Disclaimer: JP owns characters Erica and I own plot…simple. The plot and first few paragraphs are Erica's, and I put this on our joined account, but no one read that one…boo. So I'm putting it here! READ ON!
He sits silently in the back of the room. No one sees him except me. I'm the only one who notices him. His skin is olive toned and he wears black, head to toe. He doesn't talk much. Another thing you should know is: he is the Angel of Death. He likes to go by Fang. His name suits him.
Once we were walking to my house afterschool and he told me…can you guess? I'll give you a minute. Now let's test your theories. Someone's going to die. Now how many of you guessed? I didn't, but then again nobody ever told me I was smart. He didn't tell me who or why. Now, just knowing one of the people I've known since kindergarten is going to die, and quite frankly, it's tearing me apart.
He was quiet for a while after. I thought he must just be disturbed after the realization. We had a snack and went upstairs to my room to talk. He told me how he died, a plane crash, and told me how it works being an angel. Especially death. Angels of death collect the dead souls of passing humans. All angels are humans, just ones who weren't ready to die; it wasn't their time, another result of humans' free will. Angels of Death only work once. After this Fang was done, my Mom called me downstairs saying we were going out to eat.
Fang looked, not emotionless like usual, but sad. Almost like he was going to cry, I wanted to comfort him, but restraint myself. I have no dad and since I'm oldest I sat in front. Fang was silently sitting in the back, blending into the shadows. Ella, my sister, was telling mom about her day at school, what if she was the one who was going to die. I felt my heart tighten up, I hope it wasn't her, I wish it was me, no one else; I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I just stared out the window. It was dark and the streets were busy with traffic. We were driving through an intersection when my head bashed against the window.
When I woke up, I saw Fang looking down on me.
"Come on Max, get up and follow me." He said. When I got up we were going somewhere I recognized, a cemetery. Thoughts and questions swirled around in my head. Who died, was it Ella? Mom? Jeff? My best friend was Jeff. I saw he depressed faces of my peers and Ella and Mom. Oh, good Jeff was amongst them, I'm so glad they were safe. Fang pulled my hand and led me to the tombstone of the person who had died. 'Maximum Ride- loving daughter and amazing friend. She will remain in our hearts forever' Maximum Ride?That's my name; Fang saw the question in my eyes.
"You died in the car accident your mom and sister are fine. The man who hit you was drunk, just another consequence of human free will." He said looking down. I looked up.
"Is the man alright?" I asked. He smirked,
"Max you are the most self-less person I know. All you care about is the well- being of others, even after you died. You didn't deserve to die." He said looking down, solemn. His eyes shown with so much emotion it made me want to cry, not for myself, but for his well being and feelings, and for my family, what they must be going through right now.
"Thank you." I choked out. He smiled and squeezed my hand. I realized I had tears dripping down my cheeks, Fang wiped them away. "How did you know I was going to die?" I asked.
"Angel of Death intuition." He replied. I laughed dryly.
"What's going to happen to you?" I asked.
"Again, you think of everyone but yourself." He stated.
"But I care about you, that's why I'm asking." I told him. He smiled, yes actually smiled.
"Well, I'll go to either heaven or hell." He said.
"No, you're definitely going to heaven, I have faith in you, Fang." I said looking into his eyes.
"Why do you have so much faith in me?" he asked.
"Because someone who is so sad about one person dying deserves to go to heaven." I told him, and it was the truth.
"Thank you." He said.
"But, why didn't you tell me I was the one that was going to die?" I asked.
"Well I couldn't, I was going overboard by just talking to you, even showing myself. But I wanted you to sort of know what was coming, I didn't want you to be in the dark." He said. We were standing around my family and friends, they were all crying, it broke my heart, more tears flowed down my face. "Don't worry, you'll be fine, Max" he said wiping my tears off my face.
"I'm not crying for me, I'm crying for my family and friends, they have no idea what is happening, and my Mom, and Ella, what's going to happen to them?" I asked.
