Move On
-THREE DAYS LATER-
Gwen's P.O.V.
I still couldn't believe it. Dylan was gone, for good this time. At least he defied YOLO, right? I cried my eyes out as I went to get the others. We all rushed to his body. His cold, still, stiff body. The Migration broke into tears as The Flock tried to keep theirs in. The day ended with all of us sobbing. The note Dylan left, the one on the pizza receipt, was addressed to me. Yes, only me...excluding one portion. One excerpt he asked for me to read aloud to the others. I couldn't read it that day. The day of his death. I just...couldn't. I was stunned myself by the contents of the note, so how was I supposed to tell the others? Well, the next day, which was yesterday, I wo-manned up and read it.
{A/N: italics=note regular=well, regular story telling}
Dear... anyone who cares about me,
Ice chuckled at this.
It's me, dying Dylan. You're probably wondering how I knew you'd get this. Well, my power had advanced. I could (man, it's hard writing in past tense!) see the future.
Everyone's eyes widened at this.
Yes, I knew what was coming. When did I get this power? That day at McDonalds…you all remember. My first beer(s).
We all nodded and paused for a minuet, remembering.
Yah, that's when I saw everything. At first, I just thought I was drunk and wasted, but then the visions started happening when I was sober. Reason number one why I continued to guzzle, it made me forget. There Kale, now you understand.
Kale tried to dodge all of glares that said "You shouldve told us!"
Close your jaw Storm. Gosh, it's like I was a criminal or something.
Storm's jaw was almost to the floor. He snapped it close quickly and acted like nothing happened as he crammed his hands in his pockets.
Anyway, I had some things to say and some apologies to spit out. First off I'm sorry guys. I'm sorry that I'm not going to be there to lead, I'm sorry I left you in Storm's hands.
We all gave a flat chuckle to that. Yep, that was Dylan for ya.
I'm sorry that I'm not going to be there when Ebony says yes and bursts into tears while Storm slips the diamond ring on her finger.
Well if that wasnt an 'aww' moment. They both blushed and sadness sent a sharp pang to my heart.
I'm sorry Alex, that I'm not going to be there when you walk down the aisle in that big, poofy, white dress and Jace screws up his vows.
Tears pricked in my eyes as I read this aloud.
"Y-You would do that," Alex said, wiping tears away as she glanced to a beet red Jace.
I'm sorry, Jester, that I'm not going to be there when Storm mentally scars you with 'the talk'.
Storm huffed and crossed his arms. While Jes looked sick.
"Eww!" The little one gagged.
Melee, sweetheart, I'm sorry that I'm not there to scold your to-be human boyfriend when he takes you out on a date and misses curfew.
Melee rolled her eyes.
I'm sorry Flair, that I'm not there to keep you and Ice away from that Vegas hotel room.
At that one we burst into laughter. Ice blushed madly and it didn't go well with his white hair.
Sparks, the answer is no, just go with it. 24, I think you'll like your new name.
The two girls looked confuzzled.
Ryan, dude when Selene leaves you home with the kid do not try to change its diaper. Please?
Ok, now that was funny. It's kinda scary how I can imagine Dylan here saying this.
Gwen, Kale, well I want the best for you two. A family, a life, maybe even some fame?
Kale raised an eyebrow and I only shrugged.
"This whole thing is coded," I explained.
You all have to take care of each other, alright? You have to stay with the Flock now, it's where we were meant to be.
We all glanced around at each other, giving curt nods. I guess we're their guardians now. I'm cool with that. I mean, did you read what happens when we aren't here!
I'm sorry that I wasn't what you all deserved, what you all wanted and needed. I'm so sorry that I'm not going to be there in your lives, but hey most of you find that as a good thing. I love you all, to the depths of my heart I love you all. Please just don't forget me ok? I know I wasn't that great, but I really did try.
Well now the tears are pouring, even though we all try to keep them back. We were going to miss our leader.
