HEAVILY EDITED
Spin! her inner-voice told her, spin faster than you ever have before!
She did, she spun and spun and spun as fast as she could. She was spinning so fast she thought she would just take off into the sky. But that is a common thought for a five-year-old. When she started to stumble she didn’t stop, she couldn’t stop. She was going too fast.
“Mommy!” she called joyfully, “mommy look at me!”
