Complications

Chapter 6: Lies

It's past dark and it's Halloween. All of us have been scream singing shitty songs and laughing and enjoying ourselves. We just got to Halloween Horror Night and we're walking into the park. I'm not in a costume, I'm wearing dark blue shredded denim skinny jeans, a white tank top and a red and white letter jacket. My hair is pulled over my left shoulder and there is a hair tie in it.

We head around the park.

"Let's go in the haunted house." Collin says.

All of us agree and I can hear screams. There are strobe lights which make it hard to see, and everywhere you look there is someone with a knife staring at you.

Some guy is standing right in front of me, literally, with a knife pointed at me. I scream and Collin yanks me away. I cling to his arm. I see a car and the horn is honking and there is a woman inside and someone in a costume is behind her with their arm around her throat, choking the life from her.

I walk into a room and see a woman dead in bed.

I scurry out of there and I hear a kid say, "Trick or treat."

Well it's just some kid...

I walk straight and a kid pops out with his head half off. "Trick of treat!" he says.

I scream again.

A man appears next to me with a mask on and a knife in his hand.

I scurry backwards and fall. Collin doesn't help me up.

I'm alone.

I scurry to my feet and rush out of that room, into another one and I watch a guy kill a woman with a knife.

I see a red exit sign and I rush towards it and before I walk out a guy jumps at me and I scream and run.

I run away from the haunted house and deeper into the park.

I hear a weird noise, something mechanical.

It's so close to me. I whip around and see a guy covered in blood standing right behind me with a chainsaw.

"Holy shit!" I gasp, darting around him and taking off running. He follows me, and other people, ghosts and zombies and vampires and werewolves run after me.

I slam right into someone, shooting down onto my butt.

I scurry to my feet. The guy that I ran into stands up, brushing himself off.

"Why did you-"

He cuts off when he sees the huge group of terrifying people running after us.

He shocks me by grabbing my hand, and together, we take off running.

After five minutes of nonstop running, he pulls me into a bush.

We hold our breath and they all stop running and look around, and then the chainsaw guy points in a direction opposite of our and they take of running again.

I wait till they're out of sight to come out of the bush.

The other guy comes out of the bush.

"You came here alone?" he asks me. He sounds kind of familiar.

I look at him and nod, and then I frown.

Caleb?

No, that's impossible.

I recognize him then. He's Max's friend.

Realization dawns on me.

Caleb is Max's friend. He goes to my school. He knew it was me. He always texted me when I got out of class. He didn't know the time difference from here and Australia...

This kid has gone to school with me since Kindergarten! I never saw his face with Max but I know its him. We've never spoken. This is the first time I've even heard his voice, but this is most definitely Caleb. I guess I didn't recognize him in the picture, but pictures and in person are two different things.

"Urm...surprise?" he starts scratching the back of his neck.

"Caleb." I whisper, staring into his blue eyes.

He lied. He lied about everything.

I walk away.

"Madeline." He follows me and catches my hand, and heat and tingles shoot through my whole body as his touch. I whip around to face him.

"You lied about everything!" I snap.

I see my brother and sister and Collin and Rose nearby, watching.

"I know." He says.

"Why?" I hiss.

"It's a valid reason..." he trails off.

"No it's not! You lied about everything."

"But-"

"No! Fuck off. Leave me alone. Never talk to me again. Ever."

Unknown Number my ass. He only said that because he knew the area code would show.

Max walks up, looking confused, and then he looks at me, and then at Caleb.

"You told her?" he asks.

"Not exactly." Caleb whispers, hurt.

Good. Be hurt.

"Madeline, this kid has been in love with you since Kindergarten." Max says.

"Right, and I'm Justin Bieber." I snap. "You better leave me alone."

I turn around and walk over to my siblings and friends.

"We need to leave." Russell says. "Mom said so."

"I don't care." I whisper. Collin sighs and pulls me into a hug. I wrap my arms around him and bury my head in his chest. I can feel him glaring at Caleb over my shoulder.

He lets me go and Russell walks over to Caleb. "If you ever hurt my sister again, I'll make you look worse than that guy." He points to a guy with his face ripped off.

He doesn't even give Caleb a chance to reply before he walks away.

I give Caleb one last look of pure hurt and then walk away, following my brother out of the park.

________________

We drove through the night, and when we get home, it's six in the morning. They didn't make me drive. I had my earbuds in and my head was against the window.

We dropped Collin and Rose off at home and now we're pulling into our driveway.

We all get out, and when we walk in the door, there is a guy standing there with brown hair and brown eyes. Mom looks very irritated and overprotective of us.

"How are you?" Mom asks me. Russell told her what happened.

I shrug in response. "Who are you?" I demand.

"Your father." He says.

Russell grabs my arm, and Maddy's.

"You shouldn't be here." I say.

"And why's that?"

"Because you made your decision sixteen years ago to leave. We're doing perfectly fine without you."

"She's right." Mom agrees.

"Your my children. I want to know you."

"Well we don't want to know you." Maddy says.

"Please leave." Russell says.

He stares at all of us for a long time, and then he nods and walks out without a word.