Daisy Madigan's Paradise

Daisy Madigan's Paradise

A Morgan
Sisters novella

Suzy Turner

Smashwords edition

The characters and events portrayed in this
book are fictitious.
Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and
not intended by the author.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or
retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the
author.

For more
information about the author
and her upcoming books, please visit her website

www.suzyturner.com

CHAPTER
1

Sitting at the
front of the class before her classmates arrived, Daisy Madigan
opened her arts coursework folder and pulled out a drawing she'd
done at the weekend. Staring at it, she remembered how the lion had
looked so peaceful, sleeping on the plinth in the park.

As the other
kids started to noisily enter the room, she wished she could go
back there and sit beneath it. It was her favourite statue at Abney
Park. Nobody mocked her while she was there. Nobody cared that she
had red curly hair. And freckles.

Once everyone
had settled down, the usual routine began. Some of the kids began
to throw things at her. Just little things so the teacher wouldn't
notice. Rolled up pieces of paper, paper clips, broken erasers...
Over the years she'd learned to ignore them. She just sat and
listened to what the teacher had to say about the creative process
of working with charcoal.

But before Mr.
Parker had even finished his sentence, the door opened and in
walked a woman in her late fifties with huge eyes and a short,
sleek black bob. For some reason, she reminded Daisy of those
little Lego people she'd played with as a child. Not that you could
play with Mrs. Goodyear. She was the Headmistress.

Daisy watched
as the middle aged woman seemed to avoid all eye contact with the
pupils, instead, making a beeline for Mr. Parker. She didn't look
happy. In fact, a certain sadness tinged her eyes.

Someone
sniggered behind her and this time, a pencil whistled by Daisy's
ear, landing on her desk before it rolled noisily on to the floor.
It almost echoed in the room as everyone sat waiting quietly,
wondering what was going on.

'Daisy?' asked
Mrs Goodyear.

Surprised at
hearing her own name, Daisy looked up to see both teachers looking
at her sadly.

'Daisy, please
gather your belongings together and come with me.'

Without a
word, she did as she was told, the other kids sniggering and making
lame jokes quietly behind her back.

'Silence!'
shouted Mr. Parker as he banged his fists noisily on the desk in
front of him, making poor little Amy Green nearly pee her
pants.

Mr. Parker
never shouted... not at anyone.

All the kids
looked up in shock, even the big bullies who resided at the very
back of the classroom. 'Leave the poor girl alone,' he said as
Daisy gently closed the door behind her.

She glanced
through the window and smiled at him gratefully before turning her
attention back to Mrs. Goodyear.

'Please come
with me, Daisy.'

The long walk
down the corridor was like walking on death row. Had she done
something wrong? They passed class upon class until they eventually
arrived at the headmistress's office. It was the first time she'd
ever found herself there. Glancing around, she wasn't particularly
impressed by what she saw. It was a small, sparse room with nothing
but several filing cabinets, a desk and a few chairs. The walls
were painted stark white. Daisy shivered.

'Please sit
down, Daisy.'

She swallowed
quietly and pulled out the short wooden seat, lowering herself down
before looking up. Mrs. Goodyear had taken a box of Kleenex from
one of the drawers and placed it on the desk in front of her.

'Daisy, I'm
afraid I have some bad news. Your mother has been in a terrible car
accident. Your father rang from the hospital. He's organised for
one of your neighbours to come and collect you, who should be
arriving shortly to take you to the hospital.'

Daisy's head
spun. Had she heard right? Her mum? An accident?

But before she
had a moment more to let it sink in, Mrs Goodyear stood up as there
was a knock at the door.

'Oh Daisy,'
said a familiar voice. 'I'm so sorry love.'

Geoff from two
door's down stood in the doorway, his large physique filling the
frame.

'Mr.
Smeeton?'

Geoff nodded.
'Aye,' he said as Daisy slowly lifted herself from the chair,
bending back down to collect her school bag.

'Daisy, take
all the time you need. I'll speak to your father over the next few
days to sort things out.'

She nodded,
her eyes glazed, not really understanding what was happening. Why
couldn't her father have come for her?

'Come on, my
love. I'll get you to the hospital as soon as possible,' said
Geoff, in his broad Yorkshire accent.

oOo

'Dad?'

'Daisy?'

She rushed
into his arms and he began to sob uncontrollably.

'Oh Daisy,
Daisy,' he cried over and over again.

'Dad? Can I
see her? Can I see Mum?'

Beau Madigan
pulled away from his only daughter and looked down into her intense
green eyes. She looked so much like her mother, he thought before
he nodded and led her through the ICU. The smell turned her
stomach. She didn't quite understand it at the time, but it smelled
like death.

The moment she
turned the corner and spotted her beautiful mother, Daisy let out a
cry.

'Mum,' she
sobbed, rushing to her side, almost falling to her knees by the
side of the bed.

Her mother was
only really recognisable by the tufts of bright red curly hair that
stuck out from the bandage across her head. Her mouth and nose were
full of tubes and where her normally happy freckled face should be
was a swollen, pale bruised one instead.

Beau stood
behind his daughter as tears poured down his cheeks.

'I should be
able to do something,' he said. 'I should be able to help her.
That's what I do, I'm a protector,' he muttered over and over
again.

Turning to
look at her dad, Daisy grabbed his hand, 'What? You couldn't do
anything, Dad. It's not your fault.'

Beau
momentarily glanced at her, but his eyes appeared to glaze over.
'No, my job. It was a protector. I should have protected her and
now it's too late.'

