Recap of last chapter:
Maximum. Oh, no. The Voice (aka Jeb) is back. What now. I've missed you. How've you been?
Go away; I'm not talking to a felon. Why do you want to know, anyway? I thought you weren't going to be nosy anymore.
Maximum, I've missed out on your becoming an adult. Is it my fault that I'd like to know how my daughter is doing?
Yes. I sighed internally. But I'm doing good, I guess. Now leave me alone- this is a moment between two people and you're neither of them.
It's coming true… Jeb murmured almost to himself.
"Can I help you?" He sounded bored.
"I'm here to visit someone." I answered as sweetly as I could.
He sighed. "Who are you visiting?"
"Jeb Betchelder." I answered reluctantly.
"He'll be happy to get a visitor. No one's come in a month." He stood up from his desk and walked away, I followed.
"Whoa, wait. He's had visitors? Who was it?"
"Not allowed to reveal that information. Criminal- officer confidentiality. Sorry, ma'am."
"He's my father; I think I have a right to know."
"Hello, Maximum. Good to see you. I'm surprised you're here."
I took in a deep breath. "Yeah, well. I want some answers."
"Of course- about what?" He sat forward and rested his cuffed hands on the table.
"What did you mean by, 'It's coming true'?"
Long Recap, I know but I needed all of that in so people could remember; think of it as a trailer… I saw BOLT on Sunday, if you like cute films and lots of comedy… BOLT is the movie for you. Any-hoo, I do not own MR.
Chapter 9:
He bit his lip. "I don't know what you're talking about…," he answered unconvincingly.
"Bullshit, now tell me; what did you mean by 'it's coming true'?" I leaned toward him threateningly.
He backed away by an inch. He sighed. "Okay, I would tell you but… I'm not allowed. This is one thing that I agree with Itex and the School with. This one little thing that they said is really important and if I tell you what they meant by it, the entire future could be messed up."
"Everything Itex does destroys the future, Jeb." He winced when I used his first name instead of dad. "If you don't tell me now, I might actually kill you right here and now. You're choice; death by pissed daughter or living in jail with her hatred for you."
"Maximum, I understand that Itex is a bad company,"
"Evil is more like it…," I mumbled.
"Evil, bad… the point is, is that this doesn't really have anything to do with Itex- they just predicted something that's coming true. It does however," He stood up and started walking around. I stood too so he wouldn't do anything. "Have everything to do with you… and Fang. Mostly you, though."
I walked over and pushed him against the wall and held my arm across his chest to keep him from struggling. "What do you mean it has everything to do with me and Fang? And drop the I-can't-tell-you crap because if you don't tell me, I swear to God I will rip your head off."
He gulped. "Max, I really would like to tell you but if I do… they'll get me. Itex- they have insiders everywhere. They'll tell them and kill me. I can't tell you."
I huffed a deep and heavy sigh and let him go. He walked away and sat down back in his chair- I just stood there. Please? I asked with my mind. I know they can't track you in here, so tell me through the voice.
I can show you better than I can tell you… If you like. I gave a small, almost imperceptible nod. Okay, then. This may hurt a bit. Be warned: If you regret seeing this, there's no coming back. I nodded to show I understood but I didn't face him just yet.
All of the sudden, there was a flash of white and my skull hurt. I was paralyzed. Behind my eyes, I saw many things; they were rushing past me like a slideshow.
"Mommy, when'd Daddy getting home?" There was a little girl talking to an older version of me.
"He should be home soon," I answered.
The girl was about four and I looked like I was twenty-five.
"How soon? Can't you tell me exactly?" She was bouncing up and down with anticipation.
I sighed and picked her up. "Mandy, I'm never going to be wrong, you know. You can't bet against a psychic." I smiled at her. My expression turned to one of those of great concentration. "Ten seconds…,"
Mandy, my little girl, started to count down from ten. When she hit one, the door opened and an older version of Fang walked in. He smiled at me.
"Hey," he answered. "Hey, Mandy." His smile widened.
The scene changed.
I was running through the forest and I was about nineteen years old. I looked upset and devastated. I tripped over a root sticking out of the ground and fell flat on my face and slid a couple feet forward.
I just lay there crying; thinking 'how could he do that to me? How? Why?'
I heard the beat of wings and I stopped crying, I just stayed still and looked bored. Fang landed next to me and flipped me over to look at my face. He looked confused.
