A/N: Were you happy with that last chapter? No? Well, have another one, just not as long.
So.. later in this fic, I might have to change the rating to M, for... reasons. Mainly because I like to torture our poor Madelyn, no joke.
And, I lied, this is in, like, October, just so you know. And this is my made up town, Fairview-ridge, so the weather here can be as screwed up as I want!
Well, let this chapter begin, very slowly in Maddie's POV!
Where was he?
Alfred was supposed to pick me up. But, more times than not, he forgot and played video games when he was supposed to drive back to the school and pick me up. I called him a few times, and the house phone before I realized, he wouldn't ever pick up. I knew that David was taking care of his baby sister and brother, so he wouldn't take the time out either. Everyone from the hockey team was gone, so I had no ride.
Looks like I'm walking home... again.
My feet trudged down the long gravel road from the school to the actual town. The forest surrounding me on all sides didn't bother me, I actually liked the quietness
The water that soaked the gravel all of today had started to freeze over because it was reaching night. My feet slid around in the slush of dirt, rocks and ice slurry. A sigh escaped my lips just before I fell butt first on the ground. I swore softly and pushed myself off the ground, wincing from the rocks pushing into the skin on my hands. When I was up, I picked out the rocks and pressed the bloody holes in my hands into my black and red plaid skirt, where the stains wouldn't be noticed.
Eventually, the trees broke and I found myself walking on a suitable sidewalk. Cars passed by and I chuckled. Rich people, how lovely. All of them having their own fancy little cars. Well, big cars, but that's not the point.
I hitched my bags up higher on my shoulders and crossed the street quickly. I wasn't surprised when people just bumped into me like crazy. No one saw me anyway. That looked at me, but not at me. They were just looking through me. I felt depression claw at my insides but ignored it the best I could.
I pulled my red and white hoodie close to me and made a mental note to wear another coat over this one tomorrow. That was, unless Al didn't steal it. He would, most likely, even though he's the one with the car with heating.
I tried to remove my mind from the internal rant at him and kept walking. Before long, my feet carried me to somewhere I didn't want to be. It was that street filled with shops and that bakery. The one I passed in the dream. The one with those bright orange eyes.
My shoulders shook as I half ran past the place, crashing into a boy with blonde hair and was about my hight. He was taking a sign back into his shop.
I picked up my things and ran before he could talk to me. I was glad he didn't have those eyes. The ones that made me feel like I was imploding.
Before long, I tripped and stumbled down the hill, falling into what should have been a snowbank, but it was a puddle of half frozen mud and slush from the street. My gym bag was farther down the hill, but only by a little. I breathed heavily to calm myself and to gather my wits. My chest and stomach shook and breathing rattled through my body. Tears tried to slip down my face, but I tried my best to stop them. My knees curled into my chest as I laid in the muddy slush. I just wanted to go home.
I sat up after a few minutes, not caring about the muddy snow slush in my hair and covering my hoodie, skirt, and tights. I pulled myself to my feet and didn't bother brushing myself off before grabbing my bag. It seemed heavier than before as I trudged up the slippery hill.
Once I was back on the street, I was almost knocked right back down by someone biking past. I resisted trying to catch up with them and simply walked along the sidewalk.
In about 20 minutes, I was walking up the curved sidewalk to my house. I didn't bother knocking or opening the door quietly, I just barged in, threw my things on the floor, and walked into the living room, not acknowledging my mother sitting on the couch and simply dropping down on the opposite side of the couch.
"Madelyn!" She said in a half surprised, half angry tone. "You're destroying the couch!" I looked over at her, emotionless, before simply looking back at the television. "Madelyn. You do not ignore me! Get off the couch and clean this mess up!"
"Have Alfred do it. He's your kid too." I nearly growled, but still in my soft voice. It had a... strange effect to say the least.
"You do not take that that tone with me, young lady!" She protested and stood up, trying to prompt me to do the same. When I didn't budge she took it into her own hands and pulled me off the couch. "I'm not going to clean up the mess from your mud wrestling!" I raised my eyebrows at her, just trying to say to buzz off without words. It didn't work, sadly.
With a few minutes of her screaming, she forced me to clean up all the mess I'd made off the couch and floor. When I was done, I walked up the stairs to my bedroom.
Kumajiro was waiting at the closed door, as my mother didn't want him roaming around the house. I sighed as I looked at his happy face. He was waiting all day, poor guy. I have to remember to bring him to the next hockey practice. Everyone loved playing with him on the ice, and he loved it too. I would need to talk to coach though. He'd have to take care of him while I was in class.
