Remember Me – Chapter 1
By MyNameIsCAL
-Fang's POV-
They took everything I had.
Everything.
And so people passed me now, either staring or quickly looking away. It was almost Christmas, and the city streets of New York were bustling. I sat with a cup in front of me, an occasional passerby throwing some change in. It would never be enough.
But who am I, you ask? Well, I'm Fang. But you know the beginning of my story, so I'll cut to the chase, right?
It started with a punch in the face. Max came home one day and told me she wanted a divorce. She spewed reasons full of illogic. I couldn't wrap my head around it. Three years we had been married. Three happy years.
And then, the flock started to loose grip too.
I had no choice but to sign the divorce papers. Max moved out immediately and disappeared without a trace. I didn't even say goodbye. It was like my signature was the delete button, and in a blink of an eye she no longer existed. With the rest of the flock falling apart, it didn't take me long to realize that there were other forces working against me though.
Angel was next. In fact, she got kidnapped the day after Max left. I would have went to seek comfort from Iggy or Nudge, but they were in their own sudden mess too.
They were just about to get married when the "accident" happened. Nudge had run out into the street to get away from Iggy when a car hit her. The strange thing was that Gazzy had been driving the car.
The ambulance took Nudge, the cops took Gazzy, and I was snatched away into a van.
A little light was shed onto me then, if you could even call it that. I sat, tied up and bound in a cage, Jeb sitting in front of me, always calm and collected as he explained everything to me.
"This is a new government operation. We're calling it The Operation, quite creative I must say," he told me in his matter-of-factly manner. "We have no choice but to assimilate you into society. There have been too many accidents, and whatever experiments we've still got left are done under extreme supervision. But you won't remember any of this. You'll be better off anyway. I'm sorry, Fang. We're going to have to strip you of your wings, weaken or eliminate your powers, and wipe your memory. It's the only way."
They removed my wings, tried to brainwash me, and dumped me in Texas. When I eventually made my way back to California, everything I knew, the place I called home, was inhabited by other people, no traces of my past left.
I don't know how I survived with my memory. When the process had been done, Jeb asked me if I remembered who Max was, and I had lied and told him no. He showed me pictures of the flock, and I lied about not knowing them. I asked him why I was here, but he wouldn't answer.
Next came my fake identity. Apparently when they brainwashed me, fake memories were supposed to be implanted into my brain. I guess it didn't work, but they didn't ask me anything about myself so I just went with whatever they told me.
"You were in a bad accident," Jeb said, handing me a license and a set of keys. "It's why you have back pains. The ring you're wearing, well, let's just say your wife left you after the divorce. Now, you know where you work, right?"
I just nodded.
"Good. Well, here's your briefcase. We've entrusted you with top secret information. Now, go home and make sure you get to work on time, yes?"
I nodded again and Jeb clapped his hands together, two security guards escorting me out.
My address was on my driver's license, so I was able to get to where I supposedly lived. It was a small apartment: one bedroom, one bathroom, and a small kitchen. The fridge had some milk and eggs, today's newspaper on the counter. I sat down at the kitchen table, pulling out the laptop and a file inside the bag they have given me.
Over the next few year, I adjusted to my new life. I discovered that my job gave me access to everything the government was doing to me, the flock, and others like us. For a whole year I established myself as Nicholas Smith. Secretly, I collected and printed out information about the flock, their whereabouts now. Security was lax, mostly because everyone here was supposedly brainwashed like me. I felt bad for them, but I also had to remind myself that the flock and I were lucky. We escaped, so maybe they actually ended up with better lives.
I also learned that they had weakened my ability to heal. Things like cuts and bruises seemed to take twice as long to disappear, but it was still faster than a normal human. My back hurt like hell too. I had some prescription for pain medication, but once I carried out my plan to find the others, I'd be on my own fighting the pain without it, so I stopped taking them. According to my file, the only reason they had prevent my back from healing was to pretty much torture me into being bitter. Luckily for the others, they wouldn't even know they used to have wings sprouting from their backs.
After I trudged through that long, tiring year, I erased Nicholas Smith from the face of the Earth and left the operation. They would never notice, and I couldn't believe that they could be so sloppy. Then again, maybe it shouldn't have surprised me at all.
I made my way to New York City, where the others were. The money I had wasn't enough to get a place, and after hitchhiking all the way there, I had depleted most of it on food. But maybe it was better. If it weren't for me not having money, I may have turned into an addict on pain pills. Especially with winter, the pain only got worse.
Well, I ought to tell you about the fatal flaw in The Operation.
Out of everyone, Iggy would be the easiest to make contact with. He was in a mental hospital being treated for depression, which meant he wasn't going anywhere. I hadn't really thought how I would convince him of who he was, especially if his memory was gone. When I got there, the nurse told me he hadn't any visitors since he got there, but I told her I was an old friend and she took me to see him.
"Hey, Jacob!" I said, using his fake name when I first saw him.
The nurse left us, convinced I knew him.
"Do I know you?" Iggy asked. He sounded tired. He looked worn out.
"Well, no, you see, but I know you," I managed to say.
"Take a seat." He motioned to one across the table from where he sat. "What's your name?"
"My name is Nick," I told him. "But you can call me Fang."
He raised an eyebrow. "That's an interesting name. Well, mine's Jacob, but you know that."
He stuck out his hand, and I grasped it. He gripped onto it for a long time, eyes glazing over.
"Oh my god…" His eyes refocused a little. "Fang!"
It was then I discovered that our memories weren't completely gone. My contact with Iggy had sparked something, bringing everything back to him. That was the fatal flaw, and I couldn't believe that Jeb, or whoever the hell had decided that wiping our memories would actually work, didn't realize that.
Iggy was the only one I had been able to make contact with though. Angel was a rising politician, Gazzy was a soldier out in war, Max was busy climbing up the corporate ladder for some entertainment company, and Nudge was…
Nudge was dead.
When I went to California during a break from my "job", I had visited her grave. I searched hundreds of files, hoping that maybe her death was faked, that maybe she was just somewhere else, but she wasn't. It tore Iggy apart when I finally told him. Even now, half a year later since I first found him again, I knew he was still blaming himself. Sometimes I thought he was more miserable than he was telling me before I got there.
"I'm getting tired of being here, Fang," he told me. "I don't care if you have to break into Max's apartment to get me out of here!"
"I know, Iggy. I'll get you out of here soon. Any day now, I'll figure out a way to talk to her."
He shook his head. "You tell me that all the time."
I opened and closed my mouth a few times.
Iggy leaned against the table, eyes closed. "You're all I have right now, Fang. I don't want you to think I'm blaming you or anything, ok? Just…be careful."
"I know."
He let out a breath and stuck out his hand. It was our goodbye ritual, and then I turned and walked out the door. Every time I left him, I felt like I was leaving part of myself behind.
After visiting him, like I did at least once a week, I'd go back out on the street and sit at the edge of an alleyway. It was right next to Max's apartment, I watched her go by every day.
And as always, I hoped for the best because, well, that was all I could do for now.
Well, here's another new one. The first chapter was just a lot of explaining to set up the rest of the story. Anyways, I'll update soon. Thanks for reading!