"Max? What are you doing all the way out here? Why you cryin'?" He asked.
I stood up and glared at him. "You two-timing cheat…," I murmured. He looked stunned and still confused. "I heard you on the phone! I can't believe you would do that to me, Fang!" I started walking away and he followed silently. We ended up in a clearing when he stepped in front of me and stopped me from walking any further.
"You heard me talking on the phone?" It was a question which sounded like a statement coming out with his tone. I nodded. "Then you'll know what I'm going to do next. Just stay here, okay?" His eyes were pleading.
He let go of my arms and got down on one knee. I gasped. He grabbed a little blue box out of his leather jacket pocket and he grabbed my left hand.
"Max, would you-?"
The scene changed again. My brain was hurting and I felt like if I touched the top of my skull, I'd feel the squishy contents of the inside. I was still paralyzed and I was having trouble breathing.
"Do you, Fang, take this loving woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? In sickness and in health? Till death do you part?" a man dressed in black with a white band around his neck asked.
He nodded and said, with a smile on his face, "I do."
"You may now kiss the bride." The man said, smiling.
Fang turned and lifted the veil off of a dirty blonde's head and kissed her full on the lips. When he and the girl broke apart, I saw that it was me. I smiled wide at him and we hugged each other. Everyone at the wedding applauded and cheered and some of the girls cried out of joy.
There was one more scene; it was slow and something you'd normally see on TV or in the movies. Fully corny when you watch it then but when you experience it like I was, you think it's really sweet- and I don't think anything is sweet, like romantically.
Fang and I are seventeen and we're dancing slowly out in a garden, there's music and I'm wearing a light blue dress that went down to about my ankles and flat ballerina shoes. We were looking into each others' eyes.
Fang bent down a little bit to be level with me; it seems I had grown a good two inches and was one inch shorter than he. "Max," he whispered. "You look really girlie."
I laughed and playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Ella and Nudge bought it for me- I thought I should wear it to be nice." I grimaced looking at the shoes. Fang was in a suit.
"I didn't say you looked bad, or that you being girlie was a bad thing."
I looked back at his eyes and smiled a small smile.
"Max, I've been meaning to say something; you'll probably laugh and think it's corny or something but… whatever. I think it's corny, to tell the truth but I have to come out with it."
I nodded telling him to continue.
He bit his lip for a second- he looked handsome doing that, and wearing that suit- actually, all the time but you get the idea that Fang biting his lip looks really cute. "Max, I love you."
The scene cut out and I was free. I gasped and collapsed onto the floor, panting. I sat up holding my throat. Did I just see what I thought I saw? Fang said he loved me? He proposed? We got married, had a kid? I got another ability? What is going on?!
I got up on shaky legs and turned toward Jeb- he looked exhausted.
"What the hell did you just do?" I rasped. My voice was rough.
He cleared his throat. "I tapped into your future power and showed what Itex had been hiding. Since I tapped into your power, you get it now- it won't hurt, don't worry."
"Then why did I hurt now?" I snarled. He had the nerve to hurt me that much; physically, mentally (think about it- he hurt me in a physical way and he hurt my brain. get it?), and emotionally.
"I had to force your power to work and I had to show you those clips of the future."
I wanted to change the subject really badly- I needed to deal with this Fang and me issue by myself. I remembered something. "He'll be happy to get a visitor. No one's come in a month." The guard said something.
"Who visited you in the past month?" I asked.
He looked about to have a panic attack. "No one."
"Jeb, you suck at lying. Now, damn it, tell me who visited you!" I bellowed with authority.
He sighed. "You…,"
I did a nervous laugh. "Huh?" I asked weakly. I was sure I wasn't going to like the answer.
"You came from the future to talk to me- there, I said it. Happy?" He threw his hands up in defeat.
"If I wanted to talk to you in the future, I would just visit you then. Unless you died or something." He just looked at me with a scared and depressed face. I sunk to my knees. "Oh my God… You're going to die?" I whispered.
He nodded. I covered my mouth with my hand. He may have betrayed the Flock and I and helped an evil corporation but he was still my father. I already saw Ari die, I didn't want Jeb to die too. I just hope that when he does, I'm not there to witness it. I cleared my throat and moved my hand. I stood up and made my way to the door.
