OMG I AM SOOOOO SORRY FOR THE THREE MONTH WAIT!
Once I got back from camp I got sooooo blocked on this! But I have good news! I've gotten past my block and the story is just flowing right out!
Posting may be a little slow now though, since high schools back in session, but I'll post as often as I can.
Without further a due, the story.
"MAX!"
I heard someone calling my name in the darkness.
"Max… wake up Max…"
I struggled to open my eyes. Once I finally got them open I saw Nick leaning over me. I could feel rocks pressing into my back.
"Wha… what happened?"
I suddenly remembered the creatures that had attacked us. Erasers… that's what that voice had said they were called. I sat bolt upright and almost smacked my head against Nick's.
He must have seen panic or something on my face because he said, "Calm down, you must have had a bad dream." He must have seen my confusion. "You fell asleep like ten minutes ago"
I fell asleep? It was all a dream? It couldn't have been… I could feel everywhere I was hit by an Eraser throbbing. But he didn't have a scratch on him. After that fight he should have been bloody and battered. A normal human—
I remembered seeing the black wings spouting from his back. I looked at him closely, looking for anything, any sign that it hadn't been a dream. I saw nothing that backed my hope.
"It's getting late, we should head back to school." He said getting up off the rock we had been sitting/laying on.
He held out his hand and helped me up. We went back to his bike and headed down to the main road. I felt so tired, that even on the back of his bike with my arms around his waist going 50mph down the road, I was falling asleep with y helmeted head resting on his back.
"Stay with me Max," I barely head him over the roar of the bike and the wind.
At a stop light he grabbed one of my hands. That woke me up. I sat up straighter and tightened my slackening grip around his waist as he speed across an intersection.
It didn't take too long to reach the dorm parking lot. Thankfully he went slow going in so I didn't have to death hug him. He pulled his bike into the parking space next to his car and cut the engine. I got off and pulled my helmet off, he did the same. He opened his car and threw his helmet in. I handed him mine and it had a similar fate to his, being thrown without a care into the backseat of an expensive car.
"Thanks for showing me around." I said as we walked up to the main building.
"Not a problem. I'd be glad to do it again sometime. Maybe head back to the clearing to work on homework or just to get away from everything for a little bit?" he was looking at me out of the corner of his eyes.
I tried not to look to hopeful as I smiled and said, "Yeah sure. Anytime."
He half smiled as he held the front door open for me. I walked in looking back over my shoulder to thank him. We got into the elevator and chatted a bit. On the way up my tiredness caught up with me again. I leaned against the wall and barely noticed as I started to slide down it.
"Whoa!" Nick said as he caught me before I hit the floor.
"Are you ok Max?" he asked. I could hear the concern in his voice.
"Tired…" I murmured. I could barely speak.
What was wrong with me…? I've never been this tired before…
He chuckled and picked me up just as the doors opened onto my floor. He carried me to my dorm and I started to pull out my keys when he unlocked the door with his own after knocking.
"You have a key…?" I asked. I think I was starting to slur my words…
He smiled a bit. "Macy gave it to me."
He walked in and Liz and Jen's jaws nearly broke the floor they hit it so hard.
Before either of them could say anything nick said, "Hey girls. I took Max around campus and it seems she's more tired than she thought. She nearly passed out in the elevator."
He set me on my bed and put the blanket over me.
Before he left he whispered goodnight to me. He stood and looked around the room.
"Macy moved out? Why?" he said.
I looked over and saw the bare bed that had been pink when I had got here earlier today.
"Apparently she didn't want to share a room anymore. She's in Willis Tower now." Liz told him.
"That's great!" he said. "Now I can finally sleep at night." He laughed.
The girls laughed too and said goodbye to him. I heard the door close at the same time my eyes did. Even though my eyes were closed I wasn't asleep. I heard my roommates get in bed and the lights clicked off. I listened as their breathing slowed and I knew they had fallen asleep. I rolled off my back and onto my stomach. I've never been much of back sleeper. Sure it was easier and less uncomfortable after I had the operation, but it was still hard to fall asleep on my back. I hugged the pillow and drifted off to the magical land of dreams.
