Disclaimer: i own ideas only.
Chapter 4
I sauntered down the stairs, rubbing the towel on my head. I had bathed and put on a pair of jeans over my boxers, since there were people i.e. cops in the house. I didn't bother wearing a shirt, because my hair was wet, and I was too lazy to put one on.
As I approached the living room, I heard the officer reprimanding Max. I felt even guiltier. I entered the room with the towel on my shoulders. At the same time, the front door opened. Cold air blew into the house. I guess I should have gotten a shirt.
"Officer Breda," a voice said. A tall man with short spiky black hair stood at the door in a raincoat.
"Is everything alright?" he continued.
"Yes Sergeant Fury," he replied standing at attention. "Everything seems to be in order, besides this little girl's way of thinking."
"She's 10," I protested.
The rest of the room realized I was there for the first time. The Sergeant's eyes widened.
"You're that kid!" he exclaimed. I took a step back cautiously.
"You saved my butt last year!" he continued. I frowned at him as Officer Breda stared at me, mouth agape.
Sergeant Fury looked at his Officer. "This is the boy who helped us to capture than man, Mr. Kine." Officer Breda looked at me with new found respect.
Max and I looked confused.
"Delighted to meet you," he said. He reached out to shake my hand. I stared at it, then looked back at him. He drew his hand back in slowly, playing with his knuckles.
"Sorry about him," Max said to the policemen.
"What did you do?" she whispered to me.
I shrugged.
"YOU don't remember?" Sergeant Fury asked. "You beat up that guy, stole his lunch, then ran for your life when you saw me."
Max looked at me.
"He was so bruised afterwards, we had no trouble taking him into custody," he continued.
Suddenly I remembered. "I didn't beat him up to help you. I didn't even know you were there. He stole my lunch. And I was hungry." I folded my arms defensively.
The policemen laughed. "What's your name son?" they asked.
I tried out my new name. "Nicholas Ride."
"And you, little feisty miss?" Officer Breda asked Max.
"Maxine Ride," I said.
Max elbowed me. "I prefer Max."
"Well. Max, you're still not off the hook for locking your brother outside," Officer Breda began.
"On the contrary," Sergeant Fury interrupted. "I still haven't thanked Nicholas for his services to the Force. I think this would be an excellent way to do so, don't you?"
Officer Breda was at a loss for words. Sergeant Fury winked at us. Max jumped up and down elatedly, I don't do stuff like that; I'm cool.
"S-sure, sir," Officer Breda said at last.
"So this whole thing never happened?" Max asked. "It's like it was erased from our brains?"
"I told you her thought processes were weird," Officer Breda whispered to Sergeant Fury.
"Yes," Sergeant Fury replied.
"Thank you," Max told them.
"You're welcome," Sergeant Fury said. "But don't do that again, understand?"
"Yes," she said meekly.
The police-men left and we heard a car drive away.
Max turned to me "We're off the hook!"
Then she saw my expression of pure rage. Max found a sudden interest in her bare feet. "Sorry" she said softly. "Are you ok?"
I shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. The action made one of the whip-cuts on my chest reopen. Great… it was the biggest one too. The one I had gotten when she used the barbed whip. The cut started at my right shoulder and kept a steady line to my navel. Blood spattered the floor. Max looked up at me, visibly scared.
"Max," I called, as she headed towards the phone, "I'm -." I was cut off by a shock of pain that made me double over.
"Hello, North Arizona Hospital?" Max said into the phone. I blocked out the rest, slowly lying down on the floor and putting my hands on the areas on the cuts that were bleeding the most. Max leapt over me to get Ari.
"They'll be here any minute," Max reassured me, "just hold on!" Soon she came back down-stairs with a somewhat sleepy Ari in her hands. She wrote a hasty note to her parents just in case they got home before the hospital got a hold of them.
Soon we heard sirens outside and a knock on the door. She put Ari down beside me and went to answer it. I think I must have blacked out after that because the next thing I knew, I was in a white, well-lit room. I tried to sit up to get a better look around. A hand made me stop suddenly. I looked frantically for its owner.
"Calm down, Fang," Max said, "If you sit up you'll start to bleed again."
"Did they give me stitches?" I asked, feeling dazed. Max nodded.
