Psycho Killer's Game ✓ Book I

[05] lost

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MADDIE ALBAH
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LOST

IT'S BEEN fifteen minutes and Maddie was still trying to find her dad or her mum and grandmother — whoever she found first — but with so many people around, it made it hard to distinguish individual faces. Her cognac brown eyes raced over hundreds of faces just to find three familiar ones, the 4c hair patterned hair and dark skin that belonged to her father; the straight auburn hair and pale skin that her mother has; and the short blonde hair and tanner skin than Vickie, who was her grandmother. Alas, she came to many dead ends and with large doses of fear and worry entering her veins, she became desperate to find them but completely forgot what they were wearing during the rush of it all.

A few times she thought she found her mother holding Honey in her arms, but when she had gotten a little closer she soon realised they were random people just trying to enjoy their time. And one of those times, Maddie had gotten a bit too over her head and thought she had found her mum, a rush of elation washing over her as she ran up and had given her a hug. What made it worse, though, the lady she had hugged wasn't her mother, but instead a confused twenty-something-year-old looking down at her. Maddie had apologised, placing her hands together in sincerity before racing off into the crowd. Her neck was so hot with embarrassment she was sure her cheeks were as red as a tomato as they slowly began to flame.

Eventually, she stopped and closed her eyes for a few seconds and tried to calm her racing thoughts and heart, the sound of her erratic beating heart could easily be heard in her ears, as the rush of blood ran past so quickly. Her mind kept telling her she was lost and that she'll never find her parents, but she kept screaming from within a dark corner that she'll find them eventually. They couldn't have gone far, they had to be somewhere. Maybe she should retrace her steps? However, she couldn't remember what steps she had even taken to begin with.

Slowly opening her eyes, she looked around her surroundings one more time just to understand where she was — but she didn't know where the heck she was. Soon trailing her eyes upwards, she glanced at the ferris wheel to her left. Last thing she remembered when she was with her dad, it was to her right.

The corners of her lips pulled up into a small, hopeful smile as she bolted in the direction of the ferris wheel, pushing through crowds and bumping into cranky adults, who seemed more tired than enjoying themselves on the rides. She kept pushing her thin legs as fast as she could toward the other side of the ferris wheel. Until she was near the long line of couples, friends and children with their parents. She squeezed herself through the line of people and got to the other side, almost tripping over her own two feet when she was finally free.

She stood up straight, getting onto her tippy toes to see over people's heads, but being 5'5 didn't help when most of the people were at least a foot taller. Scanning the area, she found the place selling the corn dogs and decided to check there again, and see if her dad was there looking for her.

Searching the locality around the place selling the corn dogs, she didn't see anyone look similar to her father. Which only made her hope levels drop down to two percent. She was losing ambition to find her parents by the millisecond as she felt a wave of emotions crash into her, making her feel hopeless and lost and terrible that she let this happen. If she just waited for her dad to get the food maybe she wouldn't have lost him, and she'd be on her way to pick up the birthday from The Cheesecake Shop. Or maybe she'd even be home by now eating the cake with her hands instead of a fancy fork her mother shoved into her grasp.

If I was allowed to have a phone, I would have found them by now.

With the backs of her eyes prickling with tears, she decided to just go outside the show grounds to the car, thinking it'll be easier for her parents to find her that way. And when she got outside, the breeze felt a bit fresher compared to inside the grounds, which smelled of different types of BO and fast food options that made her nose hairs curl just a bit. Now it smelled like cold air that sort of made it hurt to breathe through her nose, the inside of her throat becoming chilly with each inhale. She hugged herself to stay warm, the thin t-shirt she was wearing being absolutely no help whatsoever in aiding her with warmth.

She walked out into the parking lot, making sure to look both ways for incoming cars. Trying to remember where exactly her mother had parked. She strided in that particular direction, grazing her red-undertone brown eyes over the parked cars and trying to find a deep grey painted Toyota RAV4. Looking around, walking between many, many cars in search of it until she started to feel an intense dose of unsettling. She looked around faster. And faster. And faster. Until her thighs and calf muscles were burning, and she was nowhere close to being in the section she had remembered her mother parking the car.

She sat down on the sidewalk next to the main parking lot entrance, crossing her legs and crying into her hands. Her shoulders shook with every small sob that escaped her pink lips — lips that were chapped and extremely dry, but when her salty tears fell onto her lips, cold against her warm skin, she instinctively licked them out of habit since she was young. Her tears taste of salt and failure. She didn't know where to go, or what to do. She was lost and not found.

She just wanted to be in bed with Honey as she read her a random book she found on the dresser.

This was officially the worst freaking birthday and it was all her fault she had ruined it.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

What felt like five minutes had past, Maddie sniffled as she wiped her damped eyes before trailing her eyes around the area. She couldn't just sit here all night, it was bound to drop to nineteen degrees and all she was wearing was a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that did nothing to keep her warm. The wind was kissing her caramel brown complexion as goosebumps peppered her skin lightly, soft caresses.

She stood up, looking down both ends of the roads and considering her next move.

ＡＵＴＨＯＲ'Ｓ ＮＯＴＥ

Word Count: 1100+

I apologise for the chapter being short, I was going to make it longer but I felt like it'd be very boring.

But SURPRISE! BECAUSE ITS A DOUBLE UPDATE! AND REECE IS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER, I REPEAT REECE LITTLE IS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!! I really missed him so freaking much, and I can't wait to give him character development throughout all three books. 🤍

— DYLAN.