I'm On My Way

Chapter 20

She couldn't go to the Dark room. That was the first place they'd look. Plus, she needed to be outside again. It was odd how, suddenly, the cool fresh air could calm her down.

All these thoughts and more rushed through Maddy's mind as she sped away from the threatening body of the school, slipped though the fence, and emerged in the company of trees.

The ground was soft under her feet, and she liked the feel of her legs as they pounded against the ground; the slight brush of leaves and twigs on her tear ridden face as she breezed past.

Slowing to a trot, Maddy studied her surroundings before settling on a fallen branch. Short, shaky breaths escaped her lips. Tears trickled down her cheeks, flushed from the escape. Staring at her swinging feet, she could see the heave of her chest as it rose up and down. She willed it to stop.

Maddy reviewed the past few events, and she hated herself for the state she was in. She could feel the knot of worry in her chest grow; her face scrunched up as the tears returned.

She let them fall this time, as strangled sobs fell from her mouth. She kept shaking her head, which was aching from her confusion. "Maddy?!" She looked up to see Rhydian's tall figure breaking through the trees as her approached. The tears blurred her vision, but her arms tingled as her pulled her into a tight embrace. The next stage of breaking down arrived as he rubbed calming circles on her back: her breathing was rapid, no matter how hard she tried, and she started choking and coughing as he wiped the tears gently from her thoughts. "I'm so sorry." He whispered once she had tamed her heart more. He felt her nod against his chest. He didn't make excuses; he just kept stroking her hair until they broke away. "So, how WAS the wild?" He attempted to strike a different conversation. She raised her eyebrows at the sudden question slightly, and Rhydian shrugged and grinned. "I realised that I hadn't actually asked." He explained. "I don't know, hard? I guess it was. And lonely. Different, as well. Larger pack, and I wasn't really in charge. Not that I had the strength to be, anyway. And tiring. So tiring. I would always wake up aching, for no reason. I always slept fine…"

She drifted away from her rambling, and he watched as her eyes settled on their surroundings. He took her hand and laced his fingers with hers, drawing her back to him. "Well, whatever happened, you've changed." "How?" She frowned. "You always were so self assured, you'd always know what to do. You could say bossy-"

"Hey!" "Okay, okay, but you know. And now you seem to be relying on us a lot. Quiet. Not like the old Maddy at all."

She bit her lip as she pondered his words. "Perhaps it was because I was the one being bossed about." She paused, and thought for a few more seconds. "I lost the will to live, in those two years, Rhydian. That's probably what gave me that bite. I guess I'm still trying to get it back."

Rhydian couldn't think of anything to say to that, so he just squeezed her hand as the rustles of the forest filled the silence. "Then again, you've also become much more romantic. Which is a good thing." A slow smile spread across her face as she looked up at him.

"That's good to know!" "Thought I'd reassure you of your brilliance" a spurt of laughter drifted through the trees as they shared their mild joke.

I think this chapter is kinda a filler but I realized that Maddy had changed and I needed to clarify that somewhere to explain my poor representation of the old Maddy:) x