A/N Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or "Welcome to my Life" by Simple Plan. Asidill, ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?
This is when they were younger, right after Jeb left, so they're like 12.
I walked quietly down the hallway toward the sound of music blasting from the boys room. Everybody else was outside, trying to enjoy a little bit of fresh air. They all needed to get out of the house, especially after everything that had happened recently: Jeb mysteriously disappearing, being left alone with a clue as to what to do next, and tensions getting so high it felt like the house was incased in thousands of rubber bands.
I thought that someone had just left the computer playing, but when I opened the door, I found Iggy lying on his bed. He was staring (kind of) at the ceiling and I noticed the red tear streaks that marked his face. I strolled over to his side table and shut the music off, some punk-rock band that he liked a lot.
"Why aren't you outside? You need to get up and move and do something than just sit around moping all day!" I tried to sound encouraging, but Iggy didn't take it that way.
"Max, just stop, okay! You're not going to replace Jeb, so just stop trying!" His voice was hurt and sad. I took his outburst with a grain of salt because he was under just as much stress as the rest of us, only he was the one who snapped.
"Well, when you're done feeling sorry for yourself and snapping at your friends, you can come outside with the rest of us…" I started to walk away.
"Wait, Max, come back please."
Something in his voice made me turn and look at him. He was sitting up now and his hair was mess and his eyes were just so down cast that I went back to sit beside him on the bed.
Do you ever feel like breaking down? Do you ever feel out of place? Like somehow you just don't belong and no one understands you; Do you ever wanna run away? Do you lock yourself in your room? With the radio on turned up so loud that no one hears you screaming
"I'm sorry…It's just so hard, you know? What are we supposed to do now that Jeb is gone?" And with that, Iggy began to cry. I think I'm the only one who's ever seen everybody crying. I've held Angel and Nudge multiple times and Gazzy once when he broke his arm when he was younger.
"I know, Ig, I know."
"No you don't know what it's like, when nothing feels all right. You don't know what it's like to be like me. To be hurt, to feel lost, to be left out in the dark, to be kicked when you're down, to feel like you've been pushed around, to be on the edge of breaking down. And no one's there to save you. No you don't know what it's like."
"Welcome to my life. Oh and how's that? I think I do know—"
"No you don't. I just feel so useless all the time and it's just horrible being blind and…" His voice fell away and was replaced by a badly concealed sob. I wrapped my arms around him and stroked his hair softly.
"Hey Max?"
"Yeah Ig?"
"Do you wanna be somebody else? Are you sick of feeling so left out? Are you desperate to find something more before your life is over? Are you stuck inside a world you hate? Are you sick of everyone around? With their big fake smiles and stupid lies
while deep inside you're bleeding?"
"Well, sometimes I have felt like that…"
"Yeah, well, Max, I feel like that every day. It's just hard to be the weakest link and I just hate it."
No you don't know what it's like when nothing feels all right. You don't know what it's like to be like me. To be hurt, to feel lost, to be left out in the dark. To be kicked when you're down, to feel like you've been pushed around, to be on the edge of breaking down. And no one's there to save you. No you don't know what it's like. Welcome to my life.
No one ever lied straight to your face, and no one ever stabbed you in the back. You might think I'm happy but I'm not gonna be okay. Everybody always gave you what you wanted; you never had to work it was always there. You don't know what it's like, what it's like.
I couldn't understand what he was trying to say. I mean, I could tell that he would be frustrated with his eyesight, but that had never stopped him before. He was always strong and trying to be as stoic as Fang and me. He was normally really good at it, but today it was just too much for him to handle. So, as he cried and vented his anger and hurt, I just held him close to me.
"To be hurt, to feel lost, to be left out in the dark. To be kicked when you're down; to feel like you've been pushed around. To be on the edge of breaking down and no one's there to save you. No you don't know what it's like (what it's like)."
I contemplated his words. I repeated them under my breath and then giggled. Iggy glanced in my general direction and I explained.
"That would make a pretty cool song." Iggy and I laughed.
Two years later, we were all huddled in an alleyway in New York. Suddenly, I heard a song playing and these were the words.
To be hurt, to feel lost, to be left out in the dark. To be kicked when you're down; to feel like you've been pushed around. To be on the edge of breaking down and no one's there to save you. No you don't know what it's like (what it's like).
Welcome to my life; Welcome to my life; Welcome to my life
I turned to Iggy and he'd heard it too. Some kid with an iPod was playing it and we listened intently. Iggy's face lit up and I smiled so wide, it hurt. Then, we were laughing so hard that our ribs were killing us. Fang looked at us like we're crazy, but Iggy and I are just too blown away. I guess that our lives aren't that bad after all, because we always have each other.