AN: HOLY SHIT HAS ANYONE HEARD THE NEWS?
Max: Uh...no.
Fang: The bird is the word?
Gazzy: That Iggy finally-
Iggy: SHUT UP! YOU PROMISED THAT YOU'D NEVER TELL ANYONE!
Me: Uh. No. Evanescence is coming into MY STATE next month. SO EXCITED. YAYAYAY-
Max: Who's Eva...whatever you just said?
Me: ...you did not just say that.
Fang: Here she goes
Me: HOW DARE YOU! *rants about Ev's greatness*
Max: Oh great now you tell me what she does when I say that!
Fang: I warned you.
Max: Guess its time to look this up on YouTube. What's the worst that could happen?
Angel: What is a 'tourniquet?' mysterywriter made me look up this song and I don't get it. (Tourniquet)
Me: Trouniquet (n.)- an object to stop the bleeding of a severe wound.
Nudge: Oh my GOSH this band completely rocks, but I still prefer Selena Gomez and Justin-
Fang: NEVER say his name around me.
Me: Of all the times I had to be short on cash it had to be now!
Max: What about you-
Me: I'd rather you not speak of that right now. Besides, I've got a plan. You know I'd do anything for this band that you've apparently never heard of.
Iggy: DO WHAT YOU WHAT YOU WANT! (What You Want)
Nudge: COUNTING THE DAYS TO MEET YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE! (The Other Side)
Stacey: SO GO ON AND BREAK...YOUR...WIIIIIIINGS! (End Of The Dream)
*all jam out to new album*
Me: I just realized how loud I put on this music. OH WELL IT ROCKS! On with the story.
Max: Wait!
Me: WHAT?
Max: Why is this one song called 'Bleed' if the word is never mentioned? And why is this one called 'Whisper?' Terrible titles IMO.
Me: *facepalm* Does it MATTER? Just listen to the music.
Max: Oh and not all these songs are by them, some of them are cov-
Me: -covers Max's mouth- Okay, you just need to take five. Sheesh, introduce the flock to a little of my life and look what happens.
Fang: I know what you mean. But I do like this band.
Me: :)
All that I'm living for
All that I'm dying for
All that I can't ignore
Alone at night
- All That I'm Living For, Evanescence
Angel put her iPod on shuffle and turned the volume as loud as it would go, sticking hte headphones as close to the keyhole of the truck as she could. Maybe she was insane by doing this, but if it worked, she could get free. Time ticked by as the song played.
"Get the truck open, someone's in there!" Angel thought she would cry. She was being rescued!
"Sir, we have to open your trunk."
"He's unconscious...drunk driver. Cuff him and bring him to the station for questioning." The trunk flew open and Angel practically leaped out of there, stuff and all. She gasped for air and looked up gratefully at the two policemen at had rescued her.
"Come on, little girl. We'll take you somewhere safe until we find your parent or gaurdian to take you home. That must have been quite the ordeal for you."
Maximum Ride Maximum Ride Maximum Ride
Max hated waiting more than anything. She loved being in action and actually being useful, not sitting here, doing nothing. She growled at Fang every time he did so much as looked at her with that concerned look of his. Over an hour had passed and they still had nothing from Fang's blog. Fang had decided to ask around on his blog for any information, but nobody had a clue where Angel was.
"Max," Fang said tiredly. "Please stop this. You are driving me crazy. There's nothing we can do right now, so just calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Max shrieked at him. "Angel could be hurt, locked up, or dead for all we know! Which is nothing!" She furiously glared at him and snatched up another cookie from the table. Earlier, Fang had explained to Max what really happened between her mother and Jeb, but she had only half listened, focused on her hatred for Jeb that seemed to grow by the day.
"Fine," Fang sighed. "Do what you want, then. I don't care anymore." He turned and walked off. Max ignored him, coming up with several backup plans in case they didn't get any information within the next ten minutes. At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Max sighed and went to go answer it, only to see a police man standing there. Of course, her first reaction was total confusion until she saw who he was with.
"Angel!" Max cried out, smiling at the girl in relief. "Thank God you're safe. Thank you so much for bringing her home." She didn't bother to ask how the stranger had managed to find her mom's house. Right now, that didn't matter. Max led Angel inside and thanked the police officer several more times before finally closing the front door.
