Here's chapter two. Thanks for reviewing, Norma Jean. I hope the move goes okay, too, but I doubt it. I guess I'm basically writing this to reassure myself that worse things could be at my new home. Hope you stick with it. I also forgot the disclaimer and claimer in the first chapter, so I'm sorry. I've inserted them now, but I won't anymore. Just so you all know it's in here somewhere. Have fun with chapter two.

x x x

Chapter Two

"Madeline?"

I stared at my pork chops even though I was sticking my green beans into my mashed potatoes boredly. My elbow was on the table, and I had my head in my hand not looking or talking to anyone. I had never really played with my food before either, but it was quite entertaining. I ignored my name for a second time while I sent my green beans to their potatoey doom. I wasn't too hungry. I haven't been for a while.

"Madeline, eat," my mom, said.

"I'm not hungry," I said tiredly. I was beginning to run out of green beans to drown, so I started targeting the pork chop. Everyone was staring at me; I felt it, but I didn't look up.

"We need you to do us a favor if you would," my dad said now, a little more gently than my mom was speaking to me. I sighed.

"What?"

My dad put his fork down and leaned forward. I looked up knowing it must be important.

"Next week, we're going back into town to finalize the sale and take care of a few things with you relatives," he said. I looked up somewhat hopefully, but that was gone when he had to go and say it: "We need you to stay here for when the construction crew and stuff get here. It'll only be for a week."

For the first time in a long time I was getting the urge to open my mouth and argue. Before I knew it, my mouth was shooting off as I got all worked up. My chest started its stabbing pain again.

"But I want to go, too!" I shouted. "I want to see our home again! I want to see my room before two bloodhounds stink it up! Why can't I go!"

"It's not like we're handing the new owners the house key," my mom said. "We have to do a good deal of paperwork while we're out there, not to mention return some things and say goodbye to your relatives."

"Oh, so I'm not allowed to say goodbye?"

"Madeline-"

"Can't I at least go back to spend a few last days with Kat and Brooke?" I pleaded. "It's not like they live right down the road anymore…"

"Maybe you can have them over one week before school starts," Dad said, trying to reason with me. I just scoffed with some tears.

"Dad, Kat and I had to beg Brooke's mom forever just to let her come to the one and only sleepover the three of us have ever had together! I hardly think they'll be allowed to go across state for a week. Beside, why would they want to come here?" I asked quietly.

I looked around as my parents began to heave ho as their impatience grew. My sister, from beside my little four-year-old brother, was keeping her nose close to her plate to stay out of the confrontation. I gave her a look with a little disgust as Dad spoke up again.

"It's just for a week," he said.

"And where will you be staying?" I asked challengingly.

"At my mom's house," he replied immediately. I leaned back in my chair feeling defeated again. Grandma did live just down the street in a big house that I had spent so many nights in before. He kept talking. "Now we need you to do this for us, okay?"

"No, it's not okay," I said, rising from my chair and sitting my plate on the countertop moodily.

"You know, you could be a little more mature about all this," Mom said with some disappointment.

I wiped my eyes without throwing a mean glare at her. How do you handle the situation maturely when you just lost everything you loved? Mom obviously wasn't listening when the doctors told me it was not good to make me upset. I was upset. My chest was hurting more now. I walked into the living room and flopped down on the couch miserably as I began to cry now.

"I hate this place…" I sobbed quietly.

"You're still staying here!" Mom shouted from in the dining room.

My face scrunched up more with anger as I got a particularly painful stab in my chest. I clutched my shirt, trying to calm down and breathe. I don't remember much after that. The pain subsided slightly as I drifted in and out of sleep. I remember thinking about one bad night when Brooke and I helped Kat get out of her dad's house when he was on a drunken rampage and snuck her off to the playground for the night. I wish someone were here to do that for me right now.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

I leaned against the porch column as my parents, sister, and little brother packed up the Caravan for their little trip a few days later. Del was excited and Hattie got to go spend time with her friends that wouldn't remember her for a second after she left them again, but I just watched them sadly and angrily thinking about my two best friends and all the other people I was missing. I even missed that annoying little tenth-grader that sat at our lunch table that I called some questionable names five or six times a day. He would even make me feel a little better right now.

