ACT III
It is now official. Janice Virginia Hayley is now a graduate of her class of 2021 after she received her brand new diploma. Her mother and her cousins congratulated her on a job well done. "Look at you Janice, you did it!" said Sonia as she gave her daughter a hug "Thanks Mom, I really appreciate it! I can't really believe this is happening right now" said Janice as she relishes in the moment "Just realized, the visiting hours in Maddie's prison is gonna be done in a couple of hours! Wanted to show her my diploma and tell her that I officially graduated." "Tell you what, since it's your special day today, why don't we hit the road to see Ms. Mad...I mean Maddie" said Sonia. After the declaration, they're off to see Maddie once more. And speaking of Maddie, even though she can't attend the graduation in person due to her criminal record but she attended in spirit and in fact, she even caught a glimpse of her walking the stage as part of the graduation highlights during the telecast being streamed in the prison quarters. During that time, Maddie and her associates Sasha and Samantha were playing a round of go-fish to pass the time. "...5?" asked Sasha "Go fish" said Samantha. "7?" asked Samantha as she picks up another card. "10?" asked Maddie with her card collection deck adjacent to her on the table. "Looks like you win again…" said Samantha as she conceded defeat in the hands of Maddie Sawyer. "You betcha" said Maddie with a cocky smile on her face. Just then, some of the highlights of the graduation where Janice Hayley walked the stage as a literal transition from a grade school student to a fully grown woman who lives in the real world. "That must be one of your former students huh Maddie?" observed Sasha. "That's correct Sasha" said Maddie proudly of her student's accomplishment in the world. "It kinda sucked that you had to miss your high school graduation due to your 'extracurricular activities'" said Samantha "Yeah...but it's fine…had I not been caught I probably would've failed at least some of my classes." said Maddie. "This could've been you on the stage in front of hundreds-thousands of people, your friends, and your family" said Dark Maddie as she appeared sitting next to Maddie dressed in a dark pink loose t shirt with black shorts along with long white socks and black tennis shoes. "You would've walked the stage getting your diploma handed to you by the principal as well as some beautiful and delicate flowers placed on your fingertips. But instead, you got yourself into prison, away from society, and most importantly..away from getting Dominic's heart." "What I did all these years ago, was going too far and to be fair, the police would figure things out sooner or later had I done the deed of burning down Amber's house" said Maddie defiantly "What was I supposed to do? Continue to quote unquote follow my heart at the risk of people's safety and my sanity." "Well, yeah Maddie, it's just oh how I would say it.. Collateral Damage. Matter of fact, I think you should keep watching the TV, I have a feeling it's going to be pretty interesting…" said Dark Maddie as she pointed to the TV. In which, the TV began to show clips of Dominic Antol's graduation motivation speech that he delivered to the graduating class. To Maddie's surprise, Dominic's going to be a new Dad and his wife Kelly Halligan is going to be a new Mother respectively to their new child. From there, Maddie would open up her stomach to a swarm of marching butterflies in which they flew rapidly until all of them dissolve. "When it's all said and done, the woman who ruined your life and sent you here is going to start a family and live their lives without you. And quite frankly, Amber doesn't want anything to do with you as well." said Dark Maddie touching Maddie's shoulder "And speaking of proud parents, I wonder how much regret that your mommy and daddy had of raising a failure of a daughter…" "KNOCK. IT. OFF!" said Maddie as she slammed her fist on the table that produces an earthquake like shattering sound that startled everyone in the room and looking at her almost immediately. "...I think I might need some alone time.." said Maddie embarrassingly as she exited the rec room. "I hope she's gonna be ok, she had a long couple of years that she's never gonna get back if she gets out of here. And not to mention her senior year of high school" said Samantha in her head.
