Devious Little Liar ↛ PLL [1]

~ twenty-four

( chapter twenty-four;
we're all mAd here )

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"HOW ARE YOU FEELING?" Ezra asked as he stared at the brunette sat infront of him. Ten minutes had passed since Madison had screamed at Caleb. She hadn't really spoken to Ezra due to her crying, but he'd managed to get her to move from the hallway and into his empty classroom.

"Numb, yet hurting. Like I feel everything and nothing all at once." Madison responded, dabbing the tissue in her hand on her fallen tears. She looked into Ezra's eyes, "Something's seriously wrong with me."

He shook his head, "No. Nothing is wrong with you, Madison. You're allowed to be upset sometimes. It doesn't make you some kind of alien."

There was a moment of silence as Madison bowed her head, "I'm not a good person."

Ezra shifted slightly on the student desk chair, narrowing his eyes at her in concern, "What makes you say that?"

"I did something that I'm gonna regret for the rest of my life." She responded, staring at the damp tissue in her hands, "And I can't change it."

Ezra sighed, his eyes remaining on her, "You may not be able to change the past, but you can the future. You decide what gets you down, you decide the direction you want to take in life. What you're feeling right now is temporary, and you can change it."

"God," A tiny chuckle of air brushed past Madison's lips as she raised her head to meet his gaze, "you're getting so much better at this advice thing."

"Does that mean it's working?" He questioned.

"A little." She replied, sniffling, "But I just -- I really want to talk about anything other than my problems right now before my head explodes."

He paused for a moment in thought before nodding once, "Okay."

Ezra pushed himself to his feet and headed towards his desk, where his bag was. Madison watched him curiously, "What are you doing?

"Before your head explodes," He mildly joked, pulling something from the inbetween brown leather. Ezra walked back towards her, holding out a book, "I want you to read this."

The cover was a dark green and had an engraved hat and stopwatch around the box that read Alice in Wonderland. It was definitely one that had no pictures and was in more detail than a kids book would ever contain.

"Alice in Wonderland?" She cocked an eyebrow at him, "You had this in your bag?"

"Have you read it?" Ezra asked, sitting back down with the book still in his hand.