“So Maddie, why didn’t your parents come?” Cat asked.
“Well, it’s sort of a long story,” I said.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand.”
“That’s not exactly it. I don’t think you’d want to hear the boring details. Maybe some other time. Okay?” I asked as I knotted my fingers.
I averted the topic to what classes everyone had enrolled in and mentally congratulated myself on dodging an emotional bullet. I glanced at Cat to see her looking intently at me. She hadn’t bought it for a second.
“Anyone hungry?” Carlson asked.
“I’m starving!” I said.
“Let’s go grab some pizza,” Cat suggested.
“You all go on ahead. I have tons of stuff I need to do before I head to bed,” January piped in.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
She nodded and I added, “We’ll bring you something back,” as we headed out the door.
* * * * *
Later that night, Cat and I were lying in bed when she whispered, “How do you think it’ll work out between Carlson and January?”
“I don’t know. I think Carlson is insensitive to January’s situation. It’s obvious she has to put herself through school and it’s also obvious Carlson hasn’t had to lift a finger for anything in her entire life. Did you see all the clothes that girl moved in? I wondered if there were enough days in the semester for her to wear them all.”
Cat snorted saying, “I know, right? And they had movers to help her. I didn’t think they’d ever stop carting stuff up here. I still can’t believe it all fit.”
“But you have to admit, she really is sweet. I think she says stuff without thinking.”
“I think you’re right. Maybe this will end up being a good experience for both of them. It may teach Carlson how the other half, you know, the normal half, lives,” Cat remarked.
“Hey Maddie?”
“Yeah.”
“You know, if you ever want to talk about your situation, you know, about your parents or anything, I’m here.”
“Oh, thanks. There isn’t not much to say. It’s kind of, well, not very pleasant. That’s why I don’t talk about it much. My mom was killed in a car accident when I was twelve and my dad died of a heart attack last October.”
“What? Holy crap! That’s terrible! I’m so sorry!”
“Yeah, I know. It totally sucks. It’s not a good topic for me and it was kind of sad and all today. That’s why I didn’t want to talk about it much.”
“No, I totally get that. I’m sorry I brought it up. If I hadn’t been so darn nosy and kept my big mouth shut and all.”
“Hey, it’s okay. You were only trying to help. I’ll tell you the whole story someday. But my eye lids are threatening to slam shut on me any minute here, so I’m gonna have to call it a night. Oh, and Cat?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. That means a lot to me.”
“Hey, what are roomies for?”
Chapter 2
I was sitting in the kitchen with my dad and we were discussing college applications. He was insistent on me applying to several different schools. I had only one interest and that was Western Carolina University. He was worried I would regret it if I didn’t at least look at other schools. I finally agreed and he gave me one of his smiles. I loved his smiles. They were like getting hit with a good dose of badly needed sunshine after a week of cold rain and grey skies. They always made me feel good all over.
He made me feel exactly the same way when we went backpacking. We hiked all over the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the Pisgah National Forest. The days and weeks after my mom died, Dad and I were constantly on the move up on the trail somewhere. We gained a sense of peace and serenity there that we couldn’t find back home. Shivering from the cold or drenched in sweat, we loved it all the same.
Dad taught me all the tricks of living outdoors—how to tie every kind of knot known to man, how to pitch a tent in the best spot, where to find water, how to protect your food from the bears, how to start a fire, how to stay dry in a deluge, how to stay warm in the snow, and how to cook using a teeny tiny camp stove. We did some serious bonding on those trips.
“So Dad, you know I have to be close to the trails right?”
“Yes, sweetie, I do. You have other options though, such as Appalachian State University and the University of Tennessee. You know I wouldn’t even dream of suggesting a college that would put you too far away from your beloved trails!”
“Hey! You only have yourself to blame for that,” I said as I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed.
