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MADDIE ALBAH
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GAME
OUTSIDE WAS gorgeous, the sun's rays shining down on the grassy fields spreading out for miles. Sometimes going past sugarcane fields as they grew trying to reach up to the fluffy white clouds. She couldn't help but watch the scenery pass by her eyes so quickly, in a blink of an eye she could be looking at some cute cows eating the green grass or at tall pretty green mountains. Yet, for some reason, she felt numb, the type of numb where her happiness was lost somewhere within her and she was trying to find it. But she didn't know where to begin.
Maddie peeled her forehead off the shaking window from the tracks, looking at the greasy spot her forehead had left and cringed. Maybe she shouldn't have done that?
Looking over to Reece, his hazel eyes were looking down at his hand, her brown ones followed as she saw a small black flip phone, his fingers pressing buttons. She watched silently, observing what he was doing as he went into his texts and clicked on a name she didn't quite catch.
Payment Receipt, it read with a file attached to it. In a split, unexpected moment she was startled, her whole body jumping in her skin at the sound of the flip phone slamming shut. She squeezed her eyes tightly in complete fright by the sound, her muscles tensing up and choosing to freeze.
"Sorry, my dear, private matters," Reece whispered to her softly just as a warm hand made comforting contact with her knee. She exhaled a heavy breath she didn't realise she was holding, and slowly opened her eyes to be met with Reece's pretty and captivating ones. The blue specks in the lower half were a little darker than usual the longer she stared into them, drowning in their colour.
"What for?" she questioned softly, furrowing her brows slightly. She watched as his eyes darted between the two of hers, almost like he was trying to find something or at least think over his next words. His facial expressions remained to a minimum, thin lips in a straight line, wrinkles between his chocolate brows as the bolts in his head turned.
He looked away and down the aisle, taking his hand off her knee along with his focus. "Do you want anything to eat or drink?"
Maddie furrowed her brows even more, so close they were millimetres from holding hands, due to the words that slipped from his lips. He changed the subject and she wasn't sure why he didn't want to answer. To her it was a simple answer that didn't need much detail, just a simple subject of it at least. Like, for work or something.
"Ah. . . Yes, please," she eventually whispered over to him.
He turned to look at her with a raised brow, a questioning glow in his eyes. "Both?"
She nodded her head and he then nodded back, turning to face the aisle again just as a lady with a trolley of food came walking by. "Would you two like anything?"
"Yes, thanks. Do you have Sprite?"
The lady nodded with a friendly smile hugging her soft red lips, she bent down a little before standing up to her full height and handing him the can. "Would you like a cup?"
"No. But what are your snack options?" he asked as he turned his focus away from the lady and handed Maddie the can of Sprite. She grabbed it off him as the lady stated what the snacks she had were. The can was cold against her fingertips, sitting it down in the drink holder between herself and Reece's seat, too frosty to hold just yet.
By the time she went to look up, the lady was already gone and Reece was holding about three different packets of snacks; a noticeable red packet of Doritos, pretzels and a familiar fully yellow packaging with a splash of red in the centre belonging to Twisties.
"Choose one and we'll save the rest for later, mhm?"
She reached out and took the Twisties, opening the package with a muted pop as the air rushed out, she was greeted with a strong scent of dusty cheese slapping her in the face. She began eating it slowly, the chips crunching between her teeth as she chewed. Reece grabbed his backpack from near his feet and sat it on his lap, putting the two other snacks inside for later.
After a while of the deafening quietude surrounding the two of them, she asked: "Where are we going?"
She was fiddling with the empty yellow Twisties packet, folding it until she couldn't any more. The foil packet crackled and crunched with each fold she made, keeping the atmosphere around them from going too silent.
"One of my other places."
Her fingers stopped abruptly at his words, considering them for a long moment, before turning to look at him now concentrating on playing Angry Birds on a red iPhone 4. He has two phones?
