Authors Note: Hi! I am so sorry I have been gone for so long, I’m afraid my consistently is horrible. I have just been so busy with school, productions, and writing. Still, it is no excuse and my productions are over till spring. That being said, it is my New Years goal to write more and update as much as possible. It was on January 1st last year when I posted my first chapter of this book, and the way you all have responded to it has blown my mind. Thank you for all you have done for me and this book. While I’m here, I would like to say that this book will be going on for as long as possible, so there is no need to ask wither that was the last chapter. I can assure you, you can’t rid me that easily. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy and wish you all a happy new year. Also I didn't have much time to edit, I promise to go back tomorrow for any simple mistakes.
Chapter 20:
Maddie’s POV:
I sleep, but my mind is wide awake. My thoughts circling around in a pool of constant trouble. My sleep is disturbed, invaded by the memories that haunt my dreams. Niall knows, he sees me toss and turn, he does everything in his power to keep me still. Every time I escape from the horrors of my dreams, he is there, there to attempt to calm me down. There to dry the tears that continue to roll down my cheeks. There to remind me that I am in a secure place, the lock tight on the door, the police hunting the man who I once called my dad.
Yesterday seems like I took five steps back, it feels like I am still living with my dad. I remember the feeling in the pit of my stomach his presence brought me, and now it seems to be permanent in my bones. He knows how to scare me, and he will stop at nothing to assure I am under his control. My mind is full of ideas, dark ones that I am sure will come true in my future. The things he put in my room, the memories he brought back to me. Now the boys know everything, there is nothing left to hide, They can see it all, they have the videos, they know the horror that I lived through. Now, we have to talk to some how make sense of this. I am sick of talking, I am tired of trying to make things ok.
My mind fills with dark images, the rope that ties me to the mattress is too strong, I can’t move. He laughs, teases me by flicking the lighter in his hand. He gets board, its time for him to entertain himself, at my expense. He lights the mattress, slowly the fames climb up my body. My screams as loud as thunder, the burns pulsing through my body making me want to take my last breath. I am about to die, my skin is ruined, my heart is about to stop beating. But I wake up, I always wake up.
Niall pulls my body close to his, I am sweating and shivering an utter mess. “Shhh, its okay baby girl, it was just a dream.- Look at me, come on Maddie look up. There you go, see, your safe. Your here with us, I’ve got you.” His whispers turn into yells as I scream in panic. Its not soon before four foot steps crowd into the door. I am too lost to notice them around me, my body feels as if the fire is burning me all over again. Someone takes my uncontrollable body and wraps it tight in their arms. Another pair of hands lock down my feet as another lock my hands. They let me scream, get it out of my system. It it not long before my exhaustion kicks in and I am left limp in their arms. I see an arm wrapped around my chest restricting my out of control breathe, I can tell by the tattoos it is Louis. “Sorry.” I crook out too tired for anything else yet so tired of drawing attention to my nightmares. I here a sigh fall through the room, “Maddie, no sorry’s. It was just a dream, thats all. Your safe, everything is going to be okay, things will get better. I promise.” Louis says as he brings me closer to his embrace. “What was it this time?” Niall asks curiously with no irritation, but concern. All I can say is one word, anything more would be too painful. “Fire.” They all know what that means, and in return they all cringe at the thought. The knowing of what truly happen, takes effect on them, they now understand that they cannot take away the damage that has been done. “Why don’t we leave you to get dressed, and we’ll have some breakfast okay? Sound good?” Liam says as they make their way out the room.
