"Get out!" Lane Bishop shouted angrily at Maddie, his thirteen year old daughter, "Get your shit together and get the hell out of this house! I will not have a faggot living under this roof!"
Maddie found herself upstairs packing the majority of her belongings into a suitcase and small backpack as quickly as she could to avoid anymore of her fathers harsh words. Her mother, Katherine, just stood behind him and not muttering a single word incase his anger backfired on her. Maddie felt like she couldn't be angry with her mother since she knew that she was terrified of him and his temper but was too afraid to leave him.
While growing up, Maddie's memories of her father were hazy since she was so young so she was never aware of it until she grew up and her siblings left. Maddie was always pushed to the back. Her fathers attention was always on Maddie's older sister, Maya and winning her gold medals at the Olympics.
Maddie has barely spoken or seen either of her siblings. They had the right idea to leave the second that they could. Maddie's brother, Mason went completely off the radar while her sister, Maya was focused on work, Maddie had heard that she was now the captain at Station 19, Seattle Fire Department.
Lane only started to pay attention to Maddie after they moved out. Maddie's passion was soccer, he would always show up at her soccer games and scream at his daughter from the sidelines. At first Maddie thought it was his way of being supportive but was quick to realize that was not the case. If Maddie didn't score at least one goal then she was in the firing line of his mood.
As far as Maddie knew, this was her family that she had grew up with, an abusive father, a frightened mother who hid in his shadow, and two siblings who when they had the chance, got the hell out of there. Maddie was used to the arguments and the raised voices.
Maddie was quick to finish packing up everything that she could, she made her way down the stairs as Katherine stood in Lane's shadow as they both watched their teenager daughter leave the house.
"Don't ever come back here," Lane spat out to his daughter and slammed the door shut behind her.
Tears rolled down Maddie's cheeks as she began to walk, having just been kicked out with nowhere to go, she was feeling scared and alone at that moment. Now more than she ever had.
Eyes forward.
That was the only thing that Maddie had stuck in her head. Her father drilled it into her head ever since she could remember.
Maddie wanted her sister Maya, she was the one person that she wanted right now so she headed to the only place she could think of that she would be. The station.
Maddie walked inside the fire station to see a tall male firefighter stood in the reception. The male was Robert Sullivan.
"Hi. Can I help you?" He questioned gruffly.
"Do you know where I can find my sister?" Maddie asked desperate. It was then that she realized that he didn't know who she was on about or who she even was, "My sister is Maya Bishop,"
"Oh, your Bishops' sister!" The man said in surprise. "The team are out on a call at the moment, are you okay?" He asked concerned.
"I just really need to speak to Maya," Maddie said. Sullivan nodded in understanding.
"Alright, well would you like to come and wait upstairs in the beanery until she is back?" He offered.
"Okay sure," Maddie agreed, picking her suitcase up to follow the chief upstairs into the room that they called the beanery.
"Would you like a glass of water or something?" Sullivan asked.
"Yes please if you don't mind," Maddie said quietly, "Do you know how much longer they will be?" Maddie asked. Sullivan poured Maddie a glass of water and placed it in front of the teenage girl.
"They shouldn't be too much longer. I'm Chief Sullivan by the way but you can call me Robert if you want," Sullivan introduced himself to Maddie.
"Maddie," The teenager said.
"So you can either wait in here or I can show you the lounge? There's a TV in there if you would prefer that," Sullivan offered the choices.
"Uh, can you show me the lounge?" Maddie asked.
"Sure come on, I'll show you the lounge," Sullivan said motioning for Maddie to follow him into the cosy lounge space with a couch, lounge chairs, bookshelf, foosball table along with a TV on the wall in the corner of the room. "Make yourself comfortable, I'm sure your sister will be back soon and then I'll send her up,"
"Thank you," Maddie said, placing her backpack down onto the floor. Automatically she knew Sullivan was wanting to ask questions but Maddie wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone other than Maya.
"Okay, so if you need me then I will be in my office so just come and find me if you need anything at all," Sullivan said with a small smile.
Maddie silently agreed by nodding her head. Sullivan exited the room to go into his office and Maddie was left to her own devices to wait for her sister to return. Maddie thought about texting her herself but she didn't want to necessarily worry her when it wasn't needed.
"Bishop!" Sullivan called out as he walked into the barn after he heard the fire trucks return and spotted Maya jumping out of the fire truck. Maya looked over to see Sullivan was the one that was shouting her.
"Chief Sullivan. Everything alright?" Maya asked as she got out of her turnouts.
"Bishop, your sisters upstairs in the lounge. When she arrived she was quite upset. I said that I would send you up as soon as you was back from your call," Sullivan told Maya.
Maya was shocked to hear that Maddie was here at the station considering the last time she saw her was several years ago when she was just a kid. Maya wasted no time in running upstairs into the lounge to find the younger girl.
Maya ran into the lounge to find the blonde teenager looking pretty distraught. The site broke Maya's heart to see Maddie like that even after not seeing her all these years.
"Maddie?" Maya spoke as she walked into the lounge.
"Maya!" Maddie exclaimed, she was quick to stand up and run over to her older sister who was quick to wrap her arms around her.
"What are you doing here? I mean not that I'm not happy to see you but something must have happened for you to turn up here unexpected," Maya asked, she paused and caught a glance of the suitcase and backpack and raised her eyebrow, "Something that has caused you to bring your luggage with you,"
"Dad kicked me out," Maddie said as tears welled up in her eyes all over again.
"What happened?" Maya asked.
"He caught me kissing another girl," Maddie told her older sister as the tears escaped her eyes and streamed down her face.
"That bastard!" Maya seethed.
"Maya I don't know what to do, I don't have anywhere to go." Maddie said through her sobs.
"Hey, calm down, it's okay," Maya said as she guided her little sister back over to the couch and Maddie sat down on her knee. Maya began to rub her back in comfort, "Do you want to tell me what happened?" she asked softly once she had managed to calm Maddie down.
"So, there's a new girl at school and she is also on my soccer team as well, we've been hanging out when we can after school. I think I was starting to catch feelings for her, she walked me home after we finished soccer practice and well we shared a kiss," Maddie said as a slight blush appeared on her face.
"And dad caught you?" Maya asked knowing where this was going.
"Yeah, he caught me kissing her when he came out to his car, he waited until I was inside to start going off at me about it. Dad said that he couldn't have a faggot living under his roof," Maddie explained. Maya continued to run her hand gently through the teenagers hair.
"I've got you Mads, I've got you now sweetheart." Maya said softly, she realized now was the time to step up and take care of her after all these years of letting her down.