Then, my mom walked up to me with a gentle smile as all the doors on the Caravan began to close soundly, but I just looked away stubbornly. She stopped in front of me not saying a word, and I eventually looked at her hatefully.

"You take care," she said pulling me into a hug. I hugged her back less enthusiastically. Four days ago she was yelling at me to be more mature and now she's treating my like I'm still in elementary school.

"I will," I said as if it were instinct. She stepped back.

"The crew should be here in two days," she said. "Offer them something to drink here and there, maybe see if we have any iced tea-"

"Mom, I've got it under control," I said. "I just can't believe we've only been living here a week and you're trusting me to take care of the house by myself."

"I would leave Hattie here with you, but that would only ensure the house would be gone when we got back," she said, walking up towards the car now. I had to agree; Hattie and I usually didn't do so well when we were left home alone together. She likes to think she's the boss instead of me. Well no twelve-year-old bosses me around.

"Bye," I said as she opened the car door. She waved and blew me a kiss, and dad honked the car horn as they began to pull out. I felt tears welling up and my heartbeat quicken some, but I finally let out a deep sigh when they got on the road and drove off down the road where I couldn't see them anymore.

I stood there only a minute more. Now my family had forced me to move and then they leave me here by myself in this very unsafe house that creeped me out. I turned around, walking back into the house lifelessly. Mom had hung a few things on the wall to make it look a little better, and the living room did have our old furniture still. The kitchen looked as it had when we got here except for the fact that our dishes we in the cupboards now.

I walked upstairs to my room slowly as if I were in a dream. Boxes were still outside of the doors in the hallway with some noon sunlight on them as I walked into the room and looked around at it. Bored, I dug under my bed in my giant Rubbermaid box for a notebook filled with an unfinished story I could occupy myself with downstairs on the computer.

It was a fun afternoon and evening of seven hours typing nonstop. I blasted music loudly even though I thought the house might collapse, but at least I didn't have to worry about police way out here. Ten acres can be good when it comes to me having the urge to blast music when I'm home alone. I had little to eat except for a turkey and cheese sandwich; Kat, Brooke and I had them all the time when we'd get together. I drank five glasses of ice water and ate all of the ice, too; I love ice. But I was getting beat now. It was almost two in the morning. I figured that three chapters wasn't too bad for seven hours considering I haven't worked on the story in ages.

I packed up my notebook and flash drive, heading back up to my room. I tossed them back into my giant Rubbermaid box and slid it back under my bed as a breeze found its way into the room. I looked at the window between our beds; it was shut. I turned around to the one on Hattie's side of the room; it was the one that was opened.

I walked over to it. The breeze felt nice and relaxing even though I wasn't completely tired yet. With nothing else to do, I decided to climb up on the top of the roof again for a while. I was stepping out of the window when I spotted Hattie's binoculars lying on her bed. I thought came over me to take them on the rook with me. I didn't know why, but it was another strange feeling I was having. I decided to take them, throwing them around my neck before I scaled the house to the spot Hattie and I laid on our first night there. As much as I hated to admit it, I sort of missed Hattie now.

I folded my arms underneath my chin as I looked out far in front of me. I could barely make out the horizon at all, let alone the little house because of the darkness. Within a few minutes my eyes had adjusted, though, and they sky seemed to be just dark blue instead of pitch black. I could now sort of see a line forming out in front of me. I got excited and looked for the house, too.

Then, I saw the little dot. It was still very far away, but somehow it felt closer than it did a week ago. Maybe I was bonding with the new neighbors without knowing it. I wanted to get closer to the house and see it, though; I wondered who lived there. I watched the house carefully for a while until I shifted and something poked me sharply in the ribs.

