I'm On My Way

Chapter 13

Chairs scraped  reverberantly across the tiled floor as laughter bubbled out of the pack's mouth in a giggling gushing waterfall. The joyous group sat down in the comfy, cracked leather chairs they had always sat in. Bernie's looked comfortably familiar; Bernie's shuffled around, cleaning table tops, the chairs and tables, and the accessories which were scattered around, may as well as been glued to the spot;  nothing had changed, and Maddy liked it like that. It let her forget that she had ever left.
It was the next day, and the pack had decided to go to Bernie's before school started tomorrow. Tom, Shan and Jana sat on one side, with Maddy and Rhydian on the other. They all ordered milkshakes, and whilst they waited, Jana spurted out the story, all the events of the pack during the two years they had been apart. Maddy didn't like telling stories, and she had told Rhydian all she wanted to, so she took the chance to digest the view through the window.
The last few autumn leaves rattled across the cobbled square, a whole choir of yellow, red and orange rustling in the winter gale. The sky was grey, the sun setting. It was four o'clock, and Maddy had spent most of her day redoing her house and room with the help of her friends. The clouds were the thick, dark ones which clogged up the sky; it looked like the November snow would arrive. Winter was sprinting in fast. The trees were bare, the frost becoming more prominent, and the flowers in the Vaughan's garden were the last survivors of the winter flowers Mrs Vaughan had planted.
"And that's when we came back, wasn't it Maddy?" Maddy turned her head back to the group to see four pairs of eyes staring intently at her.
"Yeah" she nodded in agreement. "I just couldn't cope anymore, without you guys." Her voice became filled with emotion. She had the sudden swelling feeling to cry, but she smiled shakily. Rhydian reached over, and squeezed her shaking hand, smiling reassuringly, and Maddy felt strangely comforted; perhaps she just couldn't feel the depression over the thudding of her heart.
"We didn't think much about it." Jana covered. "We just, well, ran." Her deep eyes looked back at Maddy, and Maddy nodded; she would speak again.
"And I'm glad I came back when I did." And she was; any longer, and she would've been swallowed and drowned in her sadness. After that outburst, she knew there was no chance of healing the deep wound without returning. And now she was back, she could feel that all that was left was a scar.
"Not half as glad as I am." Rhydian smiled at his joke, which only the two of them could understand. Maddy rolled her eyes, but squeezed his hand covertly. Rhydian's smile grew.
Shannon, Tom and Jana looked on, grinning at the difference they could see in their friends, knowing not to ask about the line, and instead decided to carry on the conversation. Tom and Shannon had barely spoken, and they thought it time to tell their story.
But before that, Tom couldn't hold back the obligatory joke:
"So, now you've been to Bernie's TWICE, Jana!"
The red headed wolfblood also rolled her eyes, and the group laughed again.
"Hey, maybe you can get awards for recommending to friends!" Shannon teased, and the giggling increased.
"Nah." Said Bernie, overhearing the conversation.
The group looked at each other and laughed again. Maddy was sure she laughed more in those few minutes than she had in two years.
"I've missed this." Said Maddy, looking around at her friends. They all nodded.
"Well, if you're wondering." Tom spoke in his jokey, matter of fact voice as he drew the conversation back on course.
"I didn't really miss you." He bit his lip, fighting back a grin.
"Tom!" Shannon pushed him.
"Ok! Ok!" He threw his arms up in surrender. "I did. It was boring without you." His eye flicked back to serious mode before they glittered again.
"Now, get this she-wolf off me!" He joked, and Shan shook her head in disbelief, laughing.
At that moment, the bell rung in a little sing song tone, and they all stopped and turned towards the door.
"Maddy?"