I get dressed as I was told, and make my way out to the small kitchenette where the boys wait for me. I walk in and there heads turn at the sight of my presence. “Hey love, you hungry?” Zayn asks as he pulls out a seat for me at the table. I shake my head in response and take my position at the table. There are pancakes stacked all around the table as the boys dig in, I resist knowing my stomach isn’t up for heavy food. “Maddie, you don’t have to eat much, but try to get something in your stomach for me.” Harry says gently as I take my fork and try a small bite. As soon as I swallow, I seriously regret it, my stomach weak and unsteady. “I can’t” I all I can say. The boys look at me in surprise, usually I can eat a little more without feeling so nauseous. I don’t know what is was, the events of yesterday taking its toll or the worry and fear of whats to come, but my stomach couldn’t handle it. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, straight to the restroom making it in perfect timing. Even enough time to lock the door, my first chance alone since being adopted. I just let my stomach empty, to rid all the nerves and fear. I can’t hear the banging and shouting on the other side of the door over my coughs and gasp. After a minute or two, I have nothing left to throw up, my system completely empty. It almost feels good to get all of my toxins out of me. Sitting back, I hear all the commotion the boys are causing. “Madison Bess, open the door right now!” Zayn’s voice screams. “Maddie are you okay? Don’t make us call security to bust this door down!” Harry yells. “Say something!” Niall shouts. Is it seriously so wrong to want one moment alone. I understand they are concerned, but its not as if I have never gotten sick before. “I’m fine! I’m fine! Just give me a minute!” I say as loud as I can through the door. At least that shut them up a bit, but they remain at the door, I can feel their presence through the door.
Sitting on the floor, my head falls into the palms of my hands. I don’t want to think about anything, I just want to sit alone. Alone. Something I don’t get much of anymore. My shut like weights. Heavy and no use fighting. Silence covers me like a blanket and my ears muffle themselves from any disturbances. Before I know it, my mind clears and dozes off. Dozes off into a dreamless blissful sleep.
I wake up to Zayn lifting my body off the bathroom floor, “What happened?” I ask my voice muffled by Zayn’s shirt. “You fell asleep on the floor, we got hotel security to open the door. You gave us quite a scare muffin.” He gently sets me on the couch wrapping a blanket around me. “I’m sorry, I just dozed off.” “Thats okay baby, just take a nap for me, you didn’t get much sleep last night.” With that he kisses my forehead and my eyes snap shut.
An Hour and a Half Later-
Niall’s POV:
Maddie sure gave me a fright with her whole bathroom nap. We thought she passed out and hit her head on the tile, maybe worse. I guess its good for her to be alone every once and a while. Its not like she use to always being around people, she’s use to being alone all the time. And thing she most needed was a peaceful nap, no dreams or nightmares, just sleep. Hopefully, she will be able to get that without such extreme measures.
“So who wants to be the one to wake sleeping beauty?” Louis asks knowing full well we still need to tell her about the flight to Orlando. “I got it.” Liam responds taking a seat next to Maddie. He places a hand on her shoulder giving it the lightest of nudges. She stirs a bit letting out a sigh as her eyes flicker open. “Hmmm?” She lets outs, a simple reminder to us that she really is just a little girl, one who can’t handle all of the pressure she's under. The cuteness and tenderness in her voice and presence so pure, I would do anything to preserve that. “Time to get up sweet heart” Liam says as Maddie leans in under his arm. “Yeah, we actually need to talk to you about something, a few things really.” Liam says while scratching his chin hating the idea of conversation we are about to deal with. Maddie just nods with understanding. Back to nods. “Last night we talked, and we all agreed that the best thing for you right now is to get you out of the country for a bit. To get some space between you and your father, at least until the police arrest him. And if he tries to leave the country and come after you, we can move farther and faster then he can. We’ll run him out, and it’ll all be over. We’re going to go Orlando Florida, to Disney World, and from there we can figure the rest out.” As Liam tells Maddie her face suddenly fills of even more worry. I thought this would relieve some of that stress, we’re getting her away, far enough where he can’t hurt her. “I can’t.” Maddie whispers so hushed I usually would have missed it on any other normal occasion. “Why can’t you, we puled some strings, got your passport, the police are on board, its the best way to keep you safe.” Louis says trying to reason with her. “I- I have never been out of the country before, what if- what if the plane crashes, or he catches up with us. I’m not ready to have what happened yesterday to be a normal again. Who knows what he’ll do next? Why can’t we just stay locked up in this hotel? Safe and sound” Maddie is trying to convince herself more so than us, she knows getting out of the country is best, she’s just scared. There are so many ‘what if’s’ she is not prepared for, and Maddie has trained herself to be prepared for anything and everything.
