Second Chance

An Unexpected Surprise

“I didn’t exactly know you wanted a divorce either.” 

“Can everyone just shut up? Does someone want to explain what’s going on here?” Thomas asks. 

“Okay. Well your girlfriend over here, yeah she’s Ray’s wife. And Madeline? Yeah you’re daughter is dead.” I said without wanting to go into too much detail. No one said anything after that, so I changed the subject to defuse some of the tension.

“Does someone want to explain to me why she’s here? Or more importantly, what’s going on with you two?” I ask. 

        Everyone is silent. Madeline is furious and sits on the couch next to Thomas. She is sitting up straight like she’s freaking royalty. Madeline clears her throat, and begins to tell us what’s going on. 

“After I gave birth to my daughter, I couldn’t have her so I gave her to my sister and her husband, Samantha and Xavier. Thomas and I got back together and there’s nothing else to it.” 

“Nothing else to it? What about the part when you were married to Ray?” I ask. 

“If I wasn’t clear on that part, that is just another chapter in my life that is completed.” 

        I stood up and I was so mad that I started pacing. She stood up as well, and when she did, she slapped me right in the face. Why would she slap me in the face? I mean, I'm sorry that I snapped at her but she had no right to just completely disrespect Ray when he was sitting right there. Then, her fist made contact with my cheek and she lunged on top of me. She lands on me so that I’m pinned down to the ground while she has her hands tightly around my neck, making it difficult to breathe. 

“What the hell are you doing? Get off of him!” Ray yells. 

        I’m trying to push her off but all she does is just keep swinging and kicking at me. What did I do to piss her off? All I did was tell her the truth. Well, I guess the truth can hurt sometimes. My lungs are gasping for air and my vision is starting to be covered with white spots, when Ray and Thomas grab her and she finally loosens her grip. Once they finally get her off of me I just lay there, enjoying the fact that oxygen is even a thing. They sit her on the couch and I am just in total shock. I never intended for this visit to get violent.  

“What the fuck Madeline!! Why would you do that?” Ray asked trying to help me sit up. 

“I did it because he should have never said anything about my daughter! That child was always a spoiled brat and I am sick and tired of people bringing her up! I gave her away for a reason.” 

“You’re daughter was my best friend. You have no right to tell me that I can’t talk about her.” After a minute of silence I finally say, “You know what? We’re done here. I’m sorry for wasting your time Mr. Young.” I said. I need to get out here before I beat the living shit out of Madeline and have Ray arrest me for assault.

“You okay?” Ray asked with a concern in his eyes. 

        Even though I’ve only known Ray for a few days, he seems like the kind of guy you would want to be friends with. The kind of guy that would try his best not to let you down, and he would stick around for a while. 

“Yeah man, I’m good. Let’s go before I kill someone.” 

        We walk out and I start to shiver. The wind is cold and pleasant, but I didn’t think this really happened in California, one of the most sunny and warm states in the country. I look around and I become worried. 

“Where’s Maddie?” I ask. Ray says nothing. What could have possibly happened while I was trying to talk to Thomas? 

“She left, Liam.” He replies with sadness in his voice. 

“What do you mean she left? And you can’t see her anyway so how do you know?” I yelled, ready to pull my hair out of my head. 

“Well I could this time! My mother always said that when ghost is angry or upset or even both they become more visible and let’s just say, she was most certainly both. She was clear as crystal, and I knew that something was wrong.” 

“Well, what did she say?” I asked. 

“She was saying how she’s dead so she should just stay dead, and how she is useless and all she’s doing is making things more complicated, and how she’s just a burden to people. Then she told me to tell you that she said goodbye.” 

“I can’t believe that she would just leave like that.” 

“I know, I’m sorry. I tried to stop her but she wouldn’t listen. When I saw her run away I chased after her and tried to convince her to stay, but she wouldn’t listen.” 

“Yeah, that does sound like Maddie.” I chuckle. “ Look, I’m sorry about your wife. I had no idea that she was going to be there.” He pats me on the back, and looks down at the gray sidewalk. “It’s alright Liam. Neither of us knew that she was going to be there. But hey, it’s no big deal.” 

“Don’t play Mr. Tough guy with me Ray, I know that you loved her very much. It must have been hard for you to see her back there.” 

        He says nothing, instead, he gives me a giant bear hug. We must have hugged for about 5 minutes at least when he finally pulled away. I never really pictured him to be the hugging type of person. 

“You’re a good kid Liam. Don’t forget that.” He says. 

“Thanks, Ray. I won’t. You want to get a bite to eat on the way back?” 

“Sounds good to me. I guess you can pick the music. It can be a little bit of both rap and pop if we absolutely have to listen to 92.3.” He sighs. 

“Finally! I need to get Slim Shady out of my head.” I reply. 

        We get to the car and start our 8 hour journey back, and all I can think about is Maddie, and how I’m going to get her back. I lost her once, I'm not losing her again.