𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬

20

"Stop!" Maddie whined when Justin came into her room and tried pulling her ankles as a way to make the girl come into the living room and hang out with the group of friends who were still at her house and probably would be until her mother told them that they should go home to their families. "No! Come hang out with us!" Justin argued as he kept pulling at her ankle which had actually moved her quite a bit. "Justin I'm busy, maybe in a little while, now stop pulling my leg." Maddi tried to reason with the boy while she tried to wiggle her leg from his grasp. "And what are you busy with on a Friday afternoon when there is no school?" Justin asked letting go of his girlfriends leg to stare at her. She sighed and shifted her eyes to where her walkman and headphones were set upon her nightstand. Justin sighed and shook his head. "Fine. In a little while?" He asked obvious disappointment in his tone though Maddie said nothing and just nodded. "Promise?" Justin asked as he held out his right hand with his pinky sticking out towards her. Maddie sighed though there was a small smile placed on her lips. "Promise." She said and both of them kissed there hand, most people would of thought of the gesture to be weird but the two found it to be a way of settling the deal, making it a real promise.

After a few seconds Justin left back into the livingroom while shutting her door. Maddie sat up in her bed after adjusting her bed sheets slightly and then setting her headphones on.

"I'm going to tell you who it is, but you're going to have to wait. Just like I did. I'm going to play mind games with you just like you did with me." Maddie sighed while pressing pause again, she found this too be unfair. Sure within the tapes it were as if she were only talking to the one person, so why couldn't she just give each person their own tape? Maddie knew as much as she hated to admit it her mind was not in the right statement to have mind games played on her, and a lot of people probably weren't when listening to these tapes.

"It happened after Valentines day. When you really feel that lack of human contact. Especially when you make contact with the wrong human being. That's a whole new level of lonely. Through it all we all want to believe there are good guys in the world." Maddie couldn't help the sad smile that came onto her face, her mind went to the few guys that had even been kind too her Zach and their father, Justin, Bryce, and Monty. Sure she had gained respect from guys around the school but she simply thought it was because of who her brother was, who she was dating, and who she was friends with.

"You were kind that night. You just sat there letting me ignore you, until it was almost calm. You were so sweet. Just like Kat said once upon a time." Maddie couldn't help the role of her eyes, she had her comfirmation, this had to be Zachs tape. Him having a tape was so completely uncalled for in her opinon. Zach was nothing but nice to that girl, Zach told Maddie everything about what happened between the two of them, that was when Maddie and Hannah truley started to notice each other for more than just what the other had.

"Well welcome to your tape Zach." Even though she had already figured it out hearing those words had her body fill with anger. She flung off her head phones and kicked the walkman, having both crash and slide against the floor, everyone in the house could hear it making the house go silent. "I'll go-" Two people stood up speaking at the same time, both of the stopped to look at the other, and neither of them knew which one should go in. "I think it should be you.." Zach said, Zach was always the one to comfort Maddie when Justin wasn't there because of their close bond but Justin and Maddie had a seperate bond, a bond that Zach and Maddie couldn't have. The bond wasn't better in any way shape or form, just one bond was needed for certain times and the other for another groupd of certain times.

As much as Justin wanted to be the person to comfort Maddie, he always did, he had a feeling that it should be Zach. "You go. I'll stay." He said practically ignoring what Zach had already said. "Oh, okay?" Zach said his low tones zone showcasing his obvious confusion. Zach walked down towards Maddies room and walked in without knocking and then closed the door. "Hey Mads. . .what's wrong?" Zach asked slowly while walking to the girl. His eyes taking note of the walkman halfway across the room and the girl sitting on the bed looking as if she had no idea what she emotions were of how to handle them even if she did know what they were.

Zach moved to sit on the bed beside her and Maddie turned to look at him. "Why do you have a tape?" Her voice was so broken, he could hear it from the beginning, then he finally understood what her expression was, it was a mix of confusion, denail, and worst of all betrayal. "Maddie you know I can-" His words were cut off by her broken highpitched voice. "Zach! My trust for you is on the line right now and your worried about what a recorded voice said?" Maddie voice was hard and broken and she obviously didn't mean for her words to be so harsh towards the girl she was once so fond of. Zach knew that she meant nothing by her words, Zach always knew when she meant something and when she didn't, but he knew telling her would be the wrong thing. He knew in his heart that he didn't deserve a tape, and most people you had already listened too the tapes agreed too, but maybe Maddie would think differently, he couldn't presuade her too think a certain way. He didn't want her too loose faith in him, he didn't want her too loose the trust she held for him, and he didn't want to add more pain and stress too her while she listened too these tapes, but it would be wrong too tell her before she heard it from Hannahs point of view, sure in his opinon what she thought, or 'knew' was wrong but that had to be up to Maddie to decide for herself.

Zach exhaled deeply staring at Maddie, his heart racing. "Mads, I can't.." She could hear it in his voice that he wanted too but he wouldn't, she nodded her head understanding, he had morals and he would follow them. "But when you listen to the tape, the whole tape, we can talk. I'll tell you everything, deal?" He asked looking at his younger sister how dully nodded her head sighing in defeat. "Deal." She said looking down and Zach put his large hand on the side of her head moving her head closer to him so that he could place a kiss to the side of her head. He slowly got up, grabed the walkman and the headphones off the floor, handed them too her and left without another word leaving Maddie in silence as she set the headphones back on her ears ready too hear the rest of the tape.

~~~Authors Note~~~
Hey! I know this is a day late but I didn't have time throughout last week of last weekend too write and since I had today off I took it too study some and write this for you. If any of you have any suggestions, comments, concerns, questions, or just input for this book don't be afraid too comment! You can also message me or post on my message board! I never mind it even if it is a complaint about my book, I have had a few people in my messages complainning about certains things I have done throughout this book so I decided to switch it up a bit, so don't be afraid! Thank you for all the love on this book I really am thankful!

{11.6.18}