Saving Madison

Chapter Two

Tyler's p.o.v »»

I looked up when a glass of water was put in front of me, following the arm up to Sheriff Hill. He looked tired and confused as he walked around his desk to his chair, sighing as he did so. I couldn't blame him; I was just as tired and confused as he was. I was still shivering from the coldness of the water I had jumped in, wrapping the blankets tighter around me.

I closed my eyes briefly, preparing myself for the questions I would inevitably be bogged down with.
"Tell me what happened from your perspective," He instructed, leaning back in the chair, pen in his hand and paper ready to be written on.

"Exactly what I told you on the way here: I was out for a run and I passed by the lake, and I saw her. She was just...there. Floating, I guess." I told him, and that was the truth. I looked down at the floor, my brain too jumbled to think clearly and the events of tonight had yet to actually register in my head.

"Why were you running by the lake?" He asked, and my eyebrows furrowed. "I thought you hadn't been to the lake in, what? Two years? Why go back tonight?" The sheriff questioned.

"Who told you I hadn't been there in two years?" I asked, curious to know just how much he knew about me. We lived in a small town, word travels, but that's not the kind of information you just talk about over dinner.

"I just heard it from somebody." He said simply, and it was my turn to sigh. "I used to go there, but I stopped going when I started high school. I went to therapy today and my therapist told me that I should go back there to "make peace with it", so to speak. So, I did." He wrote as I spoke, but his scribbled handwriting made it almost impossible to me to read what he was writing.

"How did she look when you found her?" I took a sip of water, my hands shaking slightly.
"Like she had been dead," the sarcasm in my voice was unintended. "She was pale, frail, smaller than I remember. But then again, it's been awhile since I've really seen her." The Sheriff nodded, scribbling more on the page.

"What was your relationship to Madison Taylor?" That was it. That was the one question he could have asked that I did not have a solid answer to. Who Madison Taylor was to me was something unknown to me, and probably unknown to her. Man, it didn't feel right saying or thinking that. She had been dead for six months, and here I was wondering how she thought about me.

"We were friends." Three years ago.
"How well did you know her?" Not as well as I thought.
"We used to be close, but haven't been for a while."
"So, why did you save her?" Why did I save her? What kind of question was that?
"Because-."

"Tyler!" The door opened and my name was called, causing both me and the Sheriff to turn our attention to the doorway, where my mother was standing, my younger brother Will behind her. She was in her pajama pants and an Army sweatshirt, her hair pulled back by a headband and her dark brown eyes looking frantically between us.

"We're in the middle of something, Reyna." Sheriff Hill told her, standing up the same time as I did, but she walked towards me and embraced me tightly.
"He's shaken up, Drew, don't you think you can do this tomorrow?" She asked, looking up over my shoulder at him.

I raised my eyebrows behind her back at Will, who shrugged at our mom's use of the Sheriff's first name.
"We're almost finished, I just need to ask him a few more questions." She let me go, moving closer to the Sheriff, not shrinking at the fact that he towered over her.

"He's cold, tired, and needs some rest. Let him have that." The Sheriff looked between the two of us before settling on Will.

"Okay, we can do this another time." She nodded her thanks, grabbing my arm and pulling me out the door, barely giving Will time to move before we were out. She pulled me back into a hug, one I had time to reciprocate.

"How are you feeling?" She asked pulling back and grabbing my face in her hands, looking me over.
"Are you sure it was Madison?"
"Mom, you just took me away from being asked ten million questions, I just want to go home." Really, I wanted to go to the hospital to see Madison. Madison Taylor, my old best friend who killed herself during sophomore year. Madison Taylor, the girl who I had pulled out of a lake less than an hour ago.

〜〜〜〜

It reached almost three o'clock as I sat outside, looking across the dark street at the house that was occupied by the Taylor family. Mrs. Taylor's car wasn't in the driveway, which I had expected. Her daughter, who was presumed dead and drowned, was just found alive. By me, one of her reasons for death. I knew it'd be a while until they came home, something I took solace in.

"You want some ice cream?" I jumped slightly from the voice I heard, seeing Will standing behind me with two bowls in his hand. He held one out to me, which I took with a nod of thanks. He sat beside me, digging his spoon in.

"What are you doing up so late?" I asked, delighted with the chocolate taste. He had put in chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, chocolate chips and M&M's, exactly how I liked it, and he hated it. Of course, he knew I'd take it.

"I can't go to sleep now that this happened." He took another scoop of ice cream. "It's like, everytime I think about it, I can only think about her dying and what happened to you because of it. What happened to the town, really." I nodded, following along. "This is all another level of weird."

We sat awhile in silence, nothing but the sound of our spoons hitting the bowls making us heard.
"She killed herself to get away from me, and I'm the one who found her, alive." I shook my head, looking at the ground.

"She didn't do it because of you, Ty, there's no way you were the only reason. It's not called 1 Reason Why." I couldn't help but chuckle, although I knew he was being serious. "We need to move." I announced after a few minutes of silence. "This town is too small."

"You weren't saying that when everything was going well."

"Things haven't been going well since middle school, Will." And I meant that more than anything.