"I'm going to take a nap," Angel said in a hollow tone. She went into the living room and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Max went into her mother's bedroom to tell her the good news.
Maximum Ride Maximum Ride Maximum Ride
Gazzy was deeply engrossed in a game of multiplayer Call of Duty with Iggy when Max and Fang came home over two hours later. He barely noticed their arrival, and scarecly aknowleged his sister, who he hadn't seen for almost twenty-four hours.
"Let's celebrate by going out to eat tonight," Max said decisively. "Where do you want to go, Fang?" Her husband shrugged indifferently.
"I think Angel should decide." Gazzy paused his game, suddenly interested in what was going on. There was a brief silence. Angel looked a little tired, but otherwise didn't appear any worse for wear from her kidnapping episode.
"Maybe we could go to a real resturaunt like Red Lobster," Angel said hopefully. Max nodded, as if they had all the money in the world.
"That sounds perfect. Mom made a debit card account for me using a heap load of Jeb's money, so we should be covered for a few years at the least. I'll go ahead and have Fang make us some lunch for now, though. It would make more sense to go to Red Lobster at dinner time. I hope that's fine." Angel shrugged and went up into her room without another word.
"Max, she needs to tell her therapist about what happened," Fang said.
"I know," Max whispered. "But I just want to make her happy for now. Is that too much to ask? She's been through three years of hell. The least I can do is give her three hours of happiness." Gazzy went back to his game and pretended he hadn't heard anything Max had just said, his mind whirring with ideas about a gift for Angel's birthday.
Maximum Ride Maximum Ride Maximum Ride
The days leading up to Angel's birthday were largely uneventful, one of them marked by another therapist visit and another significant by a surprise visit from Nudge and her infant child Bronson, who was growing quite quickly. He was only a few weeks old, but already he could crawl around and recognize his parents by pointing at them and smiling. Then again, he was a mutant bird child like the rest of them (save for Ella, her mother, and Jeb of course.)
On Angel's birthday, everything appeared to be settling down. Angel suffered from intense nightmares and flashbacks, but still had difficulties opening up about them. She had yet to come to terms with her shattered self worth, though. But on a whole, she was healing. Max and Fang woke Angel up early with her favorite breakfast to start of the day, in an attempt to make everything special from the very start.
"So, my little baby's a teenager now," Max said, her eyes misty with memories of strawberry pickings gone wrong and New York adventures.
"I'll always be your baby," Angel said simply. "I don't feel any different than I did yesterday."
"Good," Fang spoke up, causing everyone to laugh. Max and Fang let Angel have some time alone to finish her breakfast. After she was done, they brought out their presents. Max, Fang, and Gazzy had each given her something of their own. Nudge, Iggy, Ella, and Dr. Martinez would be by later to bring their own gifts. They didn't plan on staying, though. Angel carefully tore open the present from Gazzy first. It turned out to be a guitar.
"Gazzy..." She looked at her brother. "I don't know what to say." He bashfully gazed at Angel in reply.
"I just thought you could learn other instruments besides the piano, you know..." His cheeks turned red with embarrasment.
"I love it!" Fang looked down at the guitar. It was pink and it had Angel's name engraved on it. Angel followed Fang's gaze and regarded the color regretfully. "Though I have to tell you, Gazzy, pink isn't my favorite color anymore."
"Well, what is it, then?"
"Black." She opened the next box without further comment on the matter. Fang's gift turned out to be in iTunes gift card. Last but not least, Max ended up giving Angel on dessert recipes. At first, Angel looked up at Max in confusion.
"Look at page ten," she said. Angel did as she was told and saw a recipe for strawberry shortcake. "You wanted to go strawberry picking." Angel stared at Max, coming to a revelation that she had never thought of before about that day.
"You really would have done anything for me."
"Correction: I really would do anything for you."
By the end of the day, Angel was so exhausted she didn't even have the time to practice any new songs for the piano. So she decided to stumble into bed and suffer through any possible nightmares. Fortunately, her exhaustion was so complete that she slept peacefully throughout the whole night.
AN: Sorry I had to cut it off there. Things got a little crazy the other day when my whole hard drive got wiped off, thus the delay on certain stories. Anyway...the first AN was basically my internal initial reaction of the news I had gotten via la internet last night. I might not go, but wish me luck on getting the tickets anyway!
