The Runaways – Chapter 5
By MyNameIsCAL
***So I guess you could say this is like Part 2 of the beginning of Max and Fang!***
---Fang's POV---
Dr. M, Max's mom, and her sister, Ella, were both very open to having me there. I thought I might scare Ella. Everyone knew I didn't hang out with the nicest crowd at school. Max must have overlooked that.
Right now, I was in Dr. M's office. I didn't know she was an animal doctor, but it didn't matter to me. She was offering to help me and I wasn't going to complain. Anywhere was better than home. If I could even call that home.
"Nothing is broken," Dr. M said walking into her office with the x-rays. "But there's quite a bit of muscle damage around your knee. I'm quite sure you tore your ACL. Which is why your knee is swollen and you're in a tremendous amount of pain."
"So, what can we do about it?" I asked.
"For now? I guess we can brace it, bandage it up," she replied. "But eventually you would need to see a doctor, Fang. A real doctor."
"Alright, thanks, Dr. M."
Max came through the door, holding bandages. "He can use my old crutches from when I twisted my ankle and doesn't Ella have an old knee brace from when she got hurt from soccer?"
Dr. M nodded. "We can bandage it at home. I think he needs to put ice on it first."
Max held out her hand to help me out of the chair. I got up, reluctantly accepting her help. She slung my arm over her shoulder and she helped me back to the car.
It didn't take long to get back to their house. Max helped me inside and sat me on the bed.
"Thanks," I mumbled.
"I'll get you ice, okay?"
"Alright, thank you."
I lay back in the bed, wincing as I moved my leg onto the pillow to elevate it. Max returned with a bag of ice and gently pressed it against my knee. She sat on the edge of the bed, holding it there.
"Fang, if you need a place to stay, my mom says you can stay here as long as you want," Max said.
"I…I can't stay here."
She gave me a sad look, like she knew that I needed a place to stay, like she knew I was hiding something. "It's going to be a long time before you can walk properly again, especially without medical treatment."
"I'll be fine." But I even I knew I was lying to myself.
"Stay, Fang." She's almost begging me now. "At least until you have somewhere else safe to go."
Her eyes met mine. She sincerely wanted to help me. It didn't feel right to say no either, so I agreed.
---Max's POV---
Ella and I were making lunch when we heard a cell phone go off.
"Is that yours?" she asked.
I shook my head, but I knew where it was coming from. Leaving Ella to make the last of the sandwiches, I headed to Fang's room.
"I think that's my phone," he said, adjusting the ice on his knee. "Can you get it, please? It should be in my bag."
After searching through what seemed like at least fifty CDs, I found his phone at the bottom. I handed it to him and he stared at it for a moment before silencing it.
"Sorry," Fang mumbled.
"Why do you have all those CDs?" I asked, closing his bag.
"Because all I ever had were those CDs and my guitar," he told me.
"You can play?" I've always wanted to know how to play the guitar.
The corners of his mouth seem to curve upward, just slightly. "I'm alright at it. I'll play for you sometime."
---Iggy's POV---
The fact that Fang wasn't answering his phone bothered me. I needed someone to bring me to the mall since my parents were at work. Usually I could count on him to escort me places. It was unlike him to ignore my calls. Something must have been up over at his place.
The weekends were boring for me. If I ever wanted company, then Fang was my only choice unless Gazzy and Angel needed babysitting. Most of the time I spent my weekends alone, listening to music, daydreaming about being able to see again. Sometimes I would cook, but I never had anyone to share my food with. No one ever wanted hang out with the blind kid.
Today would be just like any other weekend I guess. So much for going to the mall to get some new music. I really hoped Fang didn't get himself into any trouble. He spent so much time around drugs, promising he would never try them, only selling them, but I knew someday he would probably crack. To think he could be anywhere now, stumbling around wasted.
I wouldn't be able to help him either.
---Fang's POV---
The ice seemed to keep the swelling down. Dr. M said we would wait until tomorrow to wrap it and brace it. Max and I spent a whole lot of the day talking, mostly about nothing important. We were both dodging answering questions about our families. I felt like I could trust her though. Maybe I'd tell her what happened.
Iggy was calling me for the third time now. Max was no longer in the room, so I answered it.
"Jesus Christ, Fang where the FUCK have you been!?" Iggy growled at the other end of the line.
"Ig, my dad fucked me up," I told him. "He beat me and…He…I'm at Max's house."
"Max's house?" Iggy questioned. I didn't have the guts to tell him what really happened.
"Yeah, it was pretty bad. It's a long story," I said. "I tore something in my knee. I can't walk."
Iggy swore again. He must have needed me for something before, but more sympathetically, he answered, "Jeez, I'm sorry to bother you man. If you need anything, give me a ring."
"Okay, thanks," I replied, thankful he wasn't going to ask me anything else.
There was a click and then the line was dead. I flipped my phone closed, placed it on the bedside table, and cried myself to sleep that night.
It's either going to be Nudge or Gazzy and Angel's POVs in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!