Tumbledown

Chapter 3

The further away from the Harrison's house the darker it became and Maddie felt it was safe to slow down but with no light coming through the trees it was no wonder that she fell down the steep, overgrown path that would lead her to Tumbledown Cottage.

Picking herself up Maddie found herself confronted by a dark, derelict cottage that had seen better days. The long neglected building with part of its roof missing, windows broken and general disrepair did not look very inviting to the soaked young girl.

Although Maddie did not really want to enter the dark cottage she felt that there was no choice, it was spend the night there, catch pneumonia or go back to where she had come from. Maddie screwed up all of her courage, pushed the rotting front door open and entered the old house to find that the inside was almost as bad as the exterior.

Venturing up the stairs Maddie could hear each one creak loudly as she carefully made her way through the cottage, with no light and her eyes adjusting slowly to the darkness it was difficult to see anything at all. The young girl held her hands out before her and slowly felt her way to what she thought was a bedroom. In the pitch dark Maddie could just make out the shape of a bed and not wanting to lie upon a dirty old mattress she slid to the floor and curled up there to face the night alone.

It was not long before an exhausted Maddie fell asleep on the filthy floor of the third guest bedroom in Tumbledown Cottage.

Maddie awoke early the next morning with the sun shining through the huge open window to find her-self in a comfortable bed with fresh warm bedding. Looking around the room she was amazed to see a cosy well-furnished room. It was a little old fashioned for the young girl's taste but she could not help but feel the room was put together with love and care.

How she had found herself in the bed and the amazing transformation that the room had undergone were questions that Maddie needed answers to and to that end she forced herself to rise and go downstairs.

There were amazing smells coming from the kitchen and Maddie found herself gravitating towards them.

"Ah you are up, that is good. You must be starving my girl."

Maddie was still trying to process the change in the cottage from the previous night.

"I don't understand, this place was in a dreadful state last night."

"Really my girl I do not know what you mean, it was dark and you were tired. By the by it is not very polite to say that someone's home is in a state ."

Maddie was not convinced by this woman's glib explanation but thought it best to just play along.

"I am sorry perhaps you are right, thank you for letting me stay the night in your home."

"Nonsense my girl what else should I do, leave you out in the rain to drown? I am Mrs Didcot and there is fresh bread, eggs, bacon and juice so please do help your-self."

"Thank you Mrs Didcot, my name is Maddison and I am not very hungry."

Maddie was not too sure why she had used her preferred name or why she had lied about not being hungry as she was ravenous.

"Now let's not be foolish my girl, breakfast is the most Important meal of the day and I have gone to all of this trouble to make this good food for you, it would be criminal to waste it now wouldn't it?"

Maddie said nothing and just tucked into the food put before her and relished every morsel.

"Thank you again Mrs Didcot I am very grateful but I must be leaving after breakfast."

"As you wish my girl."

There was an open newspaper on the table in front of Maddie and on the left page there was a full paged ad that displayed in bold letters.