ACT XI
Several years ago….
Inside one of the hallways of a very familiar high school, Amber Halligan a couple of days after her soccer practice was sitting down in front of the lockers thinking about what her next steps are to solving THAT algebra problem for her class assignment. "In my mind, Math is Mental Abuse to Humans from what I've heard and I'd rather be back in soccer practice than doing this tedious assignment." thought Amber looking down at her assignment. "I think you should put in an x over there and another x over there as well. When you're done, I think you'll be good to go!" said Maddie as she arrived to Amber's study palace. "Are you either joking at me or are you giving me the answers to my assignment" said Amber. "You tell me Amber, you're the one who's doing the work at this moment" said Maddie with a chuckle. "True, looks like you know a thing or two about mathematics and question, is it me or are you into math that much" asked Amber. "Fun fact, I used to be on the math team for one of my previous schools, lets just say it came naturally to me" replied Maddie. "In regards to your math problems, I can picture how many times Coach Dominic can kick a soccer ball to his goals at least in word problems." "Yeah, well I gotta get to class, hope you have a nice rest of the day Maddie." said Amber as she began to leave for her class. "Same here, see you at practice!" replied Maddie as they parted ways for the day until their next soccer practice.
Now...
Today is an annual tradition in the walks of life for humans. National Friendship Day. Its a holiday in which the joys of friendship and love are celebrated. Furthermore couples can celebrate it too since their significant others are also best friends as well! For this occasion, the Hayleys were about to go to their yearly retreat to the Mt. Pickney Retreat Center where they would be able to replenish and rejuvenate their moods after a long series of work life. This time around, they asked Maddie to join them for the trip after she was working so hard at the facility. To which Maddie accepted because in her mind, the Hayleys treated her very well for the first time since she had befriended Amber Halligan several years ago. (That is until their friendship is ruined to to Maddie's heinous actions) Inside the car where Janice's mother is doing the driving, in honor of Friendship Day, the passengers (Maddie & Janice) reflected on their friendship experiences together on the road. Maddie had done her reflection of her *former* friendship with then-classmate Amber Halligan to which she used to practice soccer with on the field, the tutoring sessions for their classes, and then some. To add on her reflection, if it wasn't for her prison time spent, she wouldn't have even met the Hayleys to begin with. "Thanks for sharing your friendship story Maddie and even though it unfortunately ended between you girls, it seems to me that you really valued your friendship with Amber very much." said Janice after hearing about Maddie's friendship with Amber. "As for me, I used to be friends with a dude named Gregory. Like yours truly, he's really into basketball so much that he begs his parents to take him to every game he could find in the area. During P.E. class with him, he often asked the same questions over and over again to the teacher and myself as well. Personally, I don't mind him asking questions every once in a while but whenever he does that, I had assumed that he was acting like a younger child in comparison to the rest of his classmates including myself. Eventually when he asked me what to do in regards to the team project, I lashed out at him and he broke down right in front of me. My teacher eventually pulled me over and lectured me about tolerance and stuff. Also here's the kicker, Gregory had Asperger's to which he learned the material in a different pace as well as handling social skills compared to the others. After class, Gregory calmed down and I had apologized to him for the way I had treated him. From then on, we worked together on more projects for the class and this time I came to an understanding of his disability." "That seems like an interesting story, comes to show that anybody can learn in a certain way or two." said Maddie after listening to Janice's tale. "I have to agree with Maddie on this one Janice, it's best to crawl before you run" said Sonia. Throughout the road trip to the retreat, the car has been on the road for at least a couple of hours with trees, nature, and greenery on sight. Between those trees were flashing billboards that advertised cars, products and most notably images of soccer superstar Amber Halligan and her Uncle in law Dominic Antol advertising their latest Special K cereal box! After that billboard up the road, there's another billboard featuring Kelly Halligan-Antol's Digital Art Haven business portfolios on the board. "Well well well Maddie, what a great reflection of your friendship and love for the Halligans during 'story time' this evening" said Dark Maddie sitting next to Maddie herself while the Hayleys can't see Dark Maddie themselves. "I gotta say, speaking of which those billboards that we just passed look artistically great don't you think?" "What do you want now? Can't you see, we're on our way to a retreat" retorted Maddie while being annoyed. "I can see that and speaking of retreat, you're trying to have a 'retreat' from me by attempting to get away from me as far as you can but NEWS FLASH like I said before in the past and I'll say it again I'm a PART of you and you CAN'T get rid of me. Whether you like it or not Madeline Elizabeth Sawyer, I'm always going to be there" said Dark Maddie. "Amen to that" said Maddie "Why so anxious Maddie, back to those billboards don't you wish that you can replace that bimbo Kelly in that photo with Coach Dominic?" said Dark Maddie to which Maddie ignores her. "No comment, that's fine because I bet it's eating you up inside knowing that you can't be with Dominic. Its hard for you to admit that you still have feelings for the dude as well as your failure as a mentor. Hashtag Remember Marcia..." After the little chat, Maddie became a little bit anxious during the remainder of the trip. After the long road trip, they finally made it to the retreat center. "Took us a little minute but we finally made it to the great retreat!" exclaimed Sonia as the crew parked their vehicle. "Well, what do you think of the exterior of the place?" asked Janice while surveying the facilities. Alongside the beautiful wooded tree forest surrounding the buildings, there is a campus of large wooded cabins comprising of bunk beds, bathrooms, living quarters, and a kitchen just to