My dreams weren't very pleasant that night. I was back in the cages again. I was about 7 I think, and the cages around me had kids in them too. I had had this dream thousands of times since I was little. Each time it was a little different and I learned a little bit more about the kids I was trapped with.
The littlest of them was the blond boy with blue eyes. I had heard the others call him Gazzy so that's what I called him. The next oldest was a black girl who was called Nudge. Then there were two boys who were the same age as me and we seemed to be the oldest. They were in the cages on either side of me so I could see them more clearly. I guess that's why I could remember more about them. One was tall and pale with strawberry blond hair. His eyes were a startling crystal blue and always seemed to have a smile in them. His name was Iggy. His cage was to the right of mine and we talked and joked a lot.
The last boy was different from the others. He almost never talked or showed any emotion. He had eyes that were completely black like his hair. He had tannish looking skin, even though it seemed like none of us were ever let out of these cages.
Iggy was saying something to nudge but I wasn't really listening. I was too busy staring at the other boy.
He must have noticed because he said, "Max why are you staring at me?"
I felt my dream self blush a bit and I shook my head.
"I'm not staring."
"Yes you are."
"Am not."
"Are too."
We went back and forth for a minute before I caved and admitted it.
"You can be such a butt hole Fang." I said pouting a bit.
The corner of his mouth twitched it to what you might call the world's fastest smile.
I opened my mouth to say something when the door was thrown open. Bright light spilled into the room and I was blinded. I tried to block the light with my hands, squinting to see who was coming in. The light got brighter and changed from yellow to white. Then suddenly I wasn't in the cage anymore. I was just surrounded by white.
Am I dead…? Is this heaven…? Wait… I don't even really believe in heaven so why would I end up there? My thoughts seemed kind of random to my dream self.
I felt a strong gust of wind blow my long hair away from my face. The wind died instantly as the white disappeared and I was surrounded by the bluest blue you could ever imagine. I saw the ground thousands of feet below me, felt the heat of the sun beating down on me, felt the cool are sinking down and the warm air rising up, pushing me higher and higher into the sky.
I was flying. But not in a plane, I was flying with wings. My wings.
And it was the best sensation in the world.
I saw them out of the corner of my eyes with every stroke. I felt them beating powerfully pushing me through the air. The wind blowing through my feathers was cool making my skin tingle.
My wings were a soft brown on the underside and dark brown that faded to white on top. I must have been around my real age since my wing span was 15 ft. or so.
I banked left and saw someone else coming out of a bank of clouds that I must have just flown though. They were tall with olive skin and dark hair that stood out against the white of the clouds. Their wings were dark as well, almost purple in the bright sun light. They flew closer to me and I saw it was a boy. Well I should say a man; he was around my age, about 18. His eyes were dark, so dark that as he flew closer to me I couldn't tell where iris ended and pupil began.
He had a long scar on his face, going from just under his right eye that hooked to end at the corner of his mouth. It was darker than the rest of his skin but looked smooth. I liked it though; it gave him a kind of mysterious air about him.
I smiled at him and he gave me this killer half smile. The left side of his mouth went up when he smiled so with his scar it kind of looked like he was really smiling. I laughed a little at this. He flew over my head and as I moved to watch him he tapped the back of my head. I smiled more and flew after him. He tucked his wings all the way in and let himself fall. At first he fell with his arms out like he was going to belly flop into a pool. Then he angled his body forward so he fell head first, falling faster and faster. He let himself fall until he was just above the ground. I watched his wings shoot out and bring him back into the sky. He flew over to me.
"What's wrong Max?" he asked me, "You've just been hovering here."
"Nothing's wrong," I said, "I was just watching you." I couldn't help but smile when I said that.
