Fog Lines

Chapter 7: Mia.

I shuffle off of the bed and plop onto the ground. Maddi shuffles some random objects into one of her desk drawers and moves the chair back in front of the desk.

"What'cha doin'?" I ask, while I watch her open another drawer.

She closes the drawer and answers, "Just making sure I grabbed everything. I don't want to leave any of my medicine behind."

I nod and say, "Yeah, that wouldn't be good if you lost them."

"Dr. Suzanne would be pissed," She says quietly then asks, "So, do you want the bed or the floor?"

Well the bed would be nice, but I am a guest. "I'll sleep on the floor."

She nods her head and grabs a pile of clothes off of the bed. "You can go change first. You remember where the bathroom is right?"

"Down the hall, third door on the right," I relay to her.

I stand up and grab my clothes out of my bag and head out the door. I shuffle down the hall and open the bathroom door. I take note of how the dark brown door to the bathroom contrast the warm beige color of the hallway as I open the door. The bathroom interior matches the door, with everything being shades of dark brown. I quickly change into pajama pants and an old blue t-shirt. I pull my hair into a high ponytail and exit the bathroom. As I walk back to the bedroom, I stop in front of the stairs. I can hear two voices talking in the living room.

"I still can't understand why you believe her stupid story," a voice says in disbelief. It's Jay. Of course it's jay

A second voice barks back, "I still can't understand why you hate her so much. You've seen the wounds! That thing could've killed her!" And that's Jack.

I hear Jay scoff and say, "I don't hate her, I just hate how she's treated differently than me."

"Differently? You mean worse?" Jack corrects, his voice dripping with anger.

"Worse? She's treated better than me!" Jay exclaims. He really doesn't pay any attention to how she's treated, does he? She's constantly berated and yelled at by their mother, and he really doesn't notice?

Before the argument can get any bigger, Mrs. Keller appears beside me and strides down the stairs. As she goes down she says, "Now you two stop this arguing. You'll be spending the next week together, so I expect you two to play nice."

"I don't want to go any more," Jay says, sounding like a five year old.

"I'm sorry hun, but you can't stay here, I'm going to bee gone all week and her Father won't be back until next month. I don't want you to be alone during that time," She explains.

Sounding even more bratty, Jay asks, "But why do I have to go with them! Can't I go to Grandpa's or something."

I hear Mrs. Keller sigh and give in, "Fine, if you absolutely don't want to go with them, you can call you grandfather in the morning to see if he'll take you. But I don't want to hear you complain that you're bored, or that you ran out of money, okay?"

"Okay," Jay says, sounding relieved.

"Does that mean Madd can't come?" Jack asks.

"I don't care if she goes," Mrs. keller says with disgust.

"Kay."

I hear Mrs. Keller stomp towards the stairs. I turn and quickly head back to Maddi's room. I open her door and slide in. She had changed into a black tank top and grey shorts. She shuffles over to the bed and pulls off the blankets.

"Jay's not going," I tell her.

"Mhm, I heard."

"Are you still going to go?"

She pulls the rest of the blanket off and answers, "Yeah. I don't want to stay here any longer. Especially not with Jay."

"What are you doing?"

"You're gonna sleep on the bed." She throws the blankets onto the carpet.

I look at her in confusion and ask, "Why? You're the one who will be leaving in the morning, I'll be going home."

"You should get some sleep on something at least slightly comfortable, you won't be home for very long either, and.... I don't think I'll be sleeping much tonight."

I sigh and tell her, "Maddi. You have to sleep."

She waves her hand and says, "Naw, I'll be okay."

"Maddi."

"Naw, naw, just go to sleep."

I sigh quietly and grab my blankets off of the floor. I put my blankets on the bed and crawl under them. Maddi clicks the lights off and the room goes completely black. I adjust my blankets and settle in, rolling to face the wall. I hear Maddi shuffle around the room and move somethings. After another minute of her shuffling everything goes quiet. I open my eyes to see a small light flicker against the wall. I roll over in the small bed. Maddi laid beside the bed on the floor facing away from me, her blankets sat folded beside her. She is holding her phone in front of her, tapping away at the small screen. What is she doing? I lift my head up slightly and look at her screen. She's texting Jack. Of course.

"Maddi? What are you doing?"

"Jack wants to leave early, but I don't want to leave you alone."

I yawn and say, "You should go. It'd be best to leave before your mom changes her mind about Jay."

She rolls onto her back and asks, "But what if that thing comes back? I don't want to leave you with it."

"I have a feeling we won't be seeing it anytime soon, so you should go."

"That's totally not... whatever. Are you sure? I don't think it makes much sense to leave so early, neither of us have gotten much sleep."

"Just go. I'll tell my mom to pick me up early. You and Jack could use some down time."

"Are you sure?"

"Just go."