Cheating Death – Chapter 10

By MyNameIsCAL

We all gathered at the hospital the next day, minus Gazzy. Mom had always been a fighter, and maybe that's where Max got it from. There were no tears to cry that morning. We all went into Ella's room, telling her things were going to be okay, that she'd be back before she knew it. This wasn't goodbye, Mom had told us before we went in.

Iggy looked like he was going to cry, but I knew he wouldn't let himself. Not in front of us. Nudge seemed less skeptical today, and as they walked out of Ella's room, he took her hand.

"Thanks…for…coming," Ella managed to croak.

Max gave her a smile. "Of course."

She squeezed Ella's hand and then left Mom with her. We waited outside in the hallway and the nurses pushed her out of the room. The next three hours would be the longest three hours of our lives.

"Fang, wake up."

I opened my eyes and lifted my head from Max's shoulder. Looking around the room, everyone still seemed to be as they were before Ella went into surgery.

"She's coming out of surgery now," Max whispered, answering my question.

That was a relief to hear.

"We won't all be able to see her," Max went on. "We'll come back in the morning, probably."

I nodded.

We watched the hallway, waiting. Then through the doors, we finally saw her being pushed back to her room. Mom stood and we watched. I suddenly felt lightheaded…

It was dark. The only light came through the window from the moon. I lay on the floor, my leg bent in a funny position. I couldn't walk. I didn't even have the strength to push myself up.

"Fang!" I heard screaming from the next room. "Fang!"

I was somewhere, in front of the TV. At first, I thought it was my hose, but then it wasn't. Looking back at the window, it was broken. There were shards of glass around me.

"FANG!" It was Max, screaming for me.

I dragged myself in her direction, ignoring the pain from both my legs. And then, there was a gunshot…

"Fang!" Nudge smacked me in the arm and I opened my eyes.

Max was no longer next to me. I looked around.

"She's in Ella's room," Nudge muttered. "What did you see?"

I closed my eyes. "I saw myself somewhere in the dark, sprawled on the floor, and then there was a gunshot."

"At your house?"

I shook my head. "No, our houses are supposed to be safe."

"You didn't recognize the place?"

"No," I shook my head again.

Max came out of the room, walking towards us slowly.

"Alright, let's go home now."

We filed out of the hospital, taking off in a different direction from Nudge and Iggy. I wondered if I should be afraid of the dark now.

I laid awake, staring at the ceiling, wishing I could sleep for once.

Fang, I think for once, I'm actually going to tell you to brace yourself. Angel's voice scared me and I almost jumped.

"Brace myself for what?"

For this…..

I was at the same place again, except this time, my legs seemed to be okay. In the light, it looked familiar. Then I remembered. This was Mom's house.

"Fang?" My name wasn't be screamed this time as Max entered through the door. We were in Mom's kitchen.

"Yeah?" I said, turning to her.

Without warning, there was a roar of an engine and I felt myself go flying, hitting the wall.

"Max!" I shouted.

There was no answer.

I tried to get up, but again, I couldn't. My entire body felt broken. I couldn't even move my hand.

"Fang!"

I looked up to see Ella stumbling towards me, her hand over her stomach, blood staining her shirt.

"Fang…" she dropped to the floor.

"Ella…" I managed to say.

"Max…Max…" And then her head went limp…

"FANG!"

I opened my eyes. Max was kneeling over me, her hands on my shoulders. When she asked me what was wrong, I shook her off and got back into bed. This was getting worse.

You have to see the others tomorrow, without Max, Angel told me.

The next day, we congregated at Gazzy's house when Nudge went by herself to visit Ella. We had to do something about this.

"They can't go home," I said, flexing my fingers, glad I could use them. "They'll be in danger."

"But why were you and Max there?" Gazzy asked, still in his pajamas, his hair sticking in fifty different directions.

"I don't know," I said, trying to remember if I had seen the reason.

"Alright, so maybe if you and Max don't go there, then that won't happen," Nudge suggested.

I shook my head. "Maybe Mom and Ella need to stay with one of us."

Iggy closed his eyes. He didn't like that idea and I knew it was because he didn't want to have to deal with Ella and Mom.

"Even if they did, how are we going to convince them…and convince Max?" Nudge questioned.

Too many problems. I felt like my head was going to explode.

"We have to give them a reason not to go home," I said. "I don't know how though."

"One of us could break into their house," Gazzy offered. "Max wouldn't want them to be by themselves after that."

"It'll give Max a reason to be at the house," I said, finding a loophole in his plan.

He sighed.

"What if we bombed the place?" Iggy asked.

Nudge shook her head. "How could you even think about doing something…"

I held up my hand to silence her. "No, that might work."

So, desperate times call for desperate measures? I think so. I'll be back on Saturday from my five day trip. Be sure to check back for updates after that!