He smirked a bit. "Well then, I'll just have to race you to those cliffs." He pointed off into the distance.
I could just barely see the cliffs he was talking about.
"You're on!" I shouted over my shoulder to him as I shot past in the direction of the cliffs.
I heard him laugh as he flew after me. We soared through the sky neck in neck until I suddenly dived on an angle. I was just about to land on the cliff when he flew into me and picked me up. With almost no effort at all he lifted me up into the air over the cliff right before my feet touched the ground. He had his arms under mine so I couldn't do much to fight back.
"Hey that's cheating!" I shouted at him laughing a little.
He chuckled as he flew me over a lake that was at the bottom of the cliff. It was surrounded by cliffs almost all the way around. There were birds too. Lots of them. I didn't have time to really look at them before he dropped me. I shrieked a bit as I fell. I was NOT expecting that. I whipped my wings out desperately trying to get some lift, but he had dropped me down far enough where I didn't have time to avoid hitting the water. I went under and sank almost all the way to the bottom. I clawed towards the surface, my body almost seem paralyzed from the icy water. It got warmer as I got nearer to the surface. I used all my strength and shot out of the water like a bullet. I snapped my wings out and my shoes just barely skimmed the water before I got lift. I flew up to the cliff where he had landed, dripping and pissed.
He laughed when he saw me, but it quickly turned into a surprised squeak as I slammed into him. I knocked him to the ground and hit a few times.
"You. Can. Be. Such. A. Jerk. Fang!" I said in between punches.
He blocked a few but most hit their mark. He caught my fist in his so I went to hit him with the other.
He caught that one too.
He grinned as I struggled to free my hands from his grip. Next thing I knew he had flipped us so he was straddling me instead of the other way around. He had my arms pinned at my sides so I had no way to fight back. I squirmed and struggled trying to throw him off me but he just chuckled. He brushed some of my wet hair away from my face and shivers shot through my body.
He leaned in so his face was right above mine and said, "You're cute when you're angry, you know that?"
I felt myself blush and he smirked a bit. He shifted his weight forward so he could lean in and kiss me, and that was my time to act. The next thing he knew I was on top of him again. I laughed at the look of 'what the hell just happened…?' that was on his face.
Unfortunately while I was laughing he grabbed me and rolled over. We ended up rolling around for a bit trying to restrain the other but we were evenly matched. So when we got tired we just laid there of the ground holding each other laughing a little. A shadow crossed over us and he looked up.
"Look, there're Ferruginous Hawks all around here…" I didn't have to look at him to tell he was smiling when he said that.
"You love big birds don't you?" I asked already knowing the answer.
He chuckled and nodded. "I think they're cool. They have so many tricks to do things easier when they fly… we could learn a thing or two from them."
"I'm sure we could, but I think I'd rather do something else right now."
He looked at me strangely.
"What do you want to do right now that'd be better than flying with the hawks?"
"This." I said as I leaned over.
My lips had just barely brushed his when I woke up.
My first thought, GOD DAMMIT WHY DID I HAVE TO WAKE UP!
The first thing I noticed was that it was still dark out. And that someone was standing by the open window, which had been shut before I fell asleep.
Jen and Liz where still asleep so it couldn't be one of them. I tried to sit up but I couldn't. My body was so soar I could barely move. The person by the window moved towards me. I wasn't scared though, I already knew who it was. I'd seen him hundreds of times, visiting me in the middle of the night when no one else was up. He knelt next to my bed and ran his hand through my hair. I smiled tiredly at him. He smiled at me a bit, his scare under his eye making it look like he was smiling a lot.
"Hello Max," He said quietly.
"I've missed you…" My words a bit slurred since I was still half asleep.
"I know, I wanted to come see you sooner, but things have been busy…"
"It's ok… I understand Fang…"
"You look tense Max, too much stress about starting here?"
"Yeah…"
"Would you like me to rub your back? It'll make you feel better."
