by Tee Smith
Also by Tee Smith
Collecting Scars
Chasing Dragonflies (Coming Soon)
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Tee Smith
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer quoting brief passages for review purposes only.
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Formatted by AB Formatting
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To everyone who is out
chasing their own dragonflies.
Chapter 1
Beep, beep, beep. Maddie slowly opened her eyes. Beep, beep, beep. Blinking a few times, what was that noise?
Slowly, her vision started to clear, but what she saw made her blink again. She must be dreaming. No? He was here, her brother. A little older than the last time she had seen him. His dirty blonde hair shorter, but the hair on his face was longer.
“Xavier?” her voice scratched in her throat as she struggled to get the words out. How long had it been since she had wrapped her tongue around his name?
“Xavier?”
He moved into her line of vision. Smiling down at her, his green eyes, the same as her own twinkled with recently shed tears. Panic struck her, like a sudden knife to her heart, all these years she had longed to see her older brother, to even have him tease her and call her 'fly' again. But he couldn't be here. If dad finds him he will kill him.
“Maddie,” Xavier smiled as her hovered over her.
Maddie shook her head, it hurt, but she had to warn him. “No Xavier, you can't be here. Dad will....Xavier, you have to go.”
Xavier stroked her hair, seemingly unconcerned. Why wasn't he worried? Didn't he know what their father was capable of?
“It's okay Maddie. Its okay,” he was soothing her.
“No Xavier, you have to leave now.” She tried to sit, but the pressure stopped her, it felt as if something was sitting on her chest. “Go, I won't tell him, I promise. Please Xave, please. I'll be okay.”
“Hey, there, there. It's okay. He won't hurt any of us anymore. I promise.”
What was he talking about? How could Xavier possibly know? Of course he would hurt them, he would stop at nothing to hurt his family. He had kept her here for years. Hurt her, hurt her mother. He would hurt Xavier, maybe even kill him. He had killed Tom, he told her that he had.
Suddenly there was someone else in the room, what was going on? A nurse.
“Asha?” Maddie called out. She remembered now, she had been so sick, her dad had brought in a nurse. Asha. She was kind. She had fought with her dad. Her father had hurt her too, but Asha had promised to help.
“She's okay. Her surgery went well,” Xavier told her. “She needs to rest but I’m sure she will be in to see you the second she is able.”
Maddie shook her head again, trying to clear the mush in her brain. She was so confused. What was going on? Why was Asha in surgery? Why was Xavier here with her? Who was this nurse?
“Where? What's going on?” she managed out.
“It’s all over Maddie. You're in the hospital. Dad's gone, he can't hurt you anymore,” Xavier explained.
“Gone? He'll come back Xave.”
“You're out of that hell hole Maddie. You’re not going back. Dad's gone. Mum shot him.”
“Mum what?” she asked. His words were muddled. She was sure he just said their mum had shot their dad.
“We found you Madd. Mum shot Dad. It’s all over, he can't hurt you anymore.”
Maddie looked around the room frantically, taking in her surrounds. White walls, a pink curtain, a plethora of medical equipment. A window! She had been in that room, in the back of her parent's shed for... she didn't know how long. The lights in here were so bright her eyes stung. Where was her mum? This couldn't be happening. Maybe it was dream. Mum would never hurt her dad. He was the one who did the hurting. All of it.
“Where's Mum then?” she asked. Looking around she could not see her. Surely her mum was here, if she was finally free. If it were true...if her mum really had shot her dad, shouldn't she be here?
Xavier hung his head and tears ran down his cheeks.
“No...no....Xavier no,” Maddie cried out as the realisation hit her, something had happened to their mum. Their poor precious mum, no.
Xavier slowly lifted his head, his watery eyes searched her face. The sting of tears prickling at the corners on her eyes. Her father hated when she cried. He would get angry and slap her or hug her, she could never predict which, so she had learned early on not to cry.
“What happened to Mum Xavier?”
Xavier didn't answer he just shook his head. Maddie struggled to hold her tears back allowing a few to slip down her cheeks. Her mum was dead? Her dad must have killed her, after she shot him. She hoped he would rot in jail. Drawing in a few deep breathes she regained control of her tears and ventured to ask. “Is Dad going to be okay?”
Xavier shook his head again. “He's dead Maddie. Mum killed him, then she turned the gun on herself.”
So both her parents were gone? No, it couldn't be. Crazy thoughts swirled around in her head. This couldn't be real. It was just her and Xavier. She was overwhelmed with a mixture of shock, grief, and relief. She loved both her parents, but she knew her dad had been unwell for a long time. She had tried to help him, tried not to upset him. He would get so angry with her. Particularly when she was sick. Was it wrong for her to feel relief? Was she finally out of that god-forsaken room? Thoughts of her mum flooded back and brought her to tears again. Xavier leaned over and wrapped his body around her. As she tried to lift her arms to hug him back, she found they both had drips attached and she was limited in her movements. She had no recollection of how she came to be here.
