B008GMVYA4 EBOK (30 page)

“I do” Madison said calmly, looking into Brendan’s crystal
blue eyes.

They held each other’s gaze for a moment, then Brendan
wrapped his arm around Madison’s shoulders and they continued to walk silently
down the front garden.

The continuous fog that had clouded Madison’s mind crept
back in again. She felt emotionally numb a large proportion of the time and the
rest of the time was plagues by paranoia, emotional outbreaks and confusion.
She was disorientated all the time and the lack of sleep was beginning to take
its toll mentally and physically. Madison found herself bumping into items she
knew were there and sometimes it was difficult to even string together a
sentence. Fred had mentioned a few days ago to Leon that Madison hadn’t seemed
very well - she had overheard them while they thought she was sleeping. Leon
had thrown Fred a worried glance but hadn’t seemed shocked by the news. Either
way, Madison hadn’t complained about being ill or feeling strange, but this
didn’t mean she hadn’t noticed something strange about her own behavior. But
unfortunately for her there were no self help books about how
to deal with
the stress of being hunted by Vampires
– so she had put her strange
behavior and outburst down to stress.

They both continued to walk in silence; Brendan frowned as
he lost himself in thought. However, Madison’s expression was blank and dazed
in her surroundings.

“I still can’t shake the feeling something bad is about to
happen” Madison suddenly said. She stopped dead in her tracks and shifted her
weight to stare at Brendan. Her eyes narrowed towards him in confusion and she
gazed at him as if he had made the statement rather than the words had come
from her mouth.

Brendan studied her expression silently. The large fern
trees at the very bottom of the garden stood about thirty feet away them. The
wind blew rapidly through the large thick leaves of the trees, but yet not a
single rustle could be heard. The fern trees lined the boarder of the garden,
the only exit being a large rusty 10 foot gate which stood in the center of the
driveway. A large chain and padlock secured the double Iron Gate together, no
one would be able to enter or leave without the key to the oversized padlock.
 

The wind swirled around them as they stood in silence - lost
in thought.

“Madison, are you alright?” Brendan whispered concern
stricken.

“I’m fine” Madison replied without even considering the
question.

“You just don’t seem yourself lately...”

“I’m fine, just a headache” she said blinking several times
in confusion. She hadn’t been suffering from a headache, but she felt compelled
to lie to him and had no idea where these thoughts or feelings were coming
from.

Brendan eyed her suspiciously. Madison wasn’t very good a
lying and her lifeless voice made her words even more unconvincing. However, he
didn’t question her and instead he ushered her back towards the house.

They walked the remaining distance to the house in silence,
Brendan leading her back up the rotten, wooden porch steps of the old house.
The rough material of Brendan’s grey coat was beginning to rub against the
exposed soft flesh of her upper arm. Randomly an odd observation popped into
Madison’s head, Brendan was wearing different clothes. Since they had arrived
at Leon’s, Brendan had borrowed some his old clothes while his clothes were
cleaned. Now he was wearing completely different, new, stylish clothes rather
than the old t-shirt and jeans Leon had loaned him. His clothes were a little
too expensive for Leon taste as he preferred to wear old torn jeans and faded
t-shirts rather then something as fashionable as what Brendan was wearing now.
He now wore dark blue jeans, a clean, white, plain t-shirt and a very expensive
looking grey, waist-length jacket.

 “Are those Leon’s clothes?” Madison asked eyeing up
the new black leather shoes Brendan was wearing.

Brendan froze on the porch, he towed over Madison awkwardly.

“No, there mine. I picked up our stuff…” Brendan said
causally.

“What?! When did you do that?” Madison shot an angry look up
at him.

“Earlier…” he said reluctantly, fully aware and ashamed he
had done something without considering the consequences of not making her
aware.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?” she asked, hurt
clear in her voice.

“Because you don’t need to know and it’s safer for you to
stay here” Brendan said, confused once again at Madison’s outburst of anger.

