insomnia [✔]

scene. ii

A roar woke Madeleine with a start. She sat up in her bed, her palms sweaty, her breath short and her forehead drenched in sweat. She still thought she saw the eyes of this strange creature, shining in the dark while watching her fiercely. The young woman tried somehow to calm her breathing and looked at the time displayed by her alarm clock. It was barely 4am and a long day awaited him. However, she was far too disturbed to even hope to save a few more hours of sleep. So, she pushed back her sheets with a sigh, revealing her pajamas which consisted of an oversized gray t-shirt and green tartan pants.

"It was only a dream" she thought "there is no need to worry"

She went into her kitchen in her socks, and shuffled on the floor. Madeleine scratched her head, still a little sleepy, and then let out a curse when she noticed that she had forgotten to close the kitchen window the night before. Luckily, the window in question was much too narrow for a person to pass through, but the young woman still blamed herself for this oversight. She let out a big sigh while closing the window properly, this time then began to prepare a cup of coffee. Her phone rang at the same time. It was in her bag, placed in the entrance. Madeleine told herself that she would answer later, but the person insisted. So she reluctantly left what she was doing to take the call.

As soon as she picked up a female voice exploded on the other end of the line. Madeleine had to put the phone away so as not to lose her hearing. Then she asked Samantha, to calm down and repeat what she had just said. The young woman on the other side of the handset therefore made a colossal effort not to fidget anymore, but explained all the same to Madeleine that she had died of worry, having had no news of her since the evening before. Indeed, after being able to climb the palisade as she had asked, at the cost of a sprained ankle, Samantha had gone directly to the vegan café and had waited for her colleague, without success.

"I was even hesitant to retrace my steps, but I knew you wouldn't like it... I didn't know what to do, so I went home. I called the police, and then I waited for a phone call from them. If you knew how guilty I felt! I kept telling myself that it was me who had dragged you into this! I kept telling myself that it was my fault!" cried Samantha.

"Hey! I'm fine. It's over. Do you hear me? I'm fine! I'm safe, Samantha. No need to worry or blame yourself anymore. It's bad luck's fault. what happened. No. It's the fault of those assholes..." replied Madeleine, who frowned at the thought of those guys who had tried to trap them.

"I hear well, but I will take time before recovering from it. But the fact of knowing you safe and sound, reassures me. Sorry again." sighed Samantha, who was sincerly sorry. "But... Now that I think about it, how did you manage to escape them? They were armed!"

Madeleine remained a few minutes thinking. She tried to mentally replay the film of the events, but all that resulted was fragments, somewhat vague memories. She worried about it a little, but hid it from her colleague who was still fragile, and maybe even in post-traumatic stress. The dark-haired young woman waited again before answering, then said that a noise had scared the thugs away. Samantha intrigued, immediately asked her what it was, and Madeleine replied that it was surely a police beacon.

"I was lucky, a whole team was patrolling at the time. It seems like their presence was a deterrent." commented Madeleine, and then she let out a little half-hearted laugh.

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Madeleine didn't know what to say. Her boss, who had been briefed by Samantha, was offering her her day. The young woman did not understand, and was afraid that it was a test. So she insisted for fear of being fired, but her boss, who was actually very sensitive and who, true to his personality, was concerned about the well-being of his employees, assured her that there was no problem. Madeleine was even offered a small box of carrot cupcakes and her colleagues were kind to her. Cherry on the cake, her boss encouraged her to come back only when she felt better, but Madeleine promised to come back the next day.

Coming out of the cafe, Madeleine had mixed feelings. On the one hand she appreciated all these attentions and on the other, she was worried about not remembering what had really happened, a bit like a kind of amnesia. She therefore planned to take the road to her house, and then as she did not have the heart to be left alone, she changed direction and entered a park. The young woman therefore sat down on a bench and began to look at the passers-by. After a few minutes, she decided to open the box and picked up a cupcake. Madeleine bit into it sadly, and the sweetness of the pastry brought her some comfort. So she took a second and was about to take a bite, when a shadow suddenly fell over her. Something was blocking the sunlight and when she looked up, the something turned out to be someone.

It was a young man and Madeleine turned her face away, embarrassed because she must have had crumbs of cake on her face. She was therefore getting rid of it as discreetly as possible, when a light laugh sounded. The young woman therefore looked back at the stranger, who was now biting his lip because he had laughed. Madeleine frowned slightly as she stared at the newcomer, and then realized that he had green hair. Finally, she wondered what the young man wanted and he became shy. He began a sentence, stammering, then explained to Madeleine that he had found her wallet. Thinking it was some crap flirting technique, Madeleine hurriedly checked in her purse and to her surprise, her wallet wasn't there..

"Damn... When did I lose it?" exclaimed Madeleine aloud and then she stared again at the green-haired young man.

"I found it last night. Inside there was a name badge with your name on it with the logo of a café. So I went there this morning thinking that I would have the opportunity to give you your wallet. But, an employee told me that you had only been gone for a few minutes. And now I find you here..." the young man said.

"Anyway, thank you." replied Madeleine and the green-haired young man hurriedly gave her her wallet.

"I guess I owe you restitution, after all the trouble this has caused you?"

"Oh, no! It's not worth it, I'm not doing this. Anyone else would have done the same." protested the young man and put a hand on the back of his neck, blushing.

"Here, have this cupcake. And don't hesitate to stop by for coffee when you have time. I'll give you a friendly price." Declared Madeleine, handing her a carrot cupcake. As the young man hesitated the young woman clarified that they were vegan.

"Thank you..." replied the young man "Um... wouldn't that be some kind of new marketing strategy?"

"What if it was?" Madeleine replied with a teasing little smile.

"If so, it works..." confessed the green-haired young man and Madeleine offered him a second cupcake.