"Other places?" She removed her eyes from the phone in his hands and looked at his face, seeing how relaxed he was sitting beside her. His chocolate hair brushed back like he had run his fingers through it a million times, some strands placed behind his ear.
He gave her a short nod. "Yes, flower, other places," he chuckled, a whisper of a smile sitting on his lips.
She wondered how much it cost to have multiple places under his name, and if he was able to pay the rent for all of them. Or did he buy them?
"How many?"
He took a few seconds to answer, allowing the silence to creep in. "More than I can remember. Different cities and towns."
"Why?"
"Because I travel a lot."
"Really?" she said, astounded.
"Mhm."
"Where do you travel to?"
"Around Australia. Like Sydney, Alice Springs, up in Darwin — those sort of places, " he said nonchalantly. "Why so interested, mhm?"
Taken aback by his question, she pulled her lips together in a tight thin line as she collected her thoughts, realising she might've been stepping too much into his business. Heat started to hug her neck as slight embarrassment settled in. "S—Sorry."
"For what?"
"Asking questions. . ." she said in a whisper.
"Never apologise for the smallest of things," he told her just as he breathed out in relief. Illuminating on his phone's screen were three big stars glowing, sparkling flying behind them, stating he had completed the level at an A+ ranking.
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"I would like to play a game," Reece announced. Maddie was staring out of the train window, watching as everything slowly moved by in the far distance. She was busy observing the little white and brown dots as they moved at snail speeds, lowering their even tinier head to eat the grass. She pulled her attention away, sitting back onto the seat and glancing at the man next to her, who wasn't making any attempt at darting an eye to her.
"What kind of game?"
She waited about five minutes, sitting patiently — yet, her bouncing, full-of-jitters knee would say otherwise as the heel of her shoe jackhammered into the floor. But eventually he parted his lips, almost like in slow motion as suspense bubbled around her in the air, making her feel like she was on the edge of her seat, ready to hear what he had to say.
"When we get to my place, that's when we'll start the game," was all he said. She furrowed her brows, slumping back onto the seat, expecting him to tell her what the actual game was.
"What are the rules?" she then asked, curious, trying to get anything out of him at this stage. He seemed to keep certain things to himself, not daring to spill anything for only God knows why. It started to bug her a little bit.
As she continued to wait patiently for him to part his lips again, and let the words fall from his tongue, it was about half an hour later she realised he wasn't going to talk about it anymore. Leaving her to sit back in the seat, arms on the armrests and staring out the window like she had been for the past two hours or so. She was getting pretty bored staring out this window, honestly. So maybe playing a game would be fun.
▬▬▬▬
Stepping out of the train station when they arrived, Maddie had no clue where the heck she was, it was completely and utterly unfamiliar to her. As she stared around, all she could see was dust . . . everywhere. And it looked really small, like a small ghost town with a population of less than a thousand people.
With each new breath of air she inhaled, all she could feel hitting her nose was small dirt particles tickling the back of her nose, making her sneeze a couple times, tears pricking the back of her eyes from the intensity. She swore she could feel dirt rattling around in her lungs as she breathed. It was quite unsettling and felt extremely weird and unnatural, a whole new experience she never knew she didn't want.
"Before I take you to my place, we should get you some new clothes, mhm?" Reece said.
Maddie had been wearing the same shirt and jeans since her birthday, and to be frank, she smelt like twenty-four bags of scrapped fish bones, heads and tails after Christmas on a thirty-seven degree day. . . Maybe even worse. She definitely needed a fresh set of clothes as soon as possible.
Holding out his hand, he watched her patiently with a whisper of a smile coating his thin pink lips. Maddie eyed his palm, thinking over whether she should hold his hand or not.
After several seconds had passed, Reece dropped his hand back to his side, the whisper of a smile he had on previously turned to a ghost of one in seconds. He turned around. "C'mon flower, this way."
