Madison (Maddy) Briggs is from Manhattan, New York. She was in 3rd grade, just 8 years old, when the World Trade Centers fell on September 11th, 2001. Her dad was a firefighter, and his station was one of the first on scene that day.
Her dad, Larry...
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"I told you...."
"Get off!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March was in full-swing, and spring was approaching Austin, Texas. Maddy just got home from a long, 11-hour day at the hospital and was eager to take a shower and get dinner ready.
She was slowly working her way back to being at her place mostly full-time; therapy was helping her a lot. And while she hadn't fully forgiven herself yet, she was on her way there. She was starting to slowly come to terms with the fact that it wasn't her fault.
She got out of the shower and walked back to her bedroom. Tex was sleeping on her bed, and Maddy pet her as she walked past to go to her dresser, which was against the wall, next to the window. She rummaged through the blue dresser, looking for her favorite shirt of Tim's (his grey EMT shirt).
She became distracted for a moment, by a sound outside of her window. She walked over and swore she saw someone standing back, looking in— she jumped, but looked again and saw nothing. Her mind was playing tricks on her, and she hated it. ——————————————————————— Maddy made dinner and got comfortable on her couch, and looked through her Disney+ account for a movie to watch.
As the 'Avengers' started to play, she heard the noise outside again and carefully looked out her first floor window.
She didn't see anything, again, so she made sure the window was locked and the blinds and curtains were closed tight. She walked back to her living room, and heard knocking on her front door, but she didn't walk to it right away, assuming it was just her mind again. But the knocking didn't stop, so she silently approached the door and looked out. She gasped and slowly backed up towards her couch. "Mike...." she whispered to herself.
Tex was still sleeping on her bed, so she went to look for her phone to call Carlos when she heard the knocking again, "Madison.... I know you're in there darlin, let me in." Mike's words were slurred as he continued to knock on her door. "Sweetheart, please... let me in..."
Maddy panicked. She didn't want him to hear her footsteps, or her on the phone, so she walked back toward the door. "GO AWAY!" She snapped.
Maddy looked through the peephole, and saw Mike stumble backwards, "fine..." he slurred and walked away. Maddy sighed as she walked back to her couch. Tex had woken up and met her in the living room. She slumped onto her couch, and fell asleep to a movie she'd seen many times. ——————————————————————— Maddy was awoken to the sound of her door slamming shut, she surely must've been dreaming so she sat for a minute longer before she finally stood up and was knocked back by who she saw.
"How the fuck did you get in my house?!" Maddy yelled.
"Your door was unlocked... and I told you.... you would pay for getting me kicked off of my job." He walked toward Maddy, who reached behind her and fumbled with her iPhone.. and attempted to dial TK or Carlos.
"You didn't tell me shit!" Maddy was fuming as she fumbled with her phone. She narrowed her eyes and Mike spoke again, "at the red light.. bitch!" Maddy thought back to that day, he was yelling at her... he must've been threatening her.
Mike walked around, pacing back and forth in Maddy's apartment, when he turned his back to her— Maddy quietly got out her phone and entered the group text she had with TK and Carlos, she texted '911...'
"Who are you calling?!" Mike barked. Maddy tossed her phone onto her couch, "no one. Calm the fuck down!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Babe?"
"Did you get Maddy's text??"
"Yeah.. what the fuck?! I'm going over!"
"You're on shift.."
"I don't care! It's Mads! Come get me babe, now!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You lost me my job!"
"No! You lost it yourself, dick! You can't fucking attack me like that! And now you're in my home! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
"YOU MADE ME this way! I wanted YOU, and you WOULDN'T EVEN LOOK AT ME!" his eyes narrowed as he ran towards Maddy, who stumbled backwards over her coffee table, hitting her head.
She didn't black out, so she staggered to her feet. "Cause you're a fucking psycho.. now get off!"
Mike stood over her and grabbed the collar of her T-shirt and slammed her head against the floor of her apartment— just as she blacked out, and heard Tex hissing at her attacker, she heard other voices.
Her eyes closed, and she saw darkness.
———————————————————————
"Maddy.... Maddy.."
Maddy's eyes slowly opened and she was surrounded on either side by Carlos, TK, and Owen. She smiled as she sat up to rub the back of her head, "hi boys... thanks."
"Do you remember what happened Mads?!"
"Unfortunately... yeah, Mike went fucking ape shit."
"Prick.."
"It's fine Teek.." Maddy could tell he was still fuming. "How's Tex??"
Owen leaned up to grab her hand, "she's fine. Brave cat. Got a piece of him actually, but he didn't hurt her." Maddy breathed a sigh of relief as she rubbed her fingers over Owen's hand. TK added his hand to the pile and Carlos stood up on the other side of her, and kissed her forehead.
"I love you all.." Maddy sniffed. "I hope you know that. My hero's, all for you. Tim would be so thankful for y'all.." she smiled.
TK stood up, "speaking of Tim.. we saved your shirt too. No blood."
Maddy teared up. She smiled at the room, "thank you! Fuck.. I am the luckiest lady. Did you arrest him C?"
"Hell yes. He's going to jail Mads. Don't worry."
"I'm not.. that's why I sent y'all the text. I knew you'd come for me.." Maddy winked. "Can one of y'all get me some food from the cafeteria? I'm starving!" She laughed. Owen shook his head as TK and Carlos laughed. "I'll go." Maddy smiled, "thanks Owen!"
Owen came back with a tuna salad sandwich for Maddy, and ham and cheese for the guys.
Maddy's head throbbed every time she chewed, but her hunger was worse.
