Authors Note: I honestly have no idea why my updating is so blahhh. Especially since it's summer. Especially with how I usually am with updating. I got out of my writing slump . . . momentarily . . . now it's back again. Whoo! I'm going to try to write after I post this though. Wish me luck!

Chapter Fifteen:

Future

As you can imagine, I wasn't getting much sleep after that. Not any, I'm pretty positive, if how dead I was the next morning was any indication of that. I don't think my eyes closed once through the night; wide open and glassy as the sun rose in a blossom of color and light.

Not cool.

I did manage to roll out of bed though, my feet heavy and my shoulders slumped. It felt like I was carrying around lead blocks, such was the weight being exerted on my body; an illusion being cast by my fatigued mind.

With half-lidded eyes I stumbled to the bathroom, closing the door softly before shedding my clothes. The warm spray from the shower was enough to get a few neurons synapsing in my brain, sending a tickling sensation of energy through my veins. It wasn't such a struggle to keep my eyes from closing now, which was always a plus.

I had a feeling I would be needing lots more coffee after this, though.

While my fingers were blindly groping for a towel to dry off with, I allowed my memory to stretch back and view the night before. Had it all been just one terrible dream? Only if I was lucky. I had a feeling though, that everything had happened just as I remembered.

Dylan had left just shortly after revealing his true motive for coming to me. We hadn't had much exchange after he had shared his thoughts towards this mystery murderers next move. Aka: killing me. As if I didn't already have enough to worry about, let's add psychotic serial killers to the list. I'm sure I could deal.

We hadn't really agreed to meet again, but I was sure I would see him around the city. He had, along with his other warnings, informed me that he would be watching out for my back. Why he was doing this, I couldn't bring myself to ask. I was too shocked and stressed and downright tired at that point to really care.

Besides, a tiny part of me had felt grateful at least somebody was looking out for me, even if it was my deranged ex-boyfriend who had tried to kill me once himself. Details, details. They were unimportant on a larger scale.

I myself was still trying to wrap my head around this all. In truth, somebody after my blood wasn't that surprising. I was one of the most notorious street fighters in recent history. I had made a lot of enemies in my time on top. Street fighting in itself was a nasty business. No surprise then, that most of the fighters were nasty as well . . . and more than perfectly capable of ending my life, if they so chose it.

The only matter was who?

Which, of course, was the one question that eluded me completely. It was narrowed down a bit, because whoever it was had to have some personal vendetta against myself and Jared. There were obvious people, like Scott. He was the one who had administered the crushing blow that had forced Jared into an early retirement from fighting, and then I had not so nicely kicked his butt in return.

There was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind though, that immediately wrote him off. He wasn't smart enough, to put it blatantly. In the end, he acted like a tough guy, but I don't think he was really capable of murder.

The problem was, there were a bunch of others that were. It was only raising the level of stress I was already feeling though, so I decided to forget it for the moment and just let the day carry out itself.

And knowing me, that would probably lead to problems itself.

Once I was dressed and had run a brush through my tangled hair, my stomach began making its demands now that I had enough space in my mind to think about it. It grumbled like the engine of an old car, making gurgling noises that threatened to explode. Without wasting any more time I headed towards the kitchen.

Mercifully, it seemed that Aunt Valencia was gone, so I didn't have to face her just yet either. Mom was sitting at the table though, rifling through some papers. She looked up when I came in, but didn't make any comments.

Good.

Angel was happily eating a bowl of cereal, milk sloshing off her spoon as she waved to me. I smiled in return, swiping a napkin from the counter and handing it to her. She grinned, unaffected, and cleaned up her mess.

Gazzy was sitting across from her, polishing off the remainder of what looked to be a concoction of different things sandwiched between two pieces of toast, most likely of his own creation. When I turned my back to them to browse the refrigerator, he was suddenly at my side, ducking his head so he could see into the fridge as well.

The kid was a bottomless pit.

Angel chirped to me as I whipped up a batch of scrambled eggs, the sizzling from the frying pan attracting Gazzy's attention. I nodded my head in acknowledgement before he could ask, seeing the bright look on his face.

I was just cleaning the last particle of yellow from my plate when Ella breezed through the front door, looking like a mixture of sadness and content. She dropped her bag in the doorway, kicking off her shoes as she went. It was a habit she had fallen into after being around us so much. When she first came, it was a miracle if she didn't straighten them to perfection when she took them off. Our laziness was rubbing off on her, much to Aunt Val's distaste. I preferred to think of it as less work, but we all have our opinions.