Zayn speaks up determined to get her to agree. “Honey, we’re going to get out the country. You know just as well as I do that your farther is much more dangerous the longer we stay here. I promise you, we will be safe on the plane. We will have security, and we are going to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. But you have to go with us on this one, you have to trust us.” Maddie knows she has no choice but to go along with it. She’s powerless right now, in every sense. I can’t imagine how trapped she feels. I feel trapped and I’m not even the one who has been exploited. Exploited. I hate to be the one to do this, but I need to. “Maddie, talk to us about yesterday. All those pictures and videos. Did you know about those?” Her exasperated sigh falls through the room and seems to lay yet another burden on her shoulders. “I-I knew he had a camera, but-but back then I wasn’t in the condition to care. He has always had a thing for blackmail. I was powerless and- and I knew those videos would come back to me. I just didn’t think you would ever see them.” Sometime since her father has made a reappearance, her eyes have turned even more clouded with glossed pain. I miss those big blue eyes. Liam pulls her closer into him saying, “You know that what happened yesterday doesn’t change anything between us right? You know that we think nothing different about you right?” She hesitates, giving away her act, but she attempts by giving yet another nod.
In that moment Maddie closes up, she knows who is in charge, and in her mind there is no reason for any more talking. The innocence in her eyes burn through me, she is too young for all of this. It isn’t fair. Nothing in her life has been fair. We can’t change that, but I’m going to do everything in my damn power to make her life as full of love and joy that I can. “Baby don’t close up on us. This is whats best for you.” Harry tries to coo her out of her shell. She gives no response, keeping her eyes locked on Liam and her’s interlocked hands. I give a look to all the guys, signaling for them to join in. Liam is first in action. “Yeah, hey don’t forget, we’re going to Disney World. You can meet all the princesses and ride all the rides. We’re going to have so much fun, we can go to all the parks. Come on love, give me a smile.” She can’t help, like I said, she’s still a little girl. She is excited about Disney World, its like a dream coming true for her. Sadly, dreams are something my daughter is scared of, disappointment and dreams go hand and hand for her. She looks up her eyes full of hope, and even with the cloud of fear there is a hint of a smile. “Maybe, it won’t be so bad.” Maddie says with a small smile. We all laugh a little as Louis says, “Our flight leaves in two and a half hours. We’re going to leave for the private airport in about 45 minutes. Since we are mostly packed from yesterday, I’m going to go help you pack the rest. Okay?” Louis stands up walking towards Maddie and taking her delicate hands in his and gilding her to her room. The rest of us went to our rooms to complete the job of packing everything up.
Maddie’s POV:
America. Disney World. These dads really don’t understand the meaning of taking things slow for my sake. There is so much change. So fast. I can hardly keep up, I want everything to pause every once and a while. But they don’t get it. No matter how many times I say take it easy on me, they think I’m ready to jump into all of this unknown territory. I place the last of my folded clothes into my suitcase, Louis sitting on the bed right next to my suitcase. “Maddie, whats on your mind? You’ve been zoned out for the past twenty minutes since you found out we’re going to Disney World. Your under a lot of stress right now, and the only way to make it better is to talk about it. Please tell me what your thinking?” Well its not like I have a choice. And I certainly have nothing else to lose. I have nothing left. I let my body fall next to Louis, his presence towering over mine. “I’m just- I’m- I am so tired of all of this. I thought this place was going to better, I thought my dad wouldn’t find me. That maybe, just maybe I would get my dream. But no, he comes back and brings those videos with him to ruin everything. He breaks in and wants to take me back. He wants to kill me. And I’m scared. I’m really scared that this time he will actually do it, he will actually kill me. But I’m tired of being scared. I’m tired of being tired. It sounds crazy, I know, but to me its not crazy. He has tried to ruin every last bit of my life that has potential to be good. And I’m sick of it!” My body shaking, no tears, just anger. My hand is no longer in my lap, but between Louis’ hand as he rubs his thumb over the top of my skin. His arm around my shoulders his chin resting on the top of my head. “Oh baby girl...” Louis sigh while kissing the top of my head. “I know your tired, and wish that I would take all of this off of you. I would do anything to make all of this maddness better. But this time, your going to get the happy ending. Your dad is not going to take you away from me, he can’t have you. And once this is all over, you we are going to be that family you’ve always wanted. I promise. But for now, you have to let us take care of you baby, you have to trust us to keep you as far from him as possible. I don’t want you to be scared anymore, I want you to have faith in the fact hat everything is going to be okay.” I let myself believe every word, I let myself sink into the idea of a normal life. For once, I’ll let myself be foolish and have faith. I nod into Louis’ chest in understanding. “I love you Daddy” I whisper into his shirt. With that both of Louis’s arms are wrapped around my small figure, “I love you more baby girl.” He says in my hair. “Thats not possible.” I say with a small laugh soon joined in by Louis as we pulls us both down on the bed tickling my sides. I can’t help it, my laugh fills the room as Louis continues to tickle me. Within second four sets of footsteps are in the doorway watching my squealing and wiggling body. They let the laughter go on for a few more minutes until Zayn intervenes still laughing, “I hate to break up this up, but we don’t want to miss the flight, sooo...” “Yeah yeah, we’re coming.” Louis says picking my body up and setting me up right.
