The Years Gone by
I DO NOT OWN MAXIMUM RIDE OR I'D BE A COOL FAMOUS OLD DUDE! (Therefore I cannot be the writer because A- I'm not cool- I STRIVE not to be cool. B- I'm not famous…yet. C-I'm not old or a dude!)
PROLOGUE-
(FANG'S POV)
Screaming. Someone was screaming. I opened my eyes to find myself lying on the ground. What happened? I remembered the fight, but that didn't answer my question as to why I was on the ground.
"FANG! OH MY GAWD! OH, GOD HELP US! FANG!" Max was kneeling over me screaming. I heard sirens. They stopped and Max's face disappeared for a second. I cried out as a pain ripped through me. I was suddenly in an ambulance. Max's face was over me again. "FANG! JUST STAY WITH US!"
"What happened?" my voice was barely a whisper.
"One of the Fly-bots hurt you. You'll be okay. Just stay with us." Now that she knew I was coherent she was trying to sound calm.
"I…feel weird. Like when I got scratched open by Ari." I realized we were in a hospital now, though I had no memory of entering it.
Someone cut my shirt off of me. I glanced down and my breath caught in my throat. Blood. A lot of blood, coming from a huge slash in my side. Max took my hand. "It's okay Fang. You'll be okay." Her voice wavered and I hated the Fly-bots that did this. Not because they hurt me, but because they made Max sound like that.
I looked at Max again. Tears streamed down her face and she kept wiping them away to hide it. "It's okay Max. It'll be okay. Really."
She cried harder. My eyes started closing. "Fang? Fang! Keep your eyes open! Look at me!"
I opened my eyes. "Where are the others?"
"Down stairs. They followed the ambulance. Please don't die." She leaned down to kiss me. I stayed awake by kissing her. "I love you," she told me.
"Are you just saying that because I'm dying?"
"No. I really do love you. So you better live mister!"
I tried to smile, but didn't have the energy. Max gave blood for them to give me. I tried to stay awake, but my eyes slid closed, and they did not re-open.
MAX-
"Fang? Fang? Fang, wake up!"
"Miss? Are you his girlfriend?"
Well, I'd just made out with him, so it wasn't like I could lie. "Yes."
"Come sit down."
Oh no. I sat down. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's…Miss, he's in a coma. I'm very sorry."
"No! NO!"
"I'm sorry. We did everything we could. Where are his parents?"
"He doesn't have any. My mom takes care of him. She lives in Arizona." I tried to keep calm.
"I need to contact her."
I gave him the number he'd need then stumbled away, mumbling something incoherent about telling the others. "Guys?"
They rushed me. "How is he?" "Is he okay?" "When will he come home?"
Angel stared at me, her eyes wide. Shoot, she'd read my mind. "NO! NO!" she screamed. I picked her up and held her in my arms.
"He's…not coming home with us. He's…he's…he's in a coma." I tried to keep my voice steady but couldn't. I tried to be strong, but it wasn't working. I burst into tears. All of the others did too. We went into a flock huddle and sobbed.
DR. MARTINEZ-
As soon as they told me I jumped on a plane, glad that Ella was old enough to be left alone for two days. I landed in California an hour later and took a cab to the hospital.
Max was in the waiting room. "Mom!" she ran to me and buried herself in a hug.
"Oh, honey."
"They won't let me see him until you confirm something."
I pulled away to sign the liability papers. "You can go see him now. But first," I looked into her eyes and knew the answer to the question before I asked it. "You want to stay with him, don't you?"
She nodded and burst into tears again. "I can't leave him Mom!"
"Okay. I'll look at apartments for you five here in California."
She nodded her thanks and ran for Fang's room. I talked to his doctor before following her. She was in a plastic chair near his bed, talking. I walked away to be with the other children. Sometimes, you just need to leave people alone. This was one of those times.
MAX-
"Fang?" I asked nervously. "Fang, I don't know if you can hear me, but it's me, Max. The nurses said to talk to you and all, but I'm not sure…well…I don't know what to say." My voice broke and I laughed. "You always know what to say. You can make everything better. But that's the beauty of being Fang, I guess."
I heard something outside the room, but continued. "I really do love you. I wish you would wake up. Can you even hear me? Are you listening? Do you even want to hear me?
"Why did you have to defend me? I would have been fine, but you threw yourself at that Fly-bot. Now you're here. Oh, Fang."
I laughed again, sounding on the edge of hysteria. "I think I need to find something better to talk about. Nudge is scaring the nurses I think. You know how she talks even more when she's upset? Well, she's blabbing to them. Angel is sobbing into Gazzy's shoulder. Iggy seems kind of in shock. You're his best friend.
"Oh, crap. They're coming. I can hear them from in here. So, I don't want them to think that I don't want them to visit you, because they need to. I love you, but I have to go talk to my mom about stuff. I'll come back, I promise." I kissed his lips and left the room. The kids were all outside of it, waiting. So they had seen me talking to him. "Go ahead."
My mom and I talked about plans. "Honey…I'm not going to make you leave him. I wish I could come stay here with you guys, but I can't. So, I was thinking we should look at apartments. We can get you guys a nice apartment, and you can live there. I can register you all for a normal school and everything."
"Okay Mom. Thanks. I just…I can't leave. That's like giving up on him in my opinion."
We came to an agreement. Apparently I had grandparents and family here. My great grandparents lived near the hospital. Mom talked to them on the phone. They wanted us to stay with them. We agreed, knowing it would mean going to school. Not the school, just school.
At eight o' clock they made us leave. I kissed Fang goodbye and promised him I would come back. I still don't know if he could hear me, but I tried anyways.
