Beloved

Chapter 9: The Night Alarm

I lifted my weight off of the bed then walked over to the door. Standing right in front of me was the Sorority pain-in-the-neck chick, who is ten times worse than Madison. She wore her crimson night gown and has a pink sleeping mask above her head.

"Hey," I said coldly. "What are you-" The Sorority chick ignored me then looked at Madison. "Hey Sis," she said. "I'm having a slumber party at my dorm, when are you going to come?" Madison tied her curly blonde hair into a ponytail then looked at her sister."

"Soon," she promised. "You better," she snarled. "I said I am going to be there soon," Madison said bluntly. "Good night." "Good night," the girl sighed. She gave me a mean look then walked away.

"That girl is your sister?" I asked sheepishly. "I wish she was adopted," Madison muttered. "Her name is Marie, she's my older sister." I closed the door then crossed my arms.

"You have an older sister?" I asked. "How come you never told me about this?" Madison gave me a deadpan look. "Because first of all, I don't like you." she explained. "And second, you're a weirdo who likes to avoid everyone."

"No I don't," I replied. She gave me a mere nod. "Since the first moment you came here,  all you ever did is read books and do homework." "And talked to Ben," I protested. "Through Skype."

"Really?" Madison asked, leaning forward. "What did he say?" "He showed me his bedroom and introduced me to his roommate."

"Is he cute?" she persisted. "Ben's roommate?" "No," I snorted. "And I am pretty sure that he is a bit older than me." "What about Ben?" she demanded eagerly. "Is he cute?"

A smile escaped from my lips. "Yeah," I admitted. "He is kinda handsome." "Now, there is a girly-girl in you!" Madison exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Was he a good kisser?" she asked.

I reluctantly nodded. That's when I found myself sitting on Madison's bed and talking about my two year relationship with Ben. "He's sweet, isn't he?" Madison asked. "Is that your type?"

"He's more of a mysterious, quiet bad boy type." I explained. My cheeks were growing red. "But sometimes, he can be romantic and sweet. How about you, have you ever had a boyfriend?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Frankly, not really." she sighed. "I mean, guys flirt with me and it always ends up corny." My smile fell flat. "Can I ask you something?" I asked suddenly. "Do you know that guy at the party?"

Madison rolled her eyes. "The guy who looks like Wolverine?" she guessed. "His name is Jake, my future ex-boyfriend." That's when it suddenly hit me. "Was he the one who send you that invitation?"

She nodded very slowly. "He wanted to apologize about our brutal encounter." "He's abusive?" I asked. Madison shrugged nonchalantly. I gave her a worried look. "You need to tell someone," I insisted.

Madison let out a bitter laugh. "My parents don't care about me," she stated. "They say that they love me and they care about me on television, but when there are no cameras, they say, 'Get lost, Madison. Go home Madison, Why can't you be more like your perfect, straight A older sister, Madison?'

I stared at her in disbelief. For two years now, I thought she was an annoying, spoiled rich girl who couldn't stand me and tries her charms on Ben. And now, I wasn't so sure.

"Look Madison," I sighed. "This-" "Rebecca," she corrected. I squinted my eyebrows. "My real name is Rebecca Clint," she admitted. "Why did you tell me that your name is Madison?" I asked.

"I wanted a new name," she said, shrugging her shoulders.  "I practically told everyone that I begged my parents to change my name to Madison Clint."

"Did Luke know that your name is fake?" I asked. "Yeah," Rebecca answered. "But I didn't tell him that." "Oh," I said softly, not wanting to offend her. "Do you have Dad problems?" Rebecca asked suddenly.

I gave her a puzzled look. "I saw your mom sometimes," she stated. "I never see your dad, how come?" Even though she was being nice to me, I still couldn't bring myself to tell her about my family problems." He travels a lot," I lied nonchalantly.

"He's a photography who travels around the world and takes pictures for Natural Geographic." I expected Rebecca to burst out  laughing, but she wasn't. Her expression was calm. "Then, why did you say that you father's a monster in your notebook?"

I swallowed a gulp. "He is a monster," I explained. "But not physically, when I was little, I would imagine him as a dragon that breathes fire and rip out Rapunzel's hair extensions." That part was true. When I was five, I hated fairytale princesses, because to me, they are completely spoiled brats.

  They wear fancy dresses, sit in a castle, and rather than just defending themselves, they just cry and beg for some handsome prince to come rescue them. As soon as I told her about my life, all of a sudden, Rebecca started laughing. "Rapunzel did not have hair extensions," she stated as a matter of fact.

"Oh come on," I cried. "There is no way, people's hair grew seventy-five inches. And besides, I was five at that time." Rebecca laughed until tears came out of her eyes. "Most little girls love princesses," she sighed, wiping her tears. "Dragons and mythical beasts were the reason why I loved reading fairytales in the first place," I shrugged as I went on.

"My mom would read these books to me when I was very young, but I didn't care about the words. Every five seconds when Mom read me the story, I would interrupt her.  'Mommy, where are the dragons? Mommy, where are the trolls, and the ogres, and the Phoenix?'  I asked, mimicking my five year old voice. "Mom would keep sighing, telling me to be patient and princesses are better than monsters, but I would just look at the pictures and try to find the beasts."

"And so every time when we go to the library, I made Mom go to the children's section and  find fairytale books with monsters in them." "Dragons are creepy," Rebecca began. "Aren't you a bit scared of them when you were a kid?" I took a deep breath then let out a sigh. "I was at first," I began. "But Dad told me not be afraid of them. They were just like humans, scared emotionally and physically, but one day when a problem is solved, then they wouldn't be scared anymore."

I let out a yawn, changed into my blue pajamas, then buried myself under the covers. "Good night," Rebecca said, turning off the lamp. "Good night," I said back. I hoped next morning would be the best morning in the world. I would get up, eat breakfast, and ace every test. Now that Rebecca was starting to become my friend, I thought maybe my day wouldn't be as bad, but I was wrong.

The moment I had shut my eyes, I heard someone screaming, but this time it was coming from inside of the building. That's when a  large fist banged on the door. As Rebecca hurried to answer it, a girl with black braids, a green nightgown, and freckles stared into her red rimmed eyes. Under them, were streaks of liquid.

"Louise," Rebecca said calmly. "What's going on?" "I'm so sorry," she whispered. I got out of my bed then looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Marie," Louise said hesitantly. "Marie is dead."