Xavier pulled away when they heard the clearing of a throat behind them. Maddie turned her head to see a man with dreadlocks standing near her bed. Her eyes widened. For many years she had only seen her father, then more recently Asha had appeared in her life. This man looked strangely familiar, she was not sure why.
“Oh hey Trick,” Xavier smiled at the man.
“Good to see you awake Maddie.” Dread locked man flashed her a smile.
Obviously he knew who she was. “Hi,” she smiled back awkwardly, feeling out of place.
“Sorry to interrupt.” The man Xavier had called Trick, went on, and then turned to Xavier. “Just thought you'd want to know that Asha is awake and she's asking for you.”
Asha? Maddie had forgotten about Asha, with the news about her p
arents. Xavier had said Asha had been in surgery. He hadn't explained why. Her world was spiralling out of control, with all this new information and all these new people. It was all too much for her. She was so tired, slowly she closed her eyes thinking maybe this would all go away. Opening them again, she looked across to see Xavier was still there. He glanced back at her, concern written all over his face, as if he were torn between staying with her and going to Asha.
“Go,” she smiled at him. “Go to Asha, if she wants you, you better go.”
“Will you be okay?”
“I'll be fine, I'm tired anyway.”
Xavier brows drew together. She remembered that look, even though it had been so many years since she had seen it. He was worried.
“Seriously Xave, go to Asha,” she insisted. He was so stubborn sometimes.
He reached over her and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I love you.”
***
Xavier returned later that day. A nurse had brought her some sandwiches, which she struggled to eat. Her throat was sore and her stomach churned.
“How's Asha?” she asked as he pulled a chair up beside her bed.
“Still pretty dopey actually,” he laughed quietly. “More concerned for you, than herself.”
“Xave... I have to ask, did you guys look for me? Did you call the police or anything?”
Xavier flinched as if she had hit him.
“Of course we did Madd. When you didn't come home, Mum was frantic. She rang Tom first of all, but he was off on some trip somewhere. Then she rang around all your friends. Dad kept telling her not to be stupid, that you would turn up.”
He looked down to his lap, from where she lay, she could not see what he was doing.
“And?” she prompted for him to go on.
“After a few days, Mum insisted they report you missing.”
“A few days!”
“Well... we thought maybe you had cold feet about marrying Tom.”
She flinched—days? That felt like a slap in the face. No one had thought to worry about her for a few days? It was not as if she was prone to running off.
“Oh Maddie, you have to know if we knew you were there all along we would have rescued you in a heartbeat. Dad was always saying things like, “stay away from my sheds,” and stuff, but we had no reason to believe it was because you were there.
He had such a hard time with you gone. They wouldn't let him work on your case and he was like a bear with a sore head.”
“Gee, I wonder why?” she whispered to herself.
“Then all the stuff started with Frank.”
“What happened with Frank?” Frank, had worked with her dad. He and his wife Mary were friends with her parents, they had a daughter about her age. Her dad had spoken about him a few times over the years with obvious distaste.
“Dad tried to have him charged over your disappearance, tried to say he had evidence that Frank had kidnapped you. Of course, he never managed to produce such evidence, but he created such a fuss, that Frank was forced to resign from the police force. Turned out, that Dad thought Mum and Frank were having an affair. Something Mum denied of course...Oh Maddie, the whole thing was such a twisted tangled mess,” he hung his head again.
“You're telling me,” she let out a long puff of air. “Have you seen Tom's parents?”
Xavier's head whipped up, his eye-brows drawn once again. “Tom's parents?”
“How did they cope after Tom died? It must have been so hard on them.”
“Tom's not dead Maddie.”
What? Not dead? Her mouth dropped open and she tried to speak, but no words came out. She was not sure they were even formed in her head. She was drowning in confusion. Her mum and dad were dead, but not Tom? Tom was alive?
Xavier stood and took her hand in his, “What made you think Tom was dead Maddie?”
“He...he...” she stammered, searching for the words that did not want to come, Tom was alive. “Dad said...”
Xavier's arms were suddenly around her, pulling her in for a hug. She felt suffocated and weakly tried to push him away. When he finally pulled back and she could breathe freely again, she stared at him. Was this whole thing some kind of joke?
“I have not seem Tom for a long time, but I am pretty sure he is not dead. Dad lied to you Maddie.” Xavier offered her a look of pity.
“Miss Arnold,” they were interrupted by yet another foreign voice. Maddie looked around to see an older gentleman with a balding head. “I heard you were awake.”
