The Runaways – Chapter 4

By MyNameIsCAL

***Just a note that this chapter is a bit longer so I can just fit this whole thing with Max and Fang into one rather than breaking it up. Besides, it's better this way. You won't have to wait multiple chapters to see all this play out and I want to keep it down to each chapter only having two or three different character's POVs.***

---Fang's POV---

According to my clock, I've lost an entire day. I felt numb. The events of the other day were blurred, or maybe I just didn't want to remember them. My clothes were torn and ripped and there was blood on the sheets. And then everything that happened hit me and I fell back onto the bed, feeling weak.

But my so called father was still here. I could hear him talking to my mom through the wall. This was my chance to escape. It was time I run away from this mess.

My hands shook as I tried to dress myself, just pulling new clothes over the damaged ones. I make a mad grab, shoving everything into my backpack and a duffle bag. All I've got was CD's, my laptop, my school crap, and my guitar. I took that in its case and opened my door slowly and stuffed some clothes into the duffle. It was a straight line from here to the front door. Freedom only ten feet away from me.

I retrieved my jacket and shoved whatever drugs would fit into my bag. It was Friday night and I wasn't going to miss out on selling. I needed to sell and get a place to stay, away from this hell hole that was supposed to be home. But I could barely walk. Numbness has turned to pain. But I pushed forward because there's nothing else I could do. In a muddled mess, I snatched my dad's car keys, threw my crap into the back, and headed to whatever place I think of first: Josh's place.

---Max's POV---

It was Friday night again except I wouldn't have Ella to accompany me to the mall. Jeb had called saying he was caught up with things at his work. I guess he hadn't been home because he insisted that I didn't come this weekend. That was fine with me. Mom dropped me off at the mall. I had convinced Ella to go to one of her friend's parties tonight.

"Call me if you need anything," Mom said.

"I know." She's said that to me a thousand times.

"Someday I'm gonna get you and Ella a car to share," Mom smiled. "I've been thinking about it."

"Really?"

She nodded. "You two are old enough and responsible enough. Besides, what good is a license without a car?"

I smiled. This was why I loved my mom.

---Fang's POV---

I told Josh that my dad beat me up, but I didn't tell him anything more than that. No questions asked, he gave me the cash in exchange for the drugs and I stumbled back out to the car.

"Fang, you shouldn't be driving." Josh followed me out. That was the first time he has ever shown he cared.

"You shouldn't be dealing," I muttered and sped off towards the mall.

I guess at the time I hadn't been thinking. The right thing to do would have been to head to a hospital or go to the police, but I guess I had felt weak for letting my father do what he did to me. I was in denial and the best way to forget was to go on in routine.

Stumbling, I got out of the car and limped towards the mall and found a bench to sit on inside. People gave me funny looks, but none of them stopped to stare for too long. I guess I gave off that aura that you should stay away from me.

---Max's POV---

I didn't really know why I came to the mall every Friday night. Honestly, all the people from school that I didn't like, they were here. Although Ella claimed I had all the friends.

It was only five o'clock. I wasn't exactly hungry yet, so I made my way towards the record store. And then I spotted him on the bench, the guy that had smiled at me when I was eating dinner with Ella last week. He looked like he was asleep, but as I took a few steps closer, he looked like he was in pain. I tried to recall his name now, it started with an N. Nick? Maybe.

"Hey, are you ok?" I approached him cautiously. He hung out with the drug crowd at school. Josh and his crew of the most diverse students in school. The only thing they all had in common was drugs.

Nick looked up at me. "Hm? I'm fine."

He was holding his arm. I think there was blood on his face, maybe some on his shirt. It was hard to tell since he was wearing black. But what I could tell was that he wasn't fine. He was far beyond fine.

"I'm fine," he repeated with a growl.

"Let me help you." Those words slipped from my mouth. I felt compelled to for some reason. "I can bring you to the hospital."

He tried to stand, but slid back on the bench after a weak struggle. "No, anywhere but the hospital."

Reasoning with him was hopeless. He was content with staying here.

"My mom is a doctor," I said. Well, an animal doctor, but she probably knew enough to help him. I remembered Ella broke her arm once and it was Sunday so she took Ella to her office instead to take x-rays instead of waiting in the ER.

