Mysteries: Re-Write: Chapter One, Rain
We live out in the country, but within driving and flying distance of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, or NASWI. It's a nice house, I guess. Cozy, if you don't count the basement, which was a bunker a well as a weapons room.
I heard the door open. "Jaze! Where are you?"
"Here," I said. Mom came into the living room, where I was stretched out on the floor. She smiled down at me.
"Hey. Guess what?"
"What?"
"We're going to go do something fun! Just you and I. Doesn't that sound fun?" I looked up at my mom. Sometimes I wonder just how authentic her smile is. Sometimes I don't care, and just go along with the masquerade.
"What're we doing?"
"Well, we could rent a movie and get ice-cream. You like that doing that, right?" She drifted across the room to the kitchen. She seemed to be in a dream. She always did. I lie in bed, every night, and wonder what had happened to her to make her seem so… distant.
"Yeah, Mom. I do."
"Good! What movie do you want to see?" She always had this weird smile on her face, even when she wasn't happy. Even when she was obviously upset, she'd just keep smiling.
"Don't care."
"There's none you really, really want to see?"
"Not off the top of my head."
"How 'bout ice-cream?"
"Vanilla."
"Ok, Buddy." She talked to me like I was five. I think that was the only way she could cope. Was if I stayed her "Buddy." It was more than a nickname. When she looks at me, I think all she sees is a small child. I know other parents sorta do the same thing, but with her it's so, so different, so much more desperate. "I'll tell Jefferson," she said and wandered away to go get the phone.
Jefferson is sort of our butler. He goes and gets stuff that we need, or want. I'm not really allowed to go out in public, unless it's extremely necessary. We can't risk other people knowing about us, which is why the files went "missing."
Mom wanders around the hallway, looking for something. "Whatcha lookin' for, Mom?"
"Oh, nothing." She smiles at me, but has this sad, sad look in her eyes. "Don't worry about it, sweetie."
I lay back down and wonder: what happened to the great Maximum Ride?
Xxx()xxX
Jefferson brought back Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Secondhand Lions. He also brought back French vanilla ice cream and waffle cones. He knows me so well.
"Have you seen Secondhand Lions?" He asks. He's only a few years older than me. When he talks, he has a tendency to run his fingers through his dark brown hair.
I reply that I haven't.
"Well, it's pretty good. Hope you like it."
I shrug, he nods.
Mom waltzes out of the kitchen with ice-cream. She hands one cone to me, one to Jefferson, and keeps the last. "Are you going to stick around, Jefferson?"
"No, ma'am. I gotta run," he turns to me. "Take care of your mom, okay, kid?" I nod. He leaves.
Halfway through Secondhand Lions, Mom falls asleep. It was a good movie, but she looked tired. I wasn't really keeping up with the plot, so I turned it off and got up. I looked out the window. There was rain hitting the pane, as usual (we live in the Pacific Northwest, after all).
The rain always made me think about my dad. I've never met him, I probably never will. I shouldn't worry about him too much. After all, I have Mom. She's a bit crazy, but she cares about me. But reasoning doesn't stop me from wondering. What was he like? Why did he leave? Or did Mom leave him? Does he know about me?
Does he care?
Xxx()xxX
He stared down at the forest floor. Rain fell down from the sky. His straggly hair fell into his eyes. He shifted his weight, changed the angle of his raven-black wings. It was cold out, and he was tired. He began to nod off when he heard a loud bang!
His eyes opened wide, and his heart pounded. There was a possibility it was only a hunter. He didn't want to gamble it. He launched off the tree branch he was on and rocketed up to the sky, hoping he was fast enough to escape any danger.
So, Max has cracked, or at the very least isn't the fearsome Max Ride we knew… Find out why!
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