Once at the private airport. we load into the plane. The nicest thing I have ever been in might I add. A ten seat private jet topped off with all the luxuries. Things like this I could never get use to. I take my seat with Zayn next to me and Niall and Harry facing our seats on the other side. The pilots came over to the cabin area to introduce himself. “Hi, my name is jim and your co pilots is Ryan and we’re going to be taking you to the Orlando private airport. We are expecting to have clear weather the whole way, it should probably take about seven and a half hours. So let us know if you need anything, and sit back relax and enjoy.” Liam thanked him and that was that. It was time for take off and I was doing everything I could not to freak out. I have never been in a plane before, and honestly I don’t like the idea of being up in the air. They know I hate this, it would be hard not to be able to sense it. “Maddie?” Zayn asks from next to me. “Hmmm?” He hands me a bottle of water and two pills. My eyes immediately widen at the sight of the pills, from my past experience of pills, they never are healthy. My old guardians use to give them to be to make me black out, or to do worse. They really did like to drug me. Zayn sees the worry on my face and then within seconds understands why. “No no no, these are just sleeping pills, its just going to help you fall asleep. If you can sleep for most of the plane ride you won’t be so jet lagged when we get to Florida. They wouldn’t hurt you, I promise.” He says my attention focused on the pills in the palm of my hand, and all the memories pills in the same shape as this have occurred. Sleep is a bad thing for me, it never serves me well, so why take something that will make me sleep? “Sweet heart, We wouldn’t give it to you if it wasn’t safe.” Harry says from across from me. Again, its not like I have a choice to take it or not. I go head and chug down the pills trying to forget I put two random pills in my system. “Good girl” Zayn says as he buckles my seatbelt before sitting down himself. As soon as the plane starts to move I get fidgety, my breaths begin to be choppy. The nerves kick in, and there is nothing I can do to calm down. “Maddie baby, its going to be okay. The pilots have done this a thousand times, everything will be fine, just calm down for me. Come here, give me your hand, deep breaths,” Zayn takes my shaking hand and pulls my under his arm. “Just close your eyes and it will be over before you know it." I feel the nose of the plane go up and its such a weird feeling, so much uncertainty. “I don’t like this” I whisper looking up at Zayn tear brimming my eyes. His eyes double in size at my reaction to take off. Niall and Harry’s eyes snap up from their phones as soon as the my first pitiful cry unwillingly escapes. “Hey hey hey, its okay babe, we’re almost up fifteen thousand feet then it won’t be so bad.” Fifteen thousand feet?! Thats how high up we are? “What? Fifteen thousand feet?!” My distressed voice chokes out as the first tear rolls down my cheek. “Yes but, its not so bad. I promise everything will be just fine love. Just close your eyes and breathe, trust me everything is going to be just fine. You’ll be asleep in no time.” Nothing Zayn is saying brings me any comfort, it all freaks me out. But I do has he says and close my eyes and breath. They must be losing their touch with words, on any other occasion, he could cast me in a trance by the beauty of his words. I think it would be far to say, times as these change one. I know full well they have changed me in the past. Yet in this moment, I am snapped back down to earth, as the plane ascends upward. I do my best, and within minutes the plane is even and steady.