"Oh, my god, you are so unselfish Max! All you care about is your family, and other people, I think you'll have it good in heaven." He said envious. I looked up and blinked away the upcoming tears.
"W-why do you sound envious? You are definitely the most unselfish person I've met." I told him.
"No, it's just that, well, after this, I don't really know what's going to happen to me. Your fate is certain, but mine… isn't." he stated glumly.
"Well, I am staying with you, no matter where I'm destine to go." I said determined. He looked me in the eyes, and laughed.
"Excuse me? Max if I don't go to heaven than you are not coming with me! I am not going to screw up eternity for you!" he said angrily.
"You aren't going to tell me where I'm spending eternity, because I will not let you go to purgatory, or God forbid worse. But I know that you won't, because you are a good person." I yelled at him, god more tears streaming down my face from my fury.
"Well, you didn't know me when I was human." He said ashamed, he looked down.
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Nothing…" he said.
"Tell me Fang!" I demanded.
"Well, I am not proud of this I must tell you, but I well I sent some guy to the hospital, I nearly killed him." He said still looking at his feet.
"Why?" I asked.
"Well, he was my mom's boyfriend, and he was, w-well he did some bad things to her and I, I wouldn't let him touch my little sister, but one day he threatened to kill her, and I couldn't let him do that. I always did all I could to keep him away from my mom, I stood in the way, took the punches, and I would pass out. One day I just couldn't take it anymore, and when he came at her with that knife, I stood in front of her, and counteracted the knife that came at me and sent it into his chest, and it hit the aorta. And the worst part of all of this, even worse than almost killing, actually I may have killed him, I didn't stay around long enough to find out, I took the first plane out. That's how I died, but anyways, the worst part is I regret nothing, I'm glad I did it. Is that madness?" he explained.
I thought about this, "No, it's not madness, you did the right thing, I would have killed him too. If anyone ever threatened my family they would get their butts kicked."I said. "And I'm so sorry you went through that, no one should ever have to go through that terrible." I said. His eyes were glassy with tears. I hugged him; he needed comforting more than I did. He hesitated, but hugged me back.
"Thank you. It means a lot, I really, just- thanks Max, you really know how to make me feel better." He said as he smiled. He tangled his finger in my hair and brought me back into his chest.
"What are friends for?" I asked.
"But, how much longer do we have on Earth, you know before we go up to heaven or wherever we are going?" I asked.
"Well, twenty four hours. So you have that much time to say goodbye, you can show yourself to one human, and say goodbye. So choose one soon." He said.
"Okay, this is going to be a hard choice, I love my family, my mom and Ella, but I also love Jeff, he'll be heartbroken, I hope the guys aren't mean to him at school." I said, mostly to myself.
"Who's Jeff?" he asked…jealous?
"My best friend, well not anymore I guess." I said solemnly.
"Well, I'm sure you will always be in his heart, and you have a new best friend!" he said lifting my chin to look him in the eyes. I smiled a small smile.
"Who do you pick?" he asked. I was still starring into his fathomless black eyes, I felt like I could fall right into them.
"Jeff," I stated.
"Okay, well I am coming with you, I can show myself to anyone, while I'm on earth with you." He said as he saw the question in my eyes.
"Why didn't you before?" I questioned.
"Well I just wanted you to see me." He said as he…blushed? What's he going to do next, laugh?
"Well, this is depressing me, I don't want to see everyone I know and love crying their eyes out, over me. So can we leave?" I asked.
"We can do whatever you want to do." He stated.
"Well, I want to see Jeff." I stated.
"You know I can read minds too." He said. My eyes widened.
"Don't worry I can't read yours, I don't know if it's because I was assigned to you, and I am glad I was, or it's just a glitch in your brain." He said.
"Wow, thanks. But what is Jeff thinking?" I asked.
