Madison Laden (Destination Fear)

Part 1 (Persuasion)

Madison's POV

About a week ago Dakota told us that he was getting his own show on Travel Channel and he was filming with Chelsea, Tanner, and Alex. I really want to go. Everyone in my family knows that I have an interest in the paranormal because of what is in our house. Our house has been haunted long before I was born but according to Mom and Dad the activity picked up after I was born. My first experience in our house that I remember was when I was 5 and I was playing when I felt like someone was watching me and I turned to face the corner and I saw a man standing there and I screamed. When I screamed Dakota came running in and the man disappeared and since then I have kept seeing this man among other things. This all has made me more and more curious about the paranormal. Dakota was also a big inspiration in my want to explore the paranormal because of his work with the Ghost Adventures crew.

So I'm off to ask Dakota if I can go with them. He, Tanner, and Alex were all visiting from Vegas where they all share an apartment. I walked out of my room and into the hall towards the direction of Dakota's old room. I stood at his door for a few minutes just working up the courage. I wasn't nervous per say to ask him but I don't know what he will say because he has always been really protective of me and he might think this was too risky. Finally, I knocked on the door. "Come in." I slowly opened the door to find Dakota laying on his old bed looking at his phone, when I walked in he looked up at me and smiled. "Hey."

"Hi." I said and walked towards him and sat on his bed near the end. He sat up and looked at me. "What are you doing?" "Nothing..." he gave me a look, "okay, I have a really really big question." "It's not about your body is it?" "Omg no no no no!" I practically screamed that sentence. He just laughed at me, "Ok then shoot." "So I've been thinking about this since you told us about your show and I don't know what you or anyone else for that matter might say but I gotta ask because if I don't then I'll never know..." he gave me a weird look, "I want to go along with you guys." I said and then looked down at the floor not daring to look up at him worried about what he might say. It had been about a minute or so of silence so I looked up to see him and it seemed like he was actually considering it.

"I don't have a problem with it but we'll have to ask mom and dad and the others." Stunned. I was stunned, I didn't know what to say. I actually thought he would say no, that it was too risky. "Wait really? Like you're not messing with me?" I asked with probably the most dopey grin ever on my face. "Yeah, I mean you grew up in this house along with me and Chelsea and your experiences were a lot worse than ours yet you're not that scared and are still interested in finding answers. That's what my show is going to be about. Finding answers and overcoming our fears to find those answers." I all but squealed and jumped up to hug him. "Woah there Madi, we still have to ask mom and dad." He smiled at me most likely sensing my excitement and we went downstairs to ask mom and dad. We got downstairs and I got more nervous. This isn't going to be as easy to convince them as it was Dakota. "You know what..." Dakota looked at me as we got to the bottom of the stairs, "I'll let you take lead on this conversation." He just laughed at me and headed to the kitchen where our parents were. "Hey kids. What are you doing?" My dad asked looking up from the paper he was reading at the table. "Hey dad, mom we have a question for both of you." I said as we sat down at the table across from our dad and my mom turned the stove off and sat across from us, beside dad.

"We'll what is it" mom asked as she settled down in her seat. I looked at Dakota he gave me a small smile before he started trying to convince them to let me go with them. "We'll we wanted to know if Madi can come with us on the road trip..." he started but stopped when mom gave us a weird look. "You wanna do what now?" She asked like she couldn't believe it. "We want to know if she can come with me, Chelsea, Tanner, and Alex." Dakota repeated. "And why do you think this is a good idea?" Dad asked looking from me, to Dakota, then back to me. "Well we all know how interested in this kind of stuff she is and it would be a good learning experience for her. And we all know with everything that has happened to her in this house it takes a lot to really scare her." They both nodded, agreeing with what Dakota said. "We'll say if you did go what about school? What about you friends?" Mom asked looking at me. "Yeah, summer break is almost over, school is about to start. What are you going to do when you have to leave." Dad asked worrying about school just like mom. "Gosh I didn't even think about that." Dakota said looking at me. "Hey! You're supposed to be on my side!" I hissed elbowing him in the side. "We'll I mean it's a valid argument." "Well what about doing school online? And as far as my friends, I have a phone and it's not like I'm going to be away forever." I said looking at all of them. Dakota made a face like he was saying in his head, 'hey that might actually work.'. Eventually mom and dad said that they would think about it and would let us know what they decide after dinner. Dakota then went outside to talk to the others to see if they were okay with it in case mom and dad said I can go, and I went back upstairs to my room to take a small nap.
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Dakota's POV