WoM- Okay, this is another one that's been bugging me for a while. (This is just becoming a place where I can get things off my chest, now that I think about it,) I think I might be able to stump a few people here at first…
Chance
I've always been so monotone
As I survive from day to day
From sunrise to the falling moon
No change in what I do and say
Age; 13
Dear Diary,
I not an interesting person, am I? I know this and accept it, after all almost my whole family was that way. Normal family, normal job, normal kids, normal house… there is nothing unique about the pattern in which we do things.
It's my father more then anything. He's such a military man, and he runs his family like he does his job. We get up at the same time in the morning every day, we all get the same chores, the same breakfast… there is never anything to differentiate one morning from another. Sometimes I almost wished something major would happen, just so that maybe I could get to do something different.
Things were expected of me from early on, too. After all, I've been labeled the smart one, the one who was gonna get good grades, go to college and become a doctor or some equally respected as money-making profession. I'm the responsible one who always did as she was told, and never questioned her parents.
It's my older sister who fights tooth and nail for her individuality. Her grades were never as good as mine, but she is a lot braver then I ever was. She breaks from the norm of our life, but in a dangerous way. She dates really tough-looking biker guys, almost like Hell's Angel rejects. I think she smokes and drinks too, but I never caught her.
As much as I, The middle-school brainiac, am in awe over the pure defiance in my high school sister's actions, I'm also afraid. Because Daddy gets mad whenever anyone so much as mentions her name in his presence. Daddy's been threatening to disown her, to kick her out, if she doesn't straighten up. She always assures me that the only reason she hasn't left yet is because she's still trying to get her living arrangements worked out.
But you want to know what I think? I think she's just as scared of change as I am.
I'm simplicity in its purest form
And it's driving me insane
I wanna scream, want to explore
To make this life less plain
Age; 15
Dear Diary;
It's amazing how little things change if you don't do anything. My sister settled down after high school, met the son of one of my father's colleges and got married. Me? I haven't changed at all. I'm in High School now, still doing perfect at everything, and I'm very, very popular, but I'm so unbelievably bored!
Even my boyfriend is tedious and dull. He's the captain of the varsity football team, but dumb as bricks and extremely vain. If you let him, he'll go on for hours about his football glories.
…Actually, he'll go on about it if you let him or not.
I'm starting to doubt my father now, too. After all, there's nothing I'm accomplishing in this life, no risks taken. Everything's been planned out for me, and I just have to follow the yellow brick road.
Sometimes I want to yell at them, tell them all to just screw off and get a life. I want to scream out, to swear, all the things that my dad deems inappropriate. But then I remember my sister.
She fought, and it got her nothing. She wasn't really happy now, settling into the life dad had dictated out for her. She'd fought, then given up. What if I did the same? What if I didn't and dad carried through on his threat to make me a homeless orphan not welcome in my own room anymore. That thought worried me.
After all, even if it isn't much of a family, it's all I had…
Maybe I was only scared
Of what would come and go
Maybe I'm just cowardly
But I didn't want to know
Age; 17
Dear Diary,
I cried myself to sleep last night.
I don't even know WHY. Well, I do, but I can't tell anybody. No one but you at any rate. I mean, how stupid would I sound if I complained to one of my friends that my life was boring. Especially since they don't think so.
Kristen's a basketball jock, Michelle's an artist and Tad's the captain of the martial arts team. They're all ALLOWED to have flaws, their parents don't care. They're allowed to act as goofy and freaky as they want.
And they don't. Why? Because they're popular, and better things are expected of them. I can't even properly resent them for it because I'm the worse of all. I'm in mask no matter where I go or who I talk to. I've grown to hate myself with a burning passion.
Dad's picked out my college for me, and that were I'm going. He didn't even ask my opinion at all. I don't want to be a doctor, though, that's too boring. I want an exciting life, doing something I can really be proud of. But still, all I do is smile and nod.
Because it's what's expected of me.
Then you came, a stranger
Unlike anyone alive or dead
Not what I could ever want
So why did you now irk my head
Age; 19
Dear Diary,
I met the most bizarre man imaginable today! I didn't even talk to him, yet I already know he's touched my life in a profound way. It was in a local café, I was out with Michelle who wanted to celebrate some art competition she'd won when I saw him.
Not that he was hard to miss. His clothes, the volume of his voice, the way he lumbered around awkwardly… it drew everyone's attention. But I was the only one watching him not for the entrainment value of his performance, but because I envied how free he was, how comfortable he was in his skin.
His words had so many rolling their eyes in annoyance, but they held me captive. Sure he wasn't the brainiac that my dad wanted me to marry, but he was so confident, so imaginative, and so… unique.
After a while, though, Michelle noticed my attention wasn't on her and turned to see what I was looking at. When she finally noticed him, she laughed.
"Talk about a grade-A nut job, huh?" She giggled to me. I felt furious at her right then, but slipped back into the persona I always wore around my friends.