"Ow…"

I sat up and looked underneath me; the binoculars lay there forgotten. I smiled and picked them up, bringing them to my eyes. I looked at the house that immediately became closer. I considered for a second that what I was doing was illegal and thought to be saying on other people's property, but I wasn't spying, I was just being curious.

From what little moonlight I had, I could make out some shingles on the roof along with a window popping out here and there. It looked like a big house. Maybe a nice old couple or a family lived there. I couldn't choose. I always associated old people wearing blue jean overalls with farms and cornfields, so it was hard to imagine a nice family living there.

I studied it. The trim was white. The porch wrapped around like ours did, but it had two windows on the top floor while ours only had one. But then, something caught my eye on the roof. Something moved. Maybe it was a weathervane? Did the house have a weathervane? Or maybe it was just a flag or something…loose article of clothing or-

Then a full body stood tall on the roof. I gasped quickly and put my head down on the roof in panic, thinking that it had seen me. I realized how stupid I was being when there was at least a mile between my house and that one, though; who could possibly see that far that well?

My curiosity started to come back as I lifted my head slowly. I couldn't see the figure on the roof without the binoculars anymore, so I carefully brought them to my eyes again. The strangely built figure hadn't moved. It was like it was staring at me. I was getting very afraid now, especially when it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

I put my binoculars down as my hand shook a little. Okay, so there were now two options. Either our new neighbors are not a nice old couple or family and are just a bunch of lunatics that scare people out of there right minds, or they were being robbed. I though lunatics for a time after having that person just stand on that roof and stare at me as if I was right in front of him, but then it acted as if it were running away. Burglar finally won in the end even though I had this crazy though that it would come after me.

"I've got to warn them," I said to myself, getting up from my spot on the roof.

I was climbing back down onto the porch roof when I thought about calling them, but it was the middle of the night, plus I didn't have the phone number. Once inside my room, I thought about just calling the police. But then what if I was wrong? That would be like a false alarm and I would get in trouble. That's all I needed…

Stupid as it was, I started pulling on a pair of jeans under my nightshirt. I tied my hair back and grabbed a flashlight from the hallway closet. I didn't know what I was going to do exactly since the possibility of lunatic neighbors still stuck in my head hard to ignore, but I wasn't about to let some old couple or nice family get robbed. Besides, I miss sneaking out and walk around at night. Kat, Brooke, and I used to have a blast doing that. I never did it through a cornfield, though. That would be fun.

I went out the back door and down the steps of the porch with my flashlight swinging at my side. I held it close to me as I crossed the decent-sized field between the tall cornstalks and our house cautiously. My eyes darted around frantically, but I began to gather up some confidence as I crossed the field. But it was all gone again when I came up to the corn. I sighed, not sure if I really wanted to do it, but I figured it'd be the only interesting thing I'd get to do anytime soon.

The corn stalks towered over me as I entered them. I felt like I was causing too much noise, but I moved as fast as I felt comfortably. The flashlight was right out in front of me on the ground as I walked at a good pace. I nodded to encourage myself to keep going, but then something moved behind me, and I jumped.

I turned around wide-eyed with my flashlight scanning all around my furiously. Okay, so maybe the crazy neighbor on the roof coming after me for spying on him theory wasn't so far-fetched after all. I wanted to run back to my house, but I decided to keep going until I found the road to follow back. I apologized silently if there really was a burglar about to rob that house, but I was not staying there any longer.

I jogged forward away from the sounds looking over my shoulder as corn stalks smacked me in the face. I kept going on this bad feeling in my stomach about being killed by a mental nutcase in the middle of a cornfield and no one ever finding me, but it was after this thought passed that I realized that I wasn't running through corn anymore.

I stopped suddenly and looked around. Corn surrounded me, but I was in some sort of clearing shaped very strangely. I looked at the ground below my feet and saw many corn stalks had been bent over almost a little too perfectly. I heard another rustle and looked up, an eerie feeling of not wanting to be right creeping into my spine.

