Chapter 10

Maddie

I sat at a small diner near the bus depot. I didn’t have the strength to run. I knew it wasn’t a good idea. If they were looking for me, they’d show up at this diner, but I didn’t care. At this point, I had lost all hope. I wanted to die.

I sat in a booth all the way in the back, trying to be inconspicuous as I ordered coffee and white toast. I tried to sit there for as long as I could, nibbling on the toast and sipping the coffee as if it were the last cup on the planet. The waitress kept staring at me, so I called her over.

“I’d like more coffee and…what kind of pie do you have?” I asked nonchalantly even though I was trembling inside.

“Apple, blueberry and peach cobbler.” She answered.

“I’ll take the blueberry.” She walked away, and I sunk into my seat. I checked my pockets again, afraid I wouldn’t have any money to pay for the pie. I found five dollars.

The waitress walked towards me with the coffee pot in one hand and blueberry pie in her other hand.

“Here you go sweetie,” she said as she set the pie on the table and refilled my cup.

“Thank you.”

“It’s your lucky day, love. It was paid for by the gentleman at the end of the counter.” I moved my head to the side over her body and glanced towards the counter.

“The old guy with the cap?”

“No…the cute young guy with the blue eyes,” she whispered.

I swallowed hard. Behind the old man was the young guy with the blue eyes…staring at me as if he just saw Jesus himself.

“Stone?” I mouthed. I couldn’t even say his name.

Stone approached me slowly as if he were floating on air. He walked over to me and then sat across from me in the booth.

“You’re going to go through the back where the restrooms are and you’re going to exit through the kitchen. There’s a door there. I’ll be right there, Maddie. I’ll be right there.” He tapped my hand lightly and my heart ached for his touch. “Go, now.” I stood up quickly as he stared at me, watching me walk away from him.

I walked through the kitchen towards the back door and exited. Stone stood there waiting for me. He grabbed me by my waist and placed my head against his chest.

“Do you feel that? Do you feel that Maddie?” he whispered into my hair.

“Yes. Yes. I do,” I answered.

“It’s my heart, Maddie. My heart. Maddie, my God, I’ve been looking for you for over a year.” I could feel his tears in my hair.

“It was Andrew.”

“I know. I know Maddie. The kids are safe. They are with me.” He cupped my face in his hands and stared into my eyes. “You look the same. Sweet. Innocent. My Maddie.” The tears fell from his eyes and I kissed them with my lips upon his cheeks.
“I’ve missed you so much. I’m nothing without you Maddie. Nothing.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I have a plan. We can go to Joanna’s house, get the kids, and leave. Go to Mexico. No one can ever find us or judge us there, Maddie.”

“Who is Joanna?”

“It’s a long story.” He stared at my lips, his hands still cupping my face, and then…he kissed me. Long. Hard. Passionately. Like he hadn’t ever kissed me before. Our tongues swirled together, as one. I was breathless. My hands reached for his chest. His hands slid down my back.

“I love you,” he whispered as he pulled from our kiss.

“No…don’t stop. Please, I need you. I love you.”

He grabbed my chin and ravished me with his mouth again. He pulled me in close, grabbing on to the back of my head. Neither of us could breathe, but the love we shared at that moment couldn’t be stopped. Our hands searched each other’s bodies, our lips matching the intensity of the grasps of our hands.

“Promise me. Promise me you’ll never walk away from me again. From us,” I whispered as I pulled away from our kiss.

“Never. Ever. Will I leave you.” He hugged me tightly. We embraced each other until we heard clapping in the background.

We turned around to look at the admirers and I nearly fainted. My heart stood still.

“Well, lookey here. Surprise,” I heard the devil say. Andrew.

I glanced over at Stone. His nose was bleeding.

“You should really take care of that. Bad habit, hillbilly,” Andrew chuckled.

“Fuck you, Andrew,” Stone said, angrily wiping his nose.

“Pretty typical place to hideout, Madison. Not very smart considering who you are up against.” Andrew chuckled.

“It’s over Andrew. Leave,” Stone said sternly.

“Well, I would if I could, but your sweet sister over here disobeyed me. She wasn’t supposed to run away. She ruined my trip to Ocean City. Now, why would you do such a thing Madison?”

“Go to hell. You don’t own me,” I shouted.

“We’re still married. Legally. So, I am your husband, remember?” he sneered.

“What do you want Andrew? It’s over,” Stone said.

