Never Ending Days

Chapter 6

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Madison walked up the hill that seemed to curve left and right every 3 feet and went on for miles. It was cold- then again it was always cold. She figured it might be be fall, given the colorful leaves scattered over the ground and waiting to be blown off the trees. She continued walking up the hill, which grew only steeper as she went, occasionally looking back to see if anyone was following behind her. Given that if someone were following her, they more than likely would not pose a threat. The wind was got stronger and much colder as she got closer to the top of the cliff. The 8 year old pulled her jacket tighter and lifted her hood over her head, and her scarf to cover her neck. If it weren't for the continuous obstacle course trying to get up the hill, she might have hypothermia.

She walked looking at the ground to protect her face, and once the gravel began to give away slowly to brick surface, she knew she had made it home. Her speed increased greatly once she was not longer climbing the hill, and she raced to the mansion's back hallway. She slowly crept open the backdoor which lead to the washroom and removed her jacket and hung up her scarf. She wasn't sure what her mother was up to, but she made her way inside quietly unsure if she were in the middle of an important phone call or reading a book. Turning the corner in the the large kitchen and living room area, she glanced around to see if her brother or sister were home. Viktoria was napping on one of the tall windows' built in seats- Madison figured she'd watched the sun set and was too lazy to get back up. That set of windows had a beautiful view of the distance- you could see for kilometres and kilometres. The interior of the the entire mansion was large, expensive and held its original medieval style. Madison thought it was the prettiest thing ever- but no one seemed to make a big deal over it. She was never sure why. Her mother was sitting on one of the chairs closets to the fire, on a phone call- It sounded important, she figured, so she tiptoed through the kitchen and the living room with her backpack to the long empty hallways which led to the library.

She felt the library belonged to her, almost. She was the only one who used it, and whenever anyone did use it, it was only to take a book and leave. Madison spent hours in that library, getting cozy on one of the big couches with a blanket. Her mother encouraged her to stay in there- at least she thought. Her mother never encouraged her to do anything, but sometimes when Madison would be in the library for hours at a time, she would bring her something to eat, or on cold late nights, she would bring her a hot chocolate instead of sending her off to bed. Madison always figured it was her telling her not to leave.

She entered the living room area, dragging her backpack behind her. It smelled like baked bread and soup. It was 8pm, and she figured she missed dinner. As if her mother read her mind, she saw Madison and immediately spoke up.

"One moment." She said politely into the phone. "Madison, there's some dinner on the stove if you're hungry."

Madison nodded and continued on to the library. She wasn't really too hungry today. She was just leaving the living room area when she remembered Viktoria was sleeping. She must have some homework, Madison thought to herself. She turned around and tiptoed over to the sleeping girl, trying not to catch her mom's attention. She shook Viktoria's shoulder lightly to wake her.

"Vik, wake up." She whispered. Viktoria stretched and yawned, looking at her reflection in the window and rubbing her eyes.

"What day is it?" She asked frantically.

"Today." Madison said. "You have to work on your homework before bedtime or you won't want to do it anymore."

"I don't have any." She yawned again, getting up to get food from the kitchen. Madison continued on to the library. Her father was traveling- he did that a lot for his position at work. Their family owned their own jet. It was a BeechCraft 1900- a propeller plane-, but Madison, given her age, considered it a jet. She made her way through the shelves and tables, all covered in books, and crashed on her usual couch with a blanket and the textbook she was working on finishing.