A sigh of relief escapes, yet inside I have a huff of worry, for we are still high up and the rest of the flight is uncertain. Zayn unbuckles his seat belt, gets up, and leans over to me pushing buttons on the arm of my chair. Suddenly, my chair begins to move and my head snaps up in confusion. “Don’t worry.” Zayn whispers as my chair has reformed to a bed. Zayn walks to the back of the plane fetching a pillow and blanket and returns to my seat. Once I am settled, it hits me that the medicine is making me rather tired. I can’t say I am not grateful for the forceful sleep, I haven’t had this much appreciated and peaceful sleep in one had one day since I can remember. Zayn pulls the blanket higher to my chin, placing a kiss on my forehead. “Sleep tight love, we’ll be in America before you know it.” I nod and allow my eyes to slip close.
You are going to die. I am going to kill you.
Run. Go on. Run as far and as fast as you can.
I will find you. And when I do, you will pray to die.
I have hurt you before, but I will hurt you in ways you didn’t even know possible.
As a matter of fact, I don’t have to kill you.
This plane will do that for me.
You are trapped in this massive grave.
You will choke, suffocate, loss oxygen, and nothing will be able to save you.
I know you hate that, don’t you?
Being trapped in a small area, you get claustrophobic.
This plane will crash, I will be sure of it.
Just wait... Just wait...
Harry’s POV:
So planes aren’t Maddie’s favorite. I could have guessed that. Thank God for sleeping pills, and even more so, thank God for allowing her sleep. I never quite understand how she manages to stay awake throughout the day with such little sleep. I would be miserable. But Maddie is strong, the strongest. That little girl could make it through just about anything. She certainly has proved herself to be my little warrior.
The plane ride seems to be going rather smoothly, Maddie didn’t freak out too bad. I should think a plane ride would be of the most shock to her especially, since she knows so little and so horrid. Maddie is passed out, and rightfully so. Us lads are simply listening to music. I like plane rides, its a chance for solitude. We never really have time for ourselves, it not so bad, but every once and and a while I need to be alone. Looking out the window I am in my own world. The stillness of the clouds calm me. Calm me so much so, I begin to doze off. But not before checking on Maddie. Moments ago, she looked so calm. Now, I can tell she’s in the middle of a nightmare. I force my eyes to remain open for her sake, to be there when she wakes up. I rip out my earbuds and wait, wait for her to awaken. Her eyes squeeze further shut, eyebrows so tightly knitted in pain, her mouth in a straight line, sadly I know this is her normal nightmare face. Her body starts squirming, small protests leaving her lips, her legs kick the air in desperation. Like lighting, I jump up from my chair and lean over Maddie’s shaking body. She begins to push against the arm chair as if trying to expand them. Her chest moves up and down so deeply and quickly, an indication her breath is no longer in her control. I place one hand on her cheek, pale as a sheet with her forehead covered with beads of sweat. “Maddie...?” I whisper hoping she will hear and the nightmare will end for her. This only makes her squirm more, whatever she’s dreaming about hasn’t reached the worst yet. I can only imagine what she’ll be like when she wakes. Her arms thrash around in a wild manner, her body moving in every direction. “No! No! Stop!!!- You can’t take me away! You- you can’t kill me! Please!” Her screams get louder and louder and I must hush her in her sleep to keep from awakening the rest of the boys. “Maddie, come on baby, wake up. Wake up sweetheart.” I say grabbing her arms from thrashing around and hold her hands tight in mine. Her screams cease, and her eyes pop open in shock as her huffs brings her left with nothing. “Harry?” She croaks out. “Yes baby, its me, it was just a dream, thats all. Just a dream love.” I coo as I push the hair out of her beautiful face. “Harry, the plane, he- he is going to crash it. I’m going to choke, I’m going to die. I-I-I...” I interrupt knowing very well none of this will do her any good. “Hey hey hey, he can’t do anything to the plane. Your going to be just fine, your not going to die. I will not let him get to you, he is not going to hurt you. Calm down Maddie, just breath.” She throws herself in my arms, her arms wrapped so tightly around my neck I almost lose my balance. Placing one hand on her back and pick her up and bring her to my seat, holding her tightly in my lap. I just let her cry in my chest, until her eyes have no more tears to spare. “Your okay baby girl, I’ve got you. Go back to sleep my love, I’ll make sure nothing will happen to you.” I say bringing my blanket from behind me and wrapping it around her small body assuring she’s comfortable. “Daddy?” She says turning to look up with her big doe eyes. “Yes sweet thing?” I say pushing back the stray hairs in eyes. “I don’t think I can sleep, I-I’m too scared.” She pleads with her eyes for mercy from her nightmares. “Here,” I say handing her an ear bud, “Listen to this, you don’t have to sleep, just relax.” As the music starts to play she settles into my arms. Looking out the window at the clouds, a sight she has never seen before, one I am quite grateful to witness.