"Well, he's thinking about you…and it's pretty much just sadness, shock, hate and emptiness." He said dryly. I didn't say anything; I just looked at my feet, and sat down in the wet grass. I put my head in my hands. "But don't worry, once you go see him things will be all cleared up." He said encouragingly. He sat down next to me and put an arm around me. "Things are going to be okay." He promised. I nodded. I got up and walked over to Jeff. I stood in front of him he was looking up at the casket; he had a sad gleam in his eyes.
I wanted to take it away. I must have walked around the whole cemetery three times with Fang. When everyone left Fang and I went to Jeff's house. I climbed up the drain pipe and walked over to his window. I pried the window open and climbed in. I walked over to his bed and poked him. He stirred. "Jeff, I need to talk to you." I whispered in his ear.
"Five more minutes," he mumbled. I laughed,
"No you need to wake up now." I whispered. I poked him really hard and shook him. He finally shot up in bed.
"What, what happened? Max! What the hell, no you can't be here; you- you d-died!" He whimpered.
"No shit Sherlock! I know I died, god you are slow. I can only say goodbye to one person, and I picked you. I'm going, wherever tomorrow; I only have twenty four hours. So I wanted to tell you, that you're my best friend and tell my mother and Ella I love them. And uh, well that's it." I explained.
"Oh, but who is that? And why did you die? It's not fair, I wish it was me. I'm going to miss you so much, and I've always wanted to tell you this, that's why I was so depressed, prior to your death. Because I didn't tell you this, and whether you're real or not I'm going to tell you…" he trailed off, he bit his lip. I sat on his bed and took his hand.
"What, you need to tell me?" I asked quickly.
"I, well I l-love you."
I just stared at him. Fang came over grabbed my hands and had an apologetic look on his face.
"I shouldn't have brought you here. I'm sorry." He said squeezing my hands. Jeff came over and pushed Fang away from me.
"Max, I just wanted you to know how I feel, but I know you're going to heaven, and I don't want you to feel like you're letting me down, because you aren't. Yes, I do love you, but if you love me just like a best friend, I'm okay with that." He said through his tears.
"But I want you to be happy, Jeff. You're my best friend!" I whispered.
"Max, do you want to leave now?" Fang asked blending into the background.
"No, she can't leave yet! Who are you anyway?" he shouted.
"Jeff, this is Fang, he's the Angel of Darkness and death." I stated.
"WHAT, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DID THIS TO HER! HOW COULD YOU, SHE IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS TO ME, AND YOU TOOK HER AWAY!" Jeff screamed.
"And you don't think she's the most important thing in my life either! And it wasn't my choice, believe me, I think she doesn't deserve to die! She is the last soul on earth who deserves this! But that's beside the point, look what you've done to her, she's crumpled on the floor crying." He said calmly, but cruel. And I just noticed I was sitting on the floor crying, who knew spirits could cry. I wiped them away, and stood up.
"Jeff, I'm so sorry, I love you too, and…I will miss you, so much. So please don't do anything rash." I said as I hugged him, and kissed him sweetly. He clung to me and pulled me close, I tried to pull away but his grip was too strong.
"Goodbye, Max." he whispered as Fang and I jumped out the window and down to the grass. We walked away in silence.
"So, I truly am sorry, for all that. I didn't know it was going to end like that." He said solemnly.
I trudged along the sidewalk,
"It's okay, I don't blame you, I blame myself." I muttered.
"No, don't blame yourself, it isn't your fault. It's no one's fault, Max." he said stopping to stare at me.
"But, if it wasn't for me then he wouldn't be in so much pain right now." I said looking down, ashamed of myself. Fang put his hand on my back and looked at me.
"If this is tearing you up this much, then maybe you can go back and spend time with him?" he said painfully.
"No, it would just be worse." I said dryly. Fang held my hand as the sun came up in the horizon as we sat in the park across the street from my house. It was almost our time to go, a few more hours.
Okay so Erica and I wrote this, because well, we just can: ) I had fun doing it too, it isn't finished yet! So tune in next time on THE ANGEL OF DEATH! OOHH AHHH! : ) REVIEW!
