—
—
MADELYN SAT RIGHT OUTSIDE THE KITCHEN WRITING IN HER NOTEBOOK, she glanced up from her schoolwork for a moment to see ms. jessel writing something down beside her before looking back down,
"how are you and miles?" ms. jessel asked, just checking in with the younger girl, madelyn slowly turned her head up to the beautiful young woman before she spoke,
"uh, i mean... we are good, nothing bad has happened if that's what you're asking" she clarified for ms. jessel, madelyn still honestly felt on edge around miles, her trust was weary with him, but she didn't want it to be, she clung to him.
he was the only friend she ever had, so she didn't want to lose him no matter what.
the only thing that she wanted to make go away was quint, she hated him more than anything, and madelyn wasn't someone who felt hatred, but she genuinely wished quint would simply burn in the pits of hell and get out of her life.
but staying with them was still the best bet she had, she was a sixteen year old orphan, she didn't have much options.
"good, just come to me if you need anything or if he starts acting like that again" ms. jessel said to madelyn who smiled at her, but before she could respond, miles came walking into the kitchen.
he opened the fridge before grabbing a water bottle out of it and looking over to madelyn, who was doing school, which caused him to start smiling, "you doing math right now? need any help?" he asked as he walked over to her, putting both hands on her desk and leaning over it.
"no, chemistry" she said as she looked up at him with a small smile, causing miles to scoff before he responded, "yeah, which is a bunch of math, tell me what you're stuck on" he said as he pulled a chair up, sitting down in front of madelyn's desk.
ms. jessel smiled as she watched the two teenagers interact. madelyn turned her paper around, pointing to number five with her pencil, finally admitting that she was having problem with the schoolwork and she needed help.
miles looked at it before taking the pencil out of her hand gently and beginning to just do the problem for her, causing ms. jessel to look up from her desk before speaking,
"miles, don't just do the work for her, actually teach it to her if she needs help" she softly said, still smiling as she watched them interact—-happy that everything was okay now, no more fighting.
there was already enough fighting with quint in the house...
"shhhh, no one needs to know. i'm a good friend so i just do the work for her" miles said as he turned around to face ms. jessel, making madelyn laugh as she watched the interaction.
flora came running into the room, "miles!" she shouted, still excited that her older brother was finally home, since she had found out that he was home, she didn't want to be away from him.
"hey, you" he said as he hugged her while still sitting, he lifted her up and placed her in his lap as he continued writing on madelyn's paper, doing her schoolwork—-flora glanced over to the teenage girl on the other side of the desk,
"maddy when did your eyes become that way?" flora innocently asked as she pointed to her own eyes, referring to how they were two different colors, making madelyn laugh slightly before she answered the young girls question,
"not sure, i was born with them like this flora" she answered sweetly, making the little girls mouth drop before she replied, "that's so cool! i wish my eyes were like that" she said, making miles look up from the paper before he spoke,
"they are cool, huh?" miles said as he looked at his little sister with a smile on his face, flora still sat on his lap—-before looking back over to the girl sitting across from the table, causing madelyn's heart to jump inside of her chest at the way miles was looking at her.
ever since she got back, she's been feeling slightly different around him...
like the tension between them completely changed.
they both grew up in their own ways when miles went away to boarding school, mentally and physically.
but all good things must come to an end, especially when you were stuck living with someone like quint, who wouldn't leave no matter how hard they tried to get him to.
because quint came walking into the kitchen, madelyn's chair was facing him as miles and flora had their backs turned towards him, miles noticed her eyes widen before she looked back down at the desk, making his face wash over with confusion before he turned around and saw quint.
madelyn looked over to ms. jessel with worry in her eyes, she was staring right at her before they both looked back down at their desks and pretended to not even acknowledge his presence in the room.
miles picked flora up and placed her back on the ground before he stood up and walked over to quint, going to talk to him in the kitchen, making madelyn swallow thickly.
she hated watching them interact.
it broke her heart every single time.
the phone that was attached to the wall began ringing, causing ms. jessel to stand up and walk over to it quickly, madelyn's eyes flickered back and forth between her and the boys talking in the kitchen.
her heart was pounding in her chest, she could hear it thumping with every beat—-she wanted to throw up.
she hated being in the same room as quint.
she looked back over to ms. jessel, who had an expression of concern wash over her face as she was on the phone, causing madelyn to furrow her brows as she stared at the young woman, wondering what could possibly be going on.
"o-okay, thank you for calling" she said before hanging up the phone, she looked over to madelyn, catching her gaze as she was already staring at her before walking over to the desk and grabbing her hand gently, urging her to stand up.
"what's wrong?" madelyn whispered as she stared down at the shorter woman, looking over her shoulder discreetly to see that quint and miles were still caught up in their own conversation to be paying attention to them.
ms. jessel looked around with worry before pulling madelyn into the other room, getting them alone before she spoke, "what did miles tell you when he got home? did he tell you why he came home?" ms. jessel asked in a low whisper, causing the teenagers face to contort into confusion at her question,
"he told me that he was being on his best behavior so they would let him leave earlier..." she trailed off in a low whisper, still confused on what was going on after not being given much information.
