Hey! Surprised? Me too. It hasn't even been a day yet and I'm writing the next chapter. I really want to finish this story. So without further a due...

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride or any songs used in the story. They belong to their respected owners. The song in this chapter is a real song that I didn't write. I will not take credit for anything I didn't create.

Chapter 11: Concrete Angel

Max POV:

Last time in chapter 10:

That's where I was wrong. I wasn't going to be able to take us anywhere. Not if Jeb had anything to say about it.

I don't know how to tell you about this, dear reader. The words for this scene will not come to my mind. So forgive me if it is choppy, blocky, and seemingly not understandable. This will wreck havoc on my emotions.

As we arrived home after school that day Jeb must have noticed something different in the way we behaved. Maybe in the way we walked, maybe we held more hope in our voices. Maybe he always thought this was going to happen and it was just a lucky guess. Either way. He knew.

I don't know quite how he figured it our but he definitely knew. "You think you can leave me? Ha! You wouldn't know what to do with yourself. Stupid girl someone ought to show you some f***ing manners!" I didn't have the chance to defend myself or send Angel out of harms way before the first punch hit me square in the face.

He never gave me a chance to say anything in defence. I was too weak from my previous injuries to even move. I could hardly even blink, for fear that my eyes would never open again. Suddenly the punches had stopped. I looked over in the direction they had been coming from and a strangled scream left my throat. He was hitting Angel. My poor baby. I had no way of protecting her. Each movement I made in order to try to get to her almost made me black out from the pain. I was crying and was even more pained to see that she was too. But she was doing something that I was never strong enough to do myself. She was standing up to him.

In all reality it probably wasn't helping her, it was probably just making him angrier. But she was yelling at him. Through the blood dripping down her face, mixing with tears and landing on the concrete driveway. Through the multitude of punches she was receiving wherever he could reach. She was still yelling. "You have no right! No right! Why do you keep doing this to us? We are your children! Doesn't that mean anything to you!" Jeb just hit harder and harder.

Eventually she ran out of steam and, just like I did, lay there unable to move while he hit her again and again. I couldn't even yell to call his attention over to me. I could hardly breathe. More than anything I was afraid for her. She had done everything in her power to protect me, just as I had always done for her. And in the end, I don't think it helped either of us.

"Oh my God. Get away from them!"I heard someone, Fang I think, yell towards Jeb. I opened my eyes just barely and saw him run over and punch Jeb in the back of the head knocking him out cold. "Iggy, call the cops and an ambulance. Hurry!" I could hear Nudge fretting in the background. "I already am! I can't make the phone ring any faster now can I!" Oddly the sounds of their squabbling was calming.

I groaned in pain as a felt someone pick me up, bridal style. I looked up to see Fang carrying me. All of a sudden he sat down cross-legged with me in his lap. "Max?" I hear a small weak voice murmur. My head turned to face her without me realising what was happening. "Angel?" I could barely get the word out past the pain and the fast forming lump in my throat. She looked as fragile as a broken baby bird. "Max." Her voice was just louder than a breath. "I'm here baby. You're going to be okay. Everything is going to be fine now."

Even looking at her, broken and beaten, I couldn't help but picture the little blonde haired girl who smiled so easily at the sight of bread. That smile. That was what I saw in my head when I thought of her.

"You're safe now." I pushed it past the lump in my throat and the tears falling down my face. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promised." "Max." She whispered again. "It's not your fault." Another struggled breath. "I love you Max." The tears were flowing freely now. "I love you to my Angel." Suddenly I could not hear her breathing. I saw Fang reach his hand out and search for the pulse that should be beating at her neck. "I'm so sorry Max." That was all it took for me to fully break down.

3 weeks later.

