Disclaimer: I don't own any Max Ride characters.

Chapter 1

I ran through the dimly lit streets, tripping in the dark and almost falling on my face. Rocks seemed to come up from nowhere and claw at my feet. I tripped, sprawling face first into the dirt.

'You need to get away!' I told myself. 'As far away as possible.' Crawling to my feet, I ran on, my bare feet slapping the wet concrete. It reminded me of all the times she'd hit me, or the other boys at the orphanage. The more I thought of her, the more I remembered that she was probably on my tail right now. I ran so fast that my feet began to lose their feeling.

I swerved around a man with blonde hair in a black suit with an umbrella who was exiting a brightly-lit building.

My brain wondered, 'Why was he in a suit? It was the middle of summer. Wasn't he boiling?'

I expected to stay clear of him, but instead, I felt myself flying through the air. Had he tripped me? Was he working for her? Maybe it was the Gardener? I didn't find out as I felt myself go skidding across the wet asphalt. I thunked to a stop when my head hit a hard surface, felling the blood trickle from the crown of my head.

"Oh my God, you ok kid?" the man asked, and then I blacked out.

I came to and tried to sit up. My head throbbed and the room spun. It took all my will power not to fall back asleep. Suddenly the events of the night before came rushing back to me. Immediately I felt my head, then my arms. I if was back at the home I would've been hand-cuffed to the infirmary bed, but my arms and legs were free. My entire torso was wrapped white gauze, as if someone had given up on trying to attend to each one of my individual cuts and whip-lines. My bare feet slowly regained their sense of feeling but I soon realized that the only feeling that registered was pain.

I looked around the room I was in. It looked like one of those living-rooms I've only seen on TV. There were couches and a small coffee table, in one corner, there was a TV. Sitting right in front of it were kids, a girl about my age, with long blond-brown hair and a younger boy with short blond hair.

"Turn it up, Max!" he complained.

"No," the girl responded. "People need quiet when they sleep, and he's still asleep." She jabbed a thumb towards me. Then she turned to see if I really was still asleep. The girl gasped, surprised to see me sitting up, staring at her. "Mom!" she yelled, not taking her chocolate-brown eyes off me. "He's up!"

Whatever happened to people needing quiet? Well I guess I wasn't asleep anymore…

I jolted back as a tall Asian-looking woman with a kind face hurried in. I glared at her, even though she looked nothing like that woman. In fact, with her jet-black hair and chocolate-brown eyes, the two women looked like polar opposites.

"Don't worry," the woman held up her hands in surrender "I won't hurt you. I want to help you." I slowly relaxed my muscles as she came closer and willed myself to think - more like scrounge for - happy thoughts. I sat as still as possible and tried to ignore her poking and prodding, she had stopped asking me questions since I hadn't answered any.

"Okay," she said suddenly, making me jump, "all done." Then she turned to me and smiled, "Are you hungry?"

I shook my head still not trusting her, but my belly rumbled ferociously in response. The lady and the girl giggled, the lady went to get dinner ready. The girl smiled at me then went to help the lady, her mom I guessed.

I turned my attention to the TV, and the boy came to sit beside me. We watched back to back episodes of 'Phineas and Ferb' until the lady, his mom, called us for dinner.

The girl came up to me, "I'm Max," she said brightly, "I can show you around. Follow me." Suddenly, I noticed two things, she hadn't asked my name and she hadn't tried to take my hand like other people did. Still, she didn't seem afraid of me. Non-the less, I followed her, each step making me wince.

Max led me to a larger room with a big rectangular table and many chairs. Along the white walls there were wooden cabinets with glass doors, filled with plates, knives, forks, spoons and tall glasses. Around the table, a man with blond hair and blue eyes was already seated and smiled at me. I frowned at him. Wasn't that the man who had tripped me? Had he tripped me?

Max's mom helped Ari into his high-chair.

I was so busy taking in the scenery and asking myself questions that I hadn't realized my guide had left me behind. I ran to catch up with her, and nearly bumped into her when she stopped suddenly.

"You can sit here," she pointed to a chair to her left. I nodded and climbed up, my body screaming in protest, but I ignored it. On the table there was a pot of 'macaroni and cheese', so Max called it, and two plates of BBQ chicken pieces. Max served me two spoonfuls of macaroni and two BBQ chicken legs, before serving herself. I clasped my hands and closed my eyes tightly, ready for grace. After a few seconds I opened my right eye cautiously and looked around, hands still clasped. No-one else looked ready.

"What are you doing?" Max asked softly.

"He's waiting for grace," the man said smiling.

Max looked confused but her mom smile too. "You've been raised well," she said. I looked at her. I wouldn't exactly call it raising. It was more like do it or you'll get whipped. Even though I had been there since I was 1, I had more whip-lines than anybody. Among the kids, I was 'Mr. Indestructible', but among the 'disciplinarians', I was 'the kid who never learned'.

"Each person says their own grace here, sonny," Max's dad told me. I nodded, muttered my grace so no-one would hear, and then dug in.

Got this story idea from the first chapters of 'Troubled Boy with Green Eyes'; hope the writer doesn't mind