DISCLAIMER – I AM NOT, IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM, JAMES PATTERSON SO I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FROM MAXIMUM RIDE…man, I hate writing these things…

Chapter 6

When I woke up in the morning, I still couldn't stop thinking about the kiss…And not in the good way. Had Fang only kissed me because he was feeling sorry for me? Does it mean that it was a mistake? I know we've barely known each other but I could never survive without him- there I said it. I could never lose someone else in my life…one was more than enough.

Basically, my dad, Jeb Batchelder, went all abusive; he used to be as weird…but in a different sense. He had an obsession with science experiments. The obsession existed since he was in high school, over the years it started to increase, eventually he married mom which –sort of- took his mind 'away from things'. A few years later, I was born, Jeb stayed with mom and me but when I was about 7, he opened up his own lab. Immediately, things started going downhill – he started doing experiments on animals, implanting things like wings on wingless creatures, mixing genes and creating weird crossbreeds. My mom was furious when she found out about this. They started arguing, but at the time that was just about it – the abusing was yet to come…

Soon, my mom had another baby, Ari. He was my brother and meant the world to me. Sure I got jealous of him and maybe even hated him from time to time because of all the attention he got, but he was my brother and I loved him. Mom thought that after Ari's birth, Jeb would take a break but he still continues the freak experiments.

One day, when I was about 11 and Ari was 5, Jeb took us out; Ari and I thought it was just a family outing – except without mom. Little did we know that our lives were on the line. Secretly, Jeb took us to his lab. … I don't know what Jeb did but he sure was clever enough to disguise the lab because from the outside it looked like a normal building but on the inside it was well…a full tech lab. At our arrival, Ari and I were dragged off and locked into cages. I struggled to get out but no amount of banging would budge the locks. After hours- well that's what it felt like to me- a group of scientist in white coats, massive nerd glasses and nervous twitches came and, with a lot of effort, picked up my cage. I cried Ari's name but my cage opened and I was dragged out. The last memory of my Ari was of him all alone in his cage, his eyes were wide, fearful and bloodshot, pleading his big sister to save him, his cheeks stained with tears and his body curled up into a foetal shape, making him look even more fragile and young. That was the last time I saw my Ari.

I couldn't remember what happened to me after that, all I remembered was the pure, white room with rows and rows of machinery. The whitecoats opened to cage and pulled me out. I tried to struggle but their grips became firmer, their fingers digging into my skin. They brutally pushed me onto a hospital bed and after that, everything went black because I had been heavily sedated.

When I woke up, I was wearing a white hospital gown but I could still see the scars all over my arms and legs and the pricks in my skin where I presumed they had injected me. I looked around and saw that the room was deserted other than me and a bunch of lifeless machinery.

Before, anyone could come in and catch me I sprinted out of the room even though my whole body was sore. (Trust me I was a badass 11 year old…) I looked in each room for him but he was nowhere, all I found were mutated creatures looking up at me from cages like the one I was in. They looked at me with needy eyes, begging me to save them, their expressions were frightful and still haunt me today… Still, I ran until I crashed into Jeb. I begged him to tell me where Ari was but he didn't utter a single word, instead he forced me into the car and drove me home.

I don't know what Jeb had told her but after that, mom kept on arguing with Jeb. Soon, it turned out to be something more, the abusing began Mom tried to tell the police that he was the prime suspect of the murder of his own son. They couldn't believe her, they told her, 'Ma'am, I'm sure there is another cause to your son's death. You have no evidence and I'm afraid we can do nothing about it.' I tried to speak up but who would listen to me- a weak and feeble 11 year old? Everyone told me I was being delusional, that it was the aftermath of my brother's death and all the stress I had been going through. Even so, Jeb was sent to jail, not for the account of murder but of physical abuse. Mom and I proved them by showing us our cuts and bruises, mom's medical accounts of stress, the time when I went to hospital due to internal bleeding…but of course, my mom restricted me from telling them the truth when he actually abused us, she was too scared to speak up, too afraid to stand up for us because of some dumb ass alcoholic of a husband… But things got worse and she fessed up and from there, Jeb was finally sent to jail. Everyone had proof to know what a twisted man Jeb was. However, the lab stayed a secret, I tried to tell them all the…things I saw there but I was only dubbed as being mental…they even sent me to a check up to see if I needed to go to an asylum – thank god I didn't…

A few weeks later, after the trials and court sessions, Ari's funeral was held, a funeral without the body. He was 'buried' in the local cemetery in Arizona where we had grown up in. Mom and I still visit his grave. A grave without a body. A grave of a boy whose death was a mystery…

A/N OK…here we go…I AM SOOOOOOOO SORRY! I actually am! It's just that because of summer exams, I've barely had time to update…. But wohhooooo – they finished today! So yes…I promise to update again during this week – if I don't, I permit you to chuck cyber tomatoes at me…tehe

Soo… I'm sorry that Fang wasn't in this chapter and that it wasn't very long but I will try and make the next one even better! Oh and I need your opinions on how to prank Brigid – I want to make her punish! Sure I made her Fang's 'girlfriend' but Max needed to let her boy-conscious side out and make her fess up that she does have feelings for Fang!

Oh and I need to tell you guys something I did today…basically, in my geography exam, it said to list a national park in England and one in Wales. So, being me, I didn't know the question to one of the most easiest questions on the paper and wrote something really stupid. I wrote:

Lake District national park

Sandy Balls national park

HAH. Once I wrote that, I couldn't stop laughing…well I DID actual see an advert for it on tv it said 'sandy balls national park' and had two people cycling down a very…sandy path. I seriously can't wait to see what my teacher wrote for that tehe… AND, I've got some really dopey friends – one of them forgot that mammoths were extinct and wrote that walruses where found in the south pole and the other one started drawing a silver and gold indian elephant on the back of her paper. o.O

And also, how weird is it that my latin translation paper was on a drunk dude who started throwing chicken and fruit at his wife…haha

Well, I better get going now…these author's notes are getting seriously long!

And remember – an idea = a possible place in my story in the future! Woop!

So…read, review, fav and subscribe – no pressure…tehe

:P