I blinked. Blurred faces came into view. Remember, don't leave them behind.The Voice said, but I didn't understand what it meant. The blurred faces came clearer and I matched them to my memories. Angel. Gazzy. Nudge. Ella. Iggy. Iggy. How much had I hurt him? I'd yelled at him before. I had told him to 'hold down the fort'. I'd thought he couldn't hold himself. I was wrong. I could see tears running down his face. Not just for me but for F- Him as well. They had been best friends, Iggy always trying to teach him how to cook, showing him how to make bombs. Him, helping Iggy start a blog, teaching Iggy to touch-type. They had gotten into fully-fledged fights, but after a couple of rounds of revenge, they were best buds again. "Iggy," I said. He looked at me. Well, tried to look at me. "What, Maximum? Do you want to yell at me again? Go for it then. I don't care. I might just as well go and kill myself."

"Iggy, I..."

"You what, Maximum? Hmm?"

"I'm…I'm sorry, Iggy."

"For what? How you tell me I'm useless? For when you worry over me? Because I can hold my own, thank-you."

"Iggy, I'm not….. I'm not saying that….. I'm sorry about... F-F….Fang.' I hung my head and let silent tears run down my face.

"Fang? Oh yeah, Fang. He's gone now right? Good for him then," Iggy hissed. I could feel my heart shattering each time he said his name.

"Iggy, stop!" Ella – Or I think it was Ella – cried, "Stop! Can't you see how torn she is?"

"No, Ella, I haven't. In fact, I can't. Because I CAN'T SEE. I thought you knew that," Iggy growled. He was trying to keep his cool but it was hard. I remember that the night before I had found his note, Iggy and I had been fighting.

"Iggy! What are you doing?" I yelled, as I stormed up to him in the living room.

"I'm having fun," He replied, continuing to do whatever the hell he was doing, "got a problem with that?"

"Yes I do! You're supposed to be on watch!" I shouted, not caring if it hurt his 'heightened' sense of hearing.

"If you forgot, I can't see so I can't do watch," Iggy said, blunt and sarcastic. Gazzy laughed.

"Don't give me that crap! I know you can't see but does that stop you from cooking or making those goddamn explosives?" I was sick and tired of the nonsense he tried to feed me. He knew I knew he was perfectly capable of doing everything a person who could see could do. But he continued to constantly piss me off.

"Max!" Angel called from upstairs.

"Be a sec, Ang!"

"What Max? Are you neglecting other flock members just for me? I feel special now!" Iggy said.

"Oh shut up!" I shouted.

Fang looked up from the couch and said, "Could you please keep it down? I'm trying to blog here."

"Just stay out of this!" Iggy and I both cried.

"Fine, fine," Fang turned around and began typing again. He ignored us because this happened all too often lately. Iggy turned to Gazzy, who was probably making a bomb and whispered something in his ear. Gazzy nodded and returned to his . . . whatever he was doing.

"Well, now that you've ruined my good mood, I'm going out," Iggy stated, and left the room. I felt the rush of wind come through the window as he opened his wings and flew off.

The memory burned me, like it was a scalding iron branding the images into my fried brain. It hurt so much. "Iggy, please," I begged, "Please don't. Stay, I want you to. I beg you to."

"Give one good reason I should keep living this worthless life."

"Because . . . We need you, Ig, we-"

"Don't call me Ig."

"Iggy. We need you because you are… you are like our backbone. Our strength behind everything. You hold us together, keep us from falling apart."

"But did I keep Fang from leaving?" He said the name like it left a bad taste on his tongue.

"N-no," It hurt to say it, "but it keeps everyone else."

"Do you remember, when Gazzy and I helped you escape from the School? When we brought the hawks with us? Didn't you say that all of us isn't three, four, or five? Didn't you say all of us means six? Well what happens now that we are five, hmm? Are we all of us or not?" That shocked me into silence. I had nothing to say to that.

"That's what I thought." Iggy turned his back on me while tears tore their way down my face. He left as calmly as he could, but as soon as he vanished up the stairs, I heard cursing and a noise that probably meant he broke something. He was hurting deep inside, I knew. His best friend had abandoned the flock and he couldn't do anything to stop him. He wasn't the cheerful, talk-alot, love-to-blow-things-up-and-make-bombs-plus-loves-fire kid anymore. Iggy wasn't Iggy. I looked around and saw looks of pure shock on Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Total, and Ella's faces. Gazzy glared at me with fierce loss.

"He'll get over it, I'm sure Max," Ella said.

"That's the problem, Ell, I have a feeling that he won't," I stared glumly at the floor. I took in what was around me. They had sat me on a chair in the living room with a beige blanket over my knees. The cupboards were broken and the kitchen was a mess. "Why is that...?"

"We've been trying, keyword-trying, to make food. And failing profusely whilst doing so," Ella said but the smile faded from her face as she continued, "Iggy won't cook anymore. He refuses. He hasn't eaten in days nor has he slept. He's been sitting in the tree outside his window and wouldn't move until we told him you'd gone catatonic. And that was three hours ago."

"Oh my god. Iggy." I could hardly say anything.

"I know Max." Ella hugged me but her tears fell on my shoulder. She sniffled and I hugged her back.

"It's my fault, Ell, it's my-"

"No. It wasn't your fault. It was that silent son of a bitch's fault!" She yelled and let go of me. My brain was fuddled. Ella just swore. I didn't know she had it in her.

"Ell-"

"Asshole! God-damn sinner! Son of a bitch! Creep! Emo freak! Idiot! Half-brained, dim-witted psychopath!" Ella was screaming her lungs out. Before, I was proud. Now, it was getting rather out of hand.

"Ella, calm down, please," I tried to sooth her.

"No! No calming down! Yelling! Lots of it! He needs to pay! Hear that, Fang? Die! Die in pain!" Ella just screamed louder and threw a hard kick to one of the broken cupboard doors. Gazzy had hidden himself in the pillows and blankets on the couch with Total and Angel and Nudge had simply crouched to the floor with her hands over her ears.

"Ella! Please!" I cried and she fell silent, shaking. She burst into tears and collapsed on the floor. I slipped off the chair and cradled her head in my arms. "Shhh..."

BANG! We jumped. "Aargh!" Iggy shouted from upstairs, smash! "Damn it! Go to hell Fang, go to fucking hell!"

Clang! Smash! Snap! BANG! Clang! Smash! Snap! BANG! Clang! Smash! Snap! BANG! A series of that came from upstairs and I decided to check out the mess he was making. I walked up the stairs, still with Ella in my arms and Gazzy, Angel and Total following. We came to Iggy's room, but he wasn't there. The noise came from the room across the hall. His room. I dropped Ella and ran into the dark room. Iggy was standing over broken wood and glass, electronics, ripped clothing and pretty much everything else in the room. "Iggy!" I screamed, "Why?"

"Because I HATE him! That's bloody why!" He turned to me and I saw bloodshot eyes, his mouth twisted into a snarl and his fingers curled into claws. Was this how angry he could get?

Or would it get worse?