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Ten

MADELAINE

Seb walked out of the plane terminal looking handsome as ever and I couldn't contain my excitement. I ran and jumped on him, almost knocking him over.

"Hey!" He laughed as his arms flew around me.

I pulled my head back to look his face over for a moment before planting my lips against his. I breathed in deeply, taking in his cologne. It instantly settled my nerves.

Sebastian pulled away from me and kissed my forehead.

"I missed you." I sigh as I lay my head on his chest, hugging him.

"I missed you." He says quietly. We pull apart and when we turn around, I notice a few paparazzi waiting for us outside.

Great.

I know I look awful. This morning I had huge bags under my already puffy eyes. I didn't bother doing anything with my hair and just threw it up in a messy bun before I left the house.

Sebastian must feel my nervousness and he pulls me out of the paparazzi's view.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"There's a back exit. It's a little bit of a longer walk to the parking lot but I don't mind if you don't." He smiles down at me as he slings an arm around my shoulders.

"How do you know about it?" I ask, looking behind me to make sure they can't see us.

"Chris told me about it." He laughs a bit as if he is remembering something, but I don't ask anymore questions. I'm too tired to hold a conversation right now.

Granny had gotten worse last night. We had to call her nurse, Hailey, in the middle of the night and she wasn't sure that she would make it through the night. So, we all took turns staying up with her through the night. We wanted to be sure someone was with her to keep her company if she did slip away into oblivion.

Sebastian and I finally make it to the car, quickly putting his bag in the back and climbing in since we could see the paparazzi now scanning the parking lot for us.

Assholes. Leave us alone.

Sebastian drives thankfully. I don't think I would've been able to focus from lack of sleep. I actually end up falling asleep on the way again. I'm thankful for GPS because without it, Sebastian would have been driving with no clue where he was going.

"Madelaine." I hear from somewhere in my sleep.

"Madelaine, come on. We're here. Granny can't lift you, baby." I recognize the voice now.

"Granny?" I ask. "Where are we?"

"We're at my house. Come on, it's cold. Let's get inside." Granny says and I open my eyes slowly. I'm in my grandparent's old car that they got rid of when I was ten.

Am I dreaming?

I unbuckle and slide out, I'm wearing my old silver church shoes and a black dress.

Yeah, definitely dreaming.

I shiver and run towards the door where Granny is waiting for me. The inside of her house is cozy as ever and I quickly kick my shoes off, heading for the back room where she keeps our toys.

Wait. I remember this day.

I begin playing with the blocks from the toy chest and suddenly I'm looking down on myself. The mirror against the wall shows me as I am now as a younger version of myself plays in the floor. I smile a little at how young I am. Maybe eight at the most. My long hair flows down to my waist in dirty blonde, messy curls that I remember mom working on for an hour before church. I don't know why she used to try so hard with my hair. I always played rough enough to mess it up in the first ten minutes.