"miles got expelled from boarding school" ms. jessel whispered, making the young girls mouth fall open before she responded, "what do you mean expelled?! how?!" she whisper shouted with panic in her tone of voice as she looked over to the other room that miles and quint were in.
"they just called and told me it was because he got into a fight with another student, miles almost killed him" she whispered with a serious tone of voice, making madelyn's heart drop at her words.
that couldn't be true.
i thought it was finally all good.
now he lied to me.
before either of them could get another word out, miles came running into the room, resting his arm around the edge of the wall as he spoke, "hey guys i wanted to go out riding, do you want to come?" he questioned, looking at madelyn specifically.
but they both remained silent, looking at each other before looking back at him as they stared with wide eyes, causing a confused expression to wash over his face,
"what's wrong?" he asked, legitimately confused at what the problem could be—-ms. jessel sucked a heavy breath in before turning her body to face him as madelyn swallowed thickly, not even knowing what to think of the news she just heard.
"i just got a call that you got expelled from boarding school" ms. jessel said to miles, causing his face to fall before he looked back over to madelyn who looked horrified, knowing that they had to know the reasoning for it too.
"listen i can explain—" he began saying as he watched madelyn let her back slide down the wall in disbelief, a look of disappointment, betrayal, and hurt making its way across her face, but ms. jessel cut him off before he could,
"—you could have killed that kid, miles!" ms. jessel angrily scolded him as she whisper shouted, not wanting anyone else in the house to know about this, he sighed before he went to reply,
"—you've gotta hear me out—" he began saying, but quint walked into the room, looking down to see madelyn sitting on the floor, with her back against the wall and her knees up to her chest while looking upset.
he looked up to see ms. jessel angrily staring at miles before they all turned to look at him as miles stopped talking, "what's the problem?" he asked, looking around at the three of them—-he noticed that madelyn hugged her knees to her chest tighter as he spoke.
miles opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, ms. jessel cut him off angrily,
"miles got expelled from boarding school" she said harshly, making miles purse his lips as he looked down at the ground, not really knowing what to say. quint looked over to him with wide eyes,
"the fuck did you do?" he asked in utter confusion, not knowing how the hell one could get expelled from boarding school at all, let alone that fast. miles looked back up, sucking a breath in as he shut his eyes.
"i got in a fight with a kid" he said heavily, like a thousand pound weight was crushing his shoulders—-quint looked at him in silence for a second before he finally said something,
"did you win the fight at least?" he questioned, causing ms. jessel to throw her hands up and let them slap down at her sides, "are you kidding me?! that's all you care about?!" she yelled at him, madelyn stared up at the three of them,
"its not that long until he's going to be an adult, you have to lay off of him!" quint began to raise his voice at ms. jessel, who's stared up at him like he was a complete moron before she continued,
"he is still a minor and i am responsible for him—" she began saying angrily before she cut herself off, "—you know what, you, but out of this, this has nothing to do with you and these kids..." she angrily said to him as she gestured between madelyn and miles, "...are my responsibility, not yours!" she concluded as she shouted at him.
miles and madelyn locked eyes for a moment, surprised at the way ms. jessel raised her voice, they had never seen her that angry before, especially at quint—-madelyn knew why too.
quint looked taken aback for a moment at her words, but it wasn't long before he was firing back at her, "what did you just say to me? i practically raised him!" he said as he pointed at miles, "i was changing his diapers, not you!" he shouted back at her while pointing a finger aggressively,
"and yet their parents still didn't want to leave you to watch them after they passed, that is why i am here!" she shouted back, causing miles to suck in a breath as him and madelyn locked eyes at the mention of his parents tragic death.
madelyn stared back and forth between the two adults telling at each other, feeling the thick ball in her throat beginning to build up with every word that was shouted before she finally stood up,
"—shut up!" she cut them off, standing up beside the arguing adults—-causing both ms. jessel and quint to stop shouting and turn their heads to look at madelyn, who was breathing heavily, miles was staring at her as well.
they stared at her with wide eyes for a moment.
"just shut up! please just shut up! i cant take it anymore" she shook her head, running both of her hands back through her hair, she was tired of the yelling, she was tired of the fighting, she was tired of the lies, she was tired of it all.
and she just wanted it to end.
she stared between them angrily before turning around and storming off, causing miles to take a step forward, "maddy wait—" he called after her, but quint grabbed him by the shoulder as he spoke,
"let her go miles, she just needs to relax" he said, ms. jessel just shook her head as she stared up at quint in silence before storming off—-she truly knew what a disgusting human being he was... and miles would never know that.
but madelyn and ms. jessel knew the truth.
and the bloody truth was bound to come out some day...
