Life After Everything: A Story About the Flock
"Fang, how's that crib coming?" I asked, poking my head into the baby's room. It smelled of paint and toxins. I stepped inside and smiled at my wonderful husband's progress. He was trying to set up the crib, which we had just purchased for our expected child. The baby inside me was a boy, and so we had decorated the room to be fit for one. The walls were blue, with happy pictures of Fang and me and the rest of the flock when we were younger decorating the walls. There was a cute little Winnie the Pooh mobile suspended from the ceiling, and the crib was set up underneath it so that the baby would see it when he fell asleep. At the very top of the wall, there was a Winnie the Pooh border going around the entire room. There was a rocking chair in the corner and a changing table next to the window.
Fang hadn't grimaced at all at any of the baby stuff.
God, I had such an amazing husband.
I sat down next to him and rested my head on his shoulder.
"It's all done," he said, putting the last finishing touches on the baby's crib. He put his arms around me, his hands coming to rest on my bulging stomach.
I had never expected to get pregnant.
I'd never expected to have a baby. I mean, I'd thought about it when I was younger, I'll admit. Fang was my perfect match, and I'd always imagined that one day we would get married and have a little flock of our own. But I'd never thought that day would come so soon.
The flock had separated, although we were still close by to each other. Fang and I had moved into our own little beach-house on the West Coast, close enough that it was easy to visit my mother and Ella in Arizona. Iggy had gotten married, which I was so, so happy for. I was happy that even though he was blind, he could still enjoy the little luxuries of life like marriage. His wife was a girl he'd met in Virginia when we were fourteen, and we'd lived with Anne Walker for a while. Her name was Tess, and she had been in his class when Anne had enrolled us in school. I was shocked they'd met each other again, but they'd started dating and eventually fell in love. I couldn't be happier for Iggy. He was twenty-two, like me and Fang were. Gazzy, who was still Iggy's best friend and sixteen years old, had a girlfriend and he worked for Iggy. Iggy owned an automotive repair shop, and Gazzy worked there on the weekdays.
Nudge, who was nineteen, was in college and majoring in fashion. She was a designer, and she was trying to publish her own line of clothing. I was so, so proud of her.
And Angel?
Well, Angel was fourteen (the age I was when I realized my feelings for Fang - it had been the most hectic year of my life). Angel completely surprised me. She lived with her brother in a big house near me and Fang, and Iggy and Tess lived down the block. Nudge's college was less than an hour away, and she and her boyfriend lived in an apartment on campus. Anyway, Angel had decided she wanted to be a marine biologist.
I totally thought she was going to start campaigning for president, but she didn't. She told me how much she loved being under water, especially with her gills and her ability to speak to fish. She thought it would really help her in the marine biology field, and I thought so too. She had a job at a local aquarium, where she worked daily with fish and underwater sea creatures.
Total and Akila live with Gazzy and Angel.
My flock was still my family, no matter what. They would always, always, always be my family. I had refused to part with them, so we all lived within a five-minute drive of each other, which I was perfectly happy with. We all got together every single weekend and flew together. Occasionally we sparred, just like old times.
I can't say I miss the old days, when we were constantly hunted and our lives were constantly in danger. It was hectic and crazy, and I hated it. But we always persevered and we always pulled through in the end, because we were just amazing that way. Things now were much better. I was married to Fang and pregnant with his child, and I fell more in love with Fang every single day. Nudge was fulfilling her dream as a fashion designer, and she had a boyfriend who she was thinking about marrying. Iggy was happily married with an incredibly supportive wife who helped him daily with his blindness. Gazzy was helping Iggy in the auto shop, and he had a girlfriend who he seemed to be in love with. Angel was less scary, and she had given up her dreams of being flock leader and ruling the world, for which I was grateful.
The world knew perfectly well about the amazing flying mutants, and they respected us enough to leave us alone. We lead somewhat private, quiet lives, but somehow we were all still connected. I knew the flock would always be my family and my closest friends.
Life was good for us. For all of us. And I had a good feeling that it would stay that way.
