I'M ALIVE!!
Thanks for reading and for the reviews! I sincerely apologise for being MIA for ages. Thanks for being patient. My Microsoft Word crashed, and I haven't been able to use it for quite some time. Lost my drive after that. But now I'm back. :D I hope that this chapter wasn't too choppy. I was happy with some parts, and wasn't with some others. Either way, yeah it's here.
I vaguely remember saying that Max will make a long overdue visit to the orphanage. Well, hahaha. That was under coming soon. And coming soon it is.. Just not here, ey? She's in the midst of making the visit - at the very beginning. :D Sorry if I cheated your feelings..
I greatly apologise for that really really lame "Previously, on R. A. C.." section. I was imagining it like a recap of a TV show. Hahaha. You know.. "Previously, on Avatar.." Hahaha. Yes, I watch that show and I love it. It's really funny. (And the Suite Life of Zack & Cody/ Suite Life On Deck! Oh, my gosh they never fail to make me crack up!)
Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or any other characters associated with the story.
Previously, on R. A. C..
--Four years since I last saw Fang. And Gazzy, Iggy, and the rest of the children in the orphanage.--
--"Um, hello?" I started uncertainly. The boy looked up, and I met startling blue eyes.--
--"This isn't the past anymore," Fang said stiffly.--
--"G-Gazzy." The word was a rasped whisper. Zephyr smiled, his heart filled with sudden hope.--
--"But, whatever it is, fight fair and no hurting Max," Tim said. "We're all respectable young men, and should stay ourselves and not put up some false front just for Max."--
--It had been four years.--
..Four years..
..four years.. (echoes and fades away..)
When he was a little kid, Jeff had always wanted to be an astronaut.
He had always dreamed of building his own rocket, with the best engines and propellant in the world. He had dreamed of being the one to fly his own invention into outer space.
And that dream had been shattered the day he lost his sight.
Of course, what did he expect? Who in the right mind would let the blind kid fly a rocket, let alone go anywhere by himself? He had even been denied access to the bumper car rides at a funfair. So how could he ever expect to even touch, let alone go near a rocket?
And yet, somehow, he had never given up hope. He had, but he hadn't. He had given up hope of flying a rocket to space, but he had continued experimenting to create that proper explosion that would propel the world's best rocket into space. World's to-be best rocket.
He resented the fact that his parents had been killed and his eyesight had been taken. Who had to be so unfair, so cruel and heartless to take away two of the most important things to a child his age then?
Jeff had never told anyone that the car crash his parents had died in was no accident.
What was the point, after all? To derive more sympathy than he already had from these people? No, he didn't want to feel weak. Nobody could imagine what it was like unless they were essentially blind themselves. When they found out about his condition, which he didn't want to reveal unless it was really necessary or obvious, their responses were always the same.
"I'm sorry." Those two, hollow, empty words.
Sorry for what? The fact that he lost his parents? Everyone was going to lose someone some time or another. All that differed was the amount of time they had to spend together. So.. what were they sorry about? His lost eyesight?
Jeff almost laughed.
They knew what he didn't have. They didn't know what he had.
Wings. He had wings. He had the chance to experience the sweet glory of flight whenever he wanted to.
Honestly though, he had hated them, for most of his life. That was, until he realised that he could actually use them.
Yes, he hadn't known that he could actually fly with those wings.
His parents had drilled into him that he was a freak, an abomination of the world, with those wings. Once only, though, but it had been thorough. Of course, back then, despite that, he still loved them nonetheless, but he had always wondered what was wrong with having two extra limbs sticking out of his back.
And then he realised that nobody else had them.
So Jeff kept his two extra limbs a secret, never using them for fear of being discriminated against, or losing his friends. That was, until the day he decided to jump from the top level of the orphanage the day he received the news that Max left.
So why would he need to fly a rocket when he had wings?
But yet, he had never stopped looking for that explosion..
"Are you done thinking?" Jeb Batchelder asked briefly and tonelessly. Jeff snapped back to the present, as he remembered where he was and who he was with. Jeb Batchelder.
There was no shuffling of feet, no anxiety, no impatience, nothing. No irrational movement to show his feelings; no finger tapping, just absolutely nothing. From all he could gather, Jeff figured that Jeb was sitting motionlessly on his chair. Emotionless. Just like Fang. Correction: Just like Fang after Max left. Either way, Jeff had no sight to look at him eye-to-eye. All he had for company was the cold sound of his voice.
Jeff hesitated slightly before he nodded sharply.