—
madelyn stood in the stables by the horses, sniffling slightly as she pet her favorite horse, caroline over the wooden gate. she pet the large animal just above her nose as madelyn let a few stray tears fall down her freckled face.
she hate that miles lied to her, he never used to lie to her, but that was before quint started coming around all the time.
he destroyed everything.
madelyn heard the door on the opposite end of the stable slam, causing her to jerk her head up and look to see who it was. she assumed that it was going to be miles or ms. jessel, coming to check on her.
they were the only ones that actually cared.
but she felt her eyes widen as she stared ahead, seeing quint walk into the stable, causing her to back up in fear as he continued to walk over to her, not knowing what he was going to do.
"relax, relax" he said as he walked up to her, she stared at him, her body becoming very stiff and on guard while she breathed heavily due to her fear of him, she had every right in the book to be afraid of him.
he was truly capable of horrible things, and madelyn found herself as a victim of those things.
"w-what do you want?" she managed to choke out as she began petting caroline once again gently, he stared down at her for a moment before responding, "i wanted to check in with you, you seemed pretty upset earlier" he said.
madelyn looked up to the middle aged man with confusion, knowing that this had to be some sort of a sick dream, quint never cared about her, not once, he always shot rude remarks at her and threatened her all the time.
not to mention the things he actually did to her.
"why do you care if i'm upset?" she asked, continuing to pet her horse, quint sighed before he found himself replying, "i had just never seen you like that before..." he trailed off, madelyn wasn't willing to let her guard down that easy though.
none of this was making sense, this was completely abnormal for quint's behavior.
"i don't like you" she bluntly spoke, not caring what he would do to her, because at the end of the day he did what he wanted and felt zero remorse for it, he laughed slightly for a moment, "i know you don't" he said back,
"you seem pretty upset about the whole miles thing" he said, she looked away from her horse and back over to quint before hesitantly nodding her head yes, she did feel bad about it, she felt horrible if anything.
"i care about him a lot..." she trailed off, she didn't want to share her feelings with quint, she didn't want to share anything with him, she wanted to get as far away as possible from him if it was possible.
"he cares about you too" he said back gently, causing madelyn to shake her head, not understanding any of this, "why are you being so nice to me all of the sudden?" she asked him, still not taking her hand off of her horse.
"because i actually like you" he said, catching her off guard greatly, quint has done nothing but treat her like absolute shit over the years, he was the cause of so much unresolved trauma.
"well i don't like you" madelyn replied, having zero sympathy for a person like him, making him roll his eyes at her response, "yeah i know you don't, i never said you had to" he stated, but she just stayed quiet.
she didn't want to talk to quint any longer.
"did you tell miles?" he asked as he crossed his arms, causing madelyn to look at him with confusion wiped across her face, but then, it dawned upon her with a stabbing pain in her chest.
oh.
"no" she shortly said, staring daggers at her horse as she didn't even want to make eye contact with him anymore, he bit the inside of his cheek before he spoke again, "are you going to?" he asked.
"no" she replied again softly, hating the subject, she felt her head beginning to burn with pain—-she wanted this to be over, she never wanted this to happen actually, any of it.
she felt sick.
"do you still have the polaroids?" she asked with fear in her voice as she felt her heart rapidly beating, like it was going to burst out of her chest at any given moment.
"i burned them a while ago" he stated with a rough exhale, causing her to let out a slight sigh of relief as her nerves began to relax slightly, she didn't want to be reminded of any of it ever again, she nodded her head as she continued to pet her horse.
quint took a step forward to her, reaching inside of the pocket of his jacket as she sat stepped back slightly in fear, not ever wanting to be that close to him again in her life.
he took a small baggy out from his pocket, holding it up as she saw two white pills inside, "what is that?" she asked softly, he grabbed her hand that wasn't petting the horse before dropping it inside of it,
"xanax, here you go if you want to feel a bit better, used to take em for my anxiety too" he said, making her head begin to spin, drugs. she was holding drugs in the palm of her hand, and the thought of it made her want to throw up.
but the other side of her simply wanted to numb the pain, she felt torn at her own psychological games.
"thanks" she softly said, quint gave madelyn once last look before he turned around and walked out of the stable, causing her to stare at him with wide eyes as she let body fall loose with a big exhale at the fact that he was finally gone.
what just happened.
she looked down at small baggy that contained the two pills resting in the palm of her hand, not knowing what to do.
she could only think one thing to herself the entire time.
she hoped the truth never came out.
—
AUTHORS NOTE:
what's good guys. ik u guys love this book so i had to pull out an update woohoo!!! i also re uploaded two of my old stories that i remastered, hot summer nights and fallen kingdom, go check those out and lmk what u guys think!!! don't forget to vote and comment i hope u guys enjoyed this chapter woo. i'm going to be updating all of my books and expect more updates from this book!!! see u guys.
WORD COUNT: 3390 <3