Living In Fear

Chapter 4: A secrete to keep

By morning Maddy awoke first, she sat up and blinked a few times to try and regain her vision. She yawned and looked over at everyone else, who were still sleeping. She shock Annie who bounced up in an instant in complete and utter terroir.

Annie gasped as she sat up quickly and Maddy jumped back in surprise, "what's wrong?" Maddy ask her in concern. Annie took in deep breaths to try and catch herself for a moment, "nothing, it was just a bad dream." She said fearfully. She looked up at Maddy, "did you have a nightmare too?" She asked in supence.

Maddy cleared her throat, it was dry and sour, as if I had been screaming all night. "I-I can't remember..." she said trying to recall. "What do you mean?" Annie asked watching Maddy hold her hands on her head. "I-I mean... Last night, I can only remember bits and prices. But I can't remember if I dreamed, if I drove, if I even really left the house... but I know I did.." she said concerned with fear.

Annie looked her over for a moment worried and then hugged her softly, "your lucky." She said as small tears rolled down her soft pink checks. Maddy hugged her back, lucky? How could I possibly be lucky?" She asked as Annie let go of her.

Callie mumbled something and rolled over to face us, her eyes opened and nearly blood shot. "Are you okay?" Maddy asked refocusing her attention. Callie shock her head and sat up, "I feel like I'm going to puke." She said in a moan.

"wake Brooke up." Maddy said to Annie as she stood up and stretched.
Just then Madison's mother called down the stairs for them to come up and eat. They could smell the sweet sent of pancakes coming down the steps and entangling them in its warmth and sweetness.

"Brooke, come on get up." Annie yawned as she lightly punched Brooke in the arm. Brooke groaned and rolled over. "I'm not joking Brooke, get up." Annie yelled elbowing her in the side. "What the hell?!" Brook yelled out as she quickly sat up and turned around with anger.

"Girls, don't start that in the house." Madison's mother yelled heard from up stairs. She hated it when any of my friends cursed when she was around. Maddy rolled her eyes and made her way up the steps. Callie and the others slowly followed behind her.

They walked into the kitten through the basement door with Callie trailing behind. They sat down at the table, the round oak table was already accessorized with plates and silver wear, and dressed with napkins and a small container of syrup. Her mother liked things to be nice and neat at all times.

She flipped a few flap jacks and hummed to herself. "Should we tell your mom?" Callie asked in a whisper. Maddy popped her head up in surprise, "are you crazy? We said we'd never talk about it!" Shr said quietly back to her. "I know but-"

Madison's mother came walking over with a plate piled high with pancakes, "here you are girls, eat up." She said with a smile as she dropped a few on each of our plates. "Thanks mrs. Batton." Callie said smiling up at her.

Suddenly her mother's mouth dropped and Maddy stopped chewing her food, she know she was in trouble. "Good heavens Caroline, were you out drinking last night?!" She yelled as she eyed up the rest of us. Maddy sat up right as her friends lowered their heads, she was use to confronting her mother about stuff like this from when she had a drug problem.

"Mom no, we were just up really late last night at the movies." Maddy tried to tell her. But her mom wouldn't have it, she shock her head and glared at us, "I told you to be back by 11:00, when did you get home?" She demanded. Maddy rolled her eyes at her, "it was like 12:00 mom, we just stayed up a bit longer." She lied.

Her mother looked her over for a long moment and then everyone else, "well, okay" she finally said walking back to the stove to turn it off. "There's more pancakes here if you girls want some, I have to go out and get a few things. I'll be back later tonight, behave girls." She said as she grabbed her keys and walked out the door.

Maddy quickly looked over at Callie, "see, she freaks out at everything!" She yelled before returning to stuffing her face. Annie chuckled, "no, she just thinks we were drinking all night." She said as Brooke laughed a little too. "But I hate having to keep it so secret." Callie complained. "That's the point." Maddy said taking another bite, "it is a secret, And what would it matter? Our lives go back to normal now and its just another weird thing that happen to us." She said a bit angry at the thought of telling the whole world and looking crazy.

"So we can't tell anyone?" Callie asked pushing her plate away. "Well..." Maddy stopped and looked over at her before taking her plate to the sink, "who'd you have in mind?"she asked looking away from her. Callie was quiet for a moment and then Maddy glanced over her shoulder at her.

"Well, I was thinking I could just tell my boyfriend. Dylan has a right to know about the crazy shit that happened to me." Maddy sighed and turned her head back to sink as sunlight poorer in through the window. She leaned up against the sink and looked out the window to try and gather her thoughts.

That's when she thought she saw it, just standing out in the yard behind a few pine trees at the yard's end. She quickly looked away as her head started to pound, and looked back up to see if her mind was playing tricks on her. But when she did it was gone.

Maddy rubbed her hand over her face and realized that nothing was there. She turned back to her friends and looked them over with a look of fear on her face. "What is it?" Annie asked with a raised brow.

"Nothing" Maddy said quickly. She sat down with them and sighed, "okay" She said after a long puase. "Okay? Okay what?" Callie asked. "Okay you can tell him" Maddy said quietly. "Really?" She asked in surprise.

"We can each tell one person, and only one person. Is that clear?" Maddy said softly with a tough tone. "Yes" Callie said softly. "Sure I guess" Annie mumbled. "Sounds okay" Brooke said in her normally calm voice. Maddy nodded to each of them, "Just make sure that the person you tell is the one you really want to tell, since they'll be in all this shit too."

Brooke sat for a bit and then inched up out of her seat, "what if one of us tells more then one person?" She asked unsure. Maddy shook her head, "If they do, and any of us find out then their on their own." She said glaring over at Callie.

Callie glanced over at Maddy and then quickly turned away, "what? You think I'd tell more then just Dylan?!" She said standing up in anger. "Come on Maddy, we've been best friends since rehab, I was there for you!" Callie yelled upset. Maddy rolled her eyes, " you have a knack for telling lots of people about private things." She said softly. Callie sat back down and crossed her arms in anger, Maddy knew that she knew what she was talking about.

They all sat pretty quiet for the longest time, just kinda sitting there looking at each other thinking, probably about who we'd tell. but Maddy was more worried about that thing, that man coming back, was it just her mind playing tricks?

Suddenly Brooke spoke up, "do you think we'll ever run into it again?" She asked with a small tone of fear in her voice. Maddy looked over at her and immediately thought about how she thought she had just seen him at the yard's end. "Lets hop to god not." Callie spat out as she looked down at her food.

Maddy looked over at her and her wide eyes, "what are the chances of that." She said with a fake smile, "like I said before; its just going to end up as one of those crazy things that happened to us as kids." She said hopeing for it to be true.