Maddy and Me

Chapter 45: Hunting

Maddy put her right hand over her lips, left hand on her hip and looked down at the floor trying to remember whether the detective mentioned anything about her gift.

Daniel had never seen Maddy think seriously, he was frightened. He would've cried "Witch!" if it were the 1600s. He gave her a minute to think in silence before asking, "Do you want to go to the police station? I'll dri-"

She scrunched her eyebrows up at him. "Ohmygod, are you dumb?? If I went there now asking if they have a mixtape, they'll think of it as some big piece of evidence and never give it to me even if I found it."

"Is it? Is it some kind of evidence?"

"No..." From impatience, her tone converted to that of sadness. "...it's just a gift like you said."

"Oh..." he said seriously, "Do you wanna search this place for it?"

"I don't think I have another option."

And they got to it. They turned the whole house upside down. Mr. and Mrs. Dimarco locked themselves up after saying they'll check in their bedroom, they didn't want to be a part of any mess on a Sunday morning. Catherine followed the children from room to room, arranging all the things they pulled out of place, back in their places.

From the ground floor to the roof where she'd never been before in her life, they swept the entirety of the house. Nothing.

They went back into the house and rested on the couch on which Maddy saw Daniel sit when she arrived at the residence 25 minutes earlier. Maddy bent her torso to her thighs and hid her head in her arms.

Daniel didn't notice anything, he stared at the paused game on the bright screen which was the only source of light in the open living room other than the two windows on their left. He wondered what they could do next when, all of a sudden, there were soft vibrations on the couch. He turned to his right to see Maddy cry.

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't cry!" he said alarmed.

With her face covered in the darkness the crook of her elbow offered, she said, "Well, what else am I supposed to do?" 

In a sentiment-filled, hasty moment, she made the choice to confide in the last person she'd ever even look at. Maddy lifted her head and looked at him with a blurry vision saying, "I've lost her now! That mixtape was th-the last key to figuring out what she wants me to do, what I have to do get her back! And now, dumb little mE went and lost it!! ... What am I supposed to do other than cry over this whole fuck up?!?"

She was hysterical and Daniel didn't know how to deal with it. He never expected to be in a situation where he'd have to comfort a girl who had her head so far up her ass like Maddy, he couldn't even believe that she had a heart. His face contorted in distress. He awkwardly put his hand on her back, Daniel patted her. "I'm sorry." is all he could come up with.

Maddy continued sobbing. She said soft goodbyes to her hopes as her tears wetted the floor. Daniel tried harder for solutions; he came up with a few. He took a good while to sort them by how many good results will be produced over bad ones and offered the best to her. "...Maddy? What if we tried to retrace all of your steps that night?"

She sniffled before replying, "What difference will it make? We checked the whole house."

"Yeah, but trying one more time won't hurt right? And if we don't find it, I'll track down everyone who came to the party and search their houses."

Her dams closed. "Why're you helping me?"

He shook his head in thought, "...I don't know. But I don't really have anything better to do, so why not?"