As she lay on the cold, green park bench, she slowly opened her eyes, making it seem like she was still asleep. In her torn jeans, too small shirt, and nearly sole less shoes, she knew she could easily pass as one of the many homeless that made Dupont Circle their temporary home as they moved around trying to find a better life. But just a year ago, she had come here- not to find a place to sleep, but to hand out food to these same people. Mere months ago, she had had a family. Maybe not a conventional one, but still a family. And a home. Her home had moved constantly, to accommodate her sister, who for the same reason that she was now in Dupont Circle, had to move and never stay in the same place. And as she thought of her sister, she knew what she had to do. She would have to find her. Find the amazing Maximum Ride. She and the flock were the only ones who could help her now. Her mother gone and dead, she knew that anyone she received help from that wasn't one of the flock would be in danger. And not know it. Just as she and her mother hadn't known what would happen to them for helping Max. Constant surveillance, that you'd never be able to detect. And then one day, coming home to house that's half destroyed, with blood on the walls, your mom's dead body on the floor, and suddenly, you're in a truck. And when you wake up, you're changed. Never to be the same. No going back, no contacting anyone who isn't like you. Or else they end up in the same situation and the circle continues.
As she stood and faced the fountain in the middle of the park, remembering the trip with her church, she finally accepted that that was her past. Past. And gone. Now she would have to become a new person and accept herself. Like in all those magazines that talked about coming to peace with your body, that she had once done and read with her friends- well, this was different. But that didn't mean she couldn't do it. And as she turned to face the horizon, Ella Martinez vanished. And became Ella Flight, as she spread her wings for the first time and accepted herself. Ella Flight....