The first shop they had entered was a second hand shop, where people donate unwanted — but still in good use — belongings. The first thing Reece's fingertips had grabbed was an old, muted brown cowboy hat. It was soon a faint memory in his hands as he had dropped it on her head. It was light but it still managed to make a gasp rush out from her lips, an unexpected action, the rims of the hat blocking out the lights and making it seem darker around her. She took the hat off and placed it back where Reece had found it, before dashing her way to catch up with him.
They get to the women's section of the shop, in the back left corner.
"Choose as much as you like, my dear," he said, a soft nod aimed her way and a tender smile locked on his lips.
She turned to look at the many clothes items they had, choosing mostly plain baggy shirts of various colours, such as muted blues, greens, greys and whites. She also chose small shorts, being more picky about how the fabric felt against her finger pads. She didn't like how some shorts didn't allow her coochie to breathe that well, making it smell bad and sweaty as heck; or how the fabric felt against her skin—rough; or even when the fabric might be too loose and stretchy, so it'll show her whole arse if she laid in a particular position. And lastly some underwear that seemed to be brand new in their packets. She chose a couple of them. Maddie was going to get a bra or two, but then remembered how hot and uncomfortable it was to wear such a thing. She was a proud member of the hashtag Free The Breasts Community.
"Was there anything else you wanted to get?" he asked as she walked up to him, her arms filled with an abundance of clothing options. "Socks, maybe?"
She shook her head. "T—This is al—all I want."
He pursed his lips, considering her for a moment. "Alright," he said, before grabbing everything from her small arms, they almost looked like sticks with the lack of meat on them. He went over to the counter, telling her to stay here.
When he had finished paying, they left the shop with Reece leading the way to the next errand. It took about ten to fifteen minutes to walk to what looked like a supermarket. Once they stepped inside, a cold rush of air flew past her, her spine tightened and contracted with chills at the sudden change in temperature. She darted her head at the sound of a trolley moving, Reece reversing it out and walking toward her, two of the bags of her new clothes already inside.
"Put the bag in," he told her when he stopped in front of her. She placed the third and final bag of her clothes into the trolley, sitting it on top of the other two.
They went through, Reece leading the way as if he knew the place like the back of his hand. The first aisle they went in was the pasta, noodles and sauces aisle. He grabbed a couple bags of fettuccine and put them into the trolley before grabbing some pasta sauces. As he was grabbing other necessities, Maddie looked around. The shelves weren't that tall, only reaching to her shoulders at the most, she could see all the way to the other end. There were probably about five people here at the most, and they seemed to be minding their own business.
Hidden deep in her stomach was the feeling of guilt, biting at the walls of her tummy and making her feel sick. Maybe she should've darted her way to freedom when she had the chance back at the Cairns Train Station? Perhaps then she wouldn't feel so icky in the stomach.
"Flower?"
Snapping out of her anxious and panicked thoughts, she turned to the voice finding Reece staring at her with a questioning look. His chocolate brows were down toward her as his hazel eyes seemed confused. "You okay? You look pale in the face."
She pulled the corners of her lips up in a tight, forcing smile, nodding softly as confirmation she was A-Okay. It was a fabrication too far from the truth, it swallowed it.
Wrinkles formed on his forehead for a few seconds, making him look a few years older than he actually was, before it smoothed out and disappeared with a soft beam to his lips. "C'mon then."
She followed behind him, keeping at least five steps between them. The next aisle seemed to raise her eyebrows as she saw the pet foods and necessities on the shelves to her left and right. Reece stopped in front of the individually sold section of the aisle, the small cans of cat food on shelves. Did he own a cat?
He grabbed two of the boxes making her eyes widen, she doesn't think he should just take the whole box. Wouldn't it be more expensive than just getting a box of food sachets?
"I hope her starving arse would appreciate this crap," she caught him muttering to himself as he then threw in a large green packet of Temptations into the trolley. She wanted to ask if he had a cat, unfortunately, anxiety had its phantom hands around her throat, and whispered in her ear it was a bad idea. Telling her if she dared asked Reece might take back his words of not killing her.