"Hey Els," I greeted her as I passed to go to the sink. I set my plate in the basin, flicking the tap on. A steady stream of cold water rushed forward, carrying away the last debris on my plate. I set it quickly into the dishwasher, turning back to face the others.

"Did you have fun with Nudge?" Mom inquired, shuffling all the official looking papers she had been handling into a neat stack. From seemingly nowhere she procured a slim blue folder, placing them all inside.

"Yeah," Ella replied, somewhat wistfully. "We were both really sad, though. I mean, that's the last time I'm going to be able to spend the night with her for a long time. We'll be back in Arizona soon, and I can't exactly drive to her house from there."

I tried to remain emotionless, but I'm afraid the stony expression on my face won out instead. For once though, nobody seemed to be watching for my reaction.

"Speaking of which," Mom began, clearing her throat so that her voice carried a little more. She still talked so quietly that it was hard to hear, "I have something to tell all of you."

Oh great. More news. After the last couple days I had, that's exactly what I needed.

Mom waited a few seconds, glancing around at all of us. When she deemed that she had our undivided attention, she continued with: "Apparently things are going to be moving a lot faster than we anticipated. Valencia needs to be back at the other clinic no later than Wednesday, which I'm sure you can figure out is only three days from now."

Th-three days? I spluttered to myself, stuttering in my own mind.

Her words were met with silence by all, none of us knowing what exactly needed to be said. Eventually I got my wits about me, and was able to form a coherent enough thought to speak properly.

"So you're saying we have to pack up all our things and be in Arizona in the next three days?" I demanded, my anger spiking. Why was this happening so suddenly? I needed more time to think about this. All of this.

"Essentially yes. What's really going to happen is Valencia will take most of the things with her on the first trip, along with the kids. I'll stay behind and handle the moving of all the bigger furniture, since I'm not really at a deadline," she explained, one lithe finger tapping on the worn surface of the table.

"That's it then? No more discussion?" I seethed, my fingernails pricking my palms as I clenched my fists together tightly.

"For the rest of us, no. For you . . . well, as much as I hate to even think about this sweetie, you're eighteen now. If you want to stay in New York . . . you can," she murmured, her eyes shimmering with unshed moisture.

For the first time the option seemed real and valid.

"I know you probably need more time to think about it, but you really don't have that much to waste. By the end of the day you need to come to a decision. We're going to start packing right now," Mom said, motioning for the others to get moving as her speech neared its end.

Am I the only one who thinks this is all moving incredibly fast? Too fast. And completely unfairly at that, which wasn't a total surprise, when you stopped to think about it.

Ella was the first from the room, having been closest to the door. Angel and Gazzy followed at a much slower pace, sharing looks every few seconds as they went. Mom was just about to disappear after them, when I stopped her.

"I'm staying."

In that one inexplicable second, I really didn't even have to think about it. It had only been a small amount of time, but there had been a huge build-up to what I would choose. I thought there would be a heck of a lot more back and forth, that's for sure.

Another part of me knew though, that if I stopped to think, then rethink, and re-rethink my decision, I was never going to end up anywhere at all. There was too much at stake here, but too much at stake there as well.

My future was here though, in New York. Going to Arizona would only keep me drowning in the past. As much as I loved Angel and Gazzy, and as much as I would miss all of them, my life needed to take a different direction. I hated to think such a thing, but with them gone, I could worry less about everybody else and focus more on me.

For the longest time I could never look more than a few days into the future. The most important thing was getting by in the present. Now, without having the burdens of caring for an entire family, I could look into the coming days and weeks and months; and I could be the person I wanted to be.

And being just Max seemed good enough a start.

Authors Note: Thoughts? I'd love to hear them. Drop me a review and I'll love you forever.

P.S. Favorite social networking site? Hahah. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc.? Personally, I'm torn between Facebook and Twitter ;) I still love the first, but Twitter is just the greatest invention ever! I've had 'exchanges' (meaning not full conversations) with so many bands/musicians or actor/actresses I like. It's pretty great. Like today. Any of you seen the new MTV show Teen Wolf? Yeah. Got a reply from Tyler Posey, who's the main character on that. YEAH I WAS EXCITED.