"Sure… thank you…"
He stood up and quietly got on my bed. He straddled me and slid my shirt up. He had to help me slid it off my arms but he didn't take it all the way off. He let it rest around my neck. He unhooked my bra but again didn't take it all the way off (I was still laying on my stomach so he didn't see anything). He pressed his hands against my back and started rubbing in small circles. His hands were ruff and calloused but it still felt good.
I sighed into my pillow as I felt myself relax. I felt myself starting to drift back to sleep after a few minutes. His hands left my back for a second and I felt a sharp sting on the back of my neck. I tried to move but I couldn't. My eyes slid shut but I didn't fall asleep. I just couldn't move…! I felt him put my clothes back in place then he moved me so I was lying on my side. I managed to open my eyes a bit and saw that he was kneeling right in front of my bed.
"I'm sorry Max, I have to leave now. I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise." He kissed my forehead and stood up.
I tried to say something, move, do anything, but I just couldn't. There was a dull ache that was starting to come up in my chest.
I tried to speak again. "F-fang…" I heard pain in my voice. The dull ache had grown and now it was spreading.
"I know, it hurts. And I'm sorry, but you needed it." He said as he climbed out the window. He jumped out and I saw his wings open. He soared into the sky and out of my sight.
I passed out as the ache got so strong I would have started screaming in pain. And it takes a lot to make me scream. I tried to stay conscious but it was in vain, I slipped under in less than a second.
When I woke the next morning I wasn't sure of what happened last night. It was late morning and Jen and Liz weren't in the room. I got up and changed. After a quick shower I headed down to the lobby. I saw a notice board that had a lot of guys crowded around it. So, I did what was natural to me. I pushed and shoved my way to the front of the crowd. It was a noticed about football try outs. They were in two weeks.
"Sweet!" I said.
The guys nearest me stared at me.
"What?" I looked at each of them. They all outweighed me by at least 90 lbs.
"You're gunna try out for the team?" one asked.
"Hell yeah. I lead my high school team the finals and we won." I crossed my arms.
"And what school did you come from?" a guy laughed, "An all-girls school?"
"No. I came from Calloski high school in L.A." I told them.
Most of them laughed. But one guy stepped up.
"Wait you're not Maxine Ride are you?" he said.
"Yeah," I was surprised. I didn't expect anyone to really know who I was.
"You're like a legend in my town!" he said enthusiastically
Most of the guys laughed.
I'm not going to go into any more detail about this little conversation. It didn't end well for the guys who had been laughing at me.
So after that little incident I headed out side. It was Sunday so I had the whole day to do anything I wanted. I wandered around town for a while before I found myself in a park. There was a soccer game going on so I went to watch. I climbed a tree near the field, and it gave me the perfect vantage point to see the entire field. I watched as the two teams fought to get the ball to the other team's goal. One team's color was yellow, the others black. The black team seemed to be winning, thanks to a tall, pale boy. He had strawberry blond hair and crystal blue eyes. He was the fastest of all of them, getting from one end of the field to the other in half the time it took the other players. He kicked the ball from a quarter of the field away from the goal. It soared over a few of the players' heads and right passed the goalie into the net. The crowd for that was there for that team went nuts. They shouted and cheered as the rest of the team rushed the boy into a huge group hug like thing. The other team walked over to their coach, (who was yelling stuff like "you yellow bellied cowards! You could have played better than that!") with their heads down.
As the crowd slowly left I jumped down from the tree and headed over to the boy who had kicked the winning goal. He and his team were packing up and heading for the bus.
"Hey, you're the one who scored that last goal right?" I ask coming up behind him.
He turned and lowered a water bottle from his mouth.
"Yeah,"
"That was a nice shot. Most players wouldn't be able to make one like that." I tipped my head to the side slightly. "How'd you do it?"
"Uh, just got lucky I guess." He shrugged.
He was lying. I could tell. I had seen the way he looked when he took the shot; he knew he was going to make it.
"Hm… ok. So what school are you from?" I said faking that I believed that lame excuse.
"Harroway regional collage. You?"
"G.H. Chu." I nodded over my shoulder.
"How come you're not all pissed that I just handed your team's ass to them?" he was smirking a bit.
"I'm new. This is only my second day. And I've never really been a huge soccer fan."
"So why are you out here today?"
"Had nothing else to do." I shrugged.
"My names James by the way."
"Cool. I'm Max."
"Nice to meet you Max." James said.
"Likewise."
"Hey James! Come on we're leaving!" his coach shouted at him.
"Uh-oh, gotta run, see you some other time Max!" he said as he ran towards the bus.
"See yeah!" I called after him.
I started to walk away, but then I realized that he had dropped his water bottle. I bent down to pick it up when I noticed writing in black sharpie on the clear plastic. I laughed when I read what it said.
'Call me' it said, with his cell number written underneath, along with his email. I looked up at the bus as it was pulling away and saw him smiling at me. I smiled and waved at him, he waved back. I walked back to Grant Tower still laughing a little. He was sly, I hadn't seen him write it while we were talking.
My cell buzzed as I walked. I checked it and saw I had a message from Kat, a friend of mine before I came to G.H. Chu. It was just a simple 'Hey how's it going?'. I texted with her a bit but stopped when I got to an intersection. The walk sign changed and I looked both ways before stepping out into the street. A car was coming but the light for it was red, so I figured he'd be stopping.
Half way across the intersection my phone fell out of my pocket. It hit the ground and the battery popped out. I muttered a swear and bent down to pick up the pieces. The car was still coming and didn't show any signs of stopping, but I didn't realize it until it was too late. When I stood up the car was less than ten feet away from me. I tensed, ready to jump up over the car. But just before I would have jumped, something slammed into to me from the side. Its momentum carried us out of the cars path as it ran the light. I hit the ground and whatever had hit me landed on top of me. I somehow still had my phone in my hand. I twisted to see what had knocked me out of the way and saw black hair.
He looked up at me, black eyes staring into my brown ones.
"Nick?" my eyes widen in surprise.
"Are you ok Max?" he asked, slowly getting up.
"Yeah… thank you… for saving me…" he helped me to my feet.
A few people around us were staring, dumbfounded.
"You don't have to thank me. I wasn't about to let one of my friends get splattered by a car." He said as we walked to the sidewalk.
I guess we were kind of acting like nothing had just happened because people were still staring at us.
"So why were you out here today?" he asked.
"I didn't have anything else to do so I went for a walk. I ended up watching the soccer game."
"The one between us and Harroway?"
"Yeah. Met a nice guy there."
"I was there, but on the Harroway side. One of my good friends is their top player."
"He wouldn't happen to be pale with strawberry blond hair would he?" I asked glancing sideways at him.
"Yeah, his name's─"
"James," I said cutting him off.
"Yeah," he said surprised. "You know him?"
"He's the guy I met," I said smiling a bit.
He chuckled a bit. "He's a great guy. I went through all of my school years with him, until he got accepted to Harroway."
"Are you two still close?"
"Oh yeah, we talk all the time and hang out like every other weekend."
"Cool. Most of my old friends are in collage out of state so I don't get to see them much… well that and they're two years ahead of me."
"Are you that young? You don't seem like it." he sounded surprised.
"No I'm 18, 19 in two months. But I failed freshmen and sophomore year of high school because I got into too many fights."
"Hey I'll be 19 in three months." He smiled a bit.
"… then how come you're in your second year?"
"I was home schooled until third grade when I got tired of tutors. James had skipped grades so we were both in third grade earlier than normal."
"Wow. Cool." I was surprised by that.
"Hey me and James are hanging out next weekend, you want to join us?"
"Sorry, but I promised my roommates I'd take them flying this weekend."
