The car ride home was spent mostly in silence. When Melissa dropped Nick off at the studio, so he could learn Brandon's part of the duet Maddie had to hold back tears that were threatening to fall. Maddie wanted nothing more than to run into the studio, and hug Abby, Gianna, and all of the girls, but she couldn't. She had to recover first.
Saying goodbye to Nick was very hard for her as well. He had been by her side since the first second, and now she had to be separated from him. It was giving her some separation anxiety. Maddie looked out the window the rest of the car ride home after they had dropped Nick off.
When they reached their home Maddie got right out of the car, and walked straight to her room. She didn't acknowledge Mackenzie, or Greg who were both sitting on the couch with smiles on their faces. That was until they saw the look of sadness on Maddie's face.
A few moments later the family, and Melissa heard Maddie's door slam. With the questioning look from her husband Melissa simply answered with, "She misses Nick". Which resulted in nods from both Mackenzie and Greg.
Later that afternoon Melissa was making dinner for the family while Greg left for work. He didn't want to leave his family right now, but he had gotten called in, so he had no choice, but to leave. Maddie still hadn't come out of her room, but the family decided to give her space.She would come out when she was ready.
"Mom? Is Maddie okay?" Mackenzie asked as she sat at the breakfast bar, watching Melissa stir the spaghetti that they would be having for dinner that night.
"Yes honey. She is okay. She just wishes Nick was here with her right now." Melissa explained as simple as she could without going into the serious details that would scare Mackenzie.
"Why isn't Nick here with her then?" She asked innocently.
"He is busy learning Brandon's part in the duet Brandon was supposed to have with Maddie." Melissa said starting to get a little flustered with her youngest daughter's questions.
"But why is he learning the part if it is Brandon's duet with Maddie?" Mackenzie countered back at her mother.
"Because Miss Abby thought that Nick would be a better placement in the duet than Brandon." Melissa said through slightly gritted teeth. She didn't want to yell at her for asking such questions since she didn't know all that was going on with the whole situation, but it was quite hard to contain the anger that was building up inside of her thinking about how all of this was Brandon's fault.
"But why?"
"Because Mackenzie she just thought it would be a better choice! Now enough with the questions!" She yelled firmly while turning away from the stove to look at her daughter. Upon seeing the look on Mackenzie's face though, she instantly felt bad for yelling at her. Mackenzie was only curious.
"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to yell at you. It is just a really stressful time for all of us." Melissa said while walking over to place a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Can you do me a favor, and go get Maddie from her room. It's time to eat, and she needs to eat dinner."
Mackenzie nodded wiping at her eyes to make the tears that had formed subside. She hated being yelled at. She understood Melissa was stressed with Maddie, so she blamed herself for being stupid, and asking such questions at a time like this even though she didn't know exactly what was going on.
Soon she stood up from her stool, and ran down the hallway to the stairs before running up at the stairs herself. When she got to Maddie's room she knocked softly. "Maddie!" She called which was only followed by silence. "Maddie?" She knocked again, but still got no answer.
Mackenzie then thought maybe she had fallen asleep, and couldn't hear her through the door, so she opened the door expecting to see her sister laying in her bed sound asleep. That was not the case however.
"Maddie!" She cried before yelling for Melissa just as loud if not louder. Maddie was nowhere to be seen in her room, and her bedroom window was wide open. The comforter from her bed, and sheets were thrown on the ground, and the curtains from her window were hanging lopsided.
When Melissa got up to the room after Mackenzie's loud cry for her she saw the sight before her, and couldn't hold back her tears. She knew what this looked like. Someone had taken Maddie.
Someone had taken Melissa's precious baby girl.
