MADELINE

03|| angel

~used as a term of endearment.~

Am I the only one that gets inspiration at odd hours?

This book will be in different POV btw...

[Heavily unedited]

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         The cold air danced around the room, making whistling sounds with the trees that sashayed melodically outside. It was pitch black. Ben stared. It was pitch black and Ben stared- he wasn't exactly sure what he was staring at. Maybe staring at nothing would make a part of his brain realise what he was painting. And maybe it would also make him question his sanity.

"What are you drawing?"

Ben didn't answer. His hands moved fast on the paper on his lap. His fingers were smudged with a deep, deep red- almost like blood. He gently bit his lip as he traced his fingers around what looked like a halo. He knew what he was painting now. It was an angel.

"Ben?"

Cold hands touched his temple and he looked up. She smiled gently, revealing a missing molar. "Are you alright? What are you drawing at this time of the night?"

"Nothing Susan"

"It doesn't look like nothing Ben" Susan sat beside Ben so that their knees were brushing against each other. Warmth travelled through her and she shivered slightly. She brought her hands to his taut shoulders and circled her hands around it as she pressed her fingers down the length of his shoulders. Ben threw his head back and let out a breath.

"I'm painting, not drawing" He felt Susan's hands making their way up to his neck and shook her off slightly. He stood up and walked to the window and noticed that the night had a few stars that weren't present before.

He turned towards Susan. "How many people are in group A?" he asked.

Susan looked at him strangely. "Why do you want to know?"

He shrugged.

Susan sighed as she stood up. She went closer to Ben. "Just one"

"Was it always like that?"

Susan looked at him. "No, it wasn't. There was a boy and another girl"

"How old were they?"

"The boy was nine and the girl was sixteen."

Ben nodded in silence.

Susan clocked her tongue. "Aren't you going to ask what happened to them?"

"No", he answered.

"The boy died," she said, as she started pacing, making scruff sounds on the floor. "He always claimed that there were nightmares that he had- nightmares of things that didn't exist. He went crazy, crazier than anyone had seen him and it didn't help that he was in group A."

Ben winced. "What were his nightmares about?"

"Sometimes, they were about a toothless twin he claimed he had. Other days, he said he saw a mask that hid a face. He always believed there wasn't a face, instead, a shadow. Exactly nine days after he told us about his nightmares, we found him early in the morning, at the gate of the hospital. He had a missing head and all his teeth were missing." She turned towards him. "He said that in his nightmares, he saw a toothless twin and a mask with a missing face- that's what happened to him. And the most bizarre thing about all these was that he died nine days after, and he was nine years old. We were all petrified."

Ben had sat on the bed, his head in his hands, his hands clammy and sweaty. He raised his head to look at Susan. "I met someone in group A"

Susan scowled. "Who?"

Ben put his head down and released laboured breaths. "Her name is Madeline" His hands didn't feel clammy anymore but he still had laboured breaths.

Susan sat beside him and raised his head to meet hers, her hands making way down his pale skin. He was beautiful. She put her lips to his jaw and kissed it and brushed her lips against his, tasting the familiar taste of Ben. "Forget about her," she said as she twirled her hands around a strand of his curly hair.

Ben smiled slightly. "It's not easy and I think I'm going to talk to her again. She seems interesting"

Susan smiled in response and stood up. "The other girl in group A is me" With that, she left the room.

Ben stared at her retreating back in confusion. He never knew that she was in group A. He never knew that there was a dead boy from group A. He never knew anything. And as he stared at the painting of the angel on his bed, its red wings stretched outwards, he knew he definitely needed to see Madeline again.

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Happy reading!

-Ada