Maddened

Chapter 4

Madden's body ached for what felt like years, but it was actually only a few days. Her body contracted and retracted, her muscles shifting from fur to flesh repeatedly. Her head was foggy, all she remembered was seeing a logged cabin.

A warm fire in the furnace laid by her where she was laying but it wasn't necessary, her body was overwhelmed with heat from the constant movement of her body. The Stranger came and would force water down her throat, calling her Little One or Kiddo.

She hadn't eaten for what seemed like days, every time she gurgled the word 'food' he'd deny her of it. Saying that she wasn't ready to digest meat yet, that they needed to wait and see what her wolf desired.

The word wolf confused her, but The Stranger saw her through her torment. At one point, she thought it was all a horrible nightmare. A horrible dream.

In fact, at the end of the fever-like dream. She woke up at home, all nestled in her navy blue blankets. It made her believe that she was safe and that all the pain was a bad dream, well... Until her mother came upstairs and walked past.

The bedroom door was opened widely and her mother walked past with a basket of laundry. When her mother saw her, she dropped her laundry basket and stood there for a minute. "Momma?" Madden's voice cracked with dehydration, since when was she dehydrated?

"My baby!" Her mother squealed, she ran forward and engulfed her in a hug. She peppered kisses all over Madden's face then when Madden pushed her away "Momma! Momma!" Madden spat out all of the spit that got in her mouth.

"Gerald get in here! She came back!"

With that, her father ran in. They squashed her in a giant and overwhelming bear hug, they kept on saying things like "I'll never let you go again" "Oh my baby girl is safe now"

Then her mother pulled away "Now where in hell have you been?" All the love from her voice was gone. Her dad pushed Madden away roughly. "You've been missing for nearly two weeks!"

"W-What?"
Her mother slapped her in response "Don't what me!" Madden rubbed her cheek. Her eyes were wide. "I don't remember nothing!" Madden snapped back

"Well, the entire police department has been looking for you!" Her father yelled, his voice angry. "I'll go call the police."

Within minutes, there was a police car outside her parents' house and an African American woman stepped out. Madden watched her from the window, the policewoman talked to her parents outside before her name was called.

They all gathered in the living room. The officer eyed her suspiciously as if she was a suspect rather than a victim. "Now may I have a word with miss Richards alone?" Her parents left the room on that note.

The officer made herself at home in Dad's recliner. Madden sat down on the dirty couch across from the officer. She asked some pretty mundane questions.

"What was the last thing you saw?"

"I saw a guy..." It hurt to think about the night, it was all fuzzy. All she remembered was a guy with... black fur. The look on the woman's face would've been hilarious had it not been for the situation.

"Are you sure he didn't drug you?" She asked warily

"He didn't have anything, all I drank was a sip of coffee," Madden said, the officer wrote it down. "Who gave you the coffee?" "Dan from the gas station, I watched him make it."

The officer hummed uncertainly as she wrote down some things. She closed her notepad "And all you remember is heat and pain, but you woke up in your bed?" She murmured, she acted as if Madden was crazy.

"For now, I see you are fit to go to school." She said, "I can escort you if you like." That's when a thought came to Madden "Where is my motorcycle?" She demanded fiercely. Her motorcycle was her prize treasure.

"The employee at the gas station claims he has it." Madden let out a deep breath of relief. She trusted Dan to at least keep it in good condition. "Okay.. I'll go after school to get it back."

Madden accepted the officer's request for an escort.