Suddenly I was in my AP physics class and an announcement came over the intercom telling me to report to the principal’s office. I glanced at my teacher with a questioning look, but he shrugged, so I grabbed my backpack and headed to Mr. Emery’s office.
When I walked through the door, I knew something was wrong because Mr. Emery was accompanied by Mrs. Overland, the senior guidance counselor, and Mrs. Woodburn, the school nurse. My heart did a major flipflop and I immediately asked, “What’s going on?”
“Maddie, I am so sorry to have to tell you this but it’s your father. I’m afraid something terrible has happened. Your father suffered a major heart attack at work this morning.”
“No! Oh no! I have to go to him!” I jumped to my feet and started running toward the door.
“Maddie wait,” Mr. Emery cried. “You don’t understand.”
I slowly turned around to face him. I knew what he was going to say. I just knew it.
“Maddie, your father, he didn’t make it. The paramedics got there as fast as they could but it wasn’t in time to save him.”
Every bit of oxygen in that room had somehow disappeared. I tried to inhale, but there was simply no air anywhere. I fell to my knees and tried to breathe. I also felt the light leave the room. I think it left my life as well. My dad was everything to me. He hung the stars and the moon. He was my reason for living and breathing. No wonder there wasn’t any air. He had taken it away with him when he died. I doubt there would ever be any air for the rest of my life. No air, no light. What good was life without air or light? Darkness. That’s what I had to look forward to forever.
“I must go to him.” I stood on trembling legs.
“Maddie, let us call someone,” said Mr. Emery.
“There is no one to call,” I numbly said.
“Maddie, are you sure there isn’t anyone we can call?” they asked. “We need to release you to someone.”
“I don’t have any relatives. I’m alone. Okay? I want to go see my Dad.”
The school nurse, Mrs. Woodburn, took me down to the emergency room, and there he was. At six feet tall, my dad was a fairly large man, yet he looked so small lying on that table. It was apparent they had tried so hard to save him. He was still hooked up to a bunch of tubes, wires and other things. Then, some woman came in and asked me where they should send the body. I didn’t have the foggiest idea of what she was asking.
“Honey, do you know which funeral home you want to use?”
I was still confused, but then it plowed into me. I would have to plan his funeral.
“I guess, Price’s,” I croaked, my throat suddenly felt filled with sawdust.
Mrs. Woodburn, the nurse, took me home. I wanted her to take me to school to get my car, but instead, she took my keys and said someone would be dropping it off. When I got home, there sat my dad’s empty coffee cup on the kitchen counter and his empty cereal bowl in the sink. His bed was made, as it usually was; his bathroom was neat and orderly. There was nothing unusual to make you think that he hadn’t felt well. I climbed on his bed and held his pillow to my face. That’s when the tears hit and I cried myself silly.
Hours later, I heard pounding on the front door. I kept hoping it would go away, but it was relentless. Eventually, I got out of my dad’s bed and answered the door. It was all the girls from the cross-country team. They
pushed their way in the house. They had all kinds of food and drinks. One of them, Lillie, had brought her mother.
Lillie’s mom, Mrs. Mack, kept telling me how sorry she was and invited me to stay with their family. I refused, of course, but luckily for me, she took over making all sorts of phone calls. She, along with my attorney, Jay Dennis, literally saved me; they took care of all the arrangements for the funeral and Mr. Dennis handled everything else that had anything to do with finances. I couldn’t have gotten through it all without them.
“Maddie. Maddie, wake up. Maddie!”
“What?” I yelled as I shot out of bed.
“You were crying. I tried to wake you up, but you must’ve been dreaming.”
“Oh, sorry Cat. Sorry I woke you up,” I groaned, rubbing my eyes.
“No, it’s okay. Is everything okay?”
“Um, yeah,” I sniffed. “I’m fine. I have them sometimes. Dreams, you know. Well, I have them a lot, actually. Sorry I disturbed you. I guess I should have warned you.”
