I'm back! Yes, the plan of working on one story at a time is in motion. So I have to write an epilogue for My Torturer Back Again then I'm working on this story until I finish it, then working on If Only I Was Normal. I will update my Hunger Games story while I update these stories, so if you like Hunger Games, please check it out, review, help it out please! I need reviews for that story!

Anyhoo, here's the twelfth chapter of Songs From The Trees!

I whipped around, my hair fanning out around me. In seconds I was at the side of the bed, kneeling and stroking the now awake girl's hair, whispering that I was sorry, that I would always watch her now.

"It's alright, Max," Angel whispered, straining to keep her eyes open. It was obvious that she was very weak. There was no way she would he released from the hospital anytime soon. That's just for the incident at school, the doctors will more than likely want to cure her fractures, breaks, cuts, and bruises, and that will take much longer.

"No, no it's not. I didn't protect you and you almost... you almost died, Angel," I said urgently. She needed to understand how much I messed up. This was my fault. This entire mess happened because I didn't watch over her carefully. I almost killed Angel.

Angel set her jaw. "Max," She began. "This is not your fault. If anything it's mine. I don't think we need to blame anyone besides Jeb and Valencia. Max, if you want to give yourself blame, blame yourself for saving me. It's because of you I'm alive." The speech had obviously taken a lot out of her, and she rested her head back on the pillow and whispered, "How long was I out?"

"A couple of days," I responded. "And you definitely missed a lot."

"Just skip to the important parts," She ordered, her eyes looking interested, pain still buried deep in them.

"Well, Fang is letting us live with him. The hard part about this will be moving our things from our house to his," I began, pondering the idea of giving her all of the gruesome details of the events that passed while she was out. I decided it would be a better idea not to, she is only ten.

"Really?" She exclaimed, her excitement propelling her to sit up. She winced, but she was sitting straight with no support from the pillows.

"Really," I told her, a smile overtaking my face. It quickly spread to Angel who reached out and hugged me, which I gratefully returned. That has been something I've been missing. Angel's hugs.

"Anything else?" She asked excitedly, obviously wanting more good news.

Too bad I didn't have any. All I had left was Jeb and Valencia being the awful people they are, multiple doctors questioning the scars, and me almost being raped. I don't think Angel will appreciate that news, so I decided to keep it to myself for now.

"No, not really," I answered, biting my lip. I hated keeping things from her, but it was for the best. For now.

Her eyes then looked past me, and I remembered that Fang was most likely still behind me, although he has the ability to slip away without me noticing, I doubt he would.

I turned to see Fang standing there, and Angel gave him the biggest grin ever, and she said, "Thank you so much!"

I was surprised to see him smile back, and say, "No problem."

I waved him over, closer to the bed. "C'mon, there's more room over here!"

He didn't answer, just obeyed, and Angel immediately used her last bits of strength to lean forward and hug him. I smiled as he returned the hug.

Our lovely moment was interrupted by a nurse entering the room, looking at her clipboard with eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

She didn't look up until Angel said cheerily, "Hi miss!"

The woman-her name tag read Tara- looked up abruptly, startled. "You're awake?"

We all nodded.

"Great! I'll get Dr. Ter Borcht!" She exclaimed and left the room, much to my dismay.

I wasn't a big fan of the doctor. He was a large, annoying, selfish, uncaring man, who obviously couldn't care less about this hospital or its patients.

He entered the room, sauntering at an easy, comfortable pace. I glared as he glanced over at us.

"So da girl is awake?" He questioned Tara, completely ignoring us. Fang's face went from emotionless to disgusted. He immediately took a disliking to the doctor like I did. I could tell by his face and the way he protectively scooted in front of Angel and I.

"How is that man a doctor?" Fang muttered under his breath, and I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or himself.

I decided to answer anyways. "I honestly do not know."

"Ve vill need to run some tests," Ter Borcht announced loudly, obnoxiously. It took all of my willpower to not scream at him, or walk out of the room and slam the door as loud as I could.

