My name is Maximus Ride. I am not an ordinary person. Heck, I don’t even know whether or not we’re even human. Truth is: My family and I are freaks with a capital “F.” We’re genetically engineered super-humans who have the ability to fly. The problem is, we have to keep this a secret, or else we’ll get in a lot more trouble than we have to be in.
Another problem is we were captured by deadly employees of “The School”, to where an important family member, Angel, had been taken. We were planning an in-and-out mission to get her back, but we got captured instead. We were reunited, but that’s not the point. The real point of all this is: We were made to save the world. And the thing is, we didn’t know this until I had a meeting with a dead man that’s still walking. Geb, was what we liked to call him.
He said that we were made to save the world. But ever since we defeated the enemy, and even got recognized, it seemed that we lost our purpose in everything. We were famous in the most uncomfortable way, with the cameras and the free stuff, everything! It was driving us crazy!! Geb said that we had to go into hiding. So we went incognito and checked into a hotel that’s meant for, and I quote, “The Hood”. We have been warned.
When we got to our rooms, there was graffiti on every wall, every door. Some with the rudest and crudest language that Angel wasn’t supposed to see.
“Max?” she asks anxiously. “Why are there so many...’paintings’ inside when they’re already outside?”
“I don’t know,” I reply in the same tone, “But I know this much: this isn’t exactly a ‘welcome’ mat we can step on.”
“Oh.”
“Max! There you are!” Nudge.
“Hey, where have you guys been?” Ask Gaz.
“Ouch! Can someone please help me find my way out of this hallway and not to the walls?” Iggy.
“Ack! Dude, can ya stop creepin’ around like that?!” Gaz.
“What? I was just walking.” Fang.
Who’d I miss?
“Ok, everyone’s here. Now let’s get to our rooms before the real chaos starts.”
Nudge quickly says, “Max, we’ll be fine. Don’t start to act like a mom, ok?”
“Whatever you say, mom.” I smiled. She smiled right back. Just then we heard a loud and rumbling toot! It was Gaz farting.
“Gross man!” We all said in unison.
“What? It’s natural. Plus, it’s not my fault there were baked beans in my burrito!”
“Yes it is, Gaz! You’re the one that ordered it!!!” exclaimed Iggy. The next thing we (“we” as in me and Angel) know, everyone’s in an all out glare off. Iggy’s blind, so he was out. Gaz can’t go two seconds without blinking and laughing out loud, so he lost too. Only Nudge and Fang were left. Five minutes later, Nudge’s eyes watered, and she blinked. Fang was the winner, but he was the ‘silent, rude, but gentle’ type, so he went in his room. What a stick in the mud!
“Man, how does Fang win these things?!” Asked Iggy.
Gaz answered mockingly, “Pssh, yeah! Maybe because he was trying to say ‘Oh, hey guys! I’m a bum, so I hate fun! Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum!! Why am I so dumb?”
Everyone, even me, laughed until tears came out of our eyes.
“Gaz, you’re terrible!” said Nudge.
“I know. That’s just me.”
Pause this story for a minute. Let me tell ya a bit about ourselves. I am pretty young for a gal who can experience all this craziness in one swing. I’m seventeen years old. I look a little like my mom: Five-foot six, blonde, short hair, bright blue eyes, peachy white skin, and clothes a normal girl would wear. No, I’m not gonna tell you what I’m wearing. Not that it’s naughty...Oi! I’m gettin off topic.
Angel is ten. She looks like an average thirteen year old, just a little more...mini. She has pale yellow hair, eyes that are rays of happiness. She’s four feet seven, she’s full of energy, but is very sensitive, you can tell by just one look. Trust me.
Fang is a creeper. Not a perv, more like a ghost who goes about scaring half the life out of everyone. He is nineteen, six feet eleven, and he has long and spiky indigo hair, and a face that scowls all the time. But he can be a softy sometimes. He’s fast, but you can see he wears emo clothing almost all the time. We really don’t know why, so don’t ask. Fang is the sourpuss of the group, and is a true hater of fun, but you already know that.
Next up is Nudge. She always sleeps, but if it’s something important, she’ll run faster than a bunny running for its life. She has warm caramel skin, wears summer clothing no matter what season it is. She has the face of a cute six year old, even though she’s fourteen. She also has short, black hair. She is kind, gets cranky sometimes, and oh, loves food. Especially chocolate. Last, but not least, she loves fun.