"Crop circle…" I said breathlessly as I looked around fearfully. I was standing in… a crop circle? And the pranksters were behind me somewhere probably going to jump me for stumbling in on their fun. I was definitely panicking now.

Immediately I began to run forward into more corn not caring how much noise I made. I just wanted to get out alive. I never thought I would think it, but I wanted to see our crummy new house again. I kept running, but I came into another clearing. I stopped in shock briefly before I heard more noises and kept running, this time to the side. Finally, I made it out of the cornfield, but I stumbled over something and landed hard on my stomach as I exited.

Grass. I was laying in grass now. I looked up and around; I was at the house. The lights on the ground floor were on, and I wasn't so sure about the burglar anymore. I went to go hide behind something on the back porch, but I suddenly heard the screen door on the opposite side of the house bang open and panicked. Fast footsteps were racing towards me, but I couldn't tell from which side of the house. I ran to my right as I began to hear two voices screaming all of this crazy stuff that made me feel utterly trapped.

I tried to run for the right side of the house, but a flying figure suddenly turned the corner screaming "We're gonna beat your ass bitch!" I emitted a small scream of fear as I turned to run the other way, but someone else was coming yelling something about being insane with anger. I backed up towards the porch and fell backwards. I tried to get to my feet and make a break for the corn again, but the first man I had seen spotted me and turned the next corner at full speed coming right at me.

"I'm gonna tear you head off!" he bellowed.

I screamed and dived for the porch again, but the man came at me so fast. He had a painfully strong grip on my shoulders before I could think, and the other man that was screaming had come up behind me. I was crying totally scared out of my mind at that point. The guys hold my shoulders kept screaming.

"What the hell are you doing!" he yelled. "Who the hell are you!"

"Madeline! Madeline Cossel!" I cried out fearfully through sobs. "I wasn't doing anything, I swear! I just saw something on your roof and I came to tell you about it and-!"

"You weren't on the roof?" the other man asked me, suddenly acquiring a question in his tone. I shook my head quickly and breathed heavily as the man still holding my shoulders looked at me very unconvinced.

"Who's up there then?" he asked me dangerously. "You're little buddy Lionel?"

"I don't know anyone named Lionel!" I said. "I just moved here last week up the road and saw something on the roof-"

"Stop lying!" he shouted in my face.

"I'm not lying, I swear!" I said, crying now. "This is a huge misunderstanding! I don't even know how to get on a roof from the ground!"

Then, we heard a loud thud up on the roof of the house. All three of us looked up fearfully as the last of a tall figure disappeared. I couldn't believe it. There was something up on the roof. It felt like some crazy person was terrorizing two other crazy people. The man holding my shoulders looked down at me as if he were afraid but trying to hide it.

"What the hell are you trying to pull?" he asked aggressively.

"Nothing! Nothing!" I said. "Honestly! I swear I'm not doing anything! I just moved here!"

"I don't believe you!"

"Merrill." He looked up at the other man, but the other guy just looked at me warily. I was so afraid they were gonna shoot me or something. "Where did you come from?" he asked me.

"Thompson's Plot just up the road," I said nervously as I choked. My chest was searing with pain right now. "We just got here a week ago, me and my family."

"Are you causing problems?" he asked me. "Running around here terrorizing people?" I shook my head.

"No. I just saw something on your roof and thought it was a burglar or something."

"All the way from Thompson's Plot?" the guy holding me said, shaking my shoulders. "That's over a mile away!"

"I was going for a walk when I saw him!" I lied. "I swear to you I had nothing to do with it! I just… just… Ahh!"

My heart shot pain throughout me, and I went limp, clutching at my chest again. The guy holding he let me slip to the ground on my knees where I felt like I was having a heart attack. The other man knelt down beside me quickly and eased me to the ground.

I shook. I sweated. I couldn't breathe. I allowed my eyes to close.

If I were dying, at least my heart beat the crazy people to it.