I wake up to Maddie playing with my fingers, softly humming to the song currently playing in her ear. “Sleep well?” Her little voice says looking up in my eyes. I give a slight laugh at her manners, so polite she is. “Yes, I did. Thank you Madds.” I say kissing her forehead. “What about you, did you fall back asleep?” My voice sounds hopeful knowing jet lag is a whole other story, something that is going to hit Maddie, hard. She shakes her head, her eyes glossy with exhaustion. I sigh and leave that alone knowing there is no way she’ll sleep now. “How much longer until we land?” Maddie asks as Niall wakes up next us. “Only three more hours and we’ll be there.” I say checking my phone for the time. Three more hours in the plane does not bring Madison any comfort, naturally it should not, but the poor thing can’t stand it in here.
Its not long before the rest of the lads wake up, and they try to get some food in Madison. I know it sounds very persistent, but it simply is not healthy for her to go on with little sleep and little food. Its not healthy for anyone for that matter. If we can somewhat make her habits more healthy, then we can’t be to blame for continuing to try. In the end we got her to keep down some fruit and toast, a start I guess. For the remainder of the ride, I leave her to relax by herself. She just listens to my music and writes in her journal. When we see her writing in that journal, none of us dare to intervene with her.
Needless to say, when we land Maddie is more than eager to off the plane. The weather just right, hot and sunny, yet not unbearable. We load into the SUVs waiting for us, we had to bring Paul and other members of our security team for this trip. We make our way over to the Grand Floridian hotel, a Disney establishment. We figured this would be perfect, its not where he would suspect to find us, if he arrives. Its also only a a monorail ride from Magic Kingdom, we want this trip for Maddie to be nothing but the best. When we step in the hotel, Maddie is a little overwhelmed, it is quite a grand place. But for once, he excitement is evident.
We take her down to Downtown Disney for dinner, her first taste of Disney. She must have never imagined something so cool in her life. After all, we doesn’t know about much yet. We eat at the House of Blues and then see Cirque du Soleil, Madison was in complete awe throughout the whole show. Her reactions to everything so priceless, and this was only a taste. Tomorrow was going to be straight out of a movie, and I can’t wait to experience every moment of it with my daughter. We have so many surprises in store for her, being in a boy bad certainly has its advantages. Paul has done everything he can to pull some strings to make this the best trip of her life. And the safest, might I add.
“Almost Madds, time for bed my love. Or else you will be too tired for any fun tomorrow.” Niall says as we walk through the door of our hotel room. I can tell she’s just about to bounce off the walls, jet lag not on her side. She’s about to protest but I speak up, “No no no, you’ve got to get some sleep. You may be wide awake now, but tomorrow you will falling asleep before you have the chance to do anything fun if you don’t sleep now. Liam goes to kitchen to get her some tea and pills to help her sleep. After we get the pills down Maddie, its only takes about fifteen minutes until she can hardly stay awake. “Come on babe, lets get you to bed.” Liam says picking up her tired body and taking her to their room. We all part to our rooms on that note, resting for the big day we have ahead of us.
