Cheating Death – Chapter 2

By MyNameIsCAL

---Fang's POV---

Crying. I was tired of crying. Every morning was like this. Max didn't even know why I was really crying as she pulled me into an embrace, stroking my hair, whispering that it was going to be okay. I didn't like feeling like this. It made her sad too to see me like this. Max knew I was having dreams about them dying, but she didn't know that the dreams would come true if I didn't stop them from happening. I often used my nightmares to keep us from going to those places. It wasn't exactly lying, but it wasn't admitting the whole truth either.

I pulled myself together after a while, with Max's help. We lay in bed as Max told me what we were doing today.

"I don't want to go out," I muttered. The only reason I really said that was to stop what I had just dreamed of from happening.

She let out a sigh. "Well, we have to go to over to Gazzy's for dinner."

"Alright," I agreed. As far as I concluded, being home, or at someone else's home, was the safest place to be.

Max kissed me on the cheek before getting out of bed. "I'll go heat up some leftover pizza for breakfast. Is that ok?"

I looked up at her. "That sounds perfect."

Gazzy opened the door, looking more tired than me.

"Hey, how are you?" Max asked, giving him a brief hug.

He shrugged. "Nothing new, really. Iggy and Nudge are in the kitchen."

They made their way into the kitchen as I ducked into Angel's room.

Fang, why are you in here? Angel hadn't talked to me all day.

"Because you haven't said anything to me all day," I replied.

Well, I thought since you've evaded today's danger that you'd want to enjoy the rest of the day without me bothering you, she responded.

I sat down in the chair in the corner of the room, watching the blips on Angel's monitoring systems.

C'mon, Fang. Go eat, go enjoy yourself, Angel urged. I mean, if you really need to talk, you don't have to be in here.

I'm tired of this, I thought back as I heard footsteps come down the hall.

It's only going to get harder, Angel almost seemed to be sighing.

The door opened and Iggy came in.

"Talking to yourself again?" he tried to joke. When I didn't reply with a comeback or a laugh, he closed the door behind him. "Since when are you the one to fall apart over something like this, Fang?"

"What makes you say I'm falling apart," I hissed.

Iggy hesitated. "Max says you wake up crying every morning. I think the rest of us ought to be concerned about that."

"Concerned about me? Gazzy doesn't even leave the house!"

I was waiting for Angel to intervene in my head, but she didn't.

"I just wanted to try and help," Iggy said after a while.

"I wish you could."

"Well," Iggy shifted his weight. "Come to the kitchen now before Max begins to worry more."

Iggy and Nudge's wedding plans began to resume. Max and I tried to busy ourselves with that. There were certain things that would never put us in danger. Anywhere we went that had to do with the wedding, I never had vision or dreams about them. It was strange. I asked Angel why once and she said she didn't know.

Maybe it's because they're supposed to get married. Things are supposed to work out like that, she had answered. I don't know, really.

Home and wedding planning. Things I wouldn't have to worry too much about. That was somewhat comforting, I guess. Much to Gazzy's dismay, we were getting fitted for our tuxes today.

"I don't want to go," Gazzy protested when we picked him up.

"You're my best man. You need a tux," Iggy reminded him.

"You can't even see," Gazzy grumbled.

Nudge let out a laugh and covered her mouth quickly.

Iggy let out a sigh and Max began to drive. Between all of us, we had one car we shared. It got used when we all needed to go somewhere without causing too much attention. The weather was bad today too. The last thing I wanted to happen was one of us to get struck by lightning.

The car ride was silent the rest of the way there.

PAGE BREAK!

Max got into bed next to me. I rolled on my side to face her.

"What's on your mind?" I whispered, leaning over to kiss her.

She kissed me back, slowly, before pulling away. "Well, I was worrying about you."

"You really shouldn't." I turned off the light and pulled her towards me.

Max rested against me. "And I'm worried about Gazzy."

"You wouldn't be the only one."

"Your nightmares," Max changed the subject. "Tell me about them."

I closed my eyes. "There's not much to tell about them."

"Why do you let them bother you so much?"

It was so tempting to just spill the truth to Max, but Angel stopped me.

Don't, she whispered in my ear. She knows enough already. The time will come to tell her, eventually.

She doesn't know anything, I answered back in my head.

She knows your nightmares seem so real to you that it makes you wake up in tears, Fang, she responded. It gives you a reason to keep her from doing those things. Isn't that enough for now?

I replied to Max now. "Because they seem so real."

She could sense the unease in my voice now, so our conversation switched back to Gazzy. "Do you think he'll ever, I don't how to put it, get over Angel?"

No. He never would, not as long as Angel was still on life support and channeling herself through me. Of course, I wouldn't say that to Max. "I think he's just hoping that the doctor is wrong, that Angel might just wake up and be ok one day."

"I guess so," she agreed.

Thanks for reading!