“You always do this! Think you can leave me out, when this
concerns me too! You three are always plotting something and I’m sick of it!”
Madison spat waving her arms in the air dramatically.

“What is wrong with you? Do you not think you are slightly
overreacting?!” Brendan said calmly.

Madison’s cheeks flushed red with anger, her eyes brows
narrowed and her pupils dilated as she squinted her eyes furiously at him.

Brendan tightened his body and took a step back as the
realisation struck that he had almost definitely said the wrong
thing.  

“Don’t tell me what an overreaction is!” Madison fired,
envisaging on each letter of each word.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what the big deal is? I
collected all your stuff too, it’s upstairs in the spare room”

Brendan stared at Madison in amazement. She slowly began to
realised she was overreacting to the matter but it still didn’t change the fact
she was furious at Brendan for not telling her. The anxiety was beginning to
build in her chest again, compressing her ribcage. Madison rubbed her chest
trying to ease some of the discomfort and lift the baby elephant of anxiety
which had now settled on her ribcage.

“Please don’t get cross, but I really think we should talk
to Leon. I don’t think you are very well?” he said concerned once again.

“I just need to be by myself for a bit” Madison exclaimed,
more calmly.

She turned hard and processed to run back down the porch
steps with Brendan hot on her heels.

“Don’t follow me!” she protested.

Brendan stopped reluctantly, he watched as she began to trek
once again down the lush green grass of the front garden.

Madison’s legs ached as she pushed herself faster and faster
down the garden.

She was furious, but she couldn’t pin point as to why. She
knew Brendan’s intentions were good and honest, but she felt he had left her
out the loop in the last few days and she was beginning to feel betrayed.

Although she was aware that she had become irrational, she
couldn’t shake the feeling that something strange was going on - something all
three of them were keeping from her. There was nothing right about this
situation or this place for a start. Every second in this place dragged but in
reality it seemed like days were flying by. It was as if Madison couldn’t
recall how long she had spent in the house, it seemed like she had been here
longer than she thought. The fight with the Skin Crawlers and her run in with
Gabby all seemed like a dream now. Recalling any aspect of what had happened
was difficult and her memories were clouded with the same haziness you get when
you try to recall a dream. Madison knew her paranoia, the insomnia, mood
swings, haziness and confusion meant that something wasn’t right with her, but
still she felt offended by Brendan’s realisation of this. She wasn’t ready to
admit that she was slowly loosing it and she didn’t want to face up to it
either.

Her mind span so fast that she still deep in thought before she
realised she had reached the bottom of the garden. It seemed like it had only
taken her seconds compared to the length of time it had taken with Brendan.

Without a second thought Madison crossed the grass onto the
graveled driveway at the foot of the gate. She grabbed the rusty padlock in her
hand and pulled it - it remained locked firmly in place. She let go of the
padlock and rubbed the rust from her hand onto the thigh of the jeans Fred had
lent her. An unbelievable desire for freedom overwhelmed her, she felt like she
was suffocating within The Lodge. Her desire to escape growing stronger and
claustrophobia began to set in.

 The gap between the bars of the gate were too small
for her to squeeze through and the frame was too close to the gravel driveway
for her to slip underneath, the only option left was for Madison to climb over.

The urge to escape the boundaries of the lodge if even for a
second had become instincts, before Madison consciously made the decision to
climb the gate she stuck her right foot between the tick solid bars of the
gate. Her foot slid in easily enough and fitted firmly between the bars so she
was able to get some leverage as she pulled herself up towards the iron gate.
This gave her enough height to grab the top of the gate and pull herself up
further. Once secure enough on the frame of the gate Madison swung her free leg
over the top of the gate, pulling herself up fully so she was straddling the
large cast iron gate. Slowly she slipped over the gate and hung for a second
before dropping to the ground. She stumbled slightly, the distance between the
very top of the gate and the ground below was further than she had first
anticipated. Steadying herself Madison wiped the rust from her hands again on
the thighs of the blue skinny jeans.