“It’s over when I say it’s over, trailer trash.” The black Lincoln I saw before on the highway and at the school pulled up towards us. The slam of the back door could only mean one thing. Jackson.

“Well, nice to see you Madison. You don’t listen, do you?” he asked, smiling and shaking his head.

“No…I wasn’t going to wait for you to kill me,” I said nervously.

“Kill you. Nope, I wasn’t going to kill you. Someone else was.”

“Get the fuck out of here Jackson,” Stone shouted pulling out the gun from his backpack.

“For God’s sakes kid. Get rid of that shit. You know you can’t kill me. I’m an FBI agent.”

He shook his head and walked towards Stone.

Stone pointed the gun and fired at his knee.

“Goddamit! Are you fucking crazy?” Jackson yelled as he fell to the ground.

“I told you. It’s over. You’re a crooked FBI agent. Maddie and I are walking out of here. At least, she is…unharmed.”

Stone walked over to Jackson as he held my hand tightly and took his gun. “You shoot me. I kill Andrew. You got it?” I looked up at Stone. “Come on.” He grabbed my hand and placed the keys to the car in it.

“No, what are you doing?” I said frantically, giving him the keys back.

“Go, Maddie. Here, take the keys. It’s the black Honda in the front of the diner,” He said.

“No…No…you promised. You promised me.” I grabbed his hand, and he yanked it from me.

“Maddie, it’s okay. I’ll kill them both. I swear to God; I won’t let anyone hurt you again.” I stared at him for a moment with disbelief in my eyes.

“You shot an FBI agent, you ignorant fuck!” Andrew shouted. Stone pointed his gun at Andrew and walked towards him.

“I’ll shoot you Stone,” Jackson said pulling out a gun from his ankle strap.

“No, you won’t, Jackson. You know I’ll kill Andrew. I’ll kill him. I shot him before. I’ll do it again.”

He walked over to Jackson and kicked him the face, knocking the gun out of his hand. Then he turned around and grabbed Andrew by the throat. “Get on your knees,” he said.

“No! Stone! No!” I shouted. I heard the police sirens in the background. “We have to go!” I yelled.

“Go Maddie! Go!” Stone shouted.

“No…not without you, please…Stone. Please,” I cried. My heart was hammering against my chest.

The sweat was dripping down my forehead. The sirens were coming closer and closer. “Stone! Please…please. I love you! Please don’t do this.” I grabbed his arm and Andrew tried to escape.

“Don’t move, motherfucker. I’ll blow your head off.” Stone pointed the gun at Andrew’s head.
The police cars arrived. One police officer jumped out of his car, pulled out his gun, and pointed it at Stone.

“Put the gun down, now!” The police ordered Stone.

I pulled out the envelope with Stone’s birth certificate from my pocket.

“Look, Stone, look. Your birth certificate.” He turned to look at me, the sweat and lights from the police car blinding him. He lifted his hand to his eyes to see my face. “Ana’s not your mother Stone. Annette is. You see, you met her. You knew her. Put the gun down…We can be together. Forever. You and me. You’re only my half-brother…it’s okay…it’s okay. Please, I beg of you,” I whimpered. “Please, I’ll die without you…please, put the gun down,” I said, sobbing.

“Son, put the gun down,” the officer said calmly. Stone continued to point the gun at Andrew’s head.

The blood dripped from Stone’s nose.

“Please. He’s not well. Taser him. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. Help him! Please!” I pleaded with the police officer.

“Annette, huh? Well then, that sums up my life. Even she walked away from me. But I can’t get it out of my head that my father hurt you, our father Maddie. I can’t forgive him. That’s why I killed him. I watched him die, Maddie, and I was happy. Happy when he took his last breath.” He shook his head. “How can we be together? He raped you. He got you pregnant for God’s sake. That sick fuck. He’s your father, too. You deserve better, Maddie. Not me. Not me.” He grabbed Andrew by the hair tightly. He forced the gun into in Andrew’s mouth.

“Son, put down the gun. We can help you. We want to help you.”  The police officer moved closer.

“Don’t come any closer,” he said to the police officer. “Don’t you see, Maddie. It’ll never work. You and me. I can’t forgive myself for not protecting you from my father raping you. He was your father, too. He took you away from me when he hurt you. I can’t stand the thought. I can never hurt you like that.” His hands began to shake.

