Chapter 3 Fang Pov
What did she do!?
That was what I first thought as I saw the man- Jeb- crumple to the ground after her eyes locked with his. What was she doing? She worried me. I didn't trust her.
I dared to sneek a peek at Angel; she was shaking, eyes wide.
Angel, I said softly in my mind, hoping she would hear. She did. When she looked at me, I saw the fear. My eyes wandered to Max, who was leaning forward, near Jeb. I heard her say, "… You see? I didn't kill you, either." Before she leant back in her cage, awaiting the moment the Whitecoats would come find Jeb.
Fang- Fang this girl- she- she- Angel was shaking so violently, she stopped mid-thought. When the Whitecoats came and found Jeb, they glared hatefully at Max. She just sat with an emotionless face.
They dragged Jeb out and Max sat silently, hidden behind her bangs. I watched her intently, curious when she laughed softly. Her eyes were blank and her lips were parted slightly. She stared at the ground of her crate, fidgeting with her sleeve.
Hours- days- I dunno how much time later passed before Whitecoats swung us up onto carts and rolled us swiftly into a room with a huge maze. Max was on her own cart, her driver nervously glancing at her. Max stared at the maze with amusement. They let her out and at once put a clunky metal thing around her neck. We were let out, too, and had those clunky things put on, too.
The Whitecoats pushed us forward; we all stood togethor in the entrance of the maze. We had to find the way out- and apparently, these collars shocked you if you slowed or stopped. It seemed like a dreadful idea. This was illegal, wasn't it?
Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Iggy and I stood in a group, deciding to run togethor for safety. Max however, was leaning against a wall, picking at the dry blood on her arm.
"Ready…" The whitecoat pulled out her clipboard behind us. "Go!"
Before any of us could move, Max had broken into a flat out sprint. She turned a corner and was gone. I ran after her, the others followed swiftly. After a while of following, I had to stop, and was shocked with the most pain I had ever felt. It was like an electric charge went down my throat, and into my heart.
Max kept running. How could she keep going without stop?
It took us a while to get out- especially after we'd lost Max. Once we got out, we saw the most frightening thing yet.
Max knelt on the floor as the tip of a nail sunk into her skin under a Whitecoat's hand. Max's head was down, but Fang noticed something. Max clenched her teeth to keep from screaming. She opened her eyes wide to keep from crying. She clenched her good fist to keep from punching anything.
"How can you have such self control? It amazes me…!" The Whitecoat muttered rudely, standing up and walking toward his fellow scientists. Apparently, they were testin her emotions. Jeb was no where in sight. Max hadn't moved her hand as blood covered it like a blanket. Her expression had begun to slowly change back into her expressionless stare.
I turned slightly to look at the others. Angel was terrified, shaking and shuddering. Nudge was crying silently, biting her lip. Iggy looked honestly confused, that was, until, Angel looked at him, obviously giving him the image. His sightless eyes widened and his breath caught. Gazzy was staring at Max with such agony; he looked like he was going to be sick.
Max was breathing hard, letting her hand bleed openly as she stood and numbly crawled back into the open crate. Her eyes were blank once again, and I wondered how she did it. I was suddenly angry, angry at these Whitecoats for hurting her like this.
Once back at the prison we had been kept at, Angel spokeup.
"Does it hurt?" She whispered, staring at Max's hand. Max looked at Angel with a zombie-like stare.
"Physical pain isn't as bad as pain to the heart. I can take this." Max said blantly.
"But how? Emotional Pain isn't as bad!" Nudge gasped, piping up.
Max smiled softly, though it didn't reach her eyes. "When all you've had is emotional pain, you come to bear with the physical pain. It's like… well; I guess you could say my life hasn't been exactly fair to me. Although, life is never fair, I know that better than anyone else."
When no one responded, but just stared at her in a way meaning to go on, Max sighed.
"When all you've ever felt is hate and suffering, you learn it's worse than actually being physically hated and forced into physical suffering."
Max's words hit me like a brick wall. The breath was knocked out of me.
Iggy coughed. "If you don't mind my asking, what was that you did to that Ari guy back there? And Jeb? What… what did you do?"
Max stared at him, thinking. "My ability is a cursed one. I hate it. But it is what helps me keep my emotional stamina at a high. I'm able to show someone their worst fear or memory. Wether they wanted to forget or even have already forgotten, I'll fish it out, somehow. I can also project an image. Like, I showed Ari something he didn't want to see, ever. But it never happened. I just made it up."
We all just stared in horror.
She continued. "Ari, as I just recently discovered, is afraid of being left behind. His worst fear is being erased, forgotten."
"That's… Horrible…" Nudge whispered in shock. This emotional trauma wasn't good for the younger kids.
"… What was Jeb afraid of?" Angel asked. Max's emotional mask didn't falter, but you could feel her resent to that question.
"I can't tell you."