggled.

"Thanks Nudge. I owe you one" I smiled and hung up. Here I go.

Sooo...? What do peoples think of my NEW story!

and before anyone asks- yes, I am that Spaz who wrote Maximum Torture and Angel of Death! and don't fret my readers- I will still continue them! Just tell me how this one sounds and I'll let y'all decide if I should continue or not! PEACE!