She took a large, struggling gulp, feeling her intestines twist and turn and knit together inside her. So she kept following behind him, watching silently as he grabbed food items off the shelves and dumped them into the trolley carelessly. Each time something was thrown in, she heard the crackling of its packaging colliding with something else.
After a while of walking around, Reece led them into the snack aisle where an abundance of chips and biscuits and many other delicious, guilty pleasures lined the shelving. Reece grabbed a few Tim Tams, the caramel ones, throwing them in.
"Grab any snacks you want, okay?" he said. She faced him to find he was already looking at him, an unexpressive covering his features. His blinking slower than usual, lips thinned out into a straight line, and relatively a nonchalant look to his face. He then gave a slow lift of the right corner of his lip. "Go on, don't just stare at me, mhm."
Flames were lit on her neck, making her send him an embarrassed smile his way before turning her head sharply away, staring at the packets of biscuits in front of her instead. She brushed her wavy brown hair behind her ear, letting the tips of them cool off as the heat from her neck seemed to climb there.
She stepped forward hesitantly and grabbed a packet of Tick Tock biscuits before walking toward Reece, her shoulders hunched up and her hands clasping the packet close to her chest. She placed them gingerly into the trolley, looking up to see him observing her quietly. He nodded, urging her to grab some more. She sucked in her bottom lip, feeling the nerves creeping in as she wondered if he really didn't mind buying her whatever snacks she wanted. She didn't want to be a burden and use his money.
Even if he was telling her too.
She stepped away from the trolley and scanned the shelves from top to bottom, seeing what guilty pleasures she wanted. She leant down and grabbed a packet of mint slices.
"Grab the family pack, I want some too," Reece stated behind her. She freezed at his words before putting it back and grabbing the bigger packet, placing it delicately into the trolley along with the rest. She soon started grabbing some sweet chilli and sour cream Red Rock Deli chips, and Pringles, and that was basically all she wanted.
Reece paid for everything using cash, Maddie caught a glimpse of the inside of his leather wallet, seeing a thick array of bright reds, blues, yellows, purplish pinks, and special greens for the one hundred dollar notes. Her thick brows facing downwards in slight scepticism at what was his trade of work to have such a large amount of money. Her mind seemed to backtrack to them on the train and she saw the message about a payment receipt. Did he just quit his job maybe?
▬▬▬▬
The strain on her little fingers were beginning to wear on her, making the tips of her digits feel colder as the seconds went by holding multiple heavy bags. Reece managed to catch a ride by a stranger to his home and now they had been walking for five minutes straight. Nonstop.
The guy that drove them asked why they were in the middle of nowhere, saying there was nothing out there, leading Maddie's mind to open a new door and step inside, a million other theories rushing by her. Perhaps Reece lied and he really was going to kill her? Him telling her to grab snacks was just him manipulating her into thinking he really wasn't, but oh dear, he was, it was just a matter of time.
They kept walking. Reece looked like he was in his element, his shoulders back, the muscles in his biceps clenching from carrying twice as many than she was. Not even breaking a sweat, compared to Maddie, who's heart was racing a mile in her chest, sweat beads dotting her forehead and sliding down her greasy face. In conclusion, she was going back to her caveman roots unintentionally.
She kept pushing through the strain in her stick-like, and weak arms, her fingers seconds from falling off one by one. She squeezed her cognac brown eyes tightly before staring at the dull green, grassy weeds whipping at her legs each time she took a step forward.
"You okay back there?" Reece called. He was looking over his shoulder at her, she gave him a struggling forced smile, yet assuming he couldn't see it she called back saying she was okay.
A little bit later, hidden amongst the tall gumtrees and long grass, covered in weeds, a small two story building stood in front of her. At her astonishment, her eyes widened to the size of saucers as she stared at the place. The glass windows were still intact, yet, covered in a thick layer of dust. If she were to press her finger against it and drag it down, she was sure it would leave streaks on the glass, and dark dust on her fingertip. And as she follows Reece, too stunned to focus on her crying fingers and screaming arms, she notices a white door, the paint flaking off and covered in dust.