"You know how to fly?" he looked at me surprised.
"Yeah. I'm a licensed pilot. Have been since I was fifteen."
"That's awesome! I've never been up in a plane before… come to think of it neither has James."
"You guys wanna come with? I'm sure Jen and Liz won't mind having the most wanted guy in school tag alone with his buddy." I snickered a bit.
"Really? I don't want to impose or anything…"
"Not at all! The more the merrier! Besides, with five people I can get a better plane to show off my mad pilot skills." I grinned a little evilly.
"… Ok that face scares me a bit…"
"Good, it should." I chuckled.
We laughed a bit and realize that we had gotten back to Grant Tower. The sun was setting and I realized how hungry I was when my stomach growled loud enough for him to hear. I blushed a tiny bit.
"Hungry are we?" he chuckled.
"A bit…" I admitted.
"Wanna head back to Keny's?"
"… Where?" I asked confused.
"The diner we were at last night."
"Oh! Sure! They've got good food… but I'll pay for myself this time."
He chuckled, "Alright, if you insist. We can take my car this time, unless you want to ride the bike again."
I debated for a moment.
"Car."
He chuckled and led me to the parking lot. He unlocked the doors to his Camaro and we climbed inside. He started it and the radio came on. It was set to the alternative station and one of my favorite songs was just starting. As he drove I sang along to the radio. About halfway through the song I realized he was laughing at me, and that I most likely was being a mega dork. I stopped, but he started to sing along. After that we just sang along with every song we knew until we got to the diner.
Our meal was spent laughing, talking, and stuffing food into our mouths. I had wanted to pay for myself, but by the time I got back from the bathroom he had already paid for me.
"I feel bad… that's twice you've paid for me." I said as we got back in his car.
"Don't, I don't mind paying for you." he smiled a bit at me. "Most people expect me to pay for them, but I don't."
"Then why—" I started.
"Because you don't assume that I'm going to." He answered my question before I could even finish asking it.
I was silent for a moment.
"C'mon, lets head back to school." He said heading for the door.
I sighed a bit but followed him. We got back in the car and he drove back to Grant Tower.
"THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!" I basically shouted as I collapsed onto my bed.
"Amen!" Liz yawned.
"Hey you're still taking us flying tomorrow right?" Jen asked as she pulled off her shirt.
"Why wouldn't I be? You guys have been looking forward to this all week!" I laughed as I sat up.
"Is it going to be just the three of us or is the guy you're borrowing the plane from coming with?" Jen asked pulling her pajama shirt on.
Uh-oh… I had completely forgotten to tell them that James and Nick were coming.
"Uh…" I said lamely.
"…What's up?" Liz asked, looking a little concerned.
"It's just that I forgot to tell you guys something."
They both had '…What?' faces.
"We're going to be having… two special guests coming along." I said.
"Really?" Liz said at the same time that Jen said "Who?"
I smiled a little as I said, "Can't tell, it's a secret."
"Come on! Tell us!" Jen said bouncing a bit on her bed.
"Sorry, but I'm sworn to secrecy!" I said. It was total bull, but it was fun to mess with them.
"Can you at least tell us if we know them?" Jen pleaded.
"Or if they're guys or girls?" Liz added.
"Hm…" I pretended to think about it. "They're both guys, and I know you know one of them."
After that they pretty much spent the rest of the night pleading with me to tell them who was coming with and trying to guess who after I wouldn't tell them.
Finally we all got into bed and shut off the lights. Once I fell asleep, I didn't dream. It was just darkness. It had been the same all week… ever since Fang came to visit. Was I worried? I don't really know. I just found it a bit strange was all.
But when I woke up every morning I felt like I had slept like a baby the night before.
But this time it felt like morning came all too early.
Well that's it for this chapter. Again I apologize for such a long wait. I plan on posting the next chapter soon, and I would appreciate any feedback you guys have! I love to hear from my readers!
Dark Shadow In The Night