Taking Off: a Nudge Story

Chapter 7

Nudge POV

Here was my plan: sneak up really early, leave Merv the kind gentleman a note, and then get the heck out of there. The problem is that Merv pulled a fast one on me. Before thoughts of waking up even crossed my subconscious mind Merv was shaking me awake.

"Rise and shine!"

Me: groan.

I picked myself up. As nice as Merv was, his couch was not built for sleeping on. Long sits, stay-up-all-night talks sure, but sleeping? No.

Reluctantly I opened my two eyes to see Merv staring back at me. The lamp was on but that was the only light. Nothing was coming out the windows except for the light of the lampposts outside. I looked at the digital clock in the corner.

"5:30?" I asked, my voice gravely with me not having used it in 6 hrs.

Merv nodded as if 5:30 was the greatest invention since peanut butter. "It's a 4 hr. drive to where you want to go in Virginia, I checked online. You wouldn't want to waste any quality time you could be spending with your mom, would you?"

When he put it that way...

I took a shower and dressed in new clothes. Suddenly I was nervous. I looked at myself in the mirror of Merv's bathroom.

Did I look like the daughter of the mother of my dreams?

My eyes scanned my reflection. I started at the top with my frizzy hair. It didn't cooperate with humidity and it didn't cooperate with the wind either. My eyes were a boring brown, nothing special about them. My cheekbones weren't especially model-like neither were my nose or my lips. My figure... what figure? Did I look like the daughter of a woman whose smile lit up the world? Did I look like the daughter of a woman whose company relied on her smarts and her wit? Well, no. But the thing about my mother was that she wouldn't care. I know she wouldn't.

I twirled a lock of my hair in the mirror but I wasn't looking at me. I was thinking about what would happen when I'd see my mom for the first time. And when she'd see me for the first time...

"Nudge? Are you ready?" Merv called.

The engine of the car had started, the noise ringing louder than it usually would it contrast to the silence of the night.

"Yea!" I called out.

I packed up everything in my bag. My brush, my pen, my new notebook, and finally my picture. I lingered a bit longer on the picture. there wasn't a moment that went by that I didn't think about my Flock and what they were doing. Though I knew it would be easier for me to just forget about them and focus on my new goal, I couldn't. Maybe someday I'd visit them. Me and Mom. Maybe then, since I found somebody who loved me, I'd be on better terms with them. Maybe we wouldn't ever be family again, but we could still be friends, right?

"Nudge!" Merv, I knew, was getting impatient. I slipped the picture in my bag, hunched it over my shoulders and exited the shop.

The morning air hit me. It was a little lighter than it had been when I'd first woken up. Now the sun was beginning to rise over the small houses and stores that made up this town. I thought it was a little symbolic. A new day, and all that, right? A new life for Nudge. Maybe I'd even change my name. I walked to the car supposing new names for myself. Merv pointed to the front passenger seat and motioned for me to get in.

"Hey Merv," I said as though we were old buddies, and it really did feel like that too, "How do you feel about the name Elizabeth?"

Merv examined my face for a while, "For you? Nah, I'd keep Nudge. It's unique."

I nodded. Maybe I would keep Nudge. I buckled my seatbelt (Click It or Ticket people) and got ready for a four hour drive. My idea of a four hour drive is a drive in which, three of those four hours, I was asleep. Merv, however, had other ideas. He asked me questions about myself and about my life. Only I didn't answer them as me. I answered as though I were Other-Nudge, the one who had grown up in Fairport, Virginia all her life. then one who had five brothers and sisters, because when he asked me that question that's what I said.

"Five!" Merv raised his eyebrows. "You must never get any time to yourself. I was an only. What are they like, your siblings?"

So I made up five brothers and sisters for myself. Three older and two younger. There was Angela and Geoffrey my younger sister and brother. There was Isaiah, Fred and Mariah, my older two brothers and older sister.

Do their names sound strangely similar to those of the Flock? Hmm, I hadn't thought of it that way.

Oh stuff it, they were similar. In fact, when Merv asked me for stories about my siblings and me I brought up stories from the times before Itex. It made me kind of nostalgic for my guys though. Remembering the times I was a part of their fun did make me smile. But then remembering that now I wasn't a part of their fun made me sad again, and my voice became softer. Merv noticed this. He asked me more about my mother. I guess he figured I was happier talking about her than talking about my "siblings". But I didn't want to talk about her. I didn't want made up stories about a made up mother. I wanted real stories, real memories that I could look back on and laugh. I didn't want to remember the Flock with a sad smile.

