Bruises- Shane Madej

3. Bushes or Demons?

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Maddie rode in the backseat of the car as they drove to the Sallie House.

She didn't particularly fancy riding in the back, but seen as Ryan was the only one who knew where they were going and Shane's legs simply didn't fit in the back, she was left with the short end of the stick. 

Since the boys were staying overnight in the house, Maddie was going to get to go back to the hotel by herself for a few hours once they started their sleepover. 

When they got to the house, Maddie thought it didn't look haunted at all. 

Ryan was very scared to go inside, but he was always scared of the so-called "demon infested" places. 

She filmed the boys talking for a bit in the house, then they started exploring. Once it got a little later, they went into the kitchen and a paranormal investigator came inside. 

He brought this flashlight that kept turning on and off when Shane said things like "Turn the light on if you want us dead" and whatnot. It didn't really seem compelling to Maddie; that flashlight was probably rigged by the investigator. 

A couple paranormal encounters later, they were pretty much done exploring the house and now the boys would be setting up their sleeping bags and trying to sleep.

Maddie helped them set up a few cameras, then waved goodbye at them as she walked outside and got into the car. It felt good to be in the front seat for once.

She hadn't been at the hotel for more than 20 minutes when she got a call from Shane. 

"Hey Maddie, Ryan's not feeling so hot and he wants to leave."

She frowned. "Is he ok?"

"Yeah, he's just a scaredy cat."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "K, i'll be right there." 

Maddie got back into the car and went to the house to pick the boys up. When she went inside, they had all their stuff packed up already. 

As she walked out the door, Maddie's foot slipped off the porch and she fell into a rosebush. "Ah fuck," she swore as she got back onto the porch. 

"You okay?" asked Ryan. 

"Yeah, just tripped." 

Maddie got into the backseat of the car and Ryan started driving. She felt something run down her stomach and looked down to see a large bloodstain on her white shirt. 

"Hey, um, Ryan?" 

"Yep?"

"Don't, like, freak out, but could you drive a little faster because I'm sort of bleeding." 

"What?!?" He spun around to look back at me. 

"Eyes on the road, Ryan," she said as she pressed her hand on the source of the blood. "Shane get back here and use your long ass arms to get my backpack from the trunk please." 

Shane unbuckled his seatbelt and (with difficulty) climbed into the backseat of the car. he reached into the back section of the car and pulled out her backpack. 

Maddie took it and rummaged through the largest pocket, looking for her bandage stash. She managed to find it and pulled out a pretty large one along with some cleaning cloths and tissues. 

Maddie lifted up her shirt and wiped off her stomach with a tissue, looking for the source of the bleeding. There were three fairly long scratches on her right rib cage. 

"Must have been the rosebush," Shane commented. 

She worked quickly, swearing a little when she wiped the cleaning cloth on it; it stung. Then, she unpeeled the bandage and stuck it on her rib cage. "It'll probably bleed through pretty quickly but it'll hold until we can get back to the hotel and dress it a little better." 

Maddie pulled her shirt back down and zipped up her backpack as they arrived at the hotel. She zipped up her jacket; walking through a hotel lobby with a large bloodstain on her shirt didn't seem like a great idea. 

Once they got up to the room, Ryan was bustling around frantically. "Where's your Tranexamic Acid?" 

"In the orange bottle in my Suitcase," she said as she walked over to the bathroom. She grabbed her toiletry bag and found her gauze. "Shane can you help me?" she asked. 

He ran into the bathroom. "Yeah what do you need?" 

She lifted up her shirt again and handed him the cotton pad. "I just need someone to hold the bandage pad until I can get it to stay in place" 

"Okay, yeah, I can do that." 

"Great," she said. She wrapped the gauze around her torso and used it to hold the bandage tightly in place. She secured the bandage over the one already on her ribcage and called it good. 

Shane watched her, desperately trying to focus on the matter at hand and not the fact that Maddie Dybdahl was standing in front of him with her shirt lifted up. 

She's bleeding, God Damnit. This isn't the time, Shane.

He cleared his throat and followed her out of the bathroom. 

When she want outside, Ryan had her medication and a water bottle. "Are you gonna be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, it'll be fine, it should stop bleeding in like 10 minutes. I just need to stay hydrated and not do anything exerting." 

Ryan nodded and got her some more water. 

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"You said there were 3 scratches?" Ryan asked about 20 minutes later. 

Maddie rolled her eyes, anticipating what he was implying. "Ryan, it wasn't the demon, I got snagged by that rosebush, remember?" 

Ryan looked skeptical. "You're saying the rosebush branch went up under your shirt and cut you in 3 parallel lines without you noticing or feeling any pain?" 

Shane rolled his eyes. "That's more probable than: 'a demon scratched her, oh my God!'" He said, mimicking Ryan's voice. 

"Very funny, Shane," Ryan said with a straight face. "I still think it wasn't the rosebush. And I think we should put it in the video." 

"It was the rosebush, Ry," Maddie said. 

"Yeah, why would a demon want to hurt our very own precious little Madalyn?" Shane said. 

Maddie punched him lightly in the arm for being an ass. 

They kept talking about anything and everything. 

Before they knew it, the sun was up and it was almost time to catch their flight.

On the ride home, Maddie was just realizing how absolutely exhausted she was. She had finally scored a window seat. She leaned her head against the side of the plane, quickly drifting off to sleep. 

As she slept, Shane looked over and smiled a little. She was so pretty. Ryan looked over at Shane and quirked an eyebrow when he saw him staring at Maddie. 

Shane rolled his eyes and lightly elbowed Ryan before putting in his headphones and zoning out. 

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