I shook my head and tossed my bags onto the wood of my floor. I walked to the bathroom connected to my room quickly and stripped of my clothing. I'd made sure the door to my room was locked before doing so and I stepped into the small shower next to the toilet. I turned on the water, not caring about the temperature and just letting it loosen the dirt and grime in my hair and on my skin. A weird sensation was on my thigh and I looked down.
My bandages were slipping off of my leg, as I forgot to take them off before stepping in the shower. I let the bandages soaked with dried blood fall off and onto the ground. After I was clean, I stood for a few minutes in the scorching hot water before stepping out and wrapping myself in a towel. Before going into my room, I cleaned and bandaged with cuts on my leg.
Kuma was whining in my room and I sighed before seeing what was wrong. He was rummaging through my school bag and getting covered with dirt. He pulled the bag with my bloodstained tights and bandages out, whimpering. I pulled it from his mouth and stuffed it into the trash. The tights weren't even salvageable anymore, as the blood had just stuck to everything in the bag.
I dried off quickly and dressed in a pair of thick sweat pants and a t-shirt. Instead of going downstairs with my dirty clothing, as Mom would just yell at me for mucking up the washing machine, I pulled out a few buckets from the storage closet and started to fill them up in the shower, one with hot water, two with cold.
Before long, I had my clothing line up and was washing my clothes with my small television on so I didn't fell as lonely. Kuma sat on my bed after I got the dirt out of his fur, and curled up with my pillow.
I jumped at a knock on the door, because I hadn't heard and footsteps on the stairs.
"Maddie..." I heard Alfred's voice from outside the door and sighed.
"You can come in." I said quietly and the door creaked open. He closed the door behind him, as that was my policy for anyone coming into my room.
"It's so cold up here..." He said as he plopped down in my desk chair. I had a heater running under my clothes to dry them, which was a bit dangerous, albeit efficient. "Maddie, Mom didn't send me to talk to you." His words were true. "I heard her screaming at you and I wanted to say sorry for not picking you up from practice." I chuckled at the fact that he only heard her, as I was completely silent through it all.
"Al, it's fine. I figured you were doing something with someone, like playing video games with one of your friends." I said and started hanging up my hockey gear.
"No! It's not okay! You had to walk home in 35 degree weather!" He said, seeming to be mad at himself. I silently put my hand on his shoulder, calm as usual. I didn't even have to say a thing for him to know what I was thinking. "Okay. I'm still sorry. I'll make it up to you, okay Maddie?" I nodded and went back to my laundry, which was practically done.
I wasn't exactly surprised when he ran out for ten minutes, as that was his sort of thing. I was tempted to ask him to close the door when he left, but he was too far down the hall, and my voice didn't travel that far.
I sighed yet again and continued to hang my laundry up. Kuma hopped off my bed and started walking around my ankles. I messed up his fur a bit and dumped my dirty water down the drain in my shower before walking back into my room and closing my door.
As soon as I sat down, it burst open again, with Alfred holding video games and junk food.
"Don't tell Mom I have these." He muttered and tossed the bags of chips, chocolate and candy onto the bed. He turned around and looked out my door to see if Mom was following him. Apparently, she wasn't, as he closed the door quickly and plopped down on my floor. "Come on, we're playing some video games and eating food until three in the morning." He said, looking around at me. I couldn't hold back a laugh and dragged a blanket onto the floor for us to sit on.
I dug my hand into the chips as Al turned on the gaming system and placed a disk inside. I did have to admit, the chips were the most heavenly thing I'd tasted in a while, because my mother was so strict on the junk food ban. She was indeed a health nut and restricted us from all the junk food we ever wanted, because apparently one potato chip would poison the body and soul.
She didn't know how amazing M&M's are.
After a while of simply eating junk food, I looked up at the menu screen and saw it was a sports game. A hockey game.
He knew I would beat him, but picked it so I could...
That actually is really sweet.
Before I could get emotional, since not really anyone does that type of stuff for me, I picked up the controller and nearly immediately beat him.
An hour or two later, I heard Mom's footsteps downstairs and threw the blanket over the junk food and my lap, as well as Alfred's. She walked up the stairs as I killed his character in a video game.
"Hey guys." She said, poking her head in. She payed no regard to the fact that I wanted everyone to knock every time they came in, no matter how loud their footsteps were. "I'm just going to say goodnight, because I'm going out to work, okay?" We grunted in response, intent on the game. "Don't stay up to late." We grunted again. "Love you."
"Love you too." We said in unison. Even with growing up and growing apart as siblings, we still had the same strange bond to say things at the exact same time. I heard her walk away and groaned in annoyance. She didn't close the door. I tried to ask her too, but again, she couldn't hear me.
