Free fall - Chapter 1

All she could hear was the ringing in her ears. The ghostly cries that were sitting right at the forefront of her mind. She'd never felt so helpless, even with all she'd been through in her life. The crying, the screaming, the breakdowns, the cold nights alone could never add up to what she'd just endured. As she sat on that hospital bed in the dead silence, she felt her thoughts get louder; pounding at the inside of her ears like a vicious shrill. You're fine. You're fine. You are fine. She closed her eyes, pulling her knees to her chest and pushing her hands into her ears trying to silence her memories. Stop. She felt a soft hand on her shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts. She turned to see sally looking at her with a pitying comfort as she started rubbing her back. The comfort of having someone there, a mother figure that she'd never quite had before, made her eyes burn and her throat turn to shreds. She held her breath and swallowed, keeping the sobs at bay.

"Ya'no, sometimes these things hit us later.. delayed shock." Sally validated, trying to comfort her. Maddie shook her head slightly, insisting she was strong. She'd always had to be the strong one.

"I'm fine." she reassured Sally. She looked at her and smiled, but it fell quickly. You're fine, Madeline.

"You could have Post Traumatic Shock Syndrome, you never know." Sally said, wringing her own hands now, almost worrying, "Gary Windass went right doolally." Maddie looked at her and gave her a sarcastic smile,

"I think I preferred it when you were unconscious." she joked, breathing out a laugh before standing up and straightening her clothes out. She took a breath and started walking out of the exam room, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she opened the door.

"Maddie.." she heard Sophie breathe out in relief as she opened the door. She looked over and saw the girl jump out of her seat and come towards her in a blur of tears. Maddie couldn't swallow her emotions this time, letting out a small sob as soon as she launched herself into Sophie's arms. She was happier than ever to smell her strawberry sweet hair, and feel those warm arms around her. Sophie nuzzled her head into Maddie's neck, breathing out a sigh of relief as Maddie turned and kissed the side of her head, squeezing the taller girl so tightly she thought her arms would give out. I'm so glad I have you.

"I'm so glad you're okay.." Sophie breathed into Maddie's ear, sending a shiver down her spine and a burning behind her eyes.

"I love you." she whispered into Sophie's shoulder as the hospital and everything in it disappeared from around them.

They were cuddled together the whole ride home, Maddie had her eyes closed tightly and was sunken into her girlfriends neck. She insisted to walk, not keen on being in another car anytime soon, but Sophie and Tim reassured they'd be fine and Tim would drive slowly. Even still, she couldn't bare look out the window the whole way home. She instead listened to Sophie's relaxed breathing, hearing her heartbeat match up with her own, feeling her girlfriends fingertips slide through her hair and down the side of her neck to her collarbone. Sophie knew how to relax the smaller girl, even in the worst of situations.

Maddie never thought she'd be as happy to see the Webster house then she was in that moment. As they all walked in, Sophie helped her with her jacket and they both listened to Sally tell Tim about what she had done.

"I'm just so proud of her." She raved about the scared girl next to her, who turned her attention to Sally now, "You did so well."

Maddie gave her a small smile, taking a breath, "did you like that slap, then?" she said with a small laugh, getting a smile from Sally. The room fell silent for a second until she felt Sophie's hand on the small of her back

"I think we best get you cleaned up." Sophie suggested, her thumb rubbing small circles on Maddie's back. Maddie looked at her and gave her a small smile, feeling numb to the world around her, and thankful for the girl next to her.

When they got to the bathroom Maddie sat on the edge of the tub, feeling exhausted, mentally and physically. Sophie closed the door behind them, walking over behind Maddie to start the shower. She closed the curtain behind Maddie and knelt down in front of her.