"Is she?" Nick sucked in a deep breath.

"At least let her make sure you're ok," I insisted. "What are you hiding from?"

He stood, this time a little more steady than his last attempt. "My father. Guess you could say I'm running away from home. Can you drive?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"We'll take my car?" It was like he knew I didn't drive here.

"Alright. Do you need help?"

"No."

But by the time we got to his car, he was leaning on me like a crutch. I didn't know what the hell happened to him, but if he had been in that mall any longer, he wouldn't have been leaving consciously. Once I helped him into the passenger's seat, he passed out.

---Fang's POV---

I woke up on a bed. At first, I panicked, but sitting up quickly only proved to cause me excruciating pain. Max appeared at the side of the bed, holding a cloth.

"Don't move," she said, wiping my face. "My mom says you might have some broken bones. But we won't be able to check until tomorrow."

I looked around the room. My two bags and guitar case sat in the corner of the room.

"Are you hungry?" she questioned in my silence.

"Yeah," I managed to say.

"I ordered some pizza," she told me. "So can I ask you something, Nick?"

"Call me Fang," I muttered, and then more clearly, "And ask away."

She looked surprised. "Alright, Fang. Why are you hiding from your father?"

Memories came rushing back. I didn't want to remember. When I opened my eyes, Max looked concerned. I cleared my throat. "He's the one that did this to me."

Max finished wiping the cuts on my face. She smoothed out my hair, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry..."

Before I could say anything back, the doorbell rang and Max went to go get it. I wasn't expecting Max and her mother to be that welcoming to a person they barely knew. Especially to the guy who hung out with the wrong crowd. When she came back, she held a box of pizza, setting it on the top of the dresser.

"Thanks," I said as she handed me a slice with a paper plate.

She got her own. "Of course."

"You really shouldn't be doing this for me," I said after a while.

She only shrugged. "Would you believe me if I told you I felt like I'm supposed to help you? That something's telling me there's a reason for this?"

"Sure, I'd believe you," I said.

"Well, then I have to do this," she replied.

And I believed her, I really did. Because like I had said before, something drew me towards her too.

---Max's POV---

Fang might have been one of the drug groupies, but he certainly wasn't an addict himself. His car reeked of alcohol and cigarettes, but I decided that for a guy that had been beaten up by his father, he was sober. Yet I felt like he was holding back something. It couldn't be this simple, his father beating him up. When Mom had examined him when he was passed out, there were cuts across his chest. The bruises that had begun to show looked like someone had been throwing punches at him for hours, throwing him through walls or something.

I waited with Mom for him to finish showering. He had insisted instead of resting.

"I don't think he has anywhere to go," Mom said quietly, sipping her coffee. "And you say he's troubled?"

I shook my head. "No, I really don't know. He just hangs out with the wrong crowd at school. I mean, he scares people, but now, he doesn't seem all that bad."

Mom looked like she was contemplating something. "Tell him if he needs a place to say, our door is always open. Although judging his condition now, I don't think he'll be going anywhere anytime soon."

We sat without saying anything else. The same thing that was going through Mom's head was going through mine. It was five years ago, and now that I thought about it, those five years had gone by too fast, but I used to have a brother. Back when Jeb and Mom were still married, Ari was the youngest and the most loving and beautiful boy in the world. Ella and I adored him, but Jeb was hard on him, being the only boy in the family.

One night, Ari got it into his head that he was going to run away without telling any of us, run away from Jeb who had just yelled at him for accidentally breaking one of Jeb's expensive wine bottles when running around the house. He had grabbed Ari by the collar and spanked him to the extent where Ella and I were pleading for Jeb to stop. Mom hadn't been home at the time, and maybe if she had, things would turn out better.

So Ari ran, but he only made it to the road where he got hit by a truck. It was horrifying. Mom didn't even know what happened until she came home to the sirens. It wasn't long after that she divorced Jeb.

I guess Fang reminded us of Ari. We couldn't save Ari, but maybe we could save Fang.

So that's what happened to Ari. The next chapter will probably be Fang and Max's POV again, perhaps Iggy. Then I'll return to the other characters and work on their troubles. Thanks for reading.