20. Maddison

Maddison

C lumps of mud fall from my hair as I run my fingers through the matted strands. The shower water is overly hot as it cascades across my skin. But I like the burn. I like how it washes away the cold that chilled my body when I sat out in the rain, wondering if River would find me.

I’ve never felt so helpless in my entire life as when I sat in the woods with hardly any recollection of how I got there.

A lump wells in my throat as tears pool in my eyes. But I suck them back. I’m tougher than this.

I’ve been through worse.

Well, kind of.

To be honest, what happened is definitely on the top of my Shittiest Things That Have Ever Happened to Me List.

I breathe in and out as emotions overwhelm me.

“Stop it,” I whisper as I press my palms against the tile of River’s shower.

I’m frustrated with myself for being this weak. I’m stronger than this.

I dig my knuckles into the tile, scrapping the flesh as I struggle to remain calm. In the end, I lose the battle, and a choking sob escapes my lips. I bite down on my lip, stifling the scream wanting to burst from my mouth.

Eventually, I manage to mentally shove a wave of calmness through me. Although it could very well be a wave of shock. Then I finish washing, climb out of the shower, dry off, and put on River’s shirt that he left me along with a pair of his boxers. I head out to his bedroom, making my way straight for his bed. I want to check in on how things are going with Noah, but my eyelids start to lower the instant my body greets the mattress.

“Maddy?” Lily’s voice drifts through my sleepiness.

River told me before he left that he was having her come over to keep an eye on me, but this is the first time I’ve heard from her. I have been in the shower, though, for a while.

“Yeah?” I mumble as I curl into a ball and reach for the blanket.

“Do you need anything?” Worry is lacing her tone.

I want to reassure her that I’m okay, but all I can manage is a “No thanks” before I get the blankets over my head and plummet into dreamland…

“Maddy!” my aunt’s panicked voice cuts through the air like a razor. “Get out of the road! Run!”

Tires screech. Glass shatters. I’m standing in the road one minute, but the next, I’m lying in gravel, my flesh cut open.

“Maddy, are you okay?” A man says from beside me.

He’s lying in the gravel, too, because he saved me. His voice sounds familiar, but I can’t figure out why.

“Daddy,” I whisper as I reach out blindly against the pool of warm liquid dripping into my eyes.

“Yeah, sweetie, I’m here,” he replies, except that can’t be my father.

He sounds too nice to be him.

“Who are you?” I whisper. “And where’s my aunt Ellie?”

“Maddison! I told you to run!” she shouts with so much fear in her voice.

“I’m sorry, Ellie,” the man replies. “I’m sorry for what I had to do. I’m so sorry, Maddy.” He’s crying.

I want to hug him, but I can’t see through the liquid trickling from my head.

What is it?

I run my fingers across my face.

Blood—

My eyes snap, and I suck in a huge breath as I touch my head. I’m not bleeding, but I can feel a few raised bumps of patchy flesh if I run my fingers along the spot just behind my hairline. I’ve known I had scars there but never knew why. I honestly assumed that I hit my head while riding my bike—I had a habit of crashing. But from what I just remembered, I hit my head on the gravel when a man helped me get out of the way of a car. My aunt was there. So was this strange man that I called my father, but he most definitely wasn’t.

I shake my head in confusion. What the hell is going on?

I need to talk to my aunt, but how the hell am I supposed to find someone who doesn’t want to be found?