I was irate. I have had enough of Maddie's drama. From what I know, I haven't done anything wrong! I've just tried and failed to help her, and I did everything I could to see her happy. Nothing worked, of course
"Of course it's something you did! You dragged us into this mess! You wanted to break your brother out of prison. Because of that, all of us are now criminals. Then, the forest fiasco! I'm sure that if we hadn't rescued Alex our lives would be much better!"
"You didn't have to come with us! I asked you for help, and you helped becase you wanted to! I don't understand why you hate me so much!"
"WHY DO YOU CARE?" Maddie shouted.
I felt tears starting to well up in my eyes. For years we had been friends, she had been there for me, and I was there for her. We've been through so much together, but it's like she's forgotten the good things and has focused on the bad. Lately, she looks at me and sees an enemy. And to see her drifting away, to see that she couldn't care less about me, it broke me. It broke me more than the voices in my head ever could.
"BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!" I shouted. This time, I used my voice.
Tears started streaming down my face. Not only were my pent up emotions pouring out of me like a waterfall, my throat was also in severe pain. I started coughing. Each cough caused the pain to get even worse. My gag reflex kicked in, and it took all my effort to stop my caughing fit.
I looked over at Maddie. She was silent and just... frozen.
"I'm losing you, and I don't even know why," I whispered.
I could tell she heard me, because as I said that, she started to tear up. She wrapped her arms around me.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I kept pushing you away, and I can see that I've been awful lately," She whispered, "You've been kind and understanding while I pushed you away. I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry."
I hugged her tightly. The people in this car were the only family I had. I wasn't going to give them up easily. I'm so relived that I'm still her friend. After the almost constant quarreling, I was worried that she might hate me forever.
"I forgive you," I whispered back.
I could feel the tears starting to soak into my shirt as she cried in my shoulder. We stayed like that for a while.
"I don't understand why you forgave me. I've been horrible for what seems like no readon," She said. Her eyes darted towards Raven for a moment, and instantly, I knew what happened. It should have been more obvious. Maddie is in love with Raven, and getting no attention at all while I got all of it made her feel unimportant. And she blamed me for it.
I gave her a sympathetic smile.
"I understand."
The words were not spoken with my voice, but rather with my mind. I don't know how I was doing it, but I was forming the sentences in my brain and when I wanted to say them, people just... heard me. It was so bizzare. Could this be one of the 'powers' I was supposed to get from those Shadow Dweller things that were trapped in my mind.
--- Alex ---
James was sitting comfortably between my legs, sometimes turning around to talk to me. After Crystal and Maddie's arguement, things had gotten a lot better. Eventually, Ayro stopped the car.
"We can't keep doing this. No matter where we go, someone is after us," He said, glancing at Crystal.
He had a point. It seemed like no matter where our group went, disaster followed. Not to mention The Dealer, who hadn't left us a message for at least a week. There's no doubt in my mind that he'll show up wherever we go. Also the police, who were obviously after us. We probably angered the elves too, and knowing them, they'd warn any and all other elf populations about us. That means that most forests weren't safe either. James turned to me, giving me a light kiss on the cheek.
"What's wrong?" He asked, clearly worried.
I shook my head.
"Just the situation we're in. It's utter shit," I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose. Soon everyone was quietly wispering about a ton of different things, mainly about our situation, and some about a plan of action. I listened intently, trying to root through the ideas and see what our best course of action would be. I probably looked very worried, because I heard James sigh and shift around.
"I may have a solution," He said, "And I guarantee we'll all hate it."