Run

Chapter ThirtyThree: Fears And Frustration.

"So, then they took the taped up sparkler bomb and moved into the middle of the street, lit it, and then threw it. As soon as it hit the ground it exploded into a shower of gold sparkles. It was hella cool."

I chuckled at their enthusiasm and commented, "Sounds fun."

They nodded their head happily. They're so cute.

They looked at me with a smile and said, "EJ. You should go get me some food, while I get fireworks."

I smirked under my mask and said, "We'll get food after we get the fireworks."

"Okay! At least I get food," She exclaimed.

I chuckled once more as we continued down the dimly lit street. It was really dark out for being 7 at night. Taking care to keep my hood up, I slid my mask over my head and stuffed it into my pocket. The store was close and luckily this world is used to people dressed very oddly. What did Madd call them? Cos-players? Weirdos? I don't know, I don't pay attention to those kinds of people.

"EJ!" Madd screamed.

"What!" I yelled back.

"You spaced out, so I yelled. It got your attention," She replied.

"Ha ha very funny," I reply sarcastically.

She hummed and walked faster.

I speed up to catch her and asked, "What are you going to do now?"

"I dunno. I'll probably stay with you, if that's fine. I don't really have anywhere else to go. I can't trust Tim. And I don't really know Evan or Noah enough to stay with them," she answered slowing back down.

Happy, but still worried, I ask, "You can stay with me if you want, but you know what that means, right?"

"Well yeah, I'll be living with a cannibal, and I'll probably won't be able to go out in public as much, but I don't do that very often anyways," she answered calmly, then asked, "Would we go back to the other universe?"

"Back?" I ask.

"Well if I knew you before then I must have been there before. Isn't that how this all started?"

"Basically."

We stopped at the sound of footsteps from behind us.

"Oh thank god you're alive!" A voice yelled from behind us.

Madd turned around with a look of surprise and said, "Tim?"

Oh god. I turned around to face him. The jackass who caused this whole fiasco in the first place.

Masky shot forward, grab Madd's hand, and started to pull her away, saying, "Get away from him. He's a murderer."

She pulled her hand away and exclaimed, "Says you. All I've heard from you is lies."

"What? What do you mean?" Masky asked stepping towards her.

"I know who you really are. I know what you've done," Madd admitted, stepping even further back.

"Did Evan tell you? You shouldn't believe Evan!"

Her voice began to break as she said, "No! I-I haven't seen or talked to Evan in a couple weeks."

"Then why don't you trust me?"

Madd began to yell, "I want to trust you! You've helped me so much and I'm grateful for that, but..." tears began to roll down her face as she continued to rant, "But our current relationship is built on lies! You knew about my past and never told me! I don't know what caused the amnesia, and I don't know how we got here but I know I... I know I can't trust you."

She looked down at the ground, her face red with tears trailing down it. Masky and I both stepped towards her.

Masky reached a hand out a tried to grab hers, mumbling, "Maddi."

She yanked her hand back and said, "Don't even try it. I-I can't even look at you. I can't... I don't want to hate you! I don't want to be mad at you... But... But you've left me no choice..."

Her voice faded into sobs as she stepped back. She held her hands to her head, pulling at her hair.

She began to stomp her foot, exclaiming, "I don't want to do this! I don't want to have to lose another friend! I can't do this! I can't! I can't! I can't..."

Her voice faded back into sobs. I took another step towards her before she swiveled on her heels and darted past me. I didn't bother looking at Masky as I turned and ran after her. She didn't go very far before turning down an alley. I turned into the alleyway to find her slouched against the right wall, sobbing into her hands.

I pulled my hood down and slowly approached her, saying, "Madd?"

She didn't respond, continuing to cry into her hands.

"Madd," I repeated, in a quiet but calm tone, while stepping in front of her.

She took in a shaky breath. She slowly put her hands down and looked up at me. Her eyes were red and puffy and tears were still rolling down her cheeks. My god Maddison. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. She buried her head into my shoulder and wrapped her arms around me. I slowly rocked her back in forth.

"Hey EJ?" I hear Madd say quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Can we go get fireworks now?" she asked, her voice muffled by my hoodie.

"Of course."

Oh, Maddison, you can be so childish at times, but, I guess that's why I love you.