“No, don’t worry about it. You were really sobbing though. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not tonight. Maybe someday, but not right now. But thanks Cat. I appreciate it.”
“Hey anytime, Maddie.”
Chapter 3
Cat and I jumped into college life with both feet. We both joined the local hiking club. One of the reasons I had decided to attend Western Carolina was because of its location. It was situated a mere handful of miles from The Great Smoky Mountain National Park and my love for hiking and backpacking pushed me in this direction. Cat and I had promised each other we would do weekend trips to the Park as often as we could.
On a completely different tangent, we decided to go through sorority rush. Boy, what an odd experience that turned out to be.
We had to dress up for parties and make constant conversation with a bunch of strangers. I was incessantly worried about tripping over my own feet, my dreaded problem I was saddled with, and doing a face plant in front of the sorority girls. Talk about a migraine. It was also a major pain in the you-know-what to endure the mindless chatting that went on. I would make things up just to move the conversation along, but Cat was the best. The stories that girl could contrive would have you on the floor, bursting at the seams with laughter. Oh my gosh…she told one girl she had a pet goat that was blind and she told another girl she had spent the summer living in a Tibetan monastery! Where ever did she come up with that stuff? Worse than that, she had people believing those crazy tales!
Considering four of us were living in fairly close quarters, we all got along amazingly well, but I was worried about January. As I said, we were both from Spartanburg, South Carolina and had attended high school together. We weren’t close friends; January was actually two years younger than I. She was extremely bright and had skipped a couple of grades in elementary school. So we knew each other well enough as we had shared many classes, but she didn’t really hang out with anyone in our class. January was unbelievably kind and was always thinking about everyone but herself. But sometimes she seemed to withdraw into herself, like she had some deep, dark pain of which she dared not speak. She, like me, had no one there to help her move. She never spoke of her parents, and avoided any attempt at conversing about them. She would, however, talk lovingly about her younger siblings; she positively adored them. There was quite a gap in their ages. Her little brother was eight, and her sister was six. She loved them fiercely and would write them letters all the time.
January was super busy going to school full time as well as working two jobs. She was burning the candle at both ends, and though she never complained about anything, I could sense there was something not right with her. I tried once to open up a discussion, and she cut me off and said she didn’t want to discuss it—end of story. So I respected her wishes, and we never discussed it again.
Carlson, Cat, and I intended to pledge a sorority. January declined, saying she was too busy with work and school and wouldn’t be able to afford it anyway. In the end, Carlson was the only one of us that decided to pledge. Cat and I realized we were not cut out for it. Neither of us wanted to deal with the obligations that came with Greek life. Even though we didn’t pledge a sorority, there were always parties and mixers going on and we met tons of people, male and female. The guys were pretty cool for the most part, but I was mostly interested in friendship versus dating. I wanted to focus on my classes, and with all the other things I had on my plate, dating just didn’t seem to fit into the schedule.
One disappointment Cat and I shared was that we didn’t have much time to get to the park to hike or backpack. Cat and I laughed about it because initially we swore we would try to go every other weekend. In early November, we both realized that we had only gone one time, and we had completely missed the colorful leaf season. We promised each other we wouldn’t let that happen in the spring.
Chapter 4
It was hard to believe I was nearing the end of my first semester in college. Thanksgiving was in a couple of weeks, and then two weeks later we would be heading home for the Holidays. Finals were just around the corner, and I was expecting to be studying around the clock.
“Hey, Cat! How about hitting the park this weekend? I would love to get away before all the Holidays craziness starts.” I had just come in from the library, and I dumped my books on my desk.
“Hello! Are you crazy? We have that semiformal dance on Saturday,” she reminded me. Cat was stretched out her bed studying.
I checked the calendar. “Oh, no, I forgot about that!” I threw myself across my bed.
“What are you gonna wear? And who are you going with?” Cat wanted to know.