'Dad? What are
you talking about? It's not too late... she's going to get better.
Mum's going to be fine.'

'Mr Madigan,
please could you and your daughter move to the waiting room? We
need some space in here,' said a petite young woman wearing
scrubs.

Beau bent down
and placed a gentle kiss on his wife's cheek, whispering something
into her ear. But before Daisy knew what had happened, he'd rushed
out of the room, leaving her to go and sit in the waiting room
alone.

Leaning back
against the green coloured wall, Daisy closed her eyes, trying to
get the image of her mum out of her mind. She remembered what she'd
looked like earlier that morning when she'd left for school. All
smiley, smelling of Daisy perfume (which Beau had bought for her
35th birthday just a week ago) with her long curly hair half tied
up. She was beautiful. Daisy smiled. She wanted to remember that
image, nothing else.

'Daisy?'

Opening her
eyes, she turned to face her mother. 'Mum!'

Sitting beside
her was the beautiful woman who had raised her, looking exactly as
she'd looked earlier that day.

'Mum... I
don't understand.'

Esther Madigan
smiled and reached out to gently stroke her daughter's cheek.

Daisy felt her
warmth but not her touch.

'I want you to
know how much I love you and your father. You mean the world to me
and I'm so sorry that I have to leave you...'

'Mum, no,'
whispered Daisy with a quivering bottom lip. 'You can't go. You're
just a little banged up from the accident, that's all. You're going
to be fine.'

But Esther
shook her head, 'No Daisy. My body couldn't take it. I need you to
be strong for you and for your dad, okay? You can get through this.
I may not be here in body, but I will always be with you,' she said
as she hovered her hand above Daisy's heart.

'Mum... please
don't do this. Please don't go. Mum, I love you so much. We... we
can't live without you.'

'Shhhh,'
whispered Esther, 'Yes, you can. You're special, Daisy. I know Beau
and I always told you that and you never believed us but you are.
Very special. You got that from your father. You share something,
the two of you. And something big is going to happen very soon.
When it does, I need you to be strong. It's your destiny, Daisy,'
Esther smiled as she slowly began to fade, her body becoming more
and more transparent.

'Mum? Mum!
No!' yelled Daisy grappling after her.

'Be strong,
Daisy. Remember, I will always love you... your father too.
Goodbye, my angel.'

Sobbing like
she'd never sobbed before, Daisy could barely catch her breath as
she listened to the doctors and nurses frantically working down the
corridor, presumably trying to save the now lifeless body of her
mother.

CHAPTER
2

Her dad had
disappeared. Daisy was alone in every sense of the word.

She'd walked
all the way home in the rain. Soaked to the bone, she pushed open
the front door, hoping to find him there. But there was nothing but
a cold empty house. The warmth she'd always felt upon entering had
vanished. Daisy leaned against the wall in the hallway and slid to
the soft, carpeted floor. A loud cry erupted from her lips as the
sobbing began again. She'd never experienced pain like it. Her
heart felt like it had been ripped from her chest, leaving nothing
but a gaping hole and the feeling that she was being
asphyxiated.

'Mum, oh Mum,'
she cried, her breath coming in short, sharp bursts.

Daylight began
to slowly disappear and darkness set in while Daisy remained curled
up at the foot of the stairs listening to the ticking of the clock
in the kitchen. She heard faint voices as neighbours began to
arrive home from school and work. Life went on as usual for the
rest of the world, but not for Daisy.

Eventually,
shivering with cold and still in wet clothes, she forced herself
up. Clinging to the banister, Daisy finally stood up and removed
her coat, letting it fall to the floor.

Mum will get angry with me at leaving wet clothes on the
floor,
she suddenly thought as she bent to
pick it up.
But she's not here any more
She's gone. She's dead.

She bawled her
eyes out again as she slowly climbed the stairs, taking off the
rest of her wet clothes, throwing them into the linen basket in the
bathroom.

Turning on the
shower, she let steam fill the room before stepping under the hot
water, hoping that it might ease away the tension that filled her
every pore.

oOo

Later that
night, after Daisy had climbed into her bed in her warmest pyjamas,
she'd fallen asleep quickly. But the sound of a door slamming
downstairs startled her out of slumber.

For a split
second, all was well.

'Mum?' she
whispered.

But suddenly
she was kicked violently in the stomach as the memory of earlier
returned with a vengeance. Wincing in emotional pain, Daisy let out
a gasp as tears began to fall.

Turning back
the covers, she climbed out of bed and tiptoed to look over the
banister.

The lamp in
the hall had been switched on.

'Dad?' she
asked as she walked down the stairs and into the living room. She
found him sprawled on the floor, a near empty bottle of vodka
falling out of his outstretched hand.

She rushed to
his side, 'Dad?' she said, trying to shake him out of his stupor.
'Dad, can you hear me?'

He murmured
something unintelligible before he began snoring.

Not knowing
what to do, Daisy took the bottle away, emptying the remnants of
vodka down the sink, before finding a blanket to place over him.
She then lay down on the sofa with a framed photo of the three of
them clutched to her chest before closing her eyes.

CHAPTER
3

'Happy 15th
Birthday, Daisy,' she whispered to herself five weeks later as she
woke up to find her Dad in a drunken stupor on the bathroom floor.
His sweatshirt was lifted slightly to reveal a tattoo on his lower
back. Daisy had always loved that image of the eye with the wings
and the Latin words beneath.