Madison and The Monsters

23. One Hundred Seventeen

 Madison, Alice, Danny, and Andrew sat silently in the room. It had been an hour since they'd gotten there yet Marigold had yet to show up. No one was researching nor were they speaking. They were worried but they didn't know what to do. All were finding the silence unbearable, but mentioning it would make it real. After it had been an hour and a half Madison couldn't take the silence.

"I'm going to search for her," was all she could say.

"We'll come too," Danny stood.

The four kids searched every location Marigold was known to spend time around. With the bubbly fairy out of sight the kids' worry was mounting. Madison knew that Marigold wasn't one to skip out on people, her especially. As the sky became dark they saw a scene they wished they'd never see. Before them lay Marigold. It was clear that she wasn't breathing.

Alice stepped forward, she couldn't help it. Marigold's body was coated in what looked like blood, but even in the poor lighting it was clear her blood was purple rather than red. From what they could tell she'd be stabbed, more times than they could imagine. They weren't ignorant to what had happened. This was clearly Noir's doing, knowing he had kidnapped her in the past. Danny cautiously walked towards the body, he'd noticed something. On top of her was a letter stained with her blood.

Dear Madison

I stabbed the foolish fairy one hundred seventeen times. I realize the number probably didn't matter to you. The number doesn't matter to me either; it's not even close to my record. Fairies just aren't as resilient as a species I guess. Humans tend to be even weaker though.

Anyways it's nice to be writing you. In all honesty though I rather speak in person. Unfortunately I'm quite busy at the moment, but don't worry things will calm down quickly.

Then I think I'll deal the other brats that know. I'm not fond of your friends so I'll take that into my own hands, like a good father would do. I mean Danny could be a good influence, but I really don't like straight A students. Alice is a really bad influence, praying to that controlling know it all. Andrew, well I just like causing you pain, it's really enjoyable.

With hatred

Noir

"W-what do we do?" Danny said almost speechless.

"Uh," Madison mumbled.

"She's visible," Danny whispered unsure.

"I don't think the world's ready to know," Alice spoke for Madison. Madison nodded at this. She knew that Marigold's existence would freak out the public. She wished they could know, but for the time being it was better to keep her a secret. An awful idea popped into her head.

"If we burn her body her bones will seem human," Madison whispered in a solemn tone.

"I'll find matches," Andrew mumbled before running back home.

Madison and Alice sat silently, neither could find words. Danny was silent too but he was surveying Marigold from the distance. He found the fact she had purple blood to very curious. He was upset, but having never seen any dead bodies he was also intrigued. Andrew ran as fast as he could, which was quite fast due to being in track. He didn't want to leave the others on their own. Once in the house he sneakily grabbed a couple matches and hurried back to the scene.

Andrew looked at Madison uncertain with the two matches in his hand. Madison put out her hand; she had known Marigold the longest. It felt right that she be the one to do it. She stepped towards the body as slowly as humanly possible. She didn't want this to be real and putting it off seemed to make it so she didn't have to accept it. Reaching down she grabbed a stone, she was ready to strike the match. As the match neared the stone the silence was broken.

"What if we start a forest fire?" Danny said just loud enough that they would hear him.

"It's been raining too much for that to happen," Alice whispered to which Danny nodded.

Madison struck the match. The flame danced on the small stick before Madison tossed it at her friend. Marigold body lit on fire immediately. The blue, purple and orange flames covered the body and occasionally seemed to jump at the children. All they could do was stare as the fairy's body diminished until there was more ash than flesh. When all that was left on fire was the bones the children knew they should hurry home. If they were caught by the charred body the result likely wouldn't pleasant. The four hurried to their homes, quickly changing out of their smoke scented clothing.

That night Madison fell asleep her thoughts fixated on the burning of her friend. Most of the thoughts to enter her head were of memories or worries. Despite her grief she couldn't help but wonder what the news would say about the charred body. Her town wasn't one where murders occurred or at least there hadn't been any at any point in her life. Whenever the remains were found the residents of the town would certainly be cautious and fearful. Madison didn't know if they'd done the right thing or not, all she knew was that they'd done something. They couldn't go back on what they did, they couldn't go back on anything. They had to move forwards. They had to get rid of Noir.

Madison was certainly sad to lose her friend. When dealing with Noir she had to be callous though. She couldn't be weak. To win this unfair fight she had to be strong no matter what happened. She would cry for Marigold after this battle was over. She'd cry for what would feel like forever. Forever didn't start yet though. Forever started when Noir was gone. Noir was going to be gone. He had killed Marigold and caused mental torture to Madison. Marigold would be avenged. This would have to end. Everything ends. Not everything ends in our favour, but it all ends. This like everything else was going to end. Madison could only hope it would end in her favour.

Next update will be Tuesday. I'd love some feedback. Thanks for reading. -Ann