"Where are your rents?" I asked.
Max looked surprised but stepped to one side as her mom came beside her. She looked a little more confident than her daughter but still very scared.
"Dr. R…" I started.
"Mom," she said.
I continued as if she hadn't said anything.
"How much was the surgery?" I asked.
She looked taken aback. Max frowned.
"I wanna pay it back," I continued.
Dr. Ride paused, then launched into a spiel about how I was her son, and I didn't need to repay her, etc. etc. I caught Max's eye.
'I'll help you,' she mouthed with a wink.
I sighed, were all the Rides like this?
"Nicholas Ride…" Max's mom huffed.
"Yes, mom?" I asked innocently, she looked startled and lost whatever scolding she was going to give me.
"Nicholas Ride…?" a male voiced called from the door .
"Present and breathing," I responded dryly. Max was trying hard not to crack up.
"Yes, well," the man continued, looking amused at my dry humor. He had orange spiky hair and small brown eyes. "We have completed surgery and you are 100% healthy." Then he frowned, "However, if you don't consider it as prying, the hospital would like to know how you got these cuts." He glanced uneasily at Max's mom.
"It wasn't her," I said quickly. The doctor turned his attention back to me.
"What?" he asked.
"She didn't do it," I clarified. "I got these from an orphanage. She adopted me afterwards."
"Is this true ma'am?" the doctor asked Dr. Ride.
She nodded mutely, staring at me.
"And how did they get there? What instrument did they come from?"
"A whip," I said slowly, frowning. What did they look like they came from?
Dr. Ride and the doctor frowned. Max looked at me sadly, as she had when I'd told her before.
"I got them for being 'disobedient'," I added, using air quotes.
An assistant came to the door. "Is a Dr. Ride here?"
Dr. Ride looked up. "That's me."
"We need you in the Administrative section to take care of some business."
"Ok," Dr. Ride said to her. "I'll be right back," she said to us.
She left.
"Is it just me or did that sound like don't move," Max said.
"Like I could, " I replied.
I turned to the doctor, who was checking some confusing-looking charts at the foot of my bed. "So," I said. "How much did that surgery cost?"
"It was relatively cheap," he replied. "Say, $5500."
Max and I looked at each other.
"Why do you ask?" the doctor continued.
"Oh, no reason," I replied nonchalantly.
"You can't pay it back," the doctor said. "No matter how hard you try. You'll have school this August."
"It's only the end of May," Max countered.
The doctor shrugged. "Suit yourself. Your mom will be back shortly." He left.
"We can do it," Max said to me.
"We?" I asked raising an eyebrow at her. Since when was she involved?
"It is partially my fault. And there is no way you'll earn $5500 by yourself in a month."
"But who's gonna take care of Ari?" I asked.
"I didn't even think about that," Max said, shocked. I sighed, silly girl. We both frowned. That would be a problem.
"We can't pay for a babysitter cuz we don't have enough money as it is," Max said.
"And he's not old enough to stay at home by himself," I added.
"I know!" Max suddenly said. "I can ask my best friend Ella! She loves kids, and Ari likes and knows her. And she won't ask for any pay either."
"Nice," I said with a smile.
"So, $2250 each," I calculated.
"In a month and a half," Max added.
"Where could we earn that much money?" I asked. Max put her finger to her lips and pointed to the door. I shut up immediately. Her mom was coming back.
Dr. Ride poked her head in the door.
"They said that you need to stay and rest until tomorrow, Nick. But for now, visiting hours are over," she said to both of us. "We'll be back tomorrow. Come on Max."
"Coming," Max said. "I'll start looking," she told me.
"Looking for what?" Dr. Ride asked.
"For…a book for him to read," Max lied smoothly. "Or something. He's gonna get bored in here. Could we come and drop it off later so he won't be bored tonight?"
"We'll see," Dr. Ride said. "Bye Nick."
"Bye," I said.
"Yeah, bye," Max said, with a wink. The door closed behind them.
I gotta admit, that girl really knew how to lie. I guess that's what you get from growing up in an orphanage like St. Helen's.
I got bored an put ing a bunch of ramdom characters. Like Dr.#1 = Ichigo and Dr.#2 = Keigo. Also Fury and Breada from FMA.
Hope u liked.
-S