“Jonathan. Oh my gosh, I need to go shopping! I don’t have a thing to wear. I hope Jonathan doesn’t mind dancing with Gimpy over here. Gah, I just hate dancing; it’s so humiliating! Not to mention I look like a complete moron,” I rambled. I must have been making a ridiculous face because Catherine started laughing.
“Oh, come on now! Fess up already! You know you love it. I know you do. You have become quite the show girl.” She was referring to my dancing antics. I was such a horrible dancer that I had taken to exaggerating my movements for the fun of it.
“I can’t figure you out, though.”
I rolled my eyes at her.
She continued, “You’re so athletic. I mean you’re a natural at any sport you attempt, graceful, in fact. One would think you’d be pretty decent at dancing. You know, you have to have some kind of rhythm if you can waltz across a soccer field the way you do. I don’t get it.” She let loose a big sigh.
“Humph! You sound exactly like my mother used to. She always was so worried about how terrible I was at dancing. I swear it’s something weird with my body. I would tell her the same thing. It’s like one half of me wants to go one way and the other half wants to go in the opposite direction. The only time it doesn’t do that is when I’m playing sports. Go figure that one out.”
“In any case, dancing or no dancing, you will definitely have a blast with Jonathan. He’s so sweet and easy on the eyes too. Since he’s seriously in love with you, he won’t care a bit when you squash his feet,” she teased.
“Would you please stop it with the ‘he’s in love with you’ stuff already?” I barely knew the boy. “Besides, like I always say, I’m just not interested in going out with anyone.”
“Whatever. You know I’m right about Jonathan though, even if you won’t admit it. What about all those texts you get from him?” Cat hopped off her bed and grabbed a bag of chips. “Want some?”
“Naw. He does send me a ton of texts though. Never thought much about that. But, hey, do you want to go to town tomorrow? I’d like to get this over with. You know how I can’t stand shopping.”
“Sure thing. What time?” she asked, as she continued to crunch on the chips.
* * * * *
We headed to the local town of Sylva the next afternoon to look for dresses. Believ
e it or not, the town had a boutique for college girls. They had unusual things that you couldn’t find in the bigger department stores.
I found a dress, shoes, and accessories in record time. It was a good thing too since shopping bordered somewhere between having my hair yanked out by the roots and listening to someone run their fingernails across a blackboard. My dress was a basic black, off-the-shoulder, cocktail number that was versatile enough to wear to a variety of functions. Cat told me it emphasized my upper half, so that was the clincher for me. What girl doesn’t want her upper half emphasized, especially when there wasn’t much to emphasize in the first place? Since we had an hour to spare before we needed to head back, we wandered down the street to the local coffee shop to grab a latte.
On the way there, Cat noticed a strange man following us.
“Have you noticed that man following us down the street? I saw him before we hit the dress shop, but didn’t think much of it. He’s behind us again. It’s kind of making me nervous.”
“Don’t worry. It’s broad daylight, and there’re two of us. Just think about it. This area attracts some weird dudes anyway—you know how the mountains always do.” I acted a bit more sure of myself than I truly was as we continued walking.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, and I’m just being paranoid.”
We sat at the coffee shop for around forty-five minutes and then headed back to our car. Cat looked around to make certain that man was gone, but she was not pleased with what she saw.
“Maddie,” she gasped, “there he is again.” She put a death grip on my arm. “This is definitely starting to creep me out. What should we do?” she asked anxiously.
“Yeah, this is definitely creepy. I read somewhere once that if you were afraid of being followed, you should go directly to the police station. Do you know where it is?” I now shared Cat’s apprehension, but I didn’t want to alarm her.
“I think it’s on the next block. I don’t think it would be a good idea to go to our car. I don’t want him to know what we’re driving or what our tag number is.”
“Good idea! Let’s head to the police station.”
When he saw our intended destination, he turned the corner and went the other way. We told the police about what happened, and they took down a description of him and escorted us back to our car. After that day, we never gave him another thought.