name a few. Furthermore, there's the open area where guests/visitors can set up a campsite with firewood and whatnot. "It looks amazing, kinda like a neighborhood inside of the woods. A nice change of scenery in my opinion" replied Maddie. "Tell you what, why don't we go inside and freshen up a bit and afterwards, I'll show you how us Hayleys do our retreat activities in the woods. How's that sound Maddie?" said Sonia with Janice agreeing to what her mother said. "I'd like that, I haven't been in some sort of nature activity in such a long time and one of the last times I'd done it was with my cousins as part of a hiking trip several years back. Sorry if I babbled on regarding my nature experience" said Maddie. "No worries!" said Sonia. After they cleaned up and packed their items from the cabin, its off to the great camping extravaganza! Sonia and Janice has a long sleeved flannel yellow and green shirt on respectively along with long jeans and shoes on their feet. As for Maddie, she's decked in a gray sweatshirt with long jeans and boots on her feet. After a long hike, the crew has finally made it to their campsite. As the Hayleys began to set up their space for the night, Maddie began to reflect on her time in high school once again when she and Amber had to do a team building exercise in a gym class field trip during which, both team members have to climb up the ropes and successfully ring the bell on top of the rafters. The participants were buckled up with safety harnesses on their bodies to prevent them from dying and Maddie had tried several times to reach the bell. When she struggled, Amber saved her from doom by helping Maddie up to which Maddie was very greatful and as for Amber, another learning experience in the world of teamwork. "Would you like me to search for some firewood around the area? I have a feeling that we might need some fresh ones" said Maddie after she observed the lack of firewood available on their campsite "If you want to Maddie, are you sure you wouldn't want me to go with you" asked Janice starting to feel concern for Maddie as she embarks on her quest to get the firewood. "I won't be long, I promise!" replied Maddie as she heads out to get the fresh batch of firewood. As Maddie waded the woods, a sudden chill began to come up all around her. Just then, she heard a crying noise in the background and as she walked a little more, she sees a young girl crying feeling lost in the woods. "Are you okay?" asked a concerned Maddie approaching the girl. Just then the girl's face turned around and told Maddie the following: "YOU DID THIS MADDIE". Just then, Maddie was blindsided by multiple versions of the bullies that Maddie had faced in the past only this time, they have a redder hue all over their bodies. Maddie tried to defend herself with the lessons she had learned from her kickboxing class but to no avail. During each strike, Maddie punches the hard trees and gaining splinters all over her hands in the process and sore knuckles as well. "You have to admit it, you have to admit it to yourself sooner or later..." said Dark Maddie bearing first witness to the punishment that Maddie has to face. The thugs would then splash her with a couple of cups of beer to her face (in reference to when Maddie took one of the party-goers drinks at the party in order to make herself look drunk so Dominic can take her home) and then toss her around the field where Maddie would land on a pile of sticks and stones. Right in front of Maddie is an abandoned shack that has its door closed. As soon as Maddie approaches the door, it opened and out came both Amber and Kelly Halligan to which in Maddie's perspective the first time they've seen each other since the infamous Target signing incident. "Please help me, Kelly, Amber, help me..." begged Maddie in tears feeling desperate to get the thugs out of her sight and leaving her alone. "Like I said Madeline, you DESERVED to live with it, ALL. OF. IT." said Kelly as she slammed the door right in front of Maddie. "Madeline Elizabeth Sawyer, it has come to this point that you just have to get the burden off of your back. Admit that the reason that you wanted to get back in good graces with the Halligans and also, you still love Dominic and it SICKENS you to see him with that blonde haired bitch!" said Dark Maddie lurking over the petrified Maddie. "Do you love Dominic? Answer me" "...Yes I do..." said Maddie feeling broken. "Say it loud Madeline!" said Dark Maddie "I LOVE DOMINIC" said Maddie crying her eyes out in pain physically and emotionally on the ground. "Would you die for your love?" gloated Dark Maddie alongside her dark posse surrounding the both of them. "...yes..." retorted Maddie feeling broken and defeated. "Here's the tools, finish the job Madeline" said Dark Maddie as she pointed to spiked branches adjacent to the shack for Maddie to use. "Maddie! Maddie! Are you ok?!" said Janice as she and Sonia overheard the commotion and chased Dark Maddie and her demonic thugs out of the premises and faded away in the distance. "Please just leave me alone..." said Maddie in tears and still severely bruised. "We'll get you some help Maddie..." "You don't understand what I have been through, it's too late for me, I'm way too deep" interrupted Sonia's assistance. "It's not too late, you can still get through this just like you did all these years ago. I know it looks bleak right now but you WILL be alright." said Sonia feeling concerned for Maddie. "We don't know what's happened to you unless you let us know Maddie. We're in this together alright because just like you took me out of a dark place in my life, let us help you please" said Janice offering her hand to Maddie. "Good Evening, Maddie. I know its been a while since we last touched base. Wanted to check up on ya" said a vision of Riley Jones who's standing behind a vulnerable Maddie. "A lot of people on this planet think a lot of things about us, outkasts, show offs, introverts to name a few. But in your case, a murderous psychopath who wanted to hurt people in order to get what she wants in life. When it's all said done, those activities you did in reality masked who you really are Maddie: a troubled young woman who has had a miserable life." said Riley calling Maddie out on her actions from the past decade. "But hey, I forgive you of what you've done to me and my friends. Everything's going to be ok if you choose to follow me. Everyone's going to get along fine and we'll all be at a clean and perfect slate. Just think about it Maddie..." During the whole conversation between Maddie and a vision of Riley, Maddie is still tearing up and feeling broken of what she had went through.
END ACT XI