Al paused the game so I could close the door and uncover the food.
It was a long time before we ran out of food, and even longer before we got tired of the games.
At around two thirty, Al went downstairs to sleep, and I cleaned up the evidence of junk food. When I was walking outside to the dumpsters, I slipped on the sidewalk and fell down painfully. The wrappers and bags fell from my grasp and scattered across the yard, and I simply tried to collect them, painstakingly. After a while of wondering through a layer of frost and ice, I threw out the trash and walked back inside. I could just throw it away in the normal trash, as my mother would find it.
I pushed through the door and trudged upstairs to my room. Kumajiro was waiting patiently on the bed. I sighed and petted his head roughly.
"I have homework to do, babe." His ears drooped at my tone. I'm not sure if he understands what I say, really, but he gets my emotions. "I'll be staying up really late, I got homework for nearly every class." He stood up on his hind legs and grabbed hold of my arm, trying desperately to keep me there.
I pulled him along and started doing my homework with him in my lap. He slept there, keeping my lap warm. My legs fell asleep quickly, but Kuma was too cute to move.
I didn't dare look at the time when I slumped onto my desk, done with the homework, and too tired to move. My eyes drifted shut, sleeping for only what felt like second, before I felt hands shaking me awake.
I groaned loudly and looked up with half-lidded eyes.
"Come one, it's Wednesday." I heard Alfred say quietly. "And you don't even have practice. You can come home and relax." His words went strait over my head, as I didn't even want to listen. I just wanted to stay home and be quiet underneath my covers, which had magically appeared on my body.
"No.." I muttered quietly. He didn't hear me and ripped off my covers. I didn't react from the cold and sat up, not caring anymore. I pushed Al out of the room, but he walked out on his own without my prompting after a few seconds.
I stood and pulled on my skirt for school, as well as the dress shirt and tie I was required to wear. The rest of my uniform was found and put on. The bandages on my leg were dry, so I didn't change them. My hoodie went on next, as usual. I brushed my hair methodically and walked through the house, Kuma trailing behind me.
Al waited in the kitchen, messing around on his phone. He was texting someone, inevitably.
"Al, let's go." I said, but I got no response. I stood with my arms crossed for a bit. "Al." I said again, to get his attention. When he simply stared at his phone, I frowned and turned to the fridge. I made the biggest fuss about getting out Kumajiro's food, making as much noise as possible. He didn't look up.
I was getting sick of it by the time I was done, and pushed him in the shoulder. He didn't move. I had enough with his ignoring me and ripped the phone from his hands.
"Hey!" He half-shouted. He saw it was me and relaxed. I always had a reason to grab his phone.
"It's time to go to school." I muttered angrily. He walked past me after I handed him his phone, and out to the car. We drove to school in silence.
I stepped from the car when it stopped and walked away, just wanted to get the day over with. My math class was on the second floor, so, I walked up the stairs begrudgingly. I entered the classroom and almost immediately got pushed to the floor by a group of girls, gossiping. The point of one of their heels stabbed into my hand painfully.
I bit my lip as I grabbed the folders that fell out of my bag. I was frustrated when kids stepped on my things, but kept quiet as I finished cleaning up.
I went to my seat and watched people pour in the class room, until the bell rang. David sat next to me, as usual, and we got to work. Hartwell, the teacher walked over to both of us.
"Do you to want to sit in here all period? We're just doing everything we did for all the last month." He muttered, obviously angry at the class. They were all chatting up a storm, and I could barely hear myself think.
"No thanks," David said politely. He knew that last time it happened, Hartwell forgot to give me credit for the day.
For the rest of the period, we sat there and spoke about random stuff. David did most of the talking. We didn't have to do the work, since we already knew it, and Hartwell was forced to teach the subject until kids got it, or he ran out of material to teach that unit with.
"Do you think the administration cares about this class?" David asked out of the blue.
"No. Not one bit." I said quietly as I scanned the class. There was about 5 kids that were actually somewhat intelligent. I knew their names, but they didn't know I existed.
"What are you doing in here?" I heard Hartwell ask and looked up. I fell out of my seat and grabbed my head from it pounding so hard. Memories of that night came flooding into my head again, and all I could do was try not to scream.
David fell to his knees next to me, worried. I couldn't make out words through the burning pain. I heard so many voices, all pressing into my skull trying to break it. It took a few minutes for me to open my eyes. I simply saw the worried face of David and a bunch of legs, chairs tables, and kids.
"What the fuck was that?"
Orange-red.