12 Days of Christmas

1st Day of Christmas

Fang POV

Time: 2:30 pm

Date: 13th of December 2015

I was writing up a report for school when the doorbell rang. I continued type for a few minutes but the doorbell went off again and again and for added effect once again. Not just three times in a row and then stopping, but non-stop ringing. It was really getting on my nerves. My patience was already worn thin by the other interruptions I had been getting all week and each time I ended up not finishing my report. So there I was half an hour before the dead line and I was still trying to figure out what to put in my introductionI would be the luckiest man in the world if I even got close to finishing the rough draft.

I sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to get rid of the headache I had gotten from the constant ringing of the doorbell. I relented and got up but didn't avoid grumbling as I did, I didn't have to worry there was no body within hearing range to hear me. As soon as I dealt with who ever it was the sooner I could get back to typing and trying not to fail my report that was worth half of this semesters mark. Before I left the room I made sure to hit the icon of the little floppy disk to save my work. I learnt that trick from an experience of yesterday's interruption. The ringing had turned into a persistent knocking on the double oak doors, proving the person to be even more desperate than I thought, I could gladly rule out Mormans.

'All right already. Hold your horses why don't you, I'm coming,' I muttered under my breath and walked even slower on purpose to punish the person for interrupting my study session. I unlocked the door and opened it.

'What do you want?' I called out to nobody, looking like an idiot. I looked all around, still not seeing anything, I got frustrated that it was some kind of prank. I would have liked to have punched something but, Iggy wouldn't exactly be thrilled to learn he had to fix another whole in the wall, especially after having fixing about 100 of them yesterday…it was a little to soon to go creating any more damage just yet.

I stepped back to shut the door but I was interrupted in the process by a tiny sweet voice, no louder than a whisper, 'Excuse me, Mister? Are you Fang?'

I searched to find who had spoken. Again I didn't see anyone. I was getting really pissed at this joke. 'Down here,' the tiny voice called. I lowered my head slowly and a head came into my line of vision. I took a step back to drink in what I was seeing as I gave her the once over, a little girl around 8 with blonde hair that was matted together with what looked like blood, I didn't really want know it was, a frightened expression on her face, torn and ragged clothing that practically falling off because it was so big. She looked very skinny and dirty. I wrinkled my nose at the smell, worse than Gazzy and bacon.

I froze when I came back up to look at her eyes. I swear that those pair of miserable, innocent and heart breaking brown eyes looking up at me saw straight through me and got a good look at my soul. A shiver coursed its way down my spine. I moved my eyes so I was no longer looking into her hers. I felt guilty when she started crying, then I remembered that I had my report to finish.

I growled at the little girl and she took several steps back. Good, since she was scared then she might just decide to leave me alone. When I turned my back on her, I heard running coming from behind. I tried to stop her but she ran straight past me and into the house.

'Hey!' I shouted after her.

I checked my wristwatch, I had another 15 minutes, and I had been outside longer than I had thought. I heard the floorboards creaking on the second floor and was going to chase after her but I didn't have time to look for her. I headed back to my laptop. Magically I finished it and proof read it I printed it and made a mad dash to my car. I left a note on the fridge saying about the girl. Angel would just have to find her when she got home from school.

Angel POV

Time: 3: 30 pm

Date: 13th of December 2015

Ange, there's a little kid in the house. Don't ask how she got in just find her and get rid of her before I get home and tell Gazzy that I said he had to do it as well. I don't care if he's busy. Remind him that he's still in trouble for blowing up the teachers lounge if you have to.

Fang

Ugh. Just what I needed. Go searching through our dusty old mansion that has a million hiding places for some little kid that snuck in while Fang wasn't paying attention, once again. Yes this has happened before, but it was definitely not a little kind, more like an angry cat that gave birth to kittens and we were stuck with the cats for 6 months. Nudge says that she's still finding cat hair all over her clothes.

I scrunched the paper up into a ball. I got it in the bin with the perfect shot. I went up to my room to ditch my bag and begin my grand adventure without any help. I had read Gazzy's mind and he was too busy to help his only blood relative, his little sister, because he was writing a song for his latest girlfriend and was really struggling to come up with the lyrics. I think the reason he broke up with the last one was because he spent so much time writing a song for the girl, he never spent anytime with.

I tried looking manually for a while but I wasn't finding anything so I gave up and used my powers. I found her mind and locked onto her location. Her mind was familiar some how yet not in the sense that I had read it recently. I tracked her down to Fang's closet, which smelt even worse than Eraser breath, I have a very vivid memory of what that smells like.

In the wardrobe surprisingly black wasn't the only colour, you could find the odd green, red, white, grey, or maroon shirt in it. Odd meaning he only owned one of each colour. But Fang been the simple guy he is he stuck to the classic black and white look. Nudge and I had been planning for this Christmas to take him on a shopping spree. And we had been saving so he couldn't say that we were spending his money.

I took a deep breath and stepped into the closet, cursing whoever was hiding in it and making me come in here. I forgot to mention that only Fang was allowed in here. But I think that I might be pardoned for this one off. I wouldn't have been surprised if I found an ancient civilisation in here. I yelled at Fang to clean up after himself but he was too wrapped up in his homework to even notice I exist. At moments like that I always imagined of what things would be like if Max was still around. A lot better than they are now that's for sure. Max would have made Fang look for the girl himself and also would have made Gazzy help me. I know, I know, it's a far-fetched fantasy.

I pulled back a wrack of shirts and I saw her. The cutest little thing I had ever laid eyes on and I could hardly make out what she looked like in the dark. She looked even cuter than I had at that age and I have seen photos of me and I was pretty dang cute. I knelt down to her height and began trying to coax her out.

'Come on out from there,' I thought to her. She didn't jolt when she heard my voice in her head and that startled me. I got no of aggression towards me so I continued cooing to her in her mind, until she begun to timidly crawled out, still not fully trusting me. I saw her properly and with the guarantee of Fang going to want to kill me, my heart melted on sight.

Honey brown eyes and a rather dirty face, the rest of her was so dirty as well I had no idea what her skin tone was, her features were a little mature for her age as was her height. She had golden honey curls that looked abosolutely gorgeous. She looked so scared it scared me of what could be out there that could frighten a little girl so much, but I knew even better than her of what horrors there were in the world. Her body was covered in scratches and a deep set of gashed ran across her left calf, close to the joint.

I made up my mind. I was not letting that little girl leave looking like that, actually if I had it my way she wouldn't be leaving at all. I would ask Fang for the sake of it but most likely he would say no and then we would have a fight. Some where in the back of my mind I was already plotting on using mind control as a last resort.

I got her out as far as halfway towards the door the closet before Nudge came loudly crashing into the room, her footsteps sounding like an Erasers, she squealed my name at the top of her lungs. The little girl ran back into the closet and was behind the rack of clothes again before I blinked. I crawled towards her and poked my head in between a gap in the clothes and was about to try and convince her to come out again but my mouth dried up before I could speak and Nudge pulled me out from behind to talk to me.

I was still in shock from seeing the little girl having a pair of miniature pair of wings wrapped around herself and shaking with fear. She was a little hybrid. An Avian one just like us. Nudge got straight into my face, starting to talk. I was aware that her mouth was moving but I couldn't make out the sound that was supposed to be coming from it. All I could hear was the little girl's franticly fast heartbeatfast by our standardsand her mind screaming out for help.

After 2 full paragraph's Nudge noticed that I wasn't paying attention to her and I was still lying stomach face down on the base of Fang's grotty wardrobe. She had moved out into his room thinking that I had followed her. She tapped the side of my face and I snapped out of my daze.

'Angel, you better be listening to me now! I have to repeat everything and I'm not sure if I can remember it all. Hello?' She said in her annoyed voice, which annoyed me.

'Nudge, find a sock and put in your mouth would ya?' I hissed up at her. She was hurt, no one usually had the guts to tell her to shut up, she huffed and strutted her way out of the closet to go find some other person to tell her factious gossip to, poor Gazzy wasn't going to make any progress on that song of his today…okay I didn't feel the slightest bit sorry from him, but Max did rub off on me during the years that we were together.

I reached out with my mind this time, I didn't want to overwhelm the poor thing, she was on the verge of having a break down or a heart attack maybe, and with the way things were going maybe both. I brushed against her conscience and was surprised again how familiar it was, from a faded memory perhaps. Her emotions were all scrambled and I couldn't make out any coherent thought other than 'Why does the world hate me? When is the angel coming back? Please let it be the angel and not an Eraser.' And that was bits and pieces, her mind was even worse than Fang's closet.

I got close to her again and when she saw me she hyperventilated and flapped her wings in my face trying to get me to go away. I grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her our kicking and screaming. I felt her bite me, I took no notice. Before she made a run for it I whipped out my wings and made her look. She stoped as soon as she saw them.

I picked her up and bounced her up and down as she wailed into my ear and held onto me for dear life. She had her face in the crook of my neck. I whispered soothing words into her ear, telling her that she was safe her and that I had her. I was doing exactly the same thing Max used to do me when I was her age. It brought tears to my own eyes as I went through my last memories with Max.

Coming this Christmas, which not counting today was only 11 days away, it would be 9 years since we last saw Max. Each year around Christmas time we all mourned her instead of trimming the tree and all that stuff. It was the only time of the year we did it properly and together, we unloaded onto each other a whole year load of pain, grief and general emotions of missing her. Except Fang, all eight, coming nine, of these years he has just held it in. I avoided reading his mind as much as possible.

In the first half of the year most of us, I am sad to admit even myself, forgets about her because we are too wrapped up in our own lives. I am just glad that I woke up to myself when I did. Last year I woke up and realised what I had become. I was no longer Max's little girl I had become this false person that…I know Max would be so ashamed of me. I felt so horrible. So I did something about it. I flew for the first time since I hadn't seen Max and I have been flying this whole year.

I think that Gazzy is pretty close to waking up. Recently he's been getting pretty restless and asking Iggy if he wants to go camping and get back in touch with their 'roots'. Iggy laughed in his face. Nudge, it is going to take that girl more than a millennium to realise what she has become, mainly because she enjoys and likes the this person, I know I have read her mind. But for crying out loud to Fang and everyone that cares about her, I'm the only one that seems to think that it's a big deal that she a pole dancer. Bet your chin just dropped to met the floor for tea biscuits when you read that. She claims that she's trying to stay fit, especially since we have super metabolism and it is like impossible for us to gain weight.

Fang and Iggy, that is a horror story that would make the toughest Erasers wet their pants like a scared little kid.

I carried the little girl down stairs slowly, taking it easy on the steps, I didn't want to trip and wake her up. She had fallen asleep on me while I thought and rocked her. Her cheeks still gleamed with salty streaks. I walked into the lounge room and found who I was looking for. I sat down on the couch next to Fang and he looked up and got a pained expression on his face when he saw whom I was holding and also because the determined glare I knew was in my eyes.

'No, Angel. This is not public housing and definitely not just over night either,' he growled at me. ' Angel, you knew I was going to say no so go get rid of her somewhere and don't interrupt me next time unless it's life threatening.' I really, really, really, really, really, really rrreeeeaaaaaalllllllllllyyyyy wanted to slap him right then, the only reason I didn't was because my hands were full with supporting the little girl.

'She has wings.' He chuckled.

'Nice try Angel.' I grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her feathers, which were barely visible with the way she was positioned around me He blinked and shook my hand off. He glared up at me and turned back to the laptop. I had no idea what to do with Fang anymore.

I did my best to keep her away from the rest of the Flock that afternoon. She woke up around 4 and had a drink. She dozed off again, this time I put her in my bed. When I came back to check on her around 7, she wasn't there and the grill to the air vent was off to the side. Fang was going to be even more PMSy when he found out.

Gazzy POV

Time: Sunset

Date: 13th Of December 2015

I was getting nowhere with the song and I had given up on it around 4. I hoped on the computer and the first thing I did was check the website I had made, it was for people to post up on if they had any information about Max. There were a lot of scares, one I flew out to check out last year but it was only an injured albatross, that Angel made me bring home so she could treat it. She's got a promising future career as a veterinarian.

Nothing new was on the website so I started chatting with a few mates while listening to some music. I went on alert when I heard something scratching around in the air vent. I cautiously got the grill of and saw a dove. In my house and with my whacked out childhood, that was not something even a normal person would find in their houses air ventilation system. When it saw me it flew out and landed on my shoulder. It was domesticated big bonus, that it didn't take an aim at me. I wasn't concerned about how it got in the vents I was gob smacked when it hoped onto my keyboard and typed, 'Hi Gazzy' with its feet.

'Gazzy I need you for a sec!' Nudge called out from down the hall. I didn't want to leave the dove, so I hid it in my wardrobe, but somehow it managed to get out and flew down the hall after me, setting off a screaming Nudge. Fang came up to see what was going on. He gave me a lecture about not telling him I had a pet. The whole time he did, the dove was showing him it's butt. I laughed, Fang didn't think it was funny but he never laughed at anything anymore.