Running out of Time~

Chapter 1

Madison POV-

I know I should be happy for them. But I just... can't. I should've gotten up and told him while I had the chance. All those hours, late into the night, just... writing. Or talking. 

I could've said something, anything. But now it was too late. 

He had someone else. I honestly never expected this to happen, they hated each other so much...

Thomas Jefferson. Dating Alexander Hamilton.

I think they hit their heads or something.

I was walking down the road when I bumped into Alexander's friend, John Laurens. 

He had his nose buried in that withered journal of his, or at least he was until we crashed. Since the Battle of the Combahee River, he had to wear a bandage over his entire right arm.

The years had gone by so much that his vision had started to deteriorate, giving him the need for reading glasses, although he only used them for sketching.

 His determination never seemed to falter, even after he was shot. I wish I was like that, because I felt like horse manure. John shook his head to clear any dust, like a dog. He looked up at me.

"Oh, hi Madison... I wasn't expecting to see you on the streets this late." He said, getting up and dusting himself off. He helped me up. "Nor was I... but I needed a break from them." John immediately knew what I was talking about. His brow furrowed.

"I know what you mean. It's too much to bear sometimes." He gathered up his book. Every once in a while, I became curious as to what he did with that journal.

"Hey, John?" John looked up. "What? And you can just call me Laurens..." I smirked a bit. "Habit. Alex talked about you too much for me to remember your last name."

John smiled a bit at that. "Well, what you were going to say?" I looked at the journal. "What do you write in there?" He looked down nervously. "I... don't write in this." He replied. I was confused.

"Then what do you do in it?" John shuffled his feet, then whispered something almost inaudible.  I tilted my head to one side. "Can you repeat that?"

"I... I draw turtles." I had to keep myself from laughing, so instead I said, "May I see one?"

John looked down again and thought a moment, then nodded. He opened the journal to a page, obviously his favorite. It was amazingly realistic. I felt like the turtle would suddenly crawl off the page onto the street. "Wow!" I said. "John, this is amazing! It belongs in the President's house to look at!"

John's face flushed from the praise. "Th-thanks..." he stuttered. I smiled. "I mean it. That's really good art." John laughed a bit. We stood there awkwardly for a while longer.

John sighed. "Well, I should be getting home. My house isn't going to clean itself." I smiled again. "Me too. I have work to do." John started to walk away. "Nice talking to you... James. Don't overwork yourself!" I waved. "And don't strain your arm!" 

"I won't!" He replied, walking away already, looking more perky than usual. I watched him go, then put my hands in my pockets to walk home. But, something was already in them. I pulled out the strange object. It was a folded piece of paper. I unfolded it and saw a sketch of a turtle. On it were the words, 'Thanks. -John Laurens'

I smiled to myself, folded it back up, and put it back in my pocket. Then I turned and walked back home.

I lit a candle when I got back, candlelight writing was my favorite thing to do. I set out my parchment and writing utensils, and began to work on some backlog. A twinge in my throat stopped me, I coughed a bit to get it away. The twinge didn't go away, so I had a coughing fit. A little blood spilled onto the parchment, or at least I thought it was blood. After at least five minutes, I stopped coughing. I looked down to see how much blood there was, but I was surprised to see no blood at all.

Just a pile of bright,

Red,

Flower petals.

A/n: hey guys! I hope ya'll'll enjoy this. Me and Hanahaki Help Desk has this idea on our trip to Washington DC, and I'm starting it now. I know I'm not actually talking to anyone right now as I have no followers, but hey, maybe I can get one on here someday. 

I wish all my Scratch followers had WattPad accounts. Then I'd have 300+