Who was this guy? Why would he care that she was awake?
Moving to the side of her bed, he announced, “I am Doctor Goldsworthy. I have been looking after you since you arrived yesterday.”
Yesterday? So she had been here overnight already? She was trying to process so much new information all at once it seemed.
“You will be staying with us for at least a couple weeks I imagine at this stage. You have a double pneumonia and sepsis. We also believe you are malnourished, so we will be feeding you up while you are here,” he let out a humourless laugh. “Plus we are waiting on some final test results, I think you will also need a course of vitamin D injections. You are at risk of broken bones, due to your lack of sunshine over the past few years. Once we have the results, we will be able to get those started as well.”
He reached above her and fiddled with the bags of fluid that hung beside her bed. As she had a drip in each hand, she assumed they must be pumping all kinds of antibiotics into her system.
“Do you have any questions?” Doctor Goldsworthy asked, without making eye-contact.
“Yeah, when can I get out of this bed?”
Moving so she could see his face, he gave her a sad smile. “Not just yet. I think you are a little weak to be getting up. We estimate you have been lying in bed for several weeks so your muscles will need some work. Plus, we are worried about blood clots, hence we are giving you some injections to help thin your blood.
I have asked for a hospital physiotherapist to come around and see you in the next couple days, to get you up and moving again.”
Xavier stood beside her bed, nodding his head. “Thank you doctor.”
“You are one very lucky girl Miss Arnold, if it not been for Asha Harper, you probably wouldn't have survived.”
Maddie hung her head, knowing what she knew now about her parents she wondered if being dead was such a bad thing.
Chapter 2
“Looks like you have a visitor.” Came the sing-song voice of the night nurse. “I told her it was still early, but she was bursting to get in here to see you.”
Maddie slowly opened her eyes, bringing her hand up to wipe away the crusty sleep that had formed there.
“What? Who? What time is it?” she asked the nurse who was smiling down at her.
“It's your sister, you must be so excited.”
Her sister? Maddie was confused, she didn't have a sister. Her world was upside down and was not making any sense. A woman's face came into view. A short dark pixie hair cut cushioned the woman's features, there was nothing familiar about her. She searched her memory trying to recall who this woman might be.
“Okay I will leave you two to chat will I? You just hit the call button if there is anything you need, okay love?” Called the nurse as she walked out the door, leaving Maddie alone with this woman who was claiming to be her sister.
“How are you Maddison?” Came the woman's voice as her face came back into view leaning over her.
“Um, hang on,” she said, fumbling around beside the bed looking for the controller to tilt her bed up. It made her feel very vulnerable laying down with someone hovering over her.
“Oh is this what you're after?” The woman asked, placing the device in Maddie's hand with a smile.
“Yeah thanks,” she managed, before pressing the button to lift the head of the bed, bringing her to a sitting position.
Now she had a better view of the woman whom she could see she was well dressed, a litt
le too well-dressed for the time of the day. She wore a baby blue two-piece skirt and jacket with a white blouse. Metal rimmed glasses sat at the top of her nose. She wore lipstick just a few shades too bright.
“Do I know you?”
“We went to school together. I'm Belinda Evens,” she beamed back at her, like it was meant to make perfect sense. “Well Belinda Sweetman these days, although my friends all call me Lindy.”
The woman was babbling and Maddie had no clue who she was, she did not recall the name at all.
“Why are you here?”
Belinda extended her arm and put a hand to Maddie's forearm. The woman's touch felt like a sizzling burn to her skin and she wrenched her arm away.
“I wanted to see you silly,” the woman gushed. “As soon as I heard the news, I knew I couldn't stay away. It's been such a long time and I really missed you.”
Something was very wrong here. How could someone she didn't even know be standing here, professing to have missed her? Maddie eyed her suspiciously.
“You know I am working with The Years News now and it would be great if you could give me a bit of a story, of course that's not the only reason I came though.”
“Get out!” Maddie snapped, she knew this woman was up to something.
“But Maddison,” she insisted. That should have been the first indication she had no idea who she was, no one, not even her parents called her Maddison. “I would like you to have to opportunity to tell your side of the story. You know the media has a tendency to embellish things, if you let me give your account it will be true and accurate.”
Maddie leaned over the side of her bed, closer to Belinda and lowering her voice she ground out, “I'll give you true and accurate Belinda or Lindy or whatever the hell you want to call yourself, if you don't leave my room, right now I will call security and have you charged with harassment.”
Bringing out a pen and notebook from her handbag, Belinda smiled. “So do I take it that you are angry and bitter about the years you have spent in captivity? Perhaps I could say you are not familiar with the niceties of society? Would that be an accurate summation of your attitude toward me? Do you feel this way in general Maddison?”
