Unhappily ever after

Chapter 18 - Time is running out

I stood there. We stared at each other for a moment. It was unbelievable. How was she alive? How could she be here right now?

I saw her die. I buried her. She was dead. Yet there she was, standing right in front of me.

I heard a voice from inside the house call out my name, I think it was Noah. I looked behind and saw him open the door. He was about to see Maddy. Oh my god! This was really happening. But he didn't react, he just looked at me, giving me a sympathetic smile.

"I thought you'd run away by now." He said.

I was confused. Why wasn't he surprised to see Maddy alive, he did love her after all.

"There's no point running. A will find me wherever I am. Aren't you at least a little bit surprised to see her again?" I said, pointing to Maddy behind me.

"See who?" He asked me.

I turned around to point her out again. But she was gone.

And it was just me and Noah.

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After that I just ran to my car and drove away as fast as I could. Did I just imagine all of that? Was I going crazy? Was I really losing it? Or was Maddy back from the dead?

I stopped and pulled over. I looked at myself in the mirror in the car. And I slapped my face. And again. I was awake. And I was not imagining it. Maybe I was going crazy. Maybe not. But I could hear her breathing when she stood there. Her hair was flowing in the breeze. And her eyes were flickering through me. She looked truly alive. Unless I was going crazy, she really was here. Maddy was back. And I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing?

As I drove myself home, I started to feel fear creep up inside me. I started to dread tomorrow. Now I know that she is alive. I started to wonder... what was she going to do, now that she was back? Suddenly I was terrified. It's not just A that we have to be afraid of...

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The next day, I walked into school; focused on the exams that I had to study for but failing at that. I couldn't focus on anything. My mind was all over the place. I felt like I was going crazy.

As soon as I saw the whole group gathered at my locker, chatting about last nights adventure, I snuck into the toilets. I avoided them the entire day, or at least tried to. There was no way I could tell them what I saw last night. I didn't want to know how they would react. And would they even believe me anyway?

At the end of the day, the final bell rang. And I walked out of the toilets, as I made my way to the school car park, Dylan suddenly stood in front of me, blocking my way.

"I didn't think you'd be in school today." He said, with his arms crossed, looking concerned.

"I have exams to study for." I simply said and I walked straight past him, towards my car.

I laid awake in bed that night, unable to sleep, my mind wide awake.

I hopped out of my bed and rushed over to my closet, I picked the biggest coat I could find and threw it on. I grabbed my keys and my phone and slipped on a pair of shoes and snuck out of my house.

I drove to the Lost Woods Resort, and walked quickly into the woods, turning on my torch as I left the resort behind me.

It was silent apart from the occasional chirping of birds and the wind sweeping over the branches of the trees.

I stopped in the middle of the woods, at a clearing. I was at the spot. Where we buried her that night.

I then knelt down on my knees, and started to dig up the earth beneath me with my hands.

I had to know. I had to know if she was really alive. If we buried her alive.

I kept digging through the night. The full moon was out by the time I found her. I felt her cold dead hand in mine, I saw a small tattoo of a fairy on her wrist and I immediately knew it was her.

I leant back on the tree behind me, coming to the conclusion that I really was going crazy. And I knew that I deserved it. Well you know what they say, karma's a bitch...

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It was a brand new day, which meant a fresh start. But for me I knew what I needed to do, because if I was ever going to work out what I saw that night I needed help. So I went to a counsellor.

It was a young man in his 30's, his office was on the edge of town which was the best thing for me as I didn't want anyone seeing me there.

My first appointment was at 4:00, and I sat there waiting for him to finish his paperwork on me.

He placed his file back in the cabinet and took out a notebook to start making notes. He looked up at me with a blank expression on his face. He leaned forward and clicked his pen and wrote my name.

"Why are you here today?" He asked me. I was taken aback. Such a simple but forward question. It wasn't cryptic at all.

"I told you. Because I'm scared."

"Yes. You said you were scared but you never said what you were afraid of."

"I'm afraid of this town."

"There must be a reason and a story behind why you're afraid of this town. Something underneath it all"

I gulped as I felt myself heat up with sweat. I was stressing more than normal. I knew everything was confidential but how could I tell him about A. When there are people's lives at stake. How could I tell him about any of it?

"So what did you come here today to talk about?"

"I came to talk about my friend who died."

"Alison?"

"Yes. Ali."

"Why now?"

"Because I'm finally ready to talk about her and what she did to me before she died."