I was sitting here, balling my eyes out, not wanting to leave. I missed the fun times we had together. I would've given anything to get them back. I'm so sorry.
He was crying, yah. That stung.
Um, I guess we owe Max and Fang a congrats on their two daughters, right? Avis Aquila Ride and Eva Raven Ride grow up to be rather sweet, attractive girls, but they can't do that without you, Migration.
At these words the group froze, like Ice had decided to make human-cycles again.
"How'd he know...?" Max trailed off before the fact that he could tell the future popped back into her thoughts. She held one of the babies closer. Fang glanced down to the other that was rested in his own arms.
You have to stay and watch over them. Guard them. That's my last mission I give you all. I died for them, so should you, because they will save the world.
"Hurray, our lives are in the hands of the toothless demon spawn," Ice said sarcastically.
"At least it's not in yours," I hushed as I continued to read.
Max, you did save the world. See! Ha, just not in the way you figured. Even though I still loved you, it did occur to me in those last few moments that you're better with Fang.
Maximum eyes me like those words weren't really there. I just ignored her.
I guess I have to give your gothic husband there some credit for saving the world too, but… I still hate that moron. You can't beat the crap out of me now, Fang! Finally!
Fang only sighed and shook his head, like Dylan was a tad crazy. Which, you know he was.
Well, good luck guys. I'm sorry, again. I know you're gonna miss my Colgate smile and my hotness, I guess you'll just have to deal.
Goodbye and good luck,
Prophet Dylan out!
When it was all said and done we were laughing through the tears with pitiful chuckles. That's when little miss Avis Aquila Ride, or Ava for short, decided to start crying. Max tried to adjust her to a more comfortable laying position, but Ava only wailed louder and held her little fists up. The messy clump of dirty blond hair on the top of her head was jumbled and sticking up in all directions. The poor thing was beet red, and she was showing no signs of stopping. As Max grew frustrated so did Ava. Fang switched off with Max, handing over a peacefully sleeping Eva Raven Ride for her twin sister. Eva had dark brown hair, like Ella's and Dr. M's. Her skin tone was a little lighter than their Hispanic, darker skin. This contrasted with Ava's olive tinged skin, a trait handed down by the Orksmith side. As soon as Ava was handed over to Fang she fell silent. Her little eyes were losing that newborn baby blue color and were turning into a green. She looked around and acted as if she had no emotion. That's when I got an idea.
"Fang! Let me see Ava!" I practically yelled. He gave me a wary look before I rolled my eyes and held out my hands. He handed her over cautiously, like she was a delicate vase. When Ava met my embrace she started reaching for my hair and for my nose. 'She's curious, my emotion at the minuet...' I thought to myself.
"Kale!" I broke him out of his grieving daze, "Hold Ava."
"NO!" Max snapped, causing Eva's darkening brown eyes to snap open and stare unhappily up to her mother.
"It's fine. I'm testing something," I tried. Ok testing might've not been the right word to use... Anyway, I handed her over to Kale and the baby's attitude changed completely. She started crying silently and she looked sad, letting a tiny frown spread across her face. I then snatched her from Kale and gave her to Ebony, who instantly started swooning over the baby. Ava clutched to Ebony, not wanting to leave. I quickly switched the baby to Ice. He held it at an arms length away. Ava became fussy and would give a sharp, shrill scream every once in awhile. I took her back to me and she began tugging on my hair again.
"What did that prove?" Max asked, still not getting it. I passed Ava back to Fang and she had the same reaction as before.
"I figured out her power," I said simply.
Maximum only raised an eye brow.
"Empathy," I grinned at my achievement. I felt über smart. Max chewed on the word for a moment.
"She has empathy? Are you sure she's Fang's?" Iggy teased. Gazzy snickered. Max rolled her eyes.
"Guys, there's another direction that I'm supposed to 'carry out'," I interrupted their little to-be argument.
They had looked at me like I was crazy.
"We need to go to Kale's mom's house. There's something we're supposed to find there..."
