14 Days

[2]

The next morning I woke up at 5 like usual and started making some eggs for breakfast, hoping that Madison liked eggs. After they were done I opened her door and gently woke her up. When she opened her eyes, I said," Hey Madison, do you want some scrambled eggs? With some toast maybe?" All I got in response was a blank expression and a question.

"What time is it?" Madison mumbled.

"About 5:20." I said hesitantly.

"In the morning?" She sounded exasperated.

"Yes" I replied, I thought it was probably obvious considering I was offering her breakfast.

"When you were a teenager, or any age at all, did you wake up at five am on a Sunday?"

"I always woke up at five. I needed to do some chores in the morning before I went to school." The nuns loved rising early and dishing out chores.

"Oh. Well usually teenagers sleep in on the weekend. And on school days I get up at about six." Oh, I almost forgot about school. Madison's middle school was about 30 minutes from the college campus, so if I got her to school on time I had about 45 minutes to get to my 8 o'clock english 544 class. I let Madison know that I would wake her up at six in the morning and that we needed to leave by 6:45 at the latest. She mumbled a yes and I let her sleep till ten in the morning. I worked on homework for my class and some drafts for some new comic strips.

When Madison woke up we talked some more and she told me about her classes. Also, what sports and clubs she wanted to do later in the year. When she had run out of things to inform me of, the conversation died. It turned out that we didn't have much in common and soon we were sitting in awkward silence. Around noon we had some sandwiches for lunch and the phone rang.

I answered, "Hello, this is Elise Maud."

"Hey, um is Madison there?" The voice was unfamiliar and sounded like it belonged to a teenage girl. I told her that Madison was there, and gestured for Madison to come take the phone. I could only hear Madison's half of the conversation, and she didn't really say a lot.

She started by saying,"Hey Emily!" Then just bits and pieces of sentences.

"Yeah- it's ok-no, we don't look alike- she's ok- I totally want to- I don't know, I'll have to ask- yeah, I call you back- bye."

Madison turned towards me,"Can I go hang out with my friends at the bowling alley?"

"By yourselves?" I was feeling protective.

"Yes." She said like it was no big deal.

"No." I said firmly. I just met her but I want to make sure she is safe, and going to a bowling alley in New York with no adults is definitely not safe. I told Madison as much and she wasn't happy. She told me that she was a teenager, she could take care of herself, and I had no right to not trust her. Standing my ground didn't earn me any big sister points, and Madison ran straight to her room and slammed the door. If the first full day of raising a teenager went that bad I couldn't imagine how the rest of the time would go.

Madison refused to speak with me, so at dinner time I left a burger and some chips on a plate outside her door. I felt really bad but didn't regret my decision. I had new responsibilities and I was going to take them very seriously. My alarm was set for 6 o'clock and I prepared myself for the cold shoulder Madison would most likely give me in the morning.

RING RING RING

My alarm clock shrieked before I found the off button and stopped the incessant noise. I got dressed in a pair of jeans and a dark blue flannel shirt, then I went into Madison's room and woke her up. She looked up at me blankly, but said she would start getting ready so I left her room to get some cereal for breakfast. I was all ready to leave but Madison hadn't come out of her room yet and it was 6:40. I went to the light colored door to her room and gently knocked on it. There was no response. I opened the door slightly and Madison was just lying in bed, not ready for school at all.

"Madison! What are you doing? We need to leave in five minutes to get you to school on time." I was trying to talk calmly, but I really didn't like to be late to anything.

"I'm tired and wanted to rest for a few more minutes."

"I understand wanting to sleep, but you need to get to school. And I need to get to school too."

"Fine. I'll get ready." She got out of bed and I shut her door. I wondered if I was as difficult as Madison when I was 13. I probably was. I tried not to rush her, but at 6:50 I knocked on her door again. She opened the door, finally all ready to go. We rushed out into the cold morning air and walked as fast as we could to Madison's school. The school bell rang when we were still outside the building, so I had to walk inside to the office to sign her in. It was 7:25 before I started walking to my class.

Even though I walked as fast as I could, the door to my classroom was locked when I tried to open it. My college professor always sealed the entry to the classroom one minute after the class started. Which meant that I had to miss a whole class full of information and discussions. I felt myself blaming Madison for taking too long getting ready and stalling before we left the apartment. It wasn't right for me to blame her for taking extra time to wake up fully, but I was still unhappy with what happened. Taking my phone out of my pocket I looked up something to refocus myself. ​Temporary guardianship; the position of being legally responsible for the care of someone who is unable to manage their own affairs.​ I already knew that I was responsible for Madison, but to see on my screen a reminder that she couldn't take care of herself yet made me realize something. She had never met me, her parents had passed away a few weeks beforehand, and she was being told what to do by a sister she never knew​. ​Multitudes of feelings were clouding my mind as I walked to my apartment. I had nothing better to do and plenty of time before my next shift began.

My time card smelled like fresh ink and crisp paper as I set it down on the only counter in the breakroom. Plastering on a smile I relieved my coworker from one of the four cash registers at the front of the store. Monday's are mostly very hectic and energy draining, so my mind didn't have any time to wander. I was automatically scanning price tags without thought. My manager changed my schedule to let me out of work a few hours early so I could pick Madison up from school on time. Then once she started an extracurricular I could go back to my regular hours.

At 2:30 I ran out of the bookstore and rushed as quickly as possible to pick up Madison from school. I reached the front steps right when Madison came out of school with a big smile on her face. She told me she passed a math test with an A+. I felt proud as we walked together and we ordered a celebratory pizza. Madison and I laughed and we bonded. She told me that she needed to get a good night's sleep and so Madison went into her room. My trusty landline rang and I picked it up.

"Hello, this is Elise Maud."

"Hey Elise, it's Nigel. I read the strips that you wrote. They're hilarious!"

"Thanks. Can I talk to you about one of my characters for a story I'm writing? I need someone to talk through it with."

"Sure." Nigel sounded surprised and I didn't blame him. I told him about this story I was writing about a young girl who could fly. The problem I was having was that the girl's best friend wasn't turning out like I'd hoped. We talked about it for a few minutes and I finally decided that I didn't want her in my story anymore. I thought I saw Madison when I hung up the phone but she wasn't there so I got ready for bed.

I was having a hard time falling asleep so I went to the kitchen to get a glass of milk. When I walked by Madison's door I noticed that it was open. I peeked inside to catch a glimpse of the sister I never knew I needed. My heart beat out of my chest when Madison wasn't in her bed. I tried to stay calm as I looked in the whole apartment, but I couldn't find her.