𝐆𝐎𝐃'𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐘 - 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐗𝐎𝐍

twelve - "the day the world died"

𝐆𝐎𝐃'𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐘 — 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐗𝐎𝐍
❝ the day the world died ❞

The day the world died, Madeline Walsh didn't think twice about following her brother out the door. She had thought, rather naively, that he was taking her to their dad's, who lived far from the city, residing near fields and where the distant sounds of moos filled the air.

Their father and stepmother had been empty nesters for a little over three years, and it had been a little over three days since the last time Madeline had spoken to either of them. Money had been tight, as it always was, and her rent and phone bill were due the following week. She had cried to her step-mom about how she didn't know if she could go on with working at the diner while also completing her last year of her medical degree. The diner had been cutting her hours and the manager was beginning to fail to hide his advances behind praises.

Her stepmother had simply cooed and read her a verse from the Bible before saying words that Madeline spoke like a mantra the week following the fall and whenever she felt herself slip.

"Be strong now, my sweetheart, because things will get better. It may be stormy now, but it can't rain forever."

She had been itching to see her father and stepmother again, as she never had time to see them ever since the school year began. She was desperate to bury herself into her father's flannel shirt and stay there until everything was okay, until the cracks in her perfectly constructed mask were mended.

But the longer they were on the road, the more she accepted that she wouldn't be seeing them for a while. Her brother was hellbent on seeking refuge in either a center or finding a group. She remembered how angry he had gotten when she challenged his plan, how he accused her of being selfish.

"I am the one who saved you from that death trap you called an apartment building. I am the one who is doing everything to keep you alive! The least you could do is accept the fact that everyone we love is gone!" He had screamed at her, only to sober up quickly when she had burst into tears. He had pulled her to his chest and apologized, begging her not to leave him and promising never to say such hurtful things again.

It wasn't even two days later that he left her to go into the city. It wasn't even two weeks later that they had not only found a group but also their brother.

As the day wore on and the group travelled farther from the city, where it smelt like death and smoke, she thought about her father and stepmother for the first time since before the quarry. She sat in the passenger seat with her head pressed against the window of the RV, having been forced into the cramped space by her two older brothers.

She had to leave her Jeep behind, having been told that it wasn't only a fuel suck but they had to stay as close together as they could. They couldn't lose anymore people. She had argued that it was hers, and a large part of her was mainly upset because it was Shane who was the one to force her hand. Rick was fine with keeping the car, saying it would be better for storage, but Shane had overruled.