I went into another funk. Merv prodded me with questions for a while, but then seeing that I didn't want to talk, he just drove on. It was two hours before anything was said. We'd been driving down highways and busy streets. Now we came to a dirt road that seemed to stretch on for ages.

"Just another hour or so on this road, and then we'll be on a state highway." Merv said softly. He was checking to see if I wanted to talk now. "And then just another two hours and we'll be at your mom's."

I was about to answer when the car flipped over.

My head throbbed. I couldn't see anything except for purple blotches of light dancing on my eyelids. I opened my eyes only to meet up with pain. I looked around, not to rapidly so as to avoid getting dizzy. I was sideways. The window next to me was on the floor. The glass had cracked and was now in a pool below me. I struggled to get out of my sideways state. That's when I noticed Merv.

Oh no.

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.

I looked at Merv's empty face. I tried to see some life in his eyes. I grabbed his wrist and searched for a pulse. I felt an intense beating and then realized it was my own rapid heart crying out. Crying because Merv was gone.

I wanted to lay under the flipped car and cry for him. But I knew if I didn't get out of that enclosed space I would end up just like my aged friend, only by suffocation.

The card had flipped on its right side, the glass on the left side had shattered and flown onto my skin.I realized I was already cut by the tiny shards. Because the door was so bent I couldn't open it using the handle. I was too crushed in so kicking the door out wasn't possible. I wad to crawl out of the window.

I tried to avoid the glass that was still locked to the car but looking up at my dangerously sharp. Soon I was on top of the car, a little scratched in my arm from a cut glass I couldn't swerve around.

I looked around for the cause of our accident and Merv's death. I don't know what I expected to see, a rock on the ground, or a tree in the middle of nowhere? What I did not expect to see was a lioness leaping out of thin air and pouncing right in front of me.

She rocked the car, purposefully. Her weight shifted from paw to pa. Eyes of a lioness glared at me. Her teeth showed a combination of a fierce growl and a mocking smile.

She was trying to make me fall. She was taunting me.

The car rocked ferociously now and while she seemed to be at home on the unstable vehicle I was about to tumble off the car... and right onto the puddle of deadly sharp glass.

The lioness seemed to like the fact that I was deathly afraid of her. She seemed to like that she could render me paralyzed and speechless. Only after about five minutes of toying with me on top of the car she was getting impatient with me. Perhaps she was ready to fight and was tired of me being an immovable doll. Her paw came to my side and whacked my entire body off the car. I was almost grateful. She'd whacked me away from the many shards of glass. But she'd also whacked me enough to hurt like hell, and her claws had torn into my skin.

I fell to the ground which didn't hep the throbbing pain I was already receiving. My eyes squeezed tightly until the worst of the impact left me and I was ready to face reality. When I opened my eyes I was seeing double.

Well, not exactly. The lioness had changed into a slim, tall deadly looking woman with short fur instead of hair. She looked at me as though I were a rare kind of food, licking her lips. In her mind she was probably contemplating using a fork on me or just tearing in with her bare hands.

The other one had long, shaggy brown hair. He looked bored as if I weren't worth the trouble. As though he were passing his plate on to the lioness. As though I were already dead.

The lioness nudged me with her foot, checking to see if I was still alive. She cocked her head and purred slightly. "This should be fun," she said to her companion.

And then they proceeded to kill me.

I was a game to her. A game that, no doubt in her mind, she'd win. Her continued batter wasn't because I was resisting well and therefore prolonging the attack. It was because she was TOYING with me. This battle could have ended ages ago with me on the ground, but instead she'd continued it for her own amusement.

Rage stirred and bubbled inside me. You're being weak and pathetic, Nudge. And she and her assistant know it. Not even fighting back as Lioness delivers several blows to her stomach. Just lying passive as Lioness's Assistant uses his foot to cause some painful bruises in her leg. If this was all just a game to them, what would happen when they got bored?

They'll kill me, I thought wincing in pain as Lioness smacked her fist into my head. I fell to the gravel. The friction between me and the ground bruised me somewhere but I was more focused on the throbbing pain in my head. And the realization that they could kill me and I could do nothing about it. I wanted to stay on the ground and let myself lose. Surely that would be less painful?