And so yah, that's how it went. After about a hour and a half of trying to explain to Storm that he couldn't read the note because it was only meant for me we all had a good nights sleep, preparing ourselves for the flight ahead.
This morning Hillbilly said goodbye. He told us he was going to go "hunker down" in his little makeshift cabin in the woods. He insisted that we shouldn't worry and that we should take all the cash in his wallet. He claimed that he wouldn't need it anymore. He was going to live in his "little slice of heaven on earth". That heaven was the forest. The mountains. We refused at first, but Melee settled it. She simply grabbed the money and crammed it in one of the packs.
"There," she said with a smirk, "Fixed."
John Symbrog headed up the hillside, and it was a stinging feeling to think that this could've been the last we see of him. Bo tagged along. His terrible excuse for a mother would have to either take care of the farm, or sell it. Redneck would have a burial that practically no one would attend. But she knew, she knew we loved her. And somehow, in all that she had said to us in the past indicated that a little piece of her would always be with us. She had gone to a better place. She was now at peace.
And so was Dylan, no matter how much we hated to admit it. His heart was broken, but his ego never faltered. He was a friend, a brother, a leader. He was on a broken road, always walking on the edge. Dylan never felt completeness in his day. He never got Max. He never loved another. He walked around with a never ending stinging feeling. Anguish. But he got joy from us. From our happiness. Although he wasn't the perfect leader he always pulled through for us. We'd really miss him.
We took off at approximately 10:00 am sharp. It's now 4:23 and we lost all sanity four hours ago.
The wind scared the babies half to death at first. They wailed and cried and screamed. Fang ended up tucking them both in his black leather jacket and they are sleeping quietly right now. The funny thing is Dr. M demanded that they be dressed in onesies and wrapped in thick baby blankets. Ava ended up in a pink bundle and Eva in a identical purple get-up.
"Ok! Anyone want to go over the phonetic alphabet again?!" Storm called back to the rest of us.
"Please no!" Ice covered his ears. Yes, Storm had told us about his whole military obsession and now we had to memorize the alphabet to go along with it.
"C'mon guys!" He pleaded.
"Fine!" Ebony snapped, "A is alpha."
Storm grinned.
From there it went on and on, each of us shouting out the words.
"B is for bravo!"
"C is for Charlie!"
"D is for delta!"
"E is for Echo!"
"Foxtrot!"
"Golf!"
"Hotel!"
"India!"
"Juliet!"
"Kilo!"
"Lima!"
"Mike!"
"November!"
"Oscar!"
"Papa!"
"Quebec!"
"Romeo!"
"Sierra!"
"Tango!"
"Uniform!"
"Victor!"
"Whiskey!"
"X-ray!"
"Yankee!"
"And Z is for Zulu!"
No, we didn't make that up. It's real. And now it's burned into our memories because we've been chanting it for the past two hours or so. Storm looked proud. I looked po'ed. This was torture! And now he was naming "evasive maneuvers" to go along with each word.
One funny thing was that Kale had to carry Dr. M, and she was holding on for dear life. Iggy was carrying Ella. That's how we transported the humans. No school bus for us anymore. It was kinda depressing, like we left a part of our lives behind. The cave, the cabin, the bus, the woods. Everything.
It was nice to see Jes changing the color of birds and clouds. We were slowly bouncing back to our happy selves.
-3. 18 hours later!-
We were here. At the Arbrown's doorstep. Kale knocked lightly and we waited. And waited. And waited some more... We stood there until Nudge started ranting on about the patio furniture. Kale simply opened the door and walked in, the rest of us following. I heard a loud burst of giggles and a set of feet padding across the floor. The set of feet belonged to a little black haired, brown eyed girl. But she wasn't so little anymore. Sylvia Orksmith was now eight years old. She'd be nine in three weeks. Her hair was in a pony tail and she was wearing a pink skirt and a frilly white tank-top. Yes, just like Sylvia to be a girly girl. Ever since she was two she wore a tutu around, pretending that she was a fairy princess. It drove Carl crazy and he'd always act like he was a cowboy. He'd end up "lassoing" her. This was really just wrapping about three things of Mom's floss around her and then piling pillows on top. Those were the days.
