Twenty years. That's how long it's been. Iggy has gone off and married my step sister, Ella. As far as I know, they're expecting a non-winged mutant, eh-hem, Gen 77, baby. Ella's ecstatic, as always. She's expecting sometime in this month, April. Iggy's called me multiple times for advice. I couldn't help but laugh. The flock has split up now. Little Nudge is now a super model for Vogue. Every once in a while I see her on the cover of a magazine and I can't resist buying it. Nudge calls up from time to time. She's busy all the time, what with her job and stuff. Traveling around the world can be exhausting. Trust me, I know. Total and Akilah have about 300 pups. They're breeding like crazy, but hey. When you're cute, why waste your talent? Total is still obnoxious, like always, and Akilah still can't talk or fly. The gasman has joined the US Navy, surprisingly. I thought that he and Iggy would make some shop together that consisted of bombs, explosives, and more bombs. As far as I know, Ol' Gazzy is in charge of the Army. Why? Because the government is insane and Gazzy has an obsession with bombs. And me? Well I, Maximum Ride, am a foster parent. Dylan and I— don't worry; no romance here. We're just friends—work together now and have opened an orphanage for 'Gen 77' children, AKA freaks like us. See, Dylan, Gazzy, Iggy, Nudge and I, well…We're 98% human and have a smidgeon of avian DNA in us. We have wings. We can fly. It used to be that we were freaks—mutants. Cameras used to follow us constantly, and we used to have to always be on guard. I was the leader of the flock. There used to be six of us, but uh, let's not talk about our lovely little flock now.
So, I was rummaging through my old drawers one day and came across something that struck a foreign memory. But from what? I had no idea. See, Dylan and I, well, our orphanage is where we used to live in Colorado. Of course, it's renovated and has 4 floors now. I just never brought myself to clean out the old boys' rooms when they moved out. Motherly instincts never go away, I guess. Heck, even after 20 years, it still smelled like rotten eggs. Gross. I was cleaning the boys' room because Dylan finally convinced me that we needed to use the boys' room for the new kids coming in the next day. The drawers were supposed to be empty…I could've sworn I made the boys clean their room when they left. Huh. Weird. It was in the first drawer, hidden underneath dark clothes and other stuff.
I'll just give these to the kids, I thought. The kids need clothes all the time. They can't possibly stay in filthy and worn clothes like I had when I was a kid.
I laid the clothes in the hamper beside me. I looked inside the drawer, taking out the socks and pants and also laying them in the hamper. Now, it was empty except for the moth balls and a paper.
Heh?
I swept aside the moth balls and pulled out the paper. It was old and fragile, I can tell you that. It must've been a couple years old. I had no idea how it got in there, or why.
I unfolded it and read the words with difficulty. For some reason, the words were smudged.
Dear Max—
You looked so beautiful today. I'm going to remember what you looked like forever.
Oh my god… A ball of cotton caught in my throat. I haven't seen or heard from Fang in years. I didn't know what he was up to. I didn't…I don't even know him anymore. But I did know that I still loved him. That's the reason why Dylan and I…well, we're not into each other. We can't. I would always compare him to Fang. That was always the case. I mean, yeah. Dylan's nice and all, but I can't see myself going out with him. Or, ugh. Marrying him. I gulped, and forced myself to keep reading, feeling an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
Tell you what, sweetie: If in twenty years, we haven't expired yet, I laughed. I know, but I couldn't help it. I learned a while ago that we wouldn't expire from my old friend, the Voice. It and I are on good terms now. I don't bother it, and it doesn't bother me. There's no danger now, I saved the world. I don't need it anymore. In fact, I think it's kind of funny. My Voice has a sense of humor. Hah, bet you wouldn't believe that. I forced myself to stop laughing and read on, and the world is still in one piece, more or less, I'll meet you at the top of that cliff where we first met the hawks and learned to fly with them. You know the one. Twenty years from today, if I'm alive, I'll be there, waiting for you. You can bet on it.
I looked at the date...April 9th. Today. Oh crap, is he there? Could he? Oh, no. I doubted it. Twenty years is a long time. He probably doesn't even remember me, right? RIGHT? Oh, what am I kidding? He must remember me. I mean…he had to. He…he just had to.
A flash of the cliff went through my mind. I knew where it was and I knew how to get there. I used to go there often when the flock split up, waiting; watching; learning. I learned more handy tricks with the time I spent there. The hawks thought I was fascinating… if only they knew that that was what I was thinking about them.
I leaped from my bed with amazing grace and flew to the window and out expertly to the cliff! Just kidding. I fell flat on my face with excitement while running to the window. Yes, I know, Max. I lost the touch.
Up and away, my Voice said. I rolled my eyes and ignored it. I was going to see Fang, right? That's all I cared about now.
Gosh, I sound like a teenager again.
To be continued...