Angel looked at me uncertainly. "I think we'll be alright without the tests, I'm okay," She said, biting her lip nervously. It was then I realized that she wasn't scared of being hurt in the tests, she was scared of being found out during the tests.

My heart fell slightly. I'm still surprised that her fear and awareness of what's happening is so advanced. She's shown me before, but I've never fully grasped the idea. I've always brushed it off and told myself that she's still innocent. Now it's time to face the awful truth.

I can't protect her from reality. Belts, fists, knives, I can easily save her from those, but words, the truth, I can't use myself as a shield for that. She has ears, she can use her brain, she knows that the world is a cruel place, not kind enough to show children some respect.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, wanting to burst out into tears again, but knowing that I couldn't. I need to be strong. I need to be sturdy.

"You are da patient but you do not get to decide," Ter Borcht announced loudly, tapping on the nurse's shoulder and ordering her to pull the bed to some room where they could perform the said tests.

Tara nodded and came to take Angel's bed. In a second I was in front of the bed, setting my jaw, a steel glint in my eyes.

Tara stopped dead. I'm guessing nobody has ever refused a doctor's orders before. Well, there's a first for everything, isn't there?

Ter Borcht snorted and I caught him rolling his eyes. "Fine, you do not want da tests, I will take them later." With that he strode from the room, probably to go pick a fight with somebody.

Fang stared out the door, the disgusted look still present on his face. He obviously dislike that man as much as I did, which is a lot, if you were wondering.

"Fang?" I asked quietly after a while, "I thought you had to go."

A look of pure stupidity came across his face and he slapped himself. "Yeah, I had to meet Omega somewhere."

I'm sure he noticed how I gritted my teeth and bit my tongue when Omega was mentioned-Omega being one of the popular crowd-but he chose not to mention it.

"Well, go then," I encouraged, sweeping my hands as if I were helping him scoot off of his chair.

"Nah, he'll be fine. I'm already an hour late anyways, doesn't really matter," Fang waved it off, settling into the plastic chair, giving me a rare smile.

I returned it, then turned towards Angel. "I think I'm going to try to get some of our stuff packed up," I told her, "Fang will stay here with you, so you won't have any tests done."

I looked at Fang with a questioning gaze to see if he was okay with that. He nodded, giving me the okay, so I quickly grabbed my hoodie and strode out of the room, wanting to get it done so I could get back as quickly as possible.

I jogged home, ignoring the pain in my stomach every time I went too fast. Honestly, I was in the best condition I've been in years. With all of the time I've spent at the hospital, Valencia and Jeb have had no time to beat me, and my body has had time to heal. Another good part of this awful situation was that the cafeteria of the hospital was kind enough to give me free food. I'm pretty sure it was because either the head doctor Anne said something to them, or they knew that my sister was a ten year old in a coma.

So I've been well fed for a few days, too, giving me a chance to gain a few badly needed pounds. I felt healthier than I have in forever, and the healthiness seemed to make me giddy. Well, as giddy as an abused seventeen year old girl can be. Which is keeping up a small smile as I jog towards the house.

Arriving, I glared at the closed door, wanting anything but to walk through it. Luckily it was Sunday, and Jeb and Valencia should be at the lab, so I should be in quickly and out even faster.

I slipped in the back door, keeping to the walls as I always have, not wanting even the toes of my shoes to be seen. The silence was having a lovely conversation with the steady ticking of the large clock kept in the hallway, and all that did was fry my nerves.

As soon as I was at the stairs, I bolted up them, not wasting time being cautious or quiet. I wanted to get out, now.

I found a duffel bag shoved in the back of the closet, curled into a ball in the corner, as if it were afraid of being abused, just like me.

Quickly all of Angel and my clothes went in, filling the small bag about a quarter. It was sad that both of us owned that little. Next went in any memories, the few photos we had, a snow globe from New York City, a trip we had made when we were actually a family.

