Preventive • Paul Lahote •

Chapter Four

○○○ Chapter Four ○○○

The next morning, Maddison was woken by a brute knocking on the door to her house. The person sounded impatient, like they had been attempting to gain the attention of whomever was inside for a long time.

"I'm coming," Maddison grumbled as she slid out of the warmth that her big gray duvet provided her. However, the knocking at the door still proceeded to resound throughout the entire small house. Not wanting to wake her mother, Maddison quickly ran across into the hall, through the living room, and threw open the front door.

With his hand still poised to knock again, Sam Uley stood on the porch. His always stoic face was set on Maddison, as she opened the door in a manner that had her cringing. The always cold glare of Sam Uley was different today, it seemed more pensive, in almost a sad manner, than protective.

With her arms crossed across her chest, and her small figure resting against the door frame, Maddison rolled her eyes. "What do you want, Uley? I thought I made it clear, yesterday, that I didn't need you around."

Sam nodded his head but almost grimaced as he outreached one of his long and muscular arms so that he could present Maddison with a small white envelope. Maddison looked between the paper and Sam in a questioning manner, before eventually snatching the little envelope from his large hand. As she went to shut the door in his face, his task of delivering her a simple letter accomplished, she found his large foot blocking the door. With a sigh, and a roll of her eyes, Maddison opened the door again. Eyes wide and irritated, by both his presence and having been woken up before the sun, Maddison's brose rose as she asked what he was still doing on her porch, without using a single word.

Sam's cold gaze fell as he looked upon the young girl before him, while he didn't open the letter he had seen the address and knew that it would not be good news. "Maddison," his voice came out soft and slow, as if talking to a confused infant. "Read the letter, now. I'll be here, because while you told me to stay away yesterday, you won't want to be alone."

Maddison's eyebrows furrowed at the statement before she flipped over the little envelope. Stamped across the little white paper were the words she did not ever want to see.

To The Family of Casen Ellison. Important Information Enclosed.

Maddison looked back at Sam as she shook her head back and forth in denial. A little gasp left her mouth as she hurriedly tore open the little paper slip, and began to read the card.

Dear Beloved Family of Casen Ellison, we regret to inform you...

Without even finishing the card, Maddison was collapsed onto her knees, sobbing. The young girl wasn't foolish enough to believe that it was one of the many letters that Casen had written to her or her mother over the past two years. She knew that this letter, the one that was sent directly to the tribe instead of her house, was the letter she never wanted to see.

"He... He can't... Sam," Maddison's broken voice and pitiful sobs had the muscular and cold Sam Uley knelt before her, holding her shaking form. As he pulled the small girl into his embrace, he placed his head on her shoulder with a frown on his face. Her body wracked with sobs as she clutched onto his shirt, the sounds of her cries echoing in the distant.

Maddison looked up over Sam's shoulder and saw the sun rising over the reservation, and all she could think about was that the sun was rising on a day that Casen would never see. He was gone, and now he had left her more alone than her already bitter heart could stand.