"Okay, you ready?" Mark Wielding smiles at his six-year old daughter, Maddison Wielding, as she smoothes down her pink dress with a giggle. "Let's go daddy" she squeals with a toothless grin. Mark buckled the squirmy child in her white car seat, and closed the door with a sigh.
'So far, so good' Mark thinks to himself as he rushes back into the now empty house to make sure there isn't anything left behind. Once everything in check, Mark makes his way out of the driveway in New Jersey, to the long road ahead of him leading to California.
"So where's our new house going to be daddy?" Maddison asks as she watches her home shrink in the distance. "Somewhere far princess, but it won't take long to get there" Mark smiles, glancing at his precious little girl in the rear view mirror.
"Will mommy be there?"
The question makes Mark cringe, as he noticeably grips the steering wheel harshly. "Are you sleepy?" Mark coos, trying to change the subject and get his daughter to fall asleep. "A little" she yawns, but falls asleep in mid sentence after a long stretch.
Marks eyes were glued to the road, but his mind was everywhere else. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he glanced once more at Maddison in the rear view mirror. "We're going to be okay" he whispers to her.
Maddison's mother had died after she had given birth to her. Mark sobbed slightly harder as he remembered the feeling of his wife's hand in his, squeezing in pain, but fell limp in mid process.
Maddison was named after her mother. They even have the same face. The same honey brown color eyes, dirty blonde hair. Even the same smile.. 'Well, maybe the same smile if Maddison's teeth grew in faster' Mark chuckled to himself and made a slow gently turn.
Once they were out of the city, they had started to drive down the long lonely road with nothing around them but trees. It's been about 3 hours of silence, until Mark had heard Maddison yawn. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, Mark noticed that Maddison was now awake.
"Daddy?" She called out rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Yes baby?"
"Are we there yet?"
"Almost.."
A couple of more hours went by, and the sun was barley starting to slowly lower in the sky. "I'm bored" Maddison whined grumpily.
"Well, let's bond" Mark suggested with a smile. "What's that?" Maddison asked, as she exhaled her hot breath on the freezing window, fogging it up.
"Well let's get to learn about each other" Mark explained, but noticed that she was still confused.
"For example, what's your favorite color?"
"Daddy! You know I like pink" Maddison giggled and smiled down at the pretty color on her dress.
"It was just an example" Mark chuckled and looked at the sky.
"The sky is pretty" he smiled and gazed upon the mixing colors of pink and orange.
"Yeah! That's a really pretty color, and it looks like it's going to rain!" Maddison giggled, and pressed the button to roll down her window.
Once she did, she undid her belt and stuck her head out of the window. "Maddison! Get back in here" Mark yelled worriedly and reaching his hand to the back to grab his daughter.
"But daddy, look" she tried to explain, but was pulled backwards into the car by her father. During this motion, Mark's arm seemed to have slipped as the car began to swerve to the side. Before Mark could get his hands back on the wheel, the car slammed against the tree, flipping the car to the left, rolling down the mini ditch.
Maddison's screams rang in Marks ears, as he helplessly knew that his daughter was not buckled and flying everywhere in the back.
'Lord, Protect her' Mark repeatedly prayed and blacked out mid-roll.
It's been about 30 minutes of Maddison crying in pain as the car was on fire. "Daddy!!" She cried as she sat far away from the car, not knowing what to do but call for her dad.
Mark sadly, was dead.
The fire went out as it began to rain, leaving Maddison a fearful mess. She tried to find her daddy, but only found a dark empty road.
"Daddy, I'm so scared" she whispered to herself, and looked up at the stars. There were so many, and something told her to keep going straight.
Hesitating, Maddison continued to silently walk down the road in the pitch black night, with no light but the stars and moon shining. Maddison was tired and dehydrated, but she couldn't stop walking. She knew she had to keep going.
After a couple of hours of walking nonstop, Maddison finally collapsed on the cold wet road. The rain drenched her clothes, as she shivered in the dark. "Where are you daddy..?" She shivered, and closed her eyes. Through her eyelids, she had could sense a bright light.
She slightly opened them and saw a cars head light coming closer. She knew she had to get out of the way, but she was to weak to. She heard the loud screeches of the car hauling to a stop, and squeezed her eyes shut from the bright lights.
'Maybe they can help find daddy' Maddison thought and forced her tired body to stand up. "Oh my gosh, sweetie are you okay!?" Maddison heard a woman scream and saw the silhouette of a lady running to her. "H-help!" Maddison croaked, and collapsed again.
The woman kneeled down next to Maddison and picked her up in her arms. Maddison looked up at the woman and started to cry. All of this was confusing, and scary to her.
"Oh no, you're all wet" the woman gasped and rushed Maddison back to her car. It was surprisingly warm, and Maddison sniffed and wiped her face off with the back of her hand.
"You have to help me" Maddison explained as the woman slid in the drivers seat. "Honey, why are you all scratched up?? You're bleeding! I need to take you to the hospital" the woman spoke quickly.
Maddison looked down and saw blood and mud covered on her dress. "This was my new dress" Maddison cried and shook her bottom lip, knowing that the gift her daddy gave her was now ruined.
All this crying and fear overwhelmed Maddison, so she fell asleep, not caring anymore. Not caring if she was in a strangers car. Not caring about her dress. Not caring about the pain on her shoulder and face.
She just wanted sleep, and that's exactly what she got.