"Showers all ready babe." Sophie told her softly, running her hands through Maddie's hair and cupping her face. She looked straight into the brunettes worried eyes, starting to feel her chest collapse. She looked down to the floor letting the sobs wrack her tiny, bruised frame, and felt Sophie's forehead against hers. She felt hands on her thighs, giving a slight squeeze as she brought her own hands to cover her face, "I'm so sorry." she heard the taller girl squeak out through sobs of her own, pulling Maddie's hands away from her face and placing them on Soph's neck. Sophie held her girlfriends face gently with her forehead still against her own, and wiping away tears with the pads of her thumbs.

Maddie woke up the next morning with a sleepy brunette wrapped tightly around her. They usually weren't allowed to sleep in the same room, but considering what had happened, they had doubted Sally and Tim would mind. Maddie turned to face Sophie, twisting in her arms as she brought her hand up to run it softly through the girls hair. She stayed that way for a while, just looking at her beautiful girlfriend, thinking how lucky she was to have someone like Sophie in her life. She wondered how she had stayed with her after everything she had put Sophie through. The running and the mind games, just being a right mare on a regular basis.

"But what if they don't like the real me?" she had asked Sally, letting her emotions come to the forefront for the first time. Sally sighed, looked at Maddie, and said,

"Oh, honey. That's just a risk you're going to have to take."

She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes, still running her hand through Sophie's hair, feeling like she could stay like that forever. She started to drift off, dreaming of-

BANG

Maddie sat straight up with a fright, her breath catching in her throat as her heartbeat went wild, now gasping for air. She was in her bed still, but she wasn't in her room. She was at the cliff.

"No..." she whispered, terrified, "This can't be happen-"

"My shoe is stuck!" Tracy yelped as the bus started sliding, further and further off the cliff, "Help me!"

Maddie jumped off the bed and ran over to Tracy, desperately grabbing at her arm and pulling as hard as she could. She felt her feet digging into the sod with everything she had. She dug her nails into Tracy's sleeve, hearing her heartbeat pound in her ears. She felt the panic and adrenaline kick in and she started to shake furiously, holding on for dear life. But she was slipping, and so was the bus.

"No!" she screamed as Tracy kept slipping further and further away, "No, No! Tracy!" she was screaming. She saw the fear in her eyes and heard the terror in her breath. She wasn't going to get her out. She wasn't going to get her out in time.

"Maddie!" she saw Tracy mouth, "Maddie, it's okay!" but it wasn't Tracy's voice, "You're okay, breathe!"

Suddenly she was back in Sophie's room with tears streaming down her face and sweat pouring off her forehead. Eyes wide in fear, she looked up and saw she was gripping Sophie's shirt ferociously, and her neck had scratches up the side of it. She saw the panic and worry on Sophie's face and she felt like she was hyperventilating. She couldn't catch her breath, panting so hard she thought she was going to be sick.

"Mads?" Sophie called out to her again seeing her come to. Maddie looked into her eyes, letting go of her shirt and looking at her own hands with confusion, "Hey, you're okay Mads." Sophie comforted, her hands on either side of Maddie's face, her own breath running rampant. Maddie covered her face, trying to catch her breath and get control of herself.

"Oh my God." she breathed out shakily, her hands trembling fiercely.

What in the hell just happened?

A/N

Wooooo. Everybody okay? Take a breath with me now.

Innnn

Outttt

Okay. Now that we've all calmed down, I can't let you guys know that I'm going to be starting this story (if i get enough positive feedback about it, cuz yanno, i want you guys to enjoy it or else theres no point in posting it.) It'll be a multi-chapter story, and not going to lie, it'll probably be fairly long (if you're into that, great!) I'll post once a week, not quite sure on what day yet, but it'll be a consistant series.

If anyone is wondering, i didn't put the flashback scene in italics because to Maddie, it wasn't a flashback. It was real.

TW: it will have lots of mention of PTSD (PTSS) because its going to be about the aftermath of the crash, the way I would've written it for the show (AND NOT JUST BRUSH IT OFF LIKE SOME WRITERS *coughcough*)

let me know if you guys want me to continue it, and thanks for reading! (: