Silence – Chapter 21
By MyNameIsCAL
-Max's POV-
We sat in front of my computer, Fang plugging the flash drive in. Gazzy was with us, insisting he see it, but Nudge opted out of watching and Iggy, well, he knew she was still upset about things.
Fang turned to me, his eyes meeting mine and I nodded. His attention turned back to the computer, clicking on the one file on the flash drive. A video screen popped up and Fang leaned against the desk, as if bracing himself.
"It's like, five minutes long, isn't it?" Gazzy asked. "They drag him into this dark room, strap him to a table, and demand to know where he thinks you are, but he doesn't talk, so they start to hurt him, and…"
Fang held up his hand and Gazzy fell silent. As Gazzy said, the time read about five minutes, a grainy image of Fang being dragged in, his nose already bleeding as they strapped him onto a table.
"TELL ME WHERE MAX IS!" A voice demanded, sounded scrambled.
The Fang on the screen just stared blankly at the camera. There was a sound of something opening, maybe a drawer, and a man dressed in all black appeared on the screen. He ripped Fang's shirt off, pressing it against his chest.
"I'll give you one last chance."
Fang still continued to stare and the man in black slid the knife across his chest. Blood began to drip down, running down his torso.
"Tell me or worse will be done."
Again, Fang was persistent, not speaking.
"Okay, let's try something else."
The man in black disappeared off screen and returned, appearing with a longer knife.
"We don't want to hurt him, just cause a little pain."
I flinched as the man drove the knife through Fangs arm. It looked like he was trying to resist his reaction to scream.
"Nothing still? Again!"
The man brought another knife, sliding it across Fang's stomach before driving it into his shoulder.
I glanced at Fang. His eyes were glued to the screen, giving nothing away about how he felt.
"This is the part that Angel couldn't stop having nightmares about," Gazzy muttered. "It was the reason I thought you were dead…"
Fang closed his eyes.
"No answer. Okay, beat him up!"
The man in black started to punch Fang, over and over again. After a while, Fang went limp.
"Max, cover your eyes…" Gazzy's voice seemed choked up all of a sudden.
"What?"
"All that blood…"
And then the man in black stabbed Fang in the middle of the chest, blood gushing out, spurting out. I shut my eyes and Fang's arm came around me as I shook against him.
"How did…how did you survive that, Fang? Tell me?" Gazzy shook his head.
Fang let out a breath, his other hand reaching for a piece of paper.
I don't know. I passed out after that, but when I woke up, Iggy and Nudge said I had been gone for what seemed like forever. They must have done something to me. Someone decided I needed to be kept alive. Fang put his hand to his chest.
Gazzy scratched his head, standing abruptly, as most of his movement went these days. He took a few slow steps towards the door before turning to face us again.
"I wish this were all some kind of bad dream." And then he was gone, running down the hall.
Fang shut off my computer, pocketing the flash drive before pulling me into a hug.
It was late and I had let Fang run off to fly. Lately, we hadn't done much of it because I knew it would upset Gazzy. Ever since we watched that video, Gazzy kept to himself, eating meals with us, spending time with us only when we asked him to. But he left his door open, to prove to us he was okay with being alone.
I sat on the bed, staring at the flash drive that Fang had left on his bedside table. The clock said it was almost midnight, and every now and then I would catch Fang's shadow in the distance, still flying, like he did it just to tell me he was okay. I closed my eyes, trying not to let images of the video take up my thoughts.
"Nudge, please….please don't cry." I could hear Iggy talking through the wall. "He'll be alright. He just needs time."
"But you can't see him, Ig. You look into his eyes and there's nothing, no emotion. It's not like Fang where you can see his pain, his sadness, or the anger in your eyes when you get frustrated…there's nothing!"
"You think this is easy for me, Nudge? My whole life I haven't been able to see anything! You know how many times I wished I was dead when we were stuck with those stupid scientists?" Iggy's voice cracked. "Nudge, if it weren't for you, I woulda let myself get killed in those fucking flames."
I got out of my bed and went to the hallway, standing outside of Iggy's door.
"Ig…I'm sorry…" Nudge sounded like a little kid again, crying.
"Goddamnit, Nudge, you know I love you." It sounded like he was crying too. "I don't want to fight with you. We made it this far…I'm sorry I can't see everything you see, and you know, I'll never be able to…"
"Iggy, I love you too…"
I took my hand off the doorknob, deciding that they no longer sounded like they needed an intervention. After seeing Gazzy was asleep in his room, I crawled back into my bed, finding Fang's shadow in the sky, still doing circles in the distance.
It didn't take long for me to doze off, but the running water in the bathroom woke me. Out the window I couldn't see Fang's shadow anymore. The shower turned off and he came out, just wearing boxers.
He looked embarrassed.
Before he could cross the room to get clothes out of the dresser, I grabbed him by the hand, pulling him into a sitting position on the bed. I touched his arm where had a scar from what I had seen in the video. And then there were the old scars, ones from a long time ago, back when Ari had been against us, when he had slashed Fang, making three very distinct claw marks. Those seemed like the good ol' days compared to now.
I put my hand flat against the center of his chest, a jagged looking scar from the stab wound that should have killed him. Fang put his hand over mine and took in a breath, inhaling and then exhaling.
"How could anyone be so cruel?" I asked, seeing the other scars from other things that weren't in the video.
Fang shook his head.
"C'mon, let's go to sleep," I whispered.
And we climbed under the blankets, his arms wrapped around me as I let the rhythm of his heart put me to sleep.