Awakening

Chapter 7

“It’s just so weird to me, Dill,” Maddy said, as she was on her way back home. “You just broke up with Leslie, and now you’re trying to ask me out?”

“Okay? What’s the issue?” Dillon asked laughing.

“I just think it’s too soon. There is going to be so much drama, and I already have enough going on right now.” Maddy responded.

With everything that had been going on, Maddy couldn’t handle the thought of Leslie attacking her again over Luke.

“I think I’m just going to ignore him for a while because I need some time to think about everything. You should come over later so that we can watch our show though.” Maddy suggested as she turned into the driveway of her home.

She still hadn’t noticed the black SUV that had been trailing her the entire time she was on her way home. She SUV once again parked on the side of the street and watched Maddy as she hung up from Dillon and headed into the house.

When she entered the house, Nana was sitting on the couch watching her evening stories.

“I got it back,” she said as she flashed her wrist in the air.

“Great,” Nana responded.

Before heading up to her bedroom, Maddy stopped to let Nana know that Dillon was going to be coming over later that evening.

“Hey, Dillon’s coming over later so that we can watch our show. I know it’s okay. Just thought I’d let you know considering everything that we talked about,” She said.

Nana focused on her favorite kind type of drama, nodded her head and fanned Maddy away.

Maddy plopped onto her bed once she made it to her room.

“What is life?” She yelled into her pillow.

She could feel herself spiraling, so she went and grabbed her camera. She then got up and went to sit on the window ledge. It was about to rain, and the rain was one of the things that always calmed her down when she felt anxious. As she sat on the ledge, she watched as her neighbors played outside while light drizzle fell upon them. She began to snap pictures of the children playing in the rain, and a slight smile crept onto her face as she wondered if she would ever be able to live a normal life again.

At first, the thought of being this divine, spiritual being was exciting for her. The thought of Luke asking her out and wanting to date her seemed amazing as well, but as the thoughts set in, so did reality.

Maddy knew that Leslie would never leave her alone. Not only because of Luke but because also her family hunted divine, spiritual beings like herself.

The rain began to fall harder, and her neighbors eventually ran into their homes. Moments after, the doorbell rang. Maddy ran downstairs because she figured it was Dillon. She was also confused though because Dillon was early for once. Their show was coming on for another 3 hours. When she made it to the door, there was no one there. All that was there was a package with no name on it. Maddy picked up the package and headed back into the house.

“Nana, were you expecting a package?” Maddy asked suspiciously.

“No, but maybe your grandfather did,” Nana responded back.

Maddy headed down to her grandpa’s favorite part of the house; his man cave.

“Grandpa!” Maddy yelled as she walked down the stairs into the basement. “You have a package!”

When she made it down the stairs, her grandad was watching the home improvement network. He loved building things and renovating homes.

“A package?” Her grandad asked shockingly. “I haven’t ordered anything lately.”

Her grandpa took to the package and opened it up so that he could see what was in it. When he opened it, her heart sank to the bottom of his stomach.

“Did you happen to see who left this package?” Grandpa asked.

“No, I didn’t. It was sitting on the front porch,” She said.

“What is it?” Maddy asked out of curiosity.

“Oh sweetheart, it’s nothing but some old whiskey glasses I ordered months ago. They took so long that I’d forgotten that I’d ordered them.” He said as he quickly closed the package. “Why don’t you go whip up some of those delicious tacos of yours that I love so much, hmm? I’ll be up in a minute to help.

“That sounds like a great idea!” Maddy said. She smiled and gave him a hug.

As soon as Maddy made it up the stairs, her grandpa rushed to his safe and placed the package as far back as he could. He wanted to make sure absolutely no one knew what had come in the package. He then walked over to his bar and fixed himself a double shot of whiskey.

“Grandpa! Where are you?” Maddy yelled.

Her grandpa finally made his way up to the kitchen so that he could help Maddy with her tacos. As he made it into the kitchen, Maddy had already begun listening to the playlist that she’d made for special times like this. Her grandpa truly was one of her best friends. They danced around the kitchen as they both did their part in preparing dinner. Nana, who was now sitting on the couch reading, looked over her shoulder and began to laugh. Only Maddy could have her grandpa dancing around the couch the way that he did when they cooked her tacos. Maddy would prepare the meat, and he would make his homemade taco sauce that everyone loved.

“Thanks for helping me, Grandpa,” Maddy said with a smile. “I really needed this.”

Her grandpa smiled.

“Anything for my baby girl.” He said.

By the time that they were finished, Dillon had made her way over.

“Well, I guess I’ll grab some of these tacos and head to my room,” Nana said. “You girls can have the family room.”

