DARK INTENTIONS

Chapter 1*

"Priscilla!!!”  Madison yelled from the bottom of the stairs.  “Girl, get your butt out of bed, now!” She said as she entered her best friend‘s room.  She watched her friend groan under the pillow that covered her face.  Madison removed the pillow and then smacked Priscilla with it.

"Jeez, Maddie. I heard you the first time and that hurt.”  Cilla complained. 

“Really, how come you’re not moving?”  She planted her hand on her hips for dramatic effect.

“I don’t want to go to school.  Leave me alone.”  She sighed while trying to retrieve her blanket from Maddie. 

“Not an excuse.  You are going to school.  Now get up!”  Maddie exclaimed.  She walked over to the window and opened the curtains to let the sunlight shine on her grumpy friend’s face.

Priscilla huffed and glared at her peppy friend.  “You are so mean.  Ok, I’ll get out of bed, when you admit that you will dump Victor.”  She smiled.

“I’m not dumping Victor.” 

“Yay, I get to go back to bed.”  She said in a singing tone.  “Like today is so special.  Please, who celebrates the first day of school?”  Cilla covered her face with a pillow.  She let out a sigh when she thought Maddie had left her alone but she thought wrong.

Madison just rolled up her sleeves, marched over to one side of the bed and with both hands, flipped the mattress over.  She smiled, knowing that it wasn’t a struggle to lift the mattress with her friend on it.  Wow, working out with Cilla, does pay off.  She saw a look of shock washes over Cilla’s face as she flexed her muscles.  “Hey your work outs, do work.  Now, get your fat ass in that bathroom.”  Maddie said as Priscilla’s mouth dropped wide open.

“My ass isn’t that big.  Not everyone can work hard to be a stick figure!”  Cilla shouted from the bathroom door.

Madison laughed, “Don’t blame my genes.  Your Italian blood gave you all your curves.”  She went back to fix Cilla’s bed and went down to prepare breakfast. 

Priscilla finished brushing her teeth and returned to her room.  She grabbed her favorite skinny blue jeans and purple novel t-shirt with her old-navy jacket.  She laughed as she looked back on how she became Madison’s best friend. 

Flashback from thirteen years ago

Mrs. Heart’s kindergarten class was out on recess.  Priscilla was on the swing and Madison was in the sandbox making sandcastles alone.  Maddie was smaller than other kids and was afraid the ball would hurt her when playing with a group.  She was in her own little world when Travis St. Paul and his brother Aidan came up behind her. 

“Times up, girl.  Gimme that shovel!”  Travis ordered.

“No” she said unsure.

“No? Aidan get the shovel.” He said to his brother.

Aidan felt nervous but obeyed his brother.  He looked at the girl in front of him.  He wanted to refuse but maybe if he kept his brother happy, Travis wouldn’t be sent away.  For Travis, his mind was not in the right place.  Doctors said that Travis was in danger, being expose to lead poisoning that affected his brain.  This defect turned this fun loving big brother into an unpredictable unstable person.  He reached for the shovel but the girl resisted and he didn’t even hesitated to yank it out of her hands.  He handed the shovel to his brother.

 “There, you have your shovel.  You can go now.”  Maddie said, trying to be confident. 

“Oh, I want to give you something.” He said as his eyes darken.  Not waiting for a respond, he slapped Madison with the back of the toy shovel.  He smiled when watched her fall back and tried not to cry in front of him.  “You’re well…” He didn’t even get to finish his sentence when a brown-hair girl knocked him on his back.