"So is this an agreement?" Jeb asked, and Jeff detected a trace of excitement in his voice. Just a trace. Was he that much of a sadist?
But, no matter what, he was bent against her. So Jeff nodded his head again.
"Good. Speak to no one about this." It was an order, Jeff could tell. He was annoyed at being ordered around, but he merely nodded his head again, trying his best to avoid a confrontation.
"One more thing, though.." Jeff interjected, before Jeb could leave his seat.
"What?" Jeb barked. Many unsaid thoughts lingered behind that one word, and Jeff smiled and leaned forward, putting his two index fingers together for effect.
"I just wanted to make this clear," he started, and lifted his head to let Jeb meet his eyes.
The said man made no obvious movement.
"I am doing this out of my own free will. I am in to way whatsoever bound to you, and have only agreed to do.. that. That. Is. It." Jeff sat back straight in his chair. "Is that clear?" In other words, I'm in charge here, not you, asshole. You don't own me and I'm just doing this because I want to and get that into your effing head. But it wasn't good to be rude. Be subtle - that way, it sounds more dangerous.
Oh, Jeff knew his stuff alright.
There was a lingering silence for a moment, but he knew he was going to get a response soon enough.
"And I trust you to keep your word," Jeb murmured quietly, and stood up, scraping the chair across the ground. He walked to the door and opened it, leaving Jeff seated there, contented. "Remember how you came to be, ..Iggy."
Jeff wondered if Jeb had used that past name for dramatic effect. Whatever it was, it did nothing to impact him in any way whatsoever.
"Indeed, I will."
Jeff had always wanted to be an astronaut.
And now, because of those wings, those wings he had hated for so long, it was possible. He could fly into space. He could actually fly into space! And it was these people.. these people Jeb Batchelder was working with that gave him these miraculous wings.
And it was these people who took your parents away.. Took your sight away..
He was never going to forget that.
But he had made an agreement, and he was going to stick to his word.
Jeff was a bitter person. Of course he was. But he still remembered those days when he wasn't.. He had been so naive and childish back then. Therefore, when he looked back now, it had been of great thanks that Jeb Batchelder had arrived and told him that he was the reason Max left the orphanage. He had chased her away. She hadn't wanted to live in the same place with a "stupid, good-for-nothing blind kid".
Of course not.
"He's coming."
Nudge looked at little Angel, surprise evident on her face. The younger girl grinned, showing her baby teeth. Angel had shown the ability to do highly unnatural things very often, and she had never failed to confound Nudge with each and every incident.
"How do you know?" Nudge whispered quietly to the little six-year-old and glanced at the door of the all-too-tiny closet that they both were hiding in. The space was cramped, but at least it was somewhere to hide. Angel smiled at the older mocha-coloured girl.
"I just know."
"You should really teach me that some day," Nudge breathed quietly. "What if he's coming and I'm alone?" Angel's eyes widened in horror at the prospect. She set her jaws and opened her mouth in protest.
"I'll try to!" she whispered fiercely. "I don't want you to mmmph - "
Angel was silenced by Nudge's palm wrapped around her mouth. She didn't struggle - she knew that Nudge had heard something. Something that, hopefully, wasn't him.
Footsteps. That was it: footsteps. There were footsteps in the distance that was getting louder by each step. The pause between each step was substantially long, and one could assume that the person was walking with long strides. Along with those footsteps came the unpleasant sound of someone whistling loudly and tunelessly.
Nudge and Angel exchanged equal looks of terror.
Those were the signs.
It was him.
Nudge closed her eyes and hoped that he wouldn't think of opening the tiny closet. She hoped that he was feeling more complacent than he usually was today and think that those two girls out of the many he bullied daily were so fat they couldn't fit into a closet of that size. But it was all wishful thinking..
The steps got louder and soon stopped in the room. Angel and Nudge were barely breathing.
Please don't find us, please don't find us.
Nudge shot a look at Angel, who had her eyelids squeezed tightly shut. The footsteps got closer and closer to the closet. What would be today's torture? They both were obviously found. It was a wonder he hadn't laughed already.
Then, miraculously, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, Ari Batchelder walked away and out of the room.
Nudge slowly let out her breath, which she hadn't realised was bated. She took care to remain silent though, for for all she could know, he was just waiting outside to pounce on both of them like the prey they were.
Angel shared a look with Nudge.
They were lucky.
Tomorrow would be a different matter.
Zephyr had gone missing. He didn't visit the two of them at eight A. M. on the dot that morning, like he usually did. He didn't go down for breakfast or lunch that afternoon. He was nowhere to be found, and Nudge and Angel had asked everyone they met.