Only I'd tried that route hadn't I? And what had being passive gotten me? Bruises and scars and this throbbing headache. No. This wasn't a time for Nice-Nudge. I had to get angry.

Hey, it worked for the Hulk didn't it?

Angry-Nudge didn't think straight. To her pain in the head and a few bleeding boo-boos were nothing. Unless my neck was broken I wasn't going down without a fight.

I picked myself up which I know surprised Lioness and her assistant. Her assistant growled, probably because I was still alive and it looked like I was finally going to fight back. Through peripheral vision I could see that Lioness was smiling. Her prey fighting back only made the game better. This made me madder. I was still trying to raise myself up when Lioness ran to my side and attempted to hit me, but before her hand and my gut made contact I took her hand and twisted it as hard as I could and as far as I could get it.

She let out a fierce growl. I didn't have time to dwell on the fact that I had caused pain t hr because almost in unison Lioness and her assistant attacked me again.

He was aiming for a swift kick to my legs to knock me off my balance, and she was aiming for a kick to my face. My wings flew out and I swerved upward, dodging Assistant's's kick and giving Lioness a hard kick to her chin. Her head snapped backwards and a loud crack stopped the fight.

I floated above the scene. Lioness crumbled to the ground he head at an odd angle. Instantly Assistant rushed to her side, gingerly examining his partner. I don't know what was wrong with her, maybe I'd broken her neck. Assistant scooped hr in his arms carefully holding her head. Lioness moaned in pain and I flinched. Assistant detected the movement and looked up to find me looking onto his tender moment. He attacked me with a look so fierce I was almost knocked out of the air. He gave a low growl then turned away from me and pounced off.

As soon as Lioness and her Assistant were out of ear shot (I waited a couple of extra minutes in case of freaky enhanced mutant hearing) I yelled out it triumph, "What?" I asked the empty air, "What now? Ooo, you though I was pathetic. You thought I was weak, poor passive Nudge. But would Nudge in Passive Mode have broken your neck? Noooo!" I did a mini-triumphant dance in the air.

My wings had been cramped between my shoulder blades for the past few days, so I stretched. Flying always made me happier. The sheer freedom of knowing I had the entire sky as a playground did wonders for my mood. I did a loop in the air and let all of my muscles that had been cramped in the 3 hour drive stretch.

Then it it me again. 3 hr. drive. Car. Merv.

Uneasily I turned around around to see the wreckage. The car was still there having been untouched by the fight. I took a deep breath, for I knew who's lifeless body I'd find if I looked into the car. I didn't want to look, but I didn't want to leave him there. He'd seen me a shaking, cold, runaway and invited me in anyway. He'd found my bag for me and my pictures of my Flock. He'd offered me, someone he'd know for all of 30 minutes, a ride to Virginia. And I'd killed him off.

No, I hadn't flipped the car myself. I hadn't willed the air bag to come late, too late. But the Lioness who HAD flipped the car had been after me. And because Merv was with me he was the one who'd suffered. The bruises and the scars that I had compared little to what I'd done to Merv.

I landed and walked over to the car. Even though the thought of seeing Merv like that again repulsed me, I wouldn't leave him in the car. Besides, I still hadn't paid my rent.

Really I owed him so much more than a one dollar rent, but it seemed fitting. Lost in a dream state, I dug Merv a grave. Then, careful to not damage his body any further than it had been, I dragged him out of the car and carried him over to the hole I'd dug. Tears fell on the grave as I saw his mangled body lying in the dirt. By the time I'd put the dirt back in he grave I was sobbing. I'd known him for maybe 12 hours, but I really felt close to him. I spread flowers over the hole and laid done my rent, plus a hefty tip of every dollar I had.

To the man I'd told my deepest most secretive fantasies to. He had, even if he didn't know it, caused me to open up to him more than I'd ever done with the Flock. "Thank you," I whispered.

I stayed there for hours or minutes until all my tears had fallen and I was ready to leave.

I couldn't do anything about the car that was now wrecked beyond repair so I just left it there. I took off in the sky heading for Virginia.

I wanted to make the dreams I so enthusiastically told Merv about true. Or at least I wanted to try. For Merv I'd find my mom. Maybe I DID have 5 brothers and sisters. Maybe I didn't. I'd realized driving in the car that this entire trip had been a gamble. Since I left the Martinez's house the odds were against me. Maybe my mom would be all that I'd dreamed, maybe not. In the car my mind had been reeling. I'd been panicking on the inside, because what if my mom wasn't like I'd imagined? I was scared. But for Merv I'd take this bet. Merv had his life taken away so I could meet my mom, I would risk emotional pain for him.