Maddie’s POV:
Last night I couldn’t help but to wake a few times from my nightmares. Luckily, Liam was there with me to be there for me. Once I finally woke up in the morning, my eyes were almost in pain from my lack of sleep. I wouldn’t dare let Liam know that, he might not let me go to the parks today. I can’t help but be the least bit excited about the parks. I’m at war with myself about it, half of me knows I am buying into something that will easily let me down. I am not suppose to let myself fall for appearance. Yet how can I not help myself? It all sounds so amazing, and they make it seem as if its all in my reach. Never the less, I must be careful, and I will. Its a promise I must make to myself. “Maddie?” Liam summons me, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Yes?” I ask getting up from the bed and opening my suitcase. “You okay? You didn’t much sleep last night.” He asks trying to hint that it would be best to rest more. “I’m fine, I feel just fine.” I say making my way over to the door to be met by the rest of the boys. “Maddie if you don’t feel well we can wait a bit to go to the parks. Theres no rush.” Louis says but I will hear none of it. If I fall into this idea of a happy ending, then I’m going to go to this park. I feel fine, absolutely fine. “No, please I’m fine. I feel fine. Can we please go?” They do that weird thing were they all seem to be in sync and consult each other with their eyes. Its quite annoying actually, its not like I can tell they’re there. But I let silently discuss, finally a nod comes out of Liam, and we are free to go. “Alright,” Zayn says going to my suitcase knowing that I would have no clue as to what to wear to a theme park. “Wear this and we’ll order breakfast before we leave.” He says handing me my clothes and I was left to get ready for the day.
Finally, the gates of Magic Kingdom are about to be opened, and I have never seen anything like this! Its huge, and the music playing everywhere. Everyone seems so excited, I join them in that excitement. Zayn and Niall hold my hand tight as the crowd increases and all the rest of them can do is take so many pictures my cheeks already hurt. “So the strategy is to go to the most popular rides first before all the people get here and the lines get crazy long.” Liam tells the lot of us. “So what are the most popular rides?” I ask looking up knowing we only have minutes before the gates open, and I am too excited to wait. “There is a new part of the park, and the Ariel ride called Under the sea is always busy.” My eyes lit up and my smile formed on my face before I had any clue. They just smile down at me and in that moment the gate open and we are off. Everything around me seems so perfect, so warm, it can’t be a real place I’m in. But this is real, the Cinderella caste is right in front of me and I can hardly believe it. We get to the Under the Sea ride and there is no wait at all yet, we hope right on the ride. Niall gets in the sea shell buggy with me and ride begins. Its nothing crazy like a roller coster, its like a story. Its all so beautiful, I never knew things like this existed. Niall let me borrow his camera and I take as many pictures as possible. Wanting to remember my first ride and this moment for as long as I can. I never want this ride to end, but sadly it has too. The best part is, there is so much more ahead.
From there we walk around whats called Fantasy Land and all I can do is look in awe. We go on the dumbo ride, the carrousel, the Winnie the Pooh ride, and some others in Fantasy Land. We were about to leave to explore another land of the park, but the boys said they had a surprise for me. We started walking some where close to the Under the Sea ride so I guessed it had something to do with the Little Mermaid but I had no idea what they had in store. There was a huge line but the boys went through this roped off entrance and in no time, I am standing in front of Ariel. Ariel. I can hardly believe it, I look up the at my dads in disbelief. “Go on, she won’t bite” Harry says giving me a push over to her. I walk over to her, I can hardly believe this is happening. Of course I know mermaids aren’t real. I am not a complete idiot. But I believe in symbolism, and the power of symbolism. Ariel is not real, I know this full well, but the power of characters are. So before I go any further, I shan’t be judge for being ignorant. My conversation with Ariel was surreal, something I could hardly believe would happen to someone like me. I got my picture with her and everything. Naturally, Louis recorded the whole encounter and there were so many pictures taken I simply stopped looking at the cameras. I thanked Ariel and we were off. As soon as we got outside I hug my dad endlessly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” My voice as happy as I’ve heard it in years. “Babe theres no need to say thank you, we would do anything for you.” Zayn says picking me up and putting me on his hip as we begin to walk. I must say, my feet hurt so bad I’m thankful to not have to walk at the moment. I look up at Zayn so eager to talk about the event that just happened. “Did you see hear her? She said I was beautiful and so was my hair. Of course it wasn’t pretty like her’s, but still.” He laughs and looks back down at me. “Of course she thought you’re beautiful, anyone would. You are gorgeous my darling.” My cheeks start to turn red from such a complement. I must attempt, and this shouldn’t come as a shock, but I’m certainly not use to complements. It feels- it feels nice to be lifted up for once.