Now my little sister turned her big, questioning eyes to me. She felt so much like a stranger. Like I had never seen the spark of life in her eyes glint before. It was sad...I had forgotten who my baby sister was. She was just a shadow in my mind, like Carl had been before I saw met his "new side". Well anyway, that shadow just got some light cast on it because Sylvia was now running at me at full speed. I caught her in a giant bear hug, pulling her close to me while tears threatened to slide down my cheeks.
"I missed you thissy!" Sylvia whispered. She had always had a lisp. And she was surprisingly short for an eight year old. I picked her up and kissed her forehead.
"Aww!" Kale beamed as he wrapped his arms around the both of us. I felt a tear stream down.
"I s'ought you were dead!" Sylvia whimpered.
"Y-You can't kill an Orksmith," if that wasn't the truth. Trust me, we tried with Dan.
"I know," she pulled back and smiled.
"Mandy! I CAN'T FIND THE KID!" A bulky figure came into view. I knew him, even if he had aged and matured. Even if he had grown a goatee and he had dropped the baby fat. His name was Robert, Robert Williams. Aka Dylan 1's best friend and his fellow popular jock. Rob's frantic jog through the house came to a halt. He was only five feet away, his eyes wide and unbelieving. Then he paled and stepped a little closer.
"R-ROBERT?!" Kale was almost cheering. Rob came at a full sprint at Kale, who had recently let go of me. The two bro-hugged it out.
"A-Am I hallucinating?" Rob croaked.
"Nope," Kale grinned popping the 'p'. They pulled away and stared at each other for a moment.
"Who's at the door, babe?" Came Mandy's sweet, sing-song voice from somewhere in the house. Then I saw her. She wasn't 14 anymore, no she was 18 going on 21. Her legs were an obvious fake spray on tan with five inch high heels at the end. Her skirt barely covered her butt and her "Hooters", I guess she works at the restaurant, shirt was so boat-necked that I was afraid something was going to fall out. Her name was Amanda Bluss, and she was the hottest chick in school and the lead cheerleader. Or at least when I was there.
"Um, ghosts?" Rob tried. Mandy strutted, and I mean like she was on broadway, into the living room. Her giant red glossed lips formed in a donut shape when she spotted us. Her eyes widened and the eyeliner made her look like she had dark rings around bright blue orbs. Blush was patched here and there. She looked like a Barbie doll, complete with the fake blond hair curled up at the ends. She flashed a brilliantly fake smile as she held held a perfectly manicured hand up to her mouth and walked over, her hips swaying. She gave Kale a pathetically girly hug, to which he kinda just stood there and acted like he was a statue. I knew the perfume she was wearing was probably going to act like chloroform and knock him out if she didn't let go.
I set Sylvia down and her little hand fitted into mine. Mandy pulled back from Kale and stared at him again.
"You look so much like your brother!" She swooned, her words somewhat hurt. Inside she probably was feeling a dull, yet throbbing pain at the absence of Dylan.
You see, Mandy and Dylan were practically in some sort of relationship since fourth grade. Even then Mandy was Dylan's "girlfriend". They had known each other since second grade and the three of them, Dylan, Rob, and Amanda, had always been the closest of friends. Rob knew Dylan since he was in diapers, the boys did everything together. The three held the highest place in School as the "Pop. Trio!". This was really just the most popular kids in middle school. I'm pretty sure Rob and Mandy still carried that title through high school. Now things were different. There was no Dylan, or Kale. I guess Rob stepped up to take Dylan's place, and Mandy stayed "Queen".
I cleared my throat and she glanced over at me, her usual happy presence turned cold, and her glance switched to a glare.