"Yeah," I said instead. Normally, I wouldn't have chanced it, but I had to glance at the man once more as we left, still preaching to an unconvinced audience.
I thought about him all that night. About his words, his confidence… and, in the most reckless attitude I'd ever taken with anything, I got up and drove to the local library, determined to research more about the topic he was talking about.
I tried my best to stay away
I swear that forever to you
I wanted to stay normal
But I wanted to change, too
Age; 21
Dear Dairy,
I've never been one to believe in fate. I'm a woman of science and facts, and things like fate and predestine couldn't be proven no matter how many believers it had.
But I swear to you, our meeting must have been fate. How could something that brought me such strength and joy be a mere coincidence? I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. My hands are even shaking in excitement…
I met him again today. That man I saw so long ago in the café, the one who unknowingly drew me into a world unlike anything I'd ever seen, a world where the facts I lived by and the fantasy I found difficult to understand collided.
I have to admit, I was hooked in by the mystery of it, the fact that there were puzzles in this science still nowhere near solved. And the fact that I was very, very good at understanding them and being able to sort them out.
I'm getting off track again, aren't I? Ah, well, back to my story…
I'd just gotten a call from my father, angry over the drop in my GPA from a 4.0 to a 3.8. Apparently, he'd just gotten wind of my new side hobby, too, which did little to soothe his anger.
Never in my life did I hate that man more. What right did he have to deny me happiness? Who was he to tell me what interests I could and couldn't have? But I didn't have the courage to tell him that. To yell at him like I wanted to, tell him to go to hell.
So I sat, I listened, then I left my dorm for the park and cried.
I don't know how long I sat there. I few hours at the very least. It was a secluded spot, so no one bothered me. This brought me both comfort and more pain.
After all, I knew no one would be looking for me. My 'friends' weren't loyal, too busy caught up in popularity, and my so-called family was a disgrace to the word. I was really and truly alone…
…That's where he found me.
"Are you alright?" I looked up, then froze in shock. I recognized the man right off the bat, but knew he didn't know me. Still, I had to blush was I wiped my eyes.
"F-fine," I stammered out, feeling weaker by the second. The man frowned, clearly not convinced.
"Are you sure?" He pressed, "I'd be happy to help…" I laughed bitterly.
"No one can help me," I told him. It was funny, but talking to him made my tears start to dry. My pain was ebbing away. I didn't want to continue, I knew it wouldn't help things in the end, but nor did I want to stop.
"Can I at least try?" The man asked hopefully. I had to smile.
"I suppose," I said, my smile widening at the bright look on his face.
"Can I start by buying you a meal?" I laughed, this one far more sincere.
"Deal!" I said, feeling much better already. I didn't even have his name and I was already attached to him. I took the hand he offered me and we started for town for our date, and I knew I was in for a bizarre trip with the next words out of the man's mouth, just like I knew I didn't care…
"Do you believe in Ghosts?"
You gave me more then anyone
More then any passing glance
You taught me how to really live
And how to take a chance
"Mom? What are you doing?" I look up from my old diary at my daughter's voice, smiling as she eyes the book in my hands in blatant curiosity.
"Nothing, sweetie," I said, closing the book, "I was just cleaning the attic and got caught in dusty of memories about me and your father…" She made a face at that.
"If it has anything to do with public displays of affection, Vlad Masters or ghosts, I do not want to know!" She declared firmly. I laughed.
"Well, I guess that saves us time then, doesn't it?" I asked, winking at her and putting the book back in the box. I head downstairs, smiling when I catch you leaning over a new contraption you imagined up for our job.
"Hey!" You brighten when you see me, "Any luck finding the Fenton ecto-disintegrator?" I shook my head.
"None," I tell you, "But I did stumble over some old memories." You blink at me in confusion, "Remember when we first met?" I asked.
"Course I do!" You say, grinning, "We were in college, in the park and you were in tears… never did tell me what you were crying about… the thing was though, even when you were crying you were still the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. Still are, too." I grin.
"Oh, sweetie!" I said, hugging you. It was touching to hear that from you, especially since I know how awkward you get around romantic things. It was adorable in it's own right, and one of the many reasons I fell head over heels for you, though my family severely disapproved.
The thing was though, for once in my life I didn't care what they or anyone else thought. I was happy, I was motivated and I was madly in love. I finally stood up to my father and took control of my life, and I now had a great job, two beautiful kids and a husband who loved me as much as I loved him.
And you know what? It was all because I finally took my chance when I stopped being Madeline the Perfect, and started being Maddie the Ghost-Nut…
WoM- There you have it! There isn't a single pure Jack/Maddie fic I can find, and it was driving me so insane that I had to correct it in at least a minor form. I hope more of you will do stuff like this in the future. I think this has a lot of potential others just aren't seeing! Oh, and a note to Myst, I can't seem to find you at DeviantArt. Can you give me a link to your profile or something?
Thanks to;
conan98002
Rosadina formerly Tima
TayloWolf
Myst
Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet
Next update; December 23rd
See you then!