"I have to go." I managed to choke out. I opened the door and ran out. I ran all the way out of the jailhouse and into the woods nearby. I opened my wings and flew home, trying to pay attention to the present and not what Jeb showed me. If I don't do what I'm supposed to do, Fang and I might not get together and have that little girl; and, surprisingly, I want to have that little girl. I've never met her but already I love her.
I got home and landed on the roof outside my window. I opened it and climbed in and then walked downstairs to the family room. It was late and Nudge, Ella, and Angel were falling asleep on the couch. Fang was sitting in the armchair falling asleep as well, and Iggy and Gazzy were in the kitchen talking while having a late night snack. I walked over to pick Angel up so I could bring her to her bedroom but I fell to my knees and I was no longer in the present.
"Max, get out of here!" Jeb yelled at me.
We were standing in the middle of a circle of people. They looked angry and like they wanted to kill.
I was eighteen. I looked at Jeb, afraid and then my expression changed to determination. "No," I said sternly.
"Max, listen to me. They don't want you- they want me. I betrayed them and now they want me to pay the price." There was a large opening of the circle and Jeb pushed me through. I couldn't see him anymore because the people crowded around him again. I ran over to a tree since we were outside and climbed to a limb of which would hold my weight. Right when I sat down on the tree limb, one of the people shot Jeb and he fell to the ground, dead. Blood started pooling around him and I screamed out of terror, furry, and loss. I had lost my father.
I gasped and was sucked back to the present. I was being held and I didn't realize I had been sobbing. I didn't try to stop, I just let the grief come over me and I cried for about ten minutes. All the while, I had been saying quietly, "I couldn't save him; he wouldn't let me save him." When I was done crying, my entire family was crowding around me on the floor. Angel, Nudge, and Ella were sitting on the couch looking at me; Gazzy and Iggy were standing in the corner staring at me worriedly; Mom was sitting off to my right looking horrified; Total was in Angel's lap staring at me warily- probably thinking I would burst into tears again- and Fang was the one holding me. He had been smoothing my hair away from my face and rocked me gently.
I sat up and Fang let his grip go of me. I wiped my eyes and everything was quiet.
"Max, what- what happened? One minute you were going to pick Angel up and then next you're screaming bloody murder." Nudge looked at me concerned.
I sniffled. "I- I saw Jeb." Silent tears streamed down my cheeks. "I saw him murdered- and he wouldn't let me save him." My voice had steel in it.
"Like, did you have an out-of-body experience? Only… for real?" Ella asked.
I shook my head vigorously. "No! I saw the future! I was eighteen. These people surrounded us and Jeb pushed me away and then he was shot."
Fang gently pulled me back into him and wiped my tears away, trying to calm me down.
"That still doesn't explain why you screamed like you were dying, though." Iggy pointed out, coming closer.
I started to get a little aggravated. "I didn't just see him die. I felt him die. I felt the bullet pierce my skin, I felt my heartbeat slow down, I felt darkness and coldness envelope me; I felt it all!" I almost broke down again but I held it together in front of the kids. "All of you, go to sleep; it's late." No one moved. "I'm fine, now go." My voice was hard and everyone slowly moved away from where they were to the stairs and up; everyone except Mom and Fang. They helped me stand up and I walked up the stairs shaking and went to my room.
I lay face down on my bed and cried myself to sleep. The pain of dying and not actually dying was excruciating. I did not enjoy it one bit. While I was asleep, I kept thinking about Mandy, mine and Fang's daughter. I was twenty-five in that vision and Mandy was four; I had her when I was twenty-one. Wow, things seemed to go fast with us.
"Ew!" I heard Angel exclaim.
I woke up and chuckled into my pillow. She ran down the hall and opened my door, her mouth hanging wide open.
"I know exactly what you meant by that and that's really gross. But," She closed the door and ran over to me in my bed. "Is it true? Do you and Fang have a kid in the future?"
What do I say?
There you have it. Chapter 9! I didn't know when to end so I thought, "Hey, why not leave another cliffie? That'll shake them all up!" I won't be writing this week; it's nothing personal, I have a lot of homework to do and I'm volunteering on Friday so I'm going to be really busy. I want to thank all of the people who have put me as a favorite author, this as their favorite story, and have reviewed to this story and to my TWILIGHT one. Thank you all. If I thanked everyone individually, we'd be here all month. LOL. Anyway, check back next week and I'll have the next chapter up- hopefully.
~~~Amy-Katherine914~~~