Maddie would then return to her cell finally in the seclusion of her inner confines. From there in an attempt to clear head, Maddie would then take a nap to which would bring her a moment of reflection…"Trying to find your 'happy place' I see Maddie, trying your hardest to find your Zen? The way it goes is that as long as I'm around, it ain't gonna happen because you reap what you sow... " said Dark Maddie "Thought I told you to leave me alone" said Maddie worried "The thing is 'Lady Madeline' is that I'm a part of you whether you like it or not and I've been with you through the good and the bad parts of your life. If it wasn't for the whore, you would've been an excellent wife to the soon to be 'Big Daddy' Dominic and to be honest during the part that we tied up your 'bestie' Amber we would've spared her anyways." said Dark Maddie "Its a lie, we would've scorched her regardless as well as Dominic and everyone close to them." said Maddie "Know what, we'll finish this conversation later, you have a visitor…" said Dark Maddie as Maddie woke up from her brief nap. From there, the police officer would say as he is approaching Maddie's cell: "Madeline Sawyer, there's a visitor waiting for you" "I'll be right up" said Maddie as she is on her way to meet her visitor. From there, she notices a very familiar face right in front of her. Janice Hayley: the newly appointed graduate of her high school! "What do you think Maddie. Pretty cool huh?!" said Janice. "Come here Janice and let me give you a hug" said Maddie proudly as she did the deed. "Congratulations Janice, I'm so proud of you and your accomplishments. You made your dreams happen and you took my advice very seriously" "Thanks Maddie. I really appreciate it very much. As you can see, I'm in my cap and gown and I understand that you were unable to make it to my graduation in person due to obvious reasons" said Janice "So I decided to bring at least some of my graduation to you Maddie." "That's very nice of you Janice and as a matter of fact, I watched a significant portion of your graduation on the rec room TV while I was playing go fish my fellow inmates. You did a fantastic job on your graduation speech in front of tons of people in the arena. If I were in your shoes, I would've been nervous" said Maddie. "Thanks for the nice comments Maddie, I did do a fantastic job with my speech. Had to practice at least several times before I headed out haha. And to be fair, I would've been nervous myself saying what you needed to say in front of dozens to thousands of people on both the seats and bleachers." said Janice "I don't know if you've watched the entirety of the graduation but I saw your former coach Dominic Antol delivering a speech of motivation and wisdom to my graduating class" "I did see it as a matter of fact and I heard he's going to be a great father one day and that's fine" said Maddie with somewhat mixed emotions inside of her knowing that Maddie isn't going to be his lover. "Let me ask you something, and stop me if we've discussed this topic already but what got you into your former coach and why did he mean a lot to you?" asked Janice "That's a pretty good question and it's literally going to be a long story if you don't mind sticking around for it. Several years into my childhood, It wasn't very kind to me. Even though I've been doing pretty well in my classes throughout my school years my social life wasn't perfect. You see. I attempted to make some friends and I made about 5 friends during my tenure in school and I did a series of morning shows with a couple of my friends before our classes started and it was one of the best moments of my educational career but unfortunately after a while, they moved away to different states. Other than that, most of my classmates often take advantage of my kindness whenever they 'borrowed' my school supplies and textbooks which would leave me to pay for them out of my allowances. Luckily, my late parents found about it and told me not to worry about that. Furthermore I had a 'unique incident' that had happened to me….." said Maddie in her reflection.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO
"Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Madeline! Happy Birthday to you!" said the parents of Maddie Sawyer as they delivered her a birthday meal comprised of waffles, pancakes, and eggs for the birthday girl. "Bon appetit!" said David Sawyer who's dressed in a short sleeve polo shirt with jeans that covers his legs "Thanks Dad!" said Maddie who's dressed in a California Dragons T shirt that's in the RUN DMC typeface and jean shorts as well as low cut socks and sneakers. "Hope you enjoy the birthday meal sweetheart!" said Monica Sawyer who has brown hair just like her daughter and dressed in a summer dress that reaches down to her knees and matching orange sandals on her feet. "Cooked it all up myself with your dad's help as well! Lets address the elephant in the room" said Monica with a smile "Ready for your very first field trip to the California Dragons soccer game? And guess what, we'll be one of the chaperones for the occasion!" "I've been born ready since I watched star player Dominic Antol's first game on my TV screen. Looking