And the thing was that nobody really cared, except for the few whom he took good care of. Mr. Batchelder didn't care at all. All he did was stay in his room. Sometimes he would walk around and look at people. If someone fell in front of him, he wouldn't do anything but to stare and see what happens next. It was as if the children were some kind of experiment and he was the person observing and taking results. In other words, he was useless.
If Zephyr was missing, all the kids Ari terrorised would never be the same again. Zephyr was their beam of support - he stood up against Ari and even got beat up for that, but he always didn't mind. At least, that was what it seemed like.
What if he had gotten sick of defending the helpless? What if he didn't want to get beat up and protect them? What if he had left?
Nudge shook her head, throwing those thoughts out of her mind. She wasn't thinking straight. Nobody had ever left the orphanage ever since Max did. Ever since Mr. Batchelder came in. Ever since Nick changed and wouldn't talk to them anymore.. Ever since Jeff turned bitter and scoffed anyone who tried to talk to him.. Ever since Ari had full reign of the orphanage and could do what he wanted to.. And ever since Zephyr became the big brother they never had..
Nudge was shocked at the number of things that had happened since Max left. Because Max left.
"What are you thinking about?" Angel asked quietly, looking at Nudge with concern. "He's gone," she replied, addressing the look of alarm that Nudge had shot her for talking. Nudge sighed audibly.
"I'm just thinking.. about how much things have changed since Max left." Angel looked at Nudge intently as she reminisced, staring at something that wasn't there. "I've only met her once, a long, long time ago, but.." Nudge paused. "She was nice."
"She doesn't seems so nice for leaving you here," Angel uttered. Nudge gave her a long, searching look.
"Yeah, well, ever since she left, everything tore apart." How is it that someone, a normal person like her, can affect the rest of our lives?
"I wished she had stayed. It would be great for you to meet her."
"Says the person who has only met her once," retorted Angel quietly. Nudge shot her a questioning look.
"What's wrong, honey?" she asked. Angel wasn't usually like that.. she was usually a sweet girl, despite all the hardships she faced as a six-year-old orphan in a dump like this orphanage.
"Nothing." Angel leaned back against the back of the closet. "I just think that if she left, she should've brought you with her." Nudge smiled at what Angel said. That little girl was too sweet for her own good. But, did Max really have the choice of bringing someone along with her? If she could have..
"No.. she should have brought Nick."
"Nick?" Angel crossed her eyebrows and cocked her head. Nudge could guess what the girl was thinking; probably something in the lines of 'That brick wall who mopes around all day and doesn't talk?'
"Yeah, Nick." Nudge sighed and closed her eyes. "He wasn't like before, you know. He was really really nice and fun and talked a lot.. until Max left. No matter what we tried, all anyone could wheedle out of him were one-word answers and that was the day he became what he is now."
Angel was silent for a few seconds, and Nudge had a bad feeling about her lack of speech.
"I hate Max."
Nudge sighed, and wondered if she had done something wrong. She had just added one more person with hatred lodged in her heart to the world.
"Judy, grab your keys. Let's go."
The decision was on the spot - I just snapped once I heard the guys talk about me. Going back to the orphanage would be way better than talking to them about that. I wanted to scream. Sheesh, what was I to them - some kind of toy that they were fighting over? Bloody hell, guys just think they own the freaking world.
"Huh?" Judy's voice brought me out of my momentary mental rant, and she looked confused. She was by the door, and had apparently been conversing with Gazzy before I returned. Before I had a chance to reply, I was interrupted by a suddenly changed eight-year-old.
"Y-you mean, you're going back?" Gazzy looked at me, his eyes full of hope. Then, it got clouded over by a similar look of confusion to Judy's. "But.. huh?"
"Look, do you want me to go or not?" I snapped impatiently.
"Of course!" Gazzy cut in immediately, a smile lighting up his face. "Come on! Mrs. Judy was about to give me a ride!" He happily grabbed my hand, and started pulling me down and out of the door.
Judy stood at the door, staring into the air with a dazed expression on her face, before asking me about the other occupants of the house. It was sad, really - I had been hoping that she would forget about them. Then they'd realise that they were alone in the house and, you know, get a shock or something. Well, too bad that wasn't going to work.
"Leave the door unlocked. Tell them to scram. Whatever. I don't care," I said and threw my head high up into the air and sniffed dismally. I was becoming such a drama queen.
"Really," Judy shook her head, "go up and tell them that we're leaving, Max."