"Gwen Orksmith," was all she got out, and I noticed the curl of her lip when she said it. I gave a curt nod. The history between me and her was ruff. Lets just say that spilling noodles on her new "to die for shirt" was not a wise move...
She turned to me and I wanted to b-slap her and then turn and show her my newly reformed a** as I skipped out the door. Mandy pinched at my waistband and side. Yes, Mandy I am skinny now, thanks for checking.
"And I see you dropped the fat roles and cut back on the twinkies," She teased.
'And I see you want your pretty little face screwed up!' I thought in my mind.
"Don't," I snarled as I peeled her hand off, "touch me."
"Oh, sorry for offending you. I'm just surprised is all," Mandy flashed me another blinding smile.
"It's fine, glad to see you," I mocked back in her tone. Her smile faltered for a second.
"Kale! We must call your mother! Like OMG! She's going to be, like, so thrilled!" Mandy pulled out her I-Phone, complete with a glittery case. I sighed and face-palmed.
"IM TEXTING AND FACEBOOK-ING ABOUT THIS!" She squealed.
"No!" I shrieked, plucking the smart phone from her grasp and literally dropping it to the ground and stomping on it. She screeched and stared at me, fuming.
"Omg you did not just break my phone!" She growled, crossing her arms.
"Lol, yes I did," I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.
"HOW AM I GOING TO CALL HIS MOM IF YOU-" she was quickly cut off with Rob slapping a hand over her mouth and speaking rather frantically into his own cellphone.
"Dude, no his little bro. No! Not Dyl-. DUDE! Get with the program here! I don't care if your grandmother just fell down the stairs! A missing person is standing right in front of me! Am I high? THAT WAS THE ONE TIME J-," Rob was apparently having a conversation. To bad I ended that one too.
Two broken phones in one day, score! New record!
"Kale, go call on your home phone," I sighed, pushing him forward and waving the others in. Amanda, Rob, and Sylvia gaped as the others filed in.
"There's more?" Mandy squeaked as she gaped at us all.
"No, they're all just a figment of your imagination," I rolled my eyes at her. The Flock and The Migration stood there awkwardly.
Kale hurried back to the living room.
"She's only five minuets away," he grinned and flopped down on the couch.
"Uh, take a seat," Sylvia tried. She looked at Fang warily, like she was processing something. Like she was remembering something.
"I'll be...right back," she whispered to me as she dropped my hand and raced up the steps.
Everyone took a seat of some sort, either on one of the many chairs or sofas, or on the floor. They started introducing themselves while Mandy ranted on and on about how Rob and her had been babysitting Sylvia since Dylan was kidnapped. Then they started asking questions and Mandy stared at the baby twins for a while, until Fang and Max got a little nervous. Then Mandy started to talk about how cute Jes was.
Sylvia skipped back down the steps and made her way to the living room. She sat against a wall, cross legged. Sylvia had one of my old yearbooks. The corners were burned and singed, but it was mostly still intact. I continued looking at her. She must've been able to salvage a few pictures. Some of Carl, Mom, Dan, me, and her. And one of baby Zachary... I instantly knew where she got those pictures. Mom had them hid in a small metal lunchbox that she called "Her Memory Box". At first it was a place where she hid everything that she ever kept of Zachary's. She had to hide everything about him from Dan, or he would beat her again. It started developing into more than just Zachary, though. Sylvia even had the little hospital bracelet thing from when he was a newborn. She continued to compare the pictures and looking up at Fang every once in a while.
"Who is s'at boy?" She whisper/asked me.
"That's Fang," I shrugged. She looked at me for more information. Dang, I forgot how smart she was!
"Yah, he's Zachary," I mumbled. She fist pumped and grinned.
"Knew it!" She cheered, "I'mma genius!"
"Yup, you are," I laughed.
"Where have you been?" She asked.
"I can't tell you, it's top secret," I said simply.