Maddy gave her a hug and Nana went about her way.

“Goodnight, Nana Fisher!” Dillon said as Nana walked away.

She got up to make that Nana had made it all the way to her room before she began to badger Maddy about her impromptu date with Luke.

“I don’t really want to talk about it, girl,” Maddy said.

“Why not?!” Dillon said with annoyance. “Do you not know how major this is?!”

Maddy laughed.

“As I said earlier, it’s just so weird that he’s asking me out so quickly,” Maddy said. “I’ve already got a lot on my plate as it is.”

“Maddy, you have the most perfect plate of anyone in the whole school!” Dillon said.

She began naming everything she thought was perfect in Maddy’s life.

“You won elections Monday, Luke wants to date you, Leslie hates you… wait… let me start over because that should be first. Leslie ha — ”

“Dillon! I said I didn’t want to talk about it!” Maddy was screaming at this point.

“Fine, bitch,” Dillon said as she grabbed another taco and shoved into her mouth.

“Now let’s go into the family room before we miss the show,” Maddy said.

Every Wednesday, the two girls would get together and watch their favorite tv drama The Situation. It was something they’d done every Wednesday for the past 4 years. The show was about a powerful fortune 500 CEO who was having an affair with his wife’s cousin.

“Girl, do you see how he treats her?! If I was Bethany, I would’ve left that man a long time ago!” Dillon yelled.

“I know right!” Maddy replied. “He doesn’t even act like he’s married anymore, and he just has his mistress roaming all up and through his wife’s house!”

The two girls began to laugh. Maddy always enjoyed the moments she got to spend with her family and friends, but tonight meant so much more considering everything that she was being faced with.

“Do you want another taco? I’m about to make myself another one.” Maddy asked Dillon.

“Yeah sure,” Dillon responded.

Maddy got up to go into the kitchen.

“Hey Mad,” Dillon yelled. “When I pulled up there was this weird guy sitting in a black SUV parked on the side of your street. I’ve never seen it before. You?”

Maddy walked back into the family room with their food.

“Nah, I haven’t noticed. It’s probably new neighbors or something. People are always moving in around her.” She said.

Dillon shrugged and finished her last taco.

The show was over soon after, and Dillon gathered all of her belongings so that she could get back home before her mom started to blow up her phone asking where her car was.

“Bye, Mad,” Dillon said as she hugged Maddy.

“See you later,” Maddy replied back.

“Oh, and before I go, I just want to apologize for being so abrasive earlier,” Dillon said. “You know how I get when I’m excited. I’m just really proud of and happy for you.

“Yeah, yeah,” Maddy said as she laughed and watched Dillon walk back to the car.

Maddy looked over to where Dillon said the car had been. She then remembered seeing the car earlier that day while she snapped pictures of the neighbors’ children playing in the rain. As soon as Dillon had made it down the street, Maddy rushed to her grandparent’s room to ask if they’d seen the black SUV at all that day.

“Nana, there was a black SUV parked on the side of the street earlier,” Maddy said. “Have any new people moved into the community lately?”

“No, not that I know of,” Nana responded. “But then again, I’m not sure because I’ve been so caught up in that new show that you started me on.”

Nana wasn’t a neighborhood watch, but she knew everybody’s business.

“A black SUV, you say, Maddy?” Grandpa asked as he walked from the bathroom.”

“Yes. Dillon mentioned it to me, and then I remembered. I think I got a photo of it while I was taking pictures of the neighbors’ children earlier” Maddy said.

Nana turned to Maddy’s grandpa with shock.

“You know what, Maddy. It totally slipped my mind!” I did see new neighbors moving in late last week.” Nana said.

“Oh okay. I was just wondering considering everything that’s been happening lately. It’s been a really weird past few days, and I’ve seen enough movies to know what a black SUV means.” Maddy said as she laughed.

Her grandparents laughed and assured her that she had nothing to worry about.

“Sweetie, it’s been a while since you’ve let me see your artwork,” Grandpa said. “You should show me those photos you took earlier.”

He knew that the packaged they’d received and a mysterious black SUV popping up out of nowhere was no coincidence. He couldn’t let Maddy know of his concern, though, so he had to find a way to see the picture of the SUV.

Maddy smiled because she loved sharing her work with her grandparents, no matter how much Nana hated it sometimes.

When she made it up to her room, she hopped on her laptop and began editing the photos. She sat on the ledge and listened to the rainfall as she worked on her photos. She didn’t finish editing them until shortly after 1 o’clock. Exhausted, she ended up falling asleep on the window ledge that.