outcast

3

Madison dried off her body, and felt an inner rage drown out her thoughts as she stared down at her bare self. She hated the way she looked now because of the damage that had been caused on her.

She wrapped the towel around herself tightly and lifted herself out of the bath. She walked on the cold tile floor she started to despise, and confused herself with which room she was staying in. However, she saw Zoe resting on a bed while preparing clothes, so she hurried into the room and shivered.

Zoe looked up and noticed her presence, and smiled.

"It's kind of cold outside, so I just picked out a warm outfit." She got up off the bed and motioned to the articles of clothing in front of her, and Madison looked down to see simple choices that consisted of warm clothes.

"You know how to dress yourself, right?" Madison nodded slowly in response.

She wasn't a child.

Yes she had been hurt recently but that didn't mean she didn't know how to function. She could dress herself.

Right?

No, she did know how to. And if she didn't that would be quite embarrassing. If anything, she would rather struggle while trying to put on a jacket than have Zoe help her get dressed. She wasn't five, she was seventeen. Now she had just been rambling in her own head and needed to stop thinking so much.

After Zoe had left the room for a bit, Madison changed as quickly as possible and sat down on the bed when she was done.

Zoe re-entered the room and laughed at the way she looked. "You put the sweatshirt on backwards..." She rubbed the back of her neck before waving her off. "It's fine. You look fine." Madison looked down in pure embarrassment and felt her cheeks heat up.

"Do you speak english?" She asked suddenly while sitting down on the floor in front of her.

"I mean, of course you speak english," Zoe interrupted Madison's thought process before she had the chance to reply.

"You look english. Sorry- I meant you look like you speak english. You know, cause you're white." Her face turned a crimson shade at the realization of her words, and she brought her hands up in defense for herself.

"But if you aren't white then that's okay too! I'm not like, racist or anything." she drew small circles on the floor of the bedroom and pursed her lips together out of embarrassment.

Her nervous rambling had Madison's lips hold the ghost of a small smile.

Zoe shook her head with a heavy sigh, and grabbed the socks that she left inside of Madison's converse before slipping them onto her feet. She wanted to stop her and try and tell her that she didn't have to help- that she could tie her own shoes. But instead she remained silent once again, and kept her lips sealed shut tightly. Besides, Zoe didn't seem to care. She seemed to enjoy taking care of her.

She helped her get on her shoes, and tied the laces tight for no reason in particular. Zoe had a fleeting thought that managed to slip out of her mind while she was fixing the laces, and it felt like her stomach started to tell her something her mind refused to admit to. She suddenly grew quick with warm tingly feelings, and her lips kept wanting to turn up into a smile, but she shook her head at her own wishful thinking and pushed those unnecessary thoughts away.

She stood up from her original position and held out her hand to the girl, who was still nameless to her. Madison accepted her hand gracefully and stood up with a bit of struggle.

She nearly fell as her knees wobbled, but Zoe grabbed her arm and stopped her from completing the fall.

She wanted to say something to her, and tell her to be more careful next time, but instead she just gave her a reassuring glance and helped her re-gain her balance. The two of them walked downstairs together, and as Madison made her first clean appearance that she had in an hour or so, Cordelia was surprised that she looked as nice as she did.