I went back to the car one last time and tried to ignore the splattered blood. I kept my eyes on the dashboard. I opened it and took out the map. Then I grabbed my bag. I flew into the air and headed in the direction of Fairport Virginia. No stops, for real this time. I ignored my crying stomach and Mini-Nudge's begs for a tiny pit stop, until I saw a sign. "Fairport, Virginia: Population- 12,098".

Mom, here I come.

Max POV

We'd been flying almost nonstop. Exhaustion had no meaning to this group of birdkids. We were on a mission, to find Nudge and give her a slap in the face or a great big hug. What to do when we found her depended on who you were talking to. Me for instance, I was confused.

On the one hand, I loved Nudge. And it hurt me so badly that she would think I didn't. Guilt had clouded me the past few days. Was it really all my fault that she had left? Was I really too preoccupied with my new family to notice that a piece of my old one was falling apart? Well, yes. Yes I was. But not anymore and I wanted to make sure that Nudge knew that. This side of me wanted to find Nudge and wrap her into a tight squeeze.

The other side of me wanted to yell at Nudge. This was the mother-type side, as opposed to the other side which was more like the sister or best friend side. this side wanted me to give her a lecture on thinking things through. Her trip could've gotten us killed or found. Was she even thinking about the Flock when she decided to take off? No.

Then again, the Guilty Side fought back, you weren't thinking about her.

And on and on they'd go, fighting and taking up space in my mind. And I'd try to ignore them and focus on the road or the map.

We'd passed the 'Now Entering Fairport, VA' sign long ago. When I'd seen it my heart had given a little tug in every direction. Gazzy told Iggy about it and they both high-fived each other. Fang had flown up by my side and asked me if I thought about what I was going to say to her. He sounded a little bit nervous, as though he hadn't a clue what to say to her either. But he also sounded way to accusatory for my taste so I'd called out to the Flock: "20 more minutes!" They answered with whoops and whollops and Fang had left me alone.

But now, as we neared the neighborhood where Nudge's mom lived, I was getting the jitters again.

We were flying low, but not low enough for anyone to see us. Just low enough for out superpowered bird eyes to spot Nudge if she happened to be around. We were in Fairport, and we were close to where Nudge should be, but we had gone without a glimpse of our missing bird kid for a while until Gazzy yelled out, "NUDGE!!!"

For a second I didn't want to look, what if it was a false alarm? What if it wasn't really Nudge, like the girl I'd spotted near the train station? She'd turned out not to be a real Nudge, just a Doppelganger and I'd felt like crap. You can see why I was being hesitant to turn my eyes to where Gazzy was pointing. But I was glad I did. It really was Nudge. Her frizzie hair wasn't one of an imposter. Even from way up high I could see my sister-by-wings.

"Trees!" I cried out, unable to say anything else because I was choked up with happiness. It would't have mattered what I said, it turns out, because Iggy divebombed straight for Nudge. The Gasman and Angel followed, but Iggy reached her first. He felt around for her. Nudge, surprised and paralyzed by our sudden appearance, didn't move. This suited Iggy just fine. As soon as he got a hold of where she was (thanks to Angel calling out "To your left!") he snatched her into a tight hug.

Iggy POV

I wouldn't ever let go. I don't know what got ahold of me. I found myself hoping that this was really Nudge because if this was a stranger it would be really hard to explain why I was hugging her so tightly. But no, it WAS her. I knew the feel of her skin. I took note of everything about her, because what if Nudge left again and I was deprived for even more time? Using every sense but sight on her, so I'll always remember. Smell, I inhaled the soft sent of her hair. Touch, I ran my fingers across her face so I'd never forget how she looked. Taste, uh that's just a bit weird. I didn't taste her. Hearing, because I could hear her sobs as she hugged me back. And not only the dinky five senses known to kindergartners. Thermoception, because my body heat and hers meshed together so that we were both unusually warm in the early January weather. Nociception, the sense of pain. Before it seemed as though every part of me was aching. And now, being so close to her, all the pain seemed to have slipped away...

Author's Note: Chapter 8 is the last chapter.