We went all around the park, had lunch at Belle’s Be Our Guest restaurant, we even saw the parade. After countless rides and meeting countless characters, the boys said they had yet another surprise for me. They took me inside the one and only Cinderella castle and who would have thought there was something so crazy as to whats inside of the castle. My dads had gotten me an appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, a place where they makeovers like princesses if you will. Sure, I am a bit too old for some of this stuff. But I’m okay with that, I have never experienced anything of this sort. And if I come across younger an I am, that is simply due to the fact I know nothing else. So I will enjoy being the little girl I never got to be. And I am so thankful my dads are giving me that second chance. They seat me and prepare me for my princess makeover. My dads really would do anything for me. After about thirty minutes, I am a complete princess. Topped off with a Cinderella dress and some magic pixie dust. I am loving my dress up time and I refuse to have it spoiled. Its no shocker to me when my dads gush over my makeover and make me take picture after picture with them, saying endlessly how beautiful I look. I let them have their fun, because I am having just as much fun. Harry and Liam grab my hand and we make our way out of the boutique. Harry squeezes my hand saying, “We have a bit of time before our dinner reservations, so we’re going to go to the gift store because there is no way I’m letting you leave her without some new stuff.” He says with a smirk knowing I will refuse to anything they will try to buy for me. I was about to protest but Louis beat me to it. “Nope, I will hear none of the excuse your about to make up. We are getting you whatever you want, and there is no getting out of it.” I smile to myself and let them have their fun. We head over to Main Street USA to the Emporium, the biggest gift shop in the park, and they make me stock up. They end up getting me loads of stuffed animals, considering I’m too old for toys and dress up and that basically overs the merchandise. I can’t help but be excited to have some new stuffed animals. I loved my old teddy bear, he was like a friend to me, then my dad got a hold of him. From then on, it was like I was left with no one.
Finally my dads said it was time for our dinner reservations, and they lead me back to the Cinderella castle. “Where are we eating?” I ask Liam who is right next to me, he’s smile confirms this is yet another surprise and simply says, “You’ll see.” It turns out our reservations where at Cinderella’s Royal Table, a character meet and greet dinner. All the princess were in the room, and I got to meet them all. We had such a lovely time, the whole day was simply perfect. I have never laughed and smiled so much in one day and its all thanks to my dads. As soon as dinner ends we rush over to the front of the castle for the firework show. Louis holds me up on his shoulders so I can see well. I flinched quite a bit at all the loud sounds of the fireworks, but it was still such a beautiful sight. I think my dads looked at me more than the fireworks, but then again, they have been doing that all day. Once the firework show ends, we head back to our hotel, which thankfully is only a monorail ride away. I couldn’t help but fall asleep as Harry carried me to bed. As he tucked me in, the rest of them showed up to give me a kiss goodnight. “Thank you for everything, I honestly have never had a better day. Thank you- thank you for me a second chance.” I say the last part quieter then I meant. “What do you mean a second chance?” Harry asks as he gets in the bed next to me. Its his turn to sleep in here with me tonight. I respond shyly yet I do respond, “A second chance to be a little girl.” Their eyes melt and they all give me a kiss goodnight. “You know what we get to do tomorrow?” Zayn asks while bringing me my new stuffed animals. “What?” I ask. “We’re going to Animal Kingdom...” He replies. I can’t wait for another day just like this one. They all give me a kiss goodnight and head over to their rooms.
“Maddie, you know how we love you right?” Harry asks me and I nod in response. “Well hopefully today gave you a better taste of just how much we love you.” I smiled up at him and let myself snuggle into his chest. “I love you too” I whisper as my eyes start to shut. Just as I was on the edge of sleep, Harry’s phone went off signaling he had a text. “Sorry love.” He says grabbing it off the nightstand to turn it off. He checks the message to see who could have texted so late at night. Naturally I looked as well, for the screen was just in front of my face. When I read it I almost wanted to fall off the bed. It was him. And it was just the text that I was so scared he would send.
She’s mine now. You can only fool her for so long. I know where you are, and I will find you. Say goodbye to your little princess.
The text. The words I never wanted to hear. He knows where I am. He will come and finf me. Come and kill me.
Its over. Theres no going back.