Madison and The Monsters

21. Giving it a Try

 "One last thing before your mum gets here," Dr. Fox started to say.

"What is it?" Madison asked, much more relaxed than the night before.

"You know people aren't perfect, right?"

"Yeah," Madison said with no hesitation.

"You also realize you aren't perfect?" he asked narrowing in on the topic.

Madison was silent for a moment. Without meaning to she always thought of herself as better, superior. No one had said something like this to her before and she hadn't even thought about it. She had a tendency to point out people's flaws, well everyone other than her. It wasn't like she didn't realize she also made mistakes. It was more like she thought she made fewer mistakes. To Madison she seemed perfect, or at least better than her fellow humans. Well she never thought she was better than her dad, he had seemed perfect. She slowly nodded not completely sure what she was realizing.

"We're all trying are best at making it through what life throws at us, kid. Some react by causing harm to others, some try to avoid what's coming at them or grit their teeth and bare it, and still some face each problem and keep moving forwards. Some have more thrown at them than others, and some seem to glide through life. We're all equal, kid, what defines us is how we react to our problems. We're all just trying our best."

"It's not fair."

"Life's not fair. You got a bigger load thrown at you and we can't do anything about that. All you can do is try."

"Thanks for the talk, I guess."

"That your mum's car?"

"Yeah," Madison murmured, worried for how her mum would react.

Madison stepped out into the spring air. Her mother was already out of the car and running towards her. The familiar arms wrapped around her. She hugged her mum back perhaps that would get her out of trouble. It didn't.

"Thank you so much Dr. Fox," her mum left her standing there awkwardly.

"It was the right thing to do. Madison's alright and that's what matters," he smiled at her mother.

"Well thanks," Madison's mum waved her towards the car.

Madison got in without complaint, despite her discomfort with cars. Her mum was the first to speak, "I'm glad you didn't decide to sleep outside again. I am however very upset you tried to walk home from the sleepover."

"They don't have a home phone," was all Madison said.

"Alexis' mum was already asleep?"

"Yeah."

"Couldn't you just stay with it?"

"They were talking about dad, asking questions," Madison said simply.

"Really?"

"Why'd I lie?"

"I'm sorry, I just, I thought those girls were nice."

"The trio are about the meanest people I know."

"Did they ask about his... death?"

"Yeah." Madison's mum was shocked. Perhaps she was used to getting pity and sensitivity; she knew some people could be excessively blunt though. She knew this was incredibly hard on her daughter and she couldn't help but pity her.

"Can Alice come over later today? We really need to talk?" Madison asked quietly. Fortunately for her, her mum could understand. She got a yes, possibly a pity yes. Madison really didn't care what caused the yes, she just cared that it existed.

Alice arrived at the Fisher residence at three pm. Madison's mum even made them snacks, probably pity snacks. The girls went outside and sat at the table on the deck. Neither spoke for an awkward amount of time. Both wanted to talk they were just struggling to do so.

"So?" Alice tried to start a conversation.

"What happened after I left?" Madison asked.

"Well they lost interesting in prying me for info pretty quick, and then we went to bed. This morning they mostly ignored me and I went home early, before lunch. What happened on your side?"

"Noir chased me. He spoke to me a little. Then after he left me be I found a pay phone and called Dr. Fox. I stayed in his daughter's room for the night. My mum picked me up in the morning."

"You know I don't..." Alice tried to tell Madison that she didn't really want to talk about this sort of thing.

"Marigold returned yesterday."

"Uh, that's good..." Alice had no clue what to say.

"What will it take for you to believe me?"

"Proof."

"I'll talk to Marigold; I'll be back out in a moment."

"Okay."

Madison ran up to her room. If Marigold didn't agree she didn't want to look crazy. She sat on her bed and pleaded with Marigold in her mind. The fairy didn't respond at first. Madison had just about given up when the bubbly fairy appeared in front of her.

"Marigold."

"What is it?" The fairy asked.

"Would you be willing to show yourself to Alice?"

"I suppose."

"And Andrew?"

"Sure."

"I'll go get Andrew and we can do this outside."

"Okay," the fairy couldn't help but be pleased with the joy she'd caused in the child.

Madison ran to her brother's room. She knocked on his door as if he couldn't possibly hear it. When he opened the door she noticed he had a boy in his room. A boy she knew, Danny, Andrew's boyfriend. She spoke quickly, "I have proof! Come outside."

The black haired boy looked at her brother with a quizzical expression. Andrew shrugged and followed his sister, Danny followed him. Surprisingly the kid and teens running through the house didn't catch Claire Fisher's attention. Once outside all three were staring at her with curious and questioning looks. She gave Marigold her que in her mind.

Before the four kids appeared the fairy. Marigold looked a little unsure with all the eyes on her. The whole group was silent. Danny, Andrew, and Alice were in absolute shock. Madison was shocked as well, for all she knew the fairy would back out of the agreement. Things rarely went Madison's way, perhaps things were turning around. She couldn't help but think back to Dr. Fox's words, he could be right. Madison felt hope for the first time in what felt like ages.

Thanks for reading, I'd love some feedback. Any critiquing is loved. Next update: Tuesday. -Ann