We stayed with my great grandparents. My great grandma-Nano- ushered us in. They had a four bedroom house. We tried to figure out who would stay in which room. Iggy ended up sharing with Gazzy. Nudge was staying with Angel by her own insistence. I took the other room, thinking about how Fang didn't have a room. I tried to bond with Nana and Gee, but I just wanted to go cry. As if sensing this, they turned in at nine. I noted that it was only about ten minutes for a walk to the hospital.
I was sharing my room with Mom, but she stayed out in the living room for a while. I retreated to the room to bawl my eyes out.
ANGEL-
I cried a lot when Max told us about Fang, but not as much as her. She sobbed and sobbed for two weeks. She spent every day with him. After she had calmed down though, Nano and Gee enrolled us in school.
Celeste cried too. We picked flowers in the backyard to bring Fang. Max snuck them in via her purse. A doctor came in and saw them, but he just smiled and put a finger over his lips. I guess you can't have flowers from outside, but he didn't stop us.
Max got back on her feet after those two weeks. She bonded with Nano and Gee, she took us to the grass area below their house on Jardines Avenue. Nano called it a Greenbelt I think.
I miss Fang. I know that we all do, Max the most, but I miss him. Even Total misses him, but he won't admit it. He whimpers a lot though. He made friends with Nano's dog Mimi. Mimi is a Chihuahua. I made a friend at school. Her name is Daley.
I miss Fang.
So does Celeste.
MAX- (4 years later)
I sat beside Fang's bed, as usual. It was Sunday, and I always visited on Sundays. I was reading aloud from a book. I vaguely realized it was about a telekinetic girl and her best friend, but that wasn't the point.
Fang slipped into a coma four years ago, to the day. A lot has changed.
My room is pink- I used to hate pink. I still do, but Nano liked it, so I went with the flow.
Iggy is at college. It's just USC- not far from here, but he doesn't live here anymore.
Iggy is living with his girlfriend Carla. GIRLFRIEND!
Gazzy is nearly a teenager. He has a girlfriend too and plays sports.
Angel is ten years old now.
Nudge and Angel painted their room purple and lime green.
Nudge still won't shut up. That hasn't changed.
Nudge is dating.
Nudge is a prep.
I haven't dated at all.
I go to a local university.
The world has been saved.
Everyone has forgotten about us.
Total is old.
I closed the book. It was almost time for me to leave. "Fang? I know I keep wondering if you can hear me, but can you? It's been four years. Please, wake up. I love you." I kissed his forehead and slipped out into the cool night to my car.
I love my car. I know I must sound like a guy, but I love my car. Nano and Gee got it for me. It's an old Camaro. They bought it off of their friend. It's a convertible- perfect for California.
The only problem is its size. It only fits four people. I guess that's okay now, since Iggy usually is with his girlfriend.
"Nudge?" I unlocked the door. "Are you home yet?"
She danced, yes danced- she was listening to 102.7- out of her room. "Yeah. How is he?"
"The same."
"There are leftovers in the fridge." She tried not to acknowledge her disappointment. "Listen, I'm going to the dance next Friday. Will you help me get ready?"
"Sure kiddo."
"I'm not a kiddo anymore!" But she smiled. "You're going to help me when I have prom too, you know. Whether you like it or not."
"Kay." I know why she said that. I'm a freshman in college- I'm eighteen. I didn't go to my prom. I only showed up to graduation because I had to.
The next Sunday I went to visit Fang. I was stopped by his doctor. I noted that the man was beginning to get old. "What is it Mark?" I'd spoken to him so often in the past four years that we were on first name terms- not just Miss and Dr. Martins.
His entire face lit up. "Max…he's awake!"
I froze. "What? Really?"
He nodded. "Come on. We've moved him from ICU." He led me to the room. "In there." He pointed to a door. I looked in. Fang was sitting up! "Fang?" Mark went in first. "Someone is here to see you. Max?"
I realized I was in black, like always on Sundays. I came straight from church after all, and I usually wore professional clothing since I was a Sunday school teacher. I went into the room. "Hi."
"Max?"
Mark slid out of the room. "Yeah. It's me." I suddenly felt extremely shy. Come on, it's just Fang, I tried to convince myself.
"You look different."
"So do you. It's been four years since you've opened your eyes." I sat in the plastic chair near his bed.
"Four years too long." He pulled me close to him. "Do you have a boyfriend or anything?"
I shook my head. "I haven't dated since…" I let it trail off.
"Then I have no problem doing this." He pulled me down and kissed me. Part of me wanted to kiss him back, but part of me wanted to pull away. I went with the first option.
After a minute I pulled away. "Fang? There are some things you should know…"
"What?"
"Well," I launched into updating him on the flock.
"Iggy moved away?"
"Yeah. And I know that Nudge plans on it as soon as she can."
"Oh…wow. When do I get to leave?"
"In a week?"
"So, like, in two days?"
"That would be my guess."
FANG-
Max took time off of work to help me adjust. She was distant at first. I guess I would have been if I were her too. After a few days though we were close. But something is different. I'm not her right hand man anymore, not second in command of the flock. Because there is no flock anymore. Iggy is gone. Nudge wants to leave, everyone is grown up. A rift has grown into the flock.
I missed Gazzy's first baseball game. I missed Nudge's first dance. I missed her thirteenth birthday, a birthday that is very big to a girl- it marks teenage hood. I wasn't there to beat the guy up at her first heartbreak, or threaten him before her first date. Max is eighteen. I've missed so much. Let me repeat it. A rift has grown into the flock.
But I will adjust, I suppose. I have to. Because maybe then, I can build a bridge across the rift, and I can try to rebuild the flock. And maybe, just maybe, I can catch up to the years gone by.