Me: Heya!
Fang: She is alive, and so am I...
Me: Just barely...
Fang: We've had a bad case of the flu...
Me: I had it worse... I get the coughs worse...
Fang: Yeah, but I sneeze more!
Me: Not in the first week of it...
Fang: No, but as a general rule...
Me: Yeah, yeah... Our point is that we're alive and sorry...
Fang: Once again, I wouldn't let her on to update...
Me: And mum wouldn't even let Fang on either...
Fang: And it was holidays, so no school access to update from there...
Me: Oh, that reminds me! I want to wish a very (late) happy birthday to Miss Actressa1! She had her birthday last month-ish and I wanted to acknowledge that!
Fang: And happy (also very late) Easter!
Me: But without further ado, the latest chapter of my story!
Fang: Are you nice to us this time?
Me: Do you remember the cliffy from last time?
Fang: ... Where Max's legs were sliced open?
Me: Yep! Don't worry if you don't, we have a minor recap thing at the start so you can remember...
Fang: Do we find out who did that?
Me: You'll just have to wait and see...
Chapter 26
Fang POV
"Sounds good to me," I said to Max, standing up and lightly tugged the doona with me. My smile fell as I noticed her legs; they had two long, bleeding, marks down them. "WHAT THE HELL?" I shouted at her. I watched as her face grew sombre and her jaw went stiff. Well, she wasn't expecting that, I don't think.
I hadn't meant to be so forward and harsh with that, but I couldn't stand to think that this had happened overnight, while I was watching out for her. That someone had hurt her like this with me so near her. I suddenly felt so guilty. But I was somewhat relived when I realised that she wasn't going stiff from me, but from the slices. Not even taking that into account, I was still fuming, waiting for a name to match this up to. Because as soon as I knew, they would be in a world of pain. More than Max was in and more than I should put any one person in, ever.
"ANGE-EL!" she screamed. A nervous faced Angel ran in, puffing and anxious to get something across to us. Well, this looked as if it would end well.
"I know, listen, I can explain," Ange reasoned. I looked at Max, both of us waiting for an answer to Angel's request. She already knew what Max and I needed to hear. And, hopefully, she knew how to tell us. If not, this was going to be very difficult. For all of us.
"You have exactly sixty seconds." Max was tensing up. I saw her fists tighten, much like they had yesterday until they split again. I grabbed her hands so they wouldn't split again. If they did, I didn't think that her system would handle it.
"Okay, so when I'm asleep, I can't read people's minds, so I can't prepare for a change of someone's mind and warn you. But I know who did this, why and when." All I'd really gotten out of that was that she knew what had happened to Max's legs. And I wasn't going to stop listening to her until I did too.
"Well?" Max asked. Clearly she was getting frustrated. First the Voice and now her legs? It was putting her under a lot more unnecessary stress.
"Dylan, to provoke Fang, while you were having the nightmare." I was so gonna kill him! Oh, just wait until he shows his face around here next time, and he'll wish that he was never cloned.
"But, I was listening for him," I reasoned. "I knew something bad would happen to Max, like a nightmare, which did! How did I miss that?"
"Nudge fell out of bed, didn't she?" Angel said to me, as I nodded. "He timed it perfectly; she's been doing at the same time every night for weeks. He took advantage of her falling out, and opened Max's window," she said pointing to the unlocked window. "That's what we were doing out there, I could tell something wasn't right, someone else had been here. So we inspected."
"And found?" Max perked up.
"A knife mark on the curtain and the glass with blood in them both. We think he may have used it to slice your legs." At that point in time, I felt like saying 'No freakin' duh!', but I thought better of it. After all, she was only seven, give or take. I looked at Max, who now had the sheet torn in two and wrapped around her legs. One half on each cut, which allowed the blood to be stopped, well... Slowed? She was tying furiously, trying to get the circulation cut, but not fully... That would be bad... No legs, ouch. I wondered what she would do if they spontaneously fell off...
"What will your mother say?" I joked as something to take her mind off it. I wanted a laugh or smile; I got a cold stone glare.
"Shut-up, I don't have much choice, now do I?" she snapped. I wasn't intending on pissing her off, but it seemed that I'd done a fairly good job. I looked closer to see just how much freaking blood she'd lost. The floor she was standing on had an entire puddle of blood from her legs, just by sitting there. Without even moving all that much. Just from simply sitting on her bed trying to tie up her own legs and then standing up.
"Shit!" I muttered under my breath. I ran downstairs and snatched up the phone, before someone came after me, crashing into me, dropping us both to the floor. I caught them, landing on my back with whomever it was laying on top of me, before I saw it was Max.
"Don't," she said. "Don't get my mum involved. She'll just worry."I looked up at her face; she was as pale as a ghost. The sheets were a bright crimson red from blood.
"Fine," I said, putting the handset down, "but go lay down. I'll bring in the first aid kit."
"Kay," she agreed, stumbling up the stairs and almost falling back down them, before I caught her, again. I hoped she would be able to walk again soon, because she would get bitchy real fast if she had to rely on the rest of us all the time.
She looked up at me, and stretched her arms, in the universal Max sign for 'Carry me!' So, instead of arguing with her, I scooped her up bridal style and carried her into her room. I placed my hand under her head as I rested her down on the bed. I know she wasn't a baby, but she was that valuable to me that I wouldn't let her be hurt by the slightest bump, not on my watch, anyway. "Thanks," she mumbled. I walked swiftly and silently into the bathroom. I opened the cupboard and lugged out the large, plastic box. I rummaged through the container until I found what I needed, bandages and gauze. I went to close the cupboard door, when I heard a piercing scream. Coming from downstairs. Never a good sign. Especially not when the kids were downstairs. And neither Max nor I were with them. So I knew I wouldn't be the only one worried about what the hell was going on down there.
Me: So?
Fang: ...
Me: Why?
Fang: Because I didn't even notice it...
Jazzy: You guys done here?
Me: Oh hey! Everyone, this is Jasmine, my best friend. Jasmine, everyone.
Jazzy: Hey everyone!
Me: Okay, bye now!
Jazzy: But, but, but...
Me: OUT!
Jazzy: Okay...
Me: Well, I just wanted to mention that this Friday is my BIRTHDAY!
Fang: Let's see how many people remember!
Me: If I get more than five birthday reviews/PMs with the subject 'SURPRISE' I'll update... How's that?
Fang: Oh, and another reason we didn't update...
Me: I was riding my motorbike with my cousin when the bike slipped and landed on top of me... In the process, the foot pedal caught my ankle and has bruised the bone. I still can't fully walk, even though it as two weeks ago...
Fang: So we couldn't get to the computer...
Me: I couldn't, you were just lazy!
PLQ winner: blueberryoreo
PLQ: What would be the best birthday present you could get/give?
RR&A!