The Queen Of Spades

Chapter 7, Continued, Again

Bex was laying on the park bench with her eyes closed when a shadow covered her. She opened her eyes slightly and looked at the figure standing in the sun. "What?" She grumbled.
"You are going to get me fired, Maddie. That's what." Caleb said.
"What did I say would happen if you called me that again?"
"Oliver did it first."
"He's not allowed to either, I'll deal with it later though." She stood up and took out her knife. "Arm." She demanded.
Caleb laughed, "If you think I'm gonna let you cut me, you're delusional."
Bex shrugged. "Okay." She moved quickly and cut him right under the jaw. "You don't need to let me. Why am I gonna get you fired?"
"You won't let me do my job! You know if I leave you're going to get a full time detail. An adult detail. Try explaining that away."
"I could care less. Besides, if Ollie did that I would literally stab him in the throat."
"Are you ever going to stop being so violent?"
"Let me think about that. No." She pushed him away and laid back down on the bench with her arm over her eyes. She felt his presence hovering over her and said, "If you don't leave, I'm gonna scream. Noah and his friends will think something happened and you'll be arrested. If you want to do your job like you say, go and sit on that bench and leave me alone." Caleb muttered something indecipherable and walked over to the park bench opposite Bex. Clouds soon came and covered the sun, putting a chill in the air and Caleb said it was time to go home. That house is not her home. Bex put her jacket on and refused to leave, saying she would not go back to that house until she absolutely must. Eventually she was forced to go back to the Hudson's house for dinner and reluctantly got in Caleb's car.

For a week and a half Bex functioned great as Madelyn and even managed to get back on the drill team in time to make state. Then, on February 2nd 2021, Bex was on her daily phone call with Oliver during History class. "Bex," he said, "I have to tell Madelyn something really important. Wake her up for a minute." Bex thought for a second what could be so important that I needed to be awake before giving me control. "What, Oliver?" I asked.
"And good morning to you. There's been a breakthrough. They have a suspect in custody in relation to the case."
"When's the court date?"
"Two weeks from today."
I put my hand over my mouth to keep from crying, this was unbelievable. "Okay. Bye Oliver." After taking a shaky breath, I went inside and sank into my chair to take my test. I hurriedly finished and packed up as the bell rang. In the hallway, I made my way to the first floor bathroom and stood at the sink, staring in the mirror and trying to compose myself as tears streamed silently down my cheeks. A stall door opened and Melody came up to the sink to wash her hands. I wiped my eyes and splashed water on my face, using my sleeve to dry off before quickly leaving.
"Wait, Madelyn!" Melody called from inside the bathroom.
"What do you want, Melody?" I asked her.
"Are you okay?"
I went back into the bathroom and looked her dead in the eye, taking a deep breath. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this, okay, um, this is gonna be really hard for you to hear."
"What is it, Madelyn?"
"He really did love you, okay? As far as I could tell, he was in love with you. He told me he wanted to marry you after he graduated. I shouldn't have been so rude to you but I couldn't think of another excuse to not tell you."
"He ghosted me, right? Fell in love with someone else?"
"No, Mels, he's- he's dead."
"What? What are you talking about? He can't be dead."
"I'm so sorry, I know how hard this must be but you can't tell anyone. This is really important, okay? No one else can know."
"What do you mean no one can know? What the Hell happened to him?"
"He was murdered. Last summer. He’s buried on the south side of the cemetery downtown if you want to see for yourself."
"Oh- oh my gosh, that's awful! Mads, why didn't you tell me?"
"I'm not supposed to be telling you now but it seems my other half is rubbing off on me a bit." I said, watching the tears stream down her face. "Clean yourself up and then get to class, remember, not a word."
"If you ever need anything Madelyn-" she started but I cut her off.
"I'm just gonna stop you right there. You can't do anything for me. You can't help me, and I don't need anything. Nothing you do is gonna fix what happened. Now, I have to get out there before Caleb comes in here." Then I left and Caleb walked me to class, annoyingly trying to make conversation the entire time. I know, I shouldn't have just left her there but I hate watching girls cry.