The plain black t-shirt Madison wore was now covered in
brown lines of rust which would not rub off, there was no hiding her escape
from the others when she returned to the lodge – by that time she would have
contacted Stephanie and wouldn’t care.

A blur of white caught the corner of Madison’s eye as she
looked down to see the pavement below was covered with a ghostly, thick, white
fog. It swirled around her feet as if it was being pumped out by a smoke
machine, it grew thicker ahead from where she stood and was almost waist
height. Madison could just about make out the distinct shape of a fence and
surrounding field about 50 feet away from the lodge - a black tarmac road
separate the distance. The fog appeared to be like a special effect in a horror
movie; it was misplaced and moved oddly in comparison to any type of fog
Madison had seen before. She took a step forward and the fog seemed to grow
thicker in response to her movement. Before she could take a second step
forwards she held her hand out in front of her, guiding herself through the
White Sea that tried to pull her under. She continued to move onwards, confused
by her surroundings. Stepping slowly, her feet feeling the pavement as she
walked, she was aware there must be an approaching sidewalk and she couldn’t
afford to stumble and be swallowed by the thick white fog. The more steps she
took the more the fog grew thicker. It was like a living organism, trying to
defend itself from an unknown intruder. A small patch of fog cleared at her
feet allowing Madison to see the edge of the side walk and the black tarmac
road ahead. For the first time in days Madison saw a beam of sunshine which had
escaped from the thick clouds above and was now warmed the tarmac in front of
her. In that single moment the golden glow of sunlight was the most beautiful
thing she had ever seen, it was what she had been longing to see and feel for
days now. And now it was finally at arm’s reach and all she had to do was reach
out and grab it. Looking back, Madison saw the large Iron Gate had become
consumed and swallowed by the thick fog. No aspect of the gate remained; all
that was left was a mass of ghostly, white fog swallowing up the landscape
around her. Everything had been dissolved by the fog the only scenery that remained
was the road ahead. Although, like the lodge there was something ‘not right’
about the white fog that surrounded the neighboring road - Madison didn’t feel
afraid by it not did she question it aloud. Like the house she couldn’t put her
finger on what was wrong with it, but none of it seemed to worry her or
frighten her in the slightest. The sight of the clear road ahead comforted her
all the same and there was nothing to fear, but there was also an escape from
the looming whiteness.

Madison eyes focused on a transparent, watery firm which
shielded the edge of the curb from the road in front. It was like a force-field
which stretched up along the whole length and width of the sidewalk. She took a
step forward so that the tips of her toes were at the end of the curb, unsure
as to whether she could pass through the transparent film. The fog began to
move quicker, it whirled around Madison’s small frame blowing her hair up in
gusts. The hairs pricked up on the back of her neck and she took a deep breath
pushing the fallen hair from her face. She pushed her left foot forwards into
the transparent film that blocked her way, it rippled like a pool of water but
allowed Madison’s foot to enter easily. Suddenly, her senses were overwhelmed
by an ear piercing ringing noise which filled the air. It was deafening. She
threw her hands up over her ears and closed her eyes as the noise filled her
head causing a sharp pain. Her legs wobbled and she opened her mouth to scream
but no sound came out. She felt a suction motion as if her how body was pulled
down a waterslide at a theme park and then there was silence. The high pitch
ringing had gone just as quickly as it had arrived.

Madison felt warmth for the first time in days and a golden
glow from the sun surrounded her. She opened her eyes to see the sun properly
for the first time in nearly a week. She sighed allowing a warm breeze to flow
through her entire body, her mind finally relaxing and the cloudiness beginning
to shift. The bad mood she had constantly been in was beginning to lift and the
black cloud that had followed her around for days disappeared almost instantly.
The sound of the wind rustling through the trees was like music to her ears.
Slowly, all her senses reverted back to normal and she could think straight
again. The anxiety and nervousness had gone and they had taken the paranoia
with them. For a moment Madison just took in the scenery. Her eyes hurt from
the brightness of the sun as they had become accustom to the cloudy darkness of
the lodge, but the stinging sensation was nice and it made her feel alive
again.