Leaving Life

Leaving.

After a long day at her pristine private school, Madeline Kenzington is happy to be heading home at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. She lounges in the back of her very own powder blue Prius her dad bought her for her 10th birthday. She doesn't drive it of course. Her chauffeur, Joseph Bailey, is just one of her father's full servant staff. He wears his freshly ironed uniform and his requried chauffeur hat. As Joseph pulled into their driveway, pulling the keys out of the ignition, Maddie sensed a dreary feeling lingering in the air. She gathered her backpack and textbooks and headed up their front walk. She pushed open the massive brown doors but before she could get inside her friend, Jessie, ran up to her huffing and puffing. Jessie wasn't the brightest bulb... or the best influence. Her parents weren't Jesse's biggest fan, but they had been best friends since almost birth.

"Hey. What's up?" Jessie coughed, barely able to get the words out.

Glancing inside, Maddie made up an excuse, "I have... uh... tons of homework. Sorry." Before Jessie could answer she went inside and closed the door. She normally wouldn't ditch Jessie like that she really felt like something was wrong. She pulled the ponytail out of her beautiful brown hair and flicked it over her shoulder, sending golden sunlight, from the skylight, shimmering through it. Her hair gently rested on her back reaching down to the bottom of her shoulder blades. Her eyes were an emerald green with bits of yellow that glimmered slightly. Her cat, Prince Terrain Kenzington II (PTK for short), greeted her with an excited meow and rubbed against her leg. PTK had the brightest orange fur you've ever seen. The problem was it was so thick it seem everything got stuck in it. She headed toward the kitchen, to get a snack, and heard a soft sobbing coming from her parents master bedroom. Averted from her original plan she wandered into the immense room.

Natalia was kneeling on the cold marble of their bathroom floor. Her brother was nowhere to be seen. Usual Bobby, Maddie thought to herself but got a sickening feeling at the thought of her brother.Nowadays she couldn't stay mad at him. Instead she pitied him. Ever since their mom died he didn't get out much. He was traumatized. It seemed the only thing he focused on was his studies. He could be such a nerd. He cut himself off from everything: his clubs, his friends, and worst of all... from her.

She walked closer to her step-mom and saw her father lying on the ground in front of her. His neck was bruised and his head was turned awkwardly to the side. His once handsomely ruffled, dark brown hair was strewn around his head like he had been thrown around. The warm and gentle look Maddie knew so well was now stuck in a permanent grimace. His chest remained motionless as she stared completely and utterly confused. Maddie was a bit of a sleuth, so she easily put two and two together. She gasped. Her father had been murdered!

Still in shock from the fact that her father had been murdered, Maddie sat at the kitchen counter, staring blankly at the wall. With a sudden realization Maddie shouted, "Has anyone called the police yet?"

All she gets are blank stares. Her brother had come downstairs for the first time in long while. I guess, the only reason he shows his face anymore is when people turn up dead. Bobby looked just like Maddie, brown hair that swooped to the side that was kind of thick. He usually had a beanie on, he had a collection of them. He had greenie-blue eyes, they glimmered just like her own. His skin was fairly pale just like her own, they were mistaken for twins at times. Natalia opened her mouth and her voice came out shaky at first, "I don't want this to become a public affair. I want to have a nice funeral for your father and, well... you know how your father's work makes him very popular in the world of the media..."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Maddie felt her face getting hot and her hands begin to sweat.

"I'm just saying, if this goes public a peaceful funeral would not be possible. We would be swarmed by paparazzi and journalists."