I threw in a little bit of food from the kitchen, not even caring anymore if the demons would notice. I wouldn't be here to take the beatings anymore.

Nothing else went into the bag, there was nothing to put in. Instead I pulled out a small piece of paper and a pen from a drawer. Uncapping the pen, I began to write.

Dear Jeb and Valencia,

I refuse to call you mom and dad anymore. You're anything but parents.

Angel and I are leaving the house. We're going somewhere safe, somewhere where you cannot hurt us anymore. Angel, who is only ten, has taken so much. So much that was undeserved. For a little more than four years you have abused her. What did she ever do? I would sacrifice anything for her safety.

And what did I do? You beat me for the four years with Angel, plus the five years before. That's nine years, Mom and Dad. (Hope you noticed the sarcasm on Mom and Dad, I tried to make it obvious.)More than half of my life I've been hurt by you. I'm your daughter. No, not anymore. I am no longer a part of this family. I am a Ride. Angel and I are Rides.

I refuse to be scared anymore. We're leaving, and we plan on staying gone for a long, long time. You probably won't see is for a few years, well, it we're lucky. Don't look for us, we're actually safe. Somewhere you can't hurt us.

From,

Maximum Ride

I folded the note in half and wrote, 'If you want to know where we went," on the front. Placing the cap back on the pen, I tucked it into my jacket, not wanting to leave even the smallest part of me in this place.

With that, I walked out of the front door, expecting a brand new life.

Too bad all got was Jeb and Valencia pulling up into the driveway.

My thoughts were immediately frenzied, and I was turning and running to the back door, letting out a scream when Jeb called, "Maximum, come back, spend some quality time with your parents!"

Reaching the door in the kitchen, I jiggled the doorknob, giving up precious seconds as my brain processed the fact that I had to pull the door open.

The weight of the bag was light, but now that I had to escape it seemed to have multiplied by one hundred. I was practically dragging it as I escaped into the back yard, glaring at the old wooden play set Angel and I had played on, once before, a long, long time ago.

Then my legs were carrying me over the neighbors fence, and I was trying desperately to avoid the small Yorkie's desperate yips and nips.

Fence over fence, I climbed, only looking back to see Jeb smiling a menacing smile and shouting, "When you come back, we'll be waiting!"

Then I was shouting back, throwing fear and sense to the wind, "Too bad I'm not coming back!"

THIRD PERSON POV

Jeb turned, not able to shake the smile from his face. That bitch would be back, probably with the other one. He would be waiting.

For a second he wanted to rip his hair out for raising such imperfect children, then he remembered he could knock the perfection into them.

He vowed under his breath that he would make them perfect, make them thankful for helping them. And in his eyes he was helping them, just not in a traditional way.

"Jeb!" Valencia's unsure voice called from inside the home, and Jeb immediately looked away from the scene of his daughter running away.

"Yes, Valencia?" He was slightly worried. The two of them simply didn't get worried. That was part of their perfect lives. They were always collected, always ready.

So when Valencia sounded unsure of something, he decided he should get inside. And he did.

"Look at this," Valencia demanded, handing him a note, folded in half, with the words, 'if you want to know' written neatly on the front, in bright blue ink.

He opened it up, and quickly digested the information. Were his daughters really leaving him? He knew what he was doing, but he still wanted his daughters around. He wasn't that far lost from humanity.

"How dare they?" He demanded angrily, picking the object closest to him and throwing it, where it hit the couch and bounced harmlessly to the floor. "How dare they disobey me like this?" In the next second the couch was knocked backwards from the force of his kick.

"They can't live on their own for that long," Valencia pointed out sensibly, righting the couch. "And we'll be ready when they come back."

"What if she was being serious when she said she was never coming back, that would be..." Jeb trailed off, looking for the proper word, "A problem."

Valencia nodded in agreement.

"Well, we'd just have to find them," With an evil smirk she pecked Jeb's cheek and tucked the note away, not before muttering, "I hope you're paranoid, Maximum. You really need to be."