Maddie's body tensed up, so close from dropping the abundance of grocery bags at her feet at the sound of a loud meow to her left. She snapped her head in the direction, almost giving herself whiplash. Her eyes softened and she pouted at the little white feline walking through the tall grass, so elegant with each step as she came closer. The cat went straight to Reece's legs and began to rub it's sides against him, continuing with her loud cries.
"Nice to see you again, Milk," Reece greeted the cat, stepping past them and watching toward the door. He set the bags down, slipping his backpack off and reaching inside to pull out a filled keychain, searching through them. When he found the right key, he slipped it into the lock and with a switch turn, the door opened.
Picking the bags up and stepped inside with the white cat racing in afterwards, Maddie followed them and then followed Reece to the kitchen. She watched as he placed all the bags on the floor. Compared to outside, where it was dusty and old looking, inside was nicer and especially cleaner than she had originally expected.
She placed her bags next to his, and the second the weight left her fingers, she could feel the rush of warm blood entering the tips. She started messaging them, an attempt to rid the pain lingering there.
"Do you remember me saying I wanted to play a game?" Reece then said. She considered him for a moment before nodding softly. "I want to start it. Close your eyes for me, flower."
She stood there for about several silent seconds before doing as he said, closing her eyes and after a second longer she felt warm hands placed in her shoulders.
"Don't open them until I say so, okay?" he asked. She gave him a nod, to which he then said: "Trust me, I won't do anything."
With the quietude of the house, the only noise heard was the sound of Reece's cat, Milk, meowing somewhere from somewhere in the house. As if saying she welcomed herself back to the house and telling it her adventures.
Reece led her, pushing gently at her shoulders to move forward as he turned them around and directed her in the direction he wanted. He led her up a staircase and when they were on the second floor, he turned her left and then right before stopping. She could hear his soft breathing behind her, calm and slow, soon he was beside her ear as his hot breath fanned against her skin.
"Open them," he whispered. A whole string of shivers raced up her spine, his soft breathing tickling her smooth skin.
She opened her red undertone brown eyes, blinking a few times to adjust her eyes. What she was looking at made her brows turn downward in scepticism. It had a few mattresses lying on the floor, and the walls covered in foam. There was a window to her left but it was half covered by an old mattress leaning against it.
"This is where I want to play my game with you, flower," Reece whispered, his hot breath kissing her skin, so tender like his gravelly voice as he spoke. "I want you to stay in here. I will join you everyday, bring you your meals, make sure you're okay."
She took a step back, forgetting he was right behind her and crashing into his chest. He wrapped his rough fingers around her thin arms, steadying her — or making sure she didn't attempt to run again.
"You'll be safe in here, my dear, we're just playing a game."
"W—What's the game?" she choked out, feeling the nerves setting in her bones, her teeth picking at the flaky skin of her dry lips. A sudden softness at her legs made her whole body tense up in fright, mere seconds from jumping away from the thing that touched her. But when she glanced down it was only the cat, rubbing its sides against her legs.
Reece's hands left her shoulders, taking the warmth with them as he picked Milk up, holding her against his chest when she turned around to face him. She was still waiting for him to answer, yet she should've expected him to ignore it.
"Dinner will be at seven, we will eat together," was all he said before stepping out of the foam and mattress room, closing and locking the door behind him.
ＡＵＴＨＯＲ'Ｓ ＮＯＴＥ
Word Count: 4200+
Hey guys! It's been a while I think, lol, how are you tonight/today? I was writing this chapter slowly because I had just gotten art supplies and I've started learning watercolour. It's pretty good, I'm definitely level 1 right now but it can only get better. Also I hoped you enjoyed the long chapter! I'm hoping to make the rest of the chapters long as well, there's ten chapters left! Love you beauties!
p.s thank you for 2k reads on this book. 🥺🤍
— DYLAN.