“It’s not your fault Stone…please. We can go to counseling,” I begged. My heart was hurting so badly I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

“Where? In jail? No, Maddie, go. If I can’t be with you. I’d rather die.” The tears brimmed at the corners of his eyes and fell one by one onto his cheeks.

“Son, I’m not going to ask you again. Put the gun down,” the officer demanded.

“We can be together. It’s okay. It’s not wrong. It’s not wrong. We can be a family. Stone…please, put the gun down.” I glanced over at the police. They were going to shoot him. I knew they were. It was just a matter of time.

“Maddie, I love you. No one will ever love you more than me. Ever. I never cared that you were my sister. Half or full blooded. I need you to know that.”

I covered my mouth with my hands and shook my head. My sobs were uncontrollable now. I shook my head, pleading with my eyes for him to put down the gun.

“I know. Please, I’m begging you. Please, put the gun down. I need you. The kids need you.” I begged him.

“No, they only need you.” He smiled, then turned to Andrew angrily. “And you…you piece of shit! You hurt Maddie most of all!” he shouted, pulling the gun out of Andrew’s mouth and placing it to the back of Andrew’s head.

Stone stared at me for a moment and mouthed “I love you.” Then he pulled the trigger and shot Andrew in the head. The police officer shot Stone twice in the chest as I ran to keep him from falling.

“No!” I screamed. “No!” I fell to my knees in front of him. I grabbed his head and placed it on my lap.

“No…” I whispered, sobbing. The pain in my chest escalated to an unbelievable feeling of horror that made me gasp for air.

“Maddie?” he whispered.

“Breathe, Stone, breathe.” I watched as the blood seeped from the two holes in his chest and covered his shirt. I looked into his eyes. They were cold. He tried to smile and lift his hand to touch my face, but he didn’t have the strength. Then, as I stared into his blue eyes, he… was gone.

I lowered my face to his chest and cried, then screamed.

Cried, then screamed.

Cried, then screamed.

I heard the ambulance getting closer. I grabbed Stone by his bloody chest and yelled, “Stone!”

I threw myself on top of him, covering myself in his blood. I studied his face, looking into his eyes looking for any sign of life…but his eyes didn’t look into mine.

I kissed his lips tenderly, trying to remember how it felt when he kissed me back…nothing. I held his cold hands to remember his warmth, his electrifying touch, like the day I grabbed his hand when I was eleven, but they were lifeless.

“No…please, come back to me. Please,” I whispered sobbing. “Please…I love you.”

“Miss, please you have to come with us,” one of the police officers said. He lifted me up from underneath my arms and I pushed him away, grabbing Stone around his waist.

“No! please…let me die. Just let me die.” I cried against Stone’s chest, holding onto him for dear life.

“You’re going to be okay. You’re going to be okay,” the officer said.

I glanced up and Jackson was standing over Andrew’s body. I placed my face into Stone’s bloody chest. I didn’t want Jackson to look at me. The police officer grabbed me gently by the arm and lifted me up.

“Sweetie, please. He’s gone. He’s gone.” I sat up and stared at Stone. His lifeless body lay there with no one to hold him. No one to tell him it was going to be okay. No mother. No father. No one…but me.

A police officer dispatched for the coroner’s office. I sat and stared aimlessly into the crowd of spectators. They looked at us and pointed at Stone’s dead body.

I gasped for air and the unrelenting pain that struck my heart over and over became the realization that he was really gone. It was harder and harder to breathe. I gasped for air and sobbed all in one breath continuously.

I glanced down at Stone, tilting my head to the side and wondering what it felt like to be him. I wanted to die so badly. I wanted to grab his gun and shoot into the crowd so the police officers would shoot and kill me, but I saw his wallet coming out of his back pants pocket. I grabbed it and opened it. I saw a picture of Bryan, Daniel and Alyssa. A photo I took of them when he first came out of prison and came to see me.

I closed my eyes and kissed the picture, thinking of the kids and how we lost Bryan. I opened my eyes and leaned over Stone’s body and kissed his lips and whispered, “I will never love anyone else but you Stone. Ever.” When the coroner’s car drove up behind Jackson’s black car and I realized they were there to take Stone, I completely lost it. My body was literally convulsing and the picture I was holding fell on Stone’s bloody chest.

The crowd began to scream and the EMS workers ran to me. They grabbed me and, with a familiar stick in my arm, I felt the drowsiness coming on, taking away the pain. The pain. The pain.

“Stone.” I whispered. “Stone. Don’t leave me…please.” My eyes closed and I was out.