I bit back a retort and wrenched my hand from Gazzy's grasp, not bothering to apologise. Whatever. I didn't want to even look at those three idiots. I rolled my eyes and was about to make a show by storming up the stairs, but was saved the trouble when the three said people appeared beside Judy. For what reason, I did not know, neither did I want to know.
"You were going to leave without us," Nathan accused. He crossed his arms and looked at me with a stern look. No, let me rephrase that: what he thought was a stern look. He just looked constipated.
"Way to go, Mr. Obvious," Terry whispered loudly. "Now she knows that we've been watching h - "
My face darkened considerably. I think it must have been quite obvious, because Terrence began backing away.
"Whoa there, chill, girl," he uttered, his uneasiness becoming more evident with each word. Nathan made the mistake of letting a chuckle escape his mouth.
I turned around and rounded on him. He started backing off immediately.
"Max, can we don't play games right now? I really want you to meet everyone again," Gazzy's small voice interrupted. I halted and turned towards the little boy, who had a pleading look in his eye. My throat constricted at the thought of going back.
What was I thinking? I couldn't make it. I didn't have the courage to look those people whom I've left behind in the eye.
But I had just agreed to go back with Gazzy.. And he's just a small kid.. Too small with too much disappointment in his life. I wasn't going to add on to that.
"Alright, alright," I said grudgingly, and was pleasantly surprised when Gazzy smiled again, skipped over and grabbed my hand in his smaller one and pulled me to Judy's car in the garage.
I was not that pleased when I realised that the Three Musketeers had self-invited themselves to follow us.
I was rather annoyed that Judy had allowed them to do so.
I was angry when Terry started singing Old Mac Donald five minutes into the drive.
I was really angry when everyone joined in, including Gazzy.
But what really pissed me off was when the boys started Fart Bombing in the freaking car. And Judy was actually laughing despite that.
I hung my head out the window, trying to gulp in as much fresh air as I could. It looked like Gazzy had been doing some serious practice. Either that, or he had something really nasty for breakfast.
At least I got to say, "I told you so."
The sudden change in that young boy was so apparent, it amazed Judy.
When she had first seen him, she was so shocked, and rather sad, about the maturity that his face betrayed. Eight-year-olds were supposed to enjoy life, have fun and be happy-go-lucky, but young Zephyr looked and acted more than thrice his age. Not that he looked old, oh no he didn't. But the way he carried himself, the way he looked at and addressed people, the way he spoke!
He had grown up all too soon.. He had grown up when he wasn't supposed to.
And from his tired and mature demeanour, Judy pitied him. She felt for him, and wondered what had gone so wrong it made him like that. She had felt the compulsion to hug that little young boy who was so much more of a man than many others who were so much older.
But then it had all disappeared when he heard Max agreeing to visit the orphanage with his very own ears.
Everything changed. His brilliantly blue eyes lit up and his small, almost-practiced smile was lost in the midst of a full-blown grin. His face crinkled as he started jabbering away about how glad everyone would be to see Max after so long, and the clear sound of his laughter and chatter made him seem like an eight-year-old again. A happy eight-year-old.
The change in him was so shocking and drastic, and it made Judy happy. It made her happy for the fact that he was still capable of being someone his age, no matter what troubles had pursued him.
Choices, Judy thought, as she slowed the car down and stopped before a red light. Her eyes flickered to the rear view mirror as she saw the boys laughing merrily and a hint of a smile on Max's lips as Gazzy instructed them on how to fart properly. It was an interesting skill, that boy had.
Zephyr really seemed like the eight-year-old he was supposed to be right now. He was laughing, smiling and jesting with everyone, and had even come up with several (rather bad, she had to admit) jokes. But it was the effort that counted, after all. He could have just kept quiet and keep to himself but he didn't.
Choices.
Max's choice to return to the orphanage had changed Zephyr so much. Then again, maybe it had been her choice to leave to have a life with Dr. Phil and Judy herself that made that little boy like that in the first place. But it had been Zephyr's choice to return here to look for Max, and if that had never happened, Max would have never dared to make the choice to return to the orphanage.
Every choice is important, for one can be affected so much by just one simple choice. The power of making a decision.. It was so powerful, and yet people threw that power around by making improper choices, maybe for selfish reasons, maybe because they didn't dare to do something.
And that was, really, all that mattered after all. The choice one makes determines their personality, character and direction of life.
And she was grateful towards the little boy who had made her realise that.
Coming soon: Max takes several steps into that place that has been haunting her dreams for the past four years.. and encounters several familiar faces with personalities so different from what she could remember..