forward to meeting him for the first time in person" said Maddie very excitedly of her field trip. Immediately after the conversation with her parents, Maddie would consume her birthday meal on her plate in which Maddie embarked on a sweet and protein escape when she ate her waffles coated with warm syrup and her well done eggs. "All set and ready to go!" said Maddie as she just finished up her breakfast meal. "Don't forget your special ukulele I know you always play your music all over the house and the neighborhood!" said Monica as she handed Maddie her ukelele, one of the first presents that Maddie had received in her childhood. "Let's hit the road kiddo, last thing we want is for the buses at your school to leave us at the dust!" said David as he gathered his wife and daughter to their family car and set on a course to Maddie's school. On their way to the school, Maddie would play the victory song that she would hear whenever her favorite soccer team wins a game: 'We are the Champions' by Queen on her ukelele anticipating the victory of the Dragons once more but this time in person! As they've arrived to the school, the family would almost immediately board the bus that's filled with teachers, students, and chaperones including the Sawyers. After the bus ride, the class would arrive at the soccer stadium just in time for the first period and as the game went on, the Dragons are leading against their opponents. As the play clock expired, the class was treated to an autograph signing session by the Dragons and Maddie is very excited about it so much that she decided to bring in her ukulele to get signed by one of the players. As she went in line, she's confronted by a unique 'associate'. "Where do you think you're going sweetheart?!" asked Beatrice Rodiger who's dressed in a sleeveless pink shirt with her jean shorts on her legs as well as orange hair on her head. "I'm going to meet some of the soccer players just like the rest of the class as well as getting my ukulele signed" said Maddie. "That's nice, you know that's a real cool instrument you have there, would be a shame if something happens to it" said Beatrice. It's not the first time the two of them interacted, in which Beatrice would call Maddie 'french fries' several times in PE class making fun of her body in the process, blaming Maddie for her team's loss after the team building exercises and often took out her frustrations on her without being caught initially by the staff and most notably during a game of potato sack racing, Maddie would accidentally collide with Beatrice near the finish line during which she saw a couple of bruises on her body. When Maddie reached out to her after the accident asking if Beatrice is ok. Beatrice would proceed to pour hot tomato sauce from the condiment table onto Maddie and run off. "Can I take a look at your ukulele Maddie?" asked Beatrice "If you want to but please give it back to me" said Maddie giving her permission to hold the ukulele as a couple of Beatrice's associates began to hold her. "Look at me I'm a rockstar!" exclaimed Beatrice "Stop it, please!" said Maddie as tears began to fall from her eyes and at the same time, Beatrice would smash her ukulele, her most prized possession, and her best friend into pieces. "Now that the annoying musical instrument is finished, lets take out the crying trash" said Beatrice as she and her posse carry the crying and broken Maddie off the ground. Just then a loud voice would scream: "Put her down and leave her alone right now! Do it or I'll tell the staff about what you've done" As the bullies depart the scene, Maddie would turn around and see a tall, muscular man who's dressed in a blue and white soccer uniform and he scratches his short black hair on his head. "Are you ok kid?" asked the player. "I'm fine now that you're here" said Maddie "You must be Dominic Antol!" "Yep that's me, couldn't help but hear that you've been messed up really bad. Trust me I've had those times as well in grade school" said Dominic comforting one of his fans. "Let's get you back to your folks and get you cleaned up."
….."This is the moment that would change my life forever. After that, the bullies got expelled after the faculty found out about what transpired. As for me, I continued to watch his games both in person and in front of the TV. Sometimes, I hardly make friends in the community and in school and Dominic's lectures about social skills had helped me to gain some confidence in meeting new people." said Maddie as she finishes her story "I'm sorry that had happened to you Maddie. But I'm guessing that when you saw Dominic at your school for the first time, you held back the fact that you met him when you were a lot younger." observed Janice "If you put it that way, yeah. I didn't want to be viewed as a victim. I wanted to be viewed as his potential suitor and look how that turned out" said Maddie with a chuckle "It's almost time for me to go, if you ever need some help after you get out, here's my contact information if you want it" said Janice as she handed Maddie her phone number. "Thanks I appreciate it, remember to stay positive and stay strong" said Maddie as she embraced Janice once more.
END ACT III