"Oh... Carl got adopted..." She frowned at that. The strange thing is, she probably remembered everything. She was that smart, don't let the lisp throw you off.
"I know, sweetie," I was starting to get choked up.
"It's ok, he's probably living with a new family. Who knows, he could even be happy," she tried.
If she only knew...
Sylvia stood up to go back upstairs when Kale decided to glance over at us.
"Is that our old yearbook?!" He asked. Sylvia nodded.
"Can I see it?!"
Sylvia handed it over to him. He grinned and opened it up. Kale showed the pictures of himself and baby-faced Dylan. Then Mandy and Rob. Finally it came to the page me and Carl were on. Everyone fell silent, gaping at the huge bruise around my eye in the picture and Carl's scratched up cheek.
"What happened?" Dr. M finally got out.
"Um, Dan locked Mom in the closet and I was trying to call 911 for help. Dan found me and hit me with an aluminum baseball bat square in the face. I struck back with a lamp. Carl came to help, but Dan broke a beer bottle and cut Carl all to pieces with it. We ended up pushing Dan down into the cellar, but he broke out and trapped us in the garage. We stayed home for three days with the "flu" and just happened to go back on picture day," I winced, recalling the grueling memory.
"What was your cover for the wounds?" Flair asked.
"Carl and I got in a big fight," I frowned.
"That's a terrible cover sto-" Storm began, but was cut off when Trisha, Kale's mom, barged in screaming. She ran to Kale and enveloped him in her arms, tearing up and saying how much she missed him.
After that whole "hug fest" was over she met the entire group and then asked the dreaded question.
"Where's Dylan?"
Kale answered, surprisingly calm and nonchalant. "He died, twice."
Everyone without wings or the last name Martinez had open jaws at this.
Let me summarize this for you: Trisha Arbrown broke down into tears, along with Amanda and Sylvia. Rob started screaming things like "How?!" and "Who did this?! I'll go round up the boys and we'll string 'em up. Lets put them in the ground!". Violence was always the answer for him. After explaining everything to them and showing them our wings they understood, but they were still in shock. This whole process took about two something hours and it was now dark out. Apparently Kale's dad, Arnold, was on yet another business trip, so we didn't have to worry about him snitching on us, but we made sure the others would keep their mouthes shut about everything.
"So...we need a place to crash..." I began.
"Of coarse! Lets see...girls can stay with Sylvia and boys can sleep in Kale's old room. There's a guest room, but it's small. I figured you could sleep there, Dr. Martinez. And then Dylan's room is open if you two want to stay in there," Trisha looked at Fang and Max, who only shrugged. They were both exhausted.
"Ok, let me go get some extra blankets and pillows," Trisha gave a slight smile as she headed to a closet.
"Follow me!" Sylvia chirped as she led us through the giant house to the second level. Dylan's room was first. Kale and Rob rushed in and dug through the closet. They threw out about four stacks of beach bunny magazines and crap like that. The magazines were stashed in a black trash bag. There were posters of everything from football to more chicks in bikinis.
"Who's are those?!" Mandy demanded.
"We might've had an...addiction to girls in bikinis..." Rob shrugged.
"Hmm, didn't notice," Ice snickered.
"Sleepover!" Sylvia squealed, latching onto Alex and pulling her in the direction of her own room. Everyone went to where they were suppose to be and we made ourselves comfortable. Trisha dropped some blankets and pillows off. After that it was all a distant foggy blur. I fell asleep, along with the others.
I don't know why Dylan wanted us to go here. It was just one of the first instructions on the note he left. And I still don't get why it was only addressed to me.
There's more to hear about the babies. And I wanted you all to know that I'm not going to be updating a lot, or frequently for that matter. And when I do finish this story, I won't be able to write a sequel. If one of my dear readers here would then just PM me and let me know. Once I finish you can adopt it and write the sequel. Thank you all for your 9 reviews! I am so pleased! It tops my old record "7"! :{D
H.A.G.S.! (Have a great summer!)