Crossroads-Book 1

•Chapter 2•

°Maddie°

"It's mine!" Louie, my younger brother, yelled as he held on firmly to a bowl of cereal.

He was struggling for it with his brother and I didn't get why he couldn't just make another one.
I was standing behind them, my attention on my phone. I didn't see the danger coming.

"Just let go Mike!" Louie said as he pulled harder.

I was a bit late to school, and I was waiting for mom to get downstairs so she could drive me there.

My brothers were still fighting when I turned to tell them to quit it.

The moment I did, Mike let go of the bowl.
Louie didn't see that coming.
The bowl went behind him, the contents spilling all over me.

"Louie!!!" I yelled, wiping milk out of my eyes.

"Sorry. It wasn't my fault," he said, retreating.

Mom came down at that moment. "Maddie are you-what happened?!"

"Louie and Mike were fighting for cereal and they let go and it spilled all over me!" I cried.

"Oh God! You were already late. Now you have to go and shower and change. Go on, hurry," my mom said to me as I ran to my room to shower and get dressed again.

In a few minutes, I hastily put clothes on and sped down the stairs.
I met mum in the car outside waiting for me.
I slid into the passenger seat.

"I'm so sorry Maddie. I know it's already stressful enough for you," she said, "I punished the boys. They can be very difficult sometimes."

"Every time you mean," I replied and she smiled.
I sighed in reply.

She started the car and drove off.
I looked out the window. I had to be positive today.
Changing was something big for me. It was difficult. It was hard to just switch from something that you're used to and adapt to something new and strange.

I know it's like that for everyone but for me it was harder. I was an emotional person and it's hard for me to let go.
Still, I was growing up and I needed to learn how to accept and adapt to change.

I needed to put a smile on my face and try not to think of anything negative, like how I was already late to school.

"Maddie we're here." I didn't see any car in the parking lot and there was no one around.

"Thanks mom."
I hopped out of the car and pulled my backpack from the car seat.

"You're welcome, sweetie. Have a nice day,"
I plastered a fake smile on my face.

"I will."

***

A few hours after the last class of the day, I found myself in front of the school.
I was so engrossed with the pretty flowers that were placed neatly in a tall, cream coloured, ceramic vase near the building's entrance. The music that hummed from my earphones distracted me the more and I didn't see when a tall, pale girl walked towards my direction.

I chose to turn around at the wrong moment and she accidentally bumped into me. She almost fell but I caught her before she did.

"Sorry."

When she looked up at me, I almost gasped.
Her face was ladden with dark make up. She had several piercings and thick, long hair that was startlingly ebony black.

"Watch where you're going!" she said to me as I pulled her up.
"Sorry," I repeated, looking away and shifting my glance to the flowers.

I expected her to leave but she still stood there. I turned, surprised to see her looking at the flowers.

"These are my favourites," she said to me.

"Really? You like flowers?" She didn't strike me as one who would.

"Yes. Why is that surprising?"

"What? Oh, no it's not. It's cool," I said. "Flowers are beautiful. One of the many beauties of nature."

"I just think that the fact that the way they sprout out of the buds remind me of the way souls are finally free of the prison of the mortal body."
I stared at her blankly.

She smiled at me. "I'm Lucy."

"Maddie," I said, "nice to meet you."

"Same," she said and walked off.
I stared at her for a moment and then stared back at the flowers.

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Ooooooh, spooky...

Do ya like Lucy or not?
Personally, I kinda do.
Whatdya think?

Thanks for reading!

~Ash.