Nudges family was quick to adopt me into their tight nit circle. We were sisters now. I couldn't help but think of how much Angel would have loved being Nudge's baby sister. I couldn't help but think of Angel, period. Try as I could she was gone. I couldn't save her. Couldn't protect her. I still hadn't gone back to school since the incident. The principal had decided to postpone the announcement of the talent show winner until my arrival and I had been putting most of my waking energy into writing a song in case I won. The rest of the Flock was helping my with the music part, I was just in charge of lyrics. I hoped it was a song Angel would be proud of. That she would love.

Fang and I had grown closer. After that fateful day he was the only one I would talk to about it. He was there. For three days he was the only one I would talk to at all. I felt like he was the only one who could really understand how I felt. Even if it was only a small portion compared to mine. I started to rely on him and trust him more than the others. I haven't wanted to put a label on us yet. I was still hurting too much to think much about anything that didn't have something to do with Angel.

Jeb was put in prison. I don't know his sentence. I don't want to. I just want to know that he can't come back. And right now he can't. That's enough for now.

Right now I was lying on my back with my head on Fangs lap as I read my lyrics out loud to the Flock. We were sitting on the grass outside and I was grateful for the fact that I didn't have to consistently wear concealer to block out bruises. I still had some of them. I knew it was going to take a while for them all to heal. The Flock got all teary-eyed at my song and told me that even if I didn't win that I had to sing it to the school. I knew it was something Angel would have wanted as well.

2 weeks later.

I was finally back at school. It was my first day back after 5 weeks off in total. It didn't feel that long to me but I guess that doesn't matter to anyone who isn't in the Flock. I was let off on all overdue homework but had to do all the class work I had missed. Stupid school. Urgh.

To say I wasn't excited about the talent show thing would be a lie. To say I wasn't nervous would also be lie. I was scared but I knew it was something Angel really wanted me to win. So I would do that. I would win for her.

And I did. The audience voted. I don't really know if it was pity that caused them all to vote for me. I hope not. That would suck. I hate pity. But either way it was time for my final performance.

I handed the music sheets to the school band and held the lyrics in front of myself. Not trusting myself to remember. "As you now know, my name is Max and for my final performance I will be singing a song I wrote for my little sister. It's about us. It's the first time I've ever written a song so please be nice." I smiled just slightly at the end of my little speech. The audience clapped a little as the band prepared the instruments.

Concrete Angel by Martina McBride

She walks to school with the lunch she packed
Nobody knows what she's holdin' back
Wearin' the same dress she wore yesterday
She hides the bruises with linen and lace

The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask
Bearing the burden of a secret storm
Sometimes she wishes she was never born

Through the wind and the rain
She stands hard as a stone
In a world that she can't rise above
But her dreams give her wings
And she flies to a place where she's loved
Concrete angel

Somebody cries in the middle of the night
The neighbors hear, but they turn out the lights
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate
When morning comes it'll be too late

[Repeat Chorus]

A statue stands in a shaded place
An angel girl with an upturned face
A name is written on a polished rock
A broken heart that the world forgot

[Repeat Chorus]

As I was singing a montage of memories flooded through my mind. All the times we stayed up late talking about what life was like before and what we wanted it to be like when we grew up. Playing with Angel when she was little. Seeing her first smile, hearing her first laugh. The times when she helped me with my injuries. The times I sang her to sleep, promising of a better life for her tomorrow. When she ran up to me the first time I sang to the school and hugged me in front of everyone. She was always so confident. So happy. Positive. I was remembering a little five year old Angel drawing pictures of her big sister. I was remembering the best of her. The things I didn't want to ever forget. The things no one else knew. Like how she couldn't sleep if I wasn't there where she knew I was safe. Her fierce heart that was so quiet until someone hurt someone she cared about. We shared that quality. I was remembering every hug, every kiss on the cheek, every lullaby, every laugh, every smile, every tear, every scratch and every bruise.

I was remembering my Angel. And I didn't want to ever forget her.

The amount of times I cried writing this. Wow. I just can't believe I actually wrote that.

There will be an epilogue. Just to round things up a bit.

-Keep Reading

-eternalreader62