At long last is Gazzy and Iggy. Gazzy is eleven years old, about five feet two. He likes to mess around and play pranks on everyone. He, of course, passes gas. All the time. He has medium long, sunlight yellow hair. He wears “street clothes”(the mini and cute version, of course!). He has pale, but bright peachy skin. Like Angel’s. He’s a good kid. If you come across him though, hold your breath. Cause if ya don’t, you’ll see why we call him Gasman.
Iggy is the most mature one of all of us. Sure he’s blind and very clumsy, but he’s a good big brother. He’s twenty. He’s also seven feet three. He has short, gray hair. He cooks better than me (I hate to admit). He makes some good puns when we need them. He wears his own style. Let me warn you. In the summertime he tries to wear socks with sandals and let me tell you, he cannot make that work! It’s humorous in a serious way. He’s a role model to us, and that’s why we love him the most, not that I’m picking favorites. Angel is my favorite anyways. Ahem, back to my intriguing story.
After we got ourselves together, we separated to go to our rooms. Fang’s by himself, Nudge is with Gazzy and Iggy, poor thing (I mean Nudge), and I’m with Angel. Fair enough. When we got to our rooms, we unpacked our things and Angel suggested we go to the store.
“No, it’s too early. We’ll go in about an hour.”
“Ok, but I’m gonna time you.”
She smiles. I smiled back and kissed her cheek. We freshened up and ate some of our leftover snacks from our “travels”.
“Hey, Max, I was wondering, do we have to hide like this forever?”
I was shocked. I really didn’t know what to say. I managed to stutter out, “No, no. We won’t have to. I promise you.” She gives that I-hope-so look. I really couldn’t read her expression after that. After we freshened up, I made sure to pack our room key and my wallet in my bag. Then, we were all set. But we were gonna run into trouble sooner than I thought we were.
As soon as we got outside, I heard the gunshots ring in our ears. It was awful, screams erupted everywhere. Blood caressed the road and the windows of nearby buildings. Angel screamed, and I found out she wasn’t at my side.
“Angel? Angel?!!”
“MAX!!!”
I turned around and saw a man holding Angel by the waist and pointing a gun...at her head. He was wearing a blood-covered black suit, a fedora that covered his face, and shoes that were tattered beyond repair.
“Let her go!” I screeched.
“I will”, he said, “As soon as you give all your money.”
What? This guy looks like he’s worth half a million dollars, and he’s asking me. Me. To give him all of my money. All I did was grin and lunge myself toward him. He was about to pull the trigger, but I kicked the gun out of his hand before he could shoot. Let’s just say he was kicked into next week.
“Max!” Angel ran into my arms and started to cry.
“Angel! Are you alright?” She tried to say yes, but she just cried harder. I held her tight and whispered in her ear. “It’s okay, I got you. I’ll never let you go again. I promise.” Angel hugged me even tighter.
I took my dagger out of my bag and hid it in my back pocket. “Stay close to me, okay?”
“I will.”
We knew now that we had to keep our guard up. As soon as we got our supplies, we ran all the way back to hotel, while ignoring the cars that beeped (and the drivers that gave us the finger). By the time we got back to our room, we were exhausted. I did the most unexpected thing ever...I laughed. I laughed and laughed and laughed until Angel started to laugh too. We laughed so hard, we doubled over on the bed and actually fell off. We heard Fang and the others say in unison, “Keep it down!!!” “Sorry!” We replied. We were still laughing too hard. We even got the hiccups! After laughter hour, we shared a huge bag of Doritos. Nacho Cheese was our favorite flavor. We watched the news while we ate and Iggy came from next door.
“You two okay? I heard there was a shoot out this afternoon.”
“Dude, you see we’re okay. We didn’t even go out today.” Angel gave me a confused look. I winked at her. She giggled.
“Hey, are you lying? You forgot I’m blind, but I can still hear you!!!”
“Whatever Iggy,” I said while I rolled my eyes. Iggy bumped into the wall and blushed beet red.
“I’m okay...” He mumbled something about the sneaky wall.
“Max?” Angel said.
“Yeah?”
“We have to do this more often.”
“Ya think?”
We laugh through the night, not even caring who heard. Including the guy I sent to the hospital. Or H-e-double hockey sticks (Hell).
Ayanna Destiny Baptiste