𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬

13

The next day, Sunday, was mostly a family day. May, Maddie, and Zach played games and ate food with their mother and nearing the end of the day they were supposed to watch a movie together but Zach said he was tired and would need rest for his practice tomorrow, and Maddie used the same excuse. After their mother allowed the early leave from the living room Maddie made her way to her bedroom and sat on her bed after shutting her door and grabbed her cassett player along with the earbuds. She put one in not wanting to miss if someone, mostly her mother, would walk into her bedroom and laid back clicking play and closed her eyes.

"We're talking about picture in particalr. So yeah we kinda lost track of the plan, but it was so nice having a new friend. It's hard to say excatly how things turned there. Let's just say that night things excalated quickly." Hannahs words were confusing to Maddie, but she figured she would catch on. But before she hit play she quickly closed her blinds, for some reason now, she didn't feel safe in her own room.

"And while Courtney clearly didn't hear my stalker, I did. Thankfully I found a way to kill two birds with one stone. Remember when I said you wouldn't believe the skeletons Tyler found? Turns out they weren't mine. They were Courtneys. I guess we all have secrets, and nobody likes it when their secret gets out." After a few seconds and the sadness behind Hannahs voice Maddie put together that Courtney must have stopped being her friend after the picture spread. Would Courtney have a tape?

"Funny thing is, nobody found out it was us. That whole fall everyone looked at that picture, and I imagine some boys more than once. But no one ever knew who it was. Well now you know. Like I said we are a city of stalkers. We're all guilty." Maddie wasn't sure what the point was of adding this part in was. If nobody knew it was her how could it cause her pain? Then she realized that Hannah probably spent months making sure they didn't know, and blamed her self for the end of hers and Courtneys friendship. Though she figured Hannah was right she didn't like hearing 'we're all guilty.' She didn't want to think she had caused someone their life. And still just hearing this was hurting her. She was spacing out her time as much as she could but she couldn't take it. It had been four days and she had only gotten through four. She knew she could go faster, she just couldn't make herself. She felt like the faster she went, the closer she got to her tape, the faster everything falls down.

"We all look. We all think things we're ashamed of. The only difference is, Tyler, you got caught. Thing is, even though Tyler stopped coming around, I never stopped feeling afraid. So what could I do after that? First the school. Then my house, even my own bedroom. No-where was safe. You took all that away. Parinoid, Tyler, so now I'm giving that to you." Hannahs voice was sharp and seemed to slightly raise in volume and the hate that was instilled into her voice made her chest tighten. Tyler had done a bad thing, and now everyone, who got the tapes, knew. Maddie wasn't sure if the reason Hannah had made the tapes was because she wanted people to know what they did, they didn't want them to do it again, or if it was for some sort of wicked twisted revenge. The thought almost made her cringe as she was so confused and was making her mind clouded with questions she was positive would never be answered.

"Maybe I'll never know why you did what you did, but I can make you understand how it felt to be me. That's why I'm outside your window Tyler." These few sentences were enough for Maddie to once again click the pause button but this time she covered her mouth, she wasn't sure why she had the sudden urge to cry and to close her bedroom curtains, which were already closed, but she was sure that Hannah was hurt and that was enough to make Maddie hurt knowing she had done nothing to help her. She removed her hand from her mouth shaking both of them almost as if shaking her hands and arms would get Hannahs pain out of her mind and she looked behind her as if she felt someone or something behind her though it was nothing that wasn't there the day before.

"After people hear this I bet I won't be the only one. Knock knock Tyler." The click sounding the end of the tape sounded and maddie was quick to throw off her headphones letting them slide to the the floor off her bed while her breathing quicken as she began to pace her room. There were many thoughts swirling her head at the moment, she was afriad of the fact that she had went to his house, did that make her as bad as he was, she was also afriad to be around him anymore, what if he had dug up skeletons on her that she didn't want anyone to know. She let out a shaky breath and leaned up against the wall covering her mouth as she smoothed her hair back and quickly ran out of her room to the living room. When she ran in she stopped when she seen May fast asleep leaning her head against Zachs arm, Maddie was going to turn back to her room and decided not to bug them when Zach spoke in a whisper. "What's wrong?" He asked turning his head to look at the small, shaking, pale girl. "Can I talk to you?" She asked nodding her head towards the back hallway showing it should be without May. This caused Zach to nod without hesitation, this was something that showed how much love he held for his family, moving slowly and allowing Mays head to lean against a pillow as he followed his other sister to her room shutting the door after her and sitting on the edge of her bed so they were facing each other and he took note of the headphones that laid on the floor and the walkman that was close to falling off the bed if Maddie hadn't moved it to her nightstand. "Alright what's up?" Zach asked though she could see right through the voice he tried to use. "I'm not to your tape if that's what you're wondering." Maddie said quickly not wanting him to be so afraid and she slightly giggled when she saw him release a breath. "Tyler Down?" She asked fiddling with her fingers and she timidly looks up at him not sure if he would laugh at her for what she was doing or if he would over-react. In all fairness Zach wasn't sure how to react. "How far are you on his tape?" Zach asks deciding it would be best to know before speaking. "I finished it." Maddie says her voice more sturdy seeing that he was reacting as normally as anyone could during this kind of situation. "Alright, well yeah, he had a tape and yeah he's a creep. What else is new? I mean what do you need to know or ask?" Zach asks making Maddie laugh as they both seemed to have the sarcastic bone that made it hard for them to be serious through times once themselves have come to terms with it. "Do you think he ever.." Maddie stopped her sentence with a sigh feeling like it was stupid of her to ask. "No. Not to you. One you are you I think he'd be too much of a wuss, plus you have me and Justin and the guys if he would ever try it it'd be the last thing he would try." Zach says with a chuckle pulling Maddie into a hug as she giggled and smiled. "If anything happens with him come to me or Justin we got your back." Zach says ruffling the girls hair as she leaves to go to his room.
~~~Authors Note~~~
So, school starts on Wednesday for me and most of my attention will be on my school work alone with a couple of clubs and keeping up with the stuff I do outside of school. I promise I will keep updating but I can't promise it will always be on time, it might be a day or two off, but if it does happen please don't leave my book thinking I'm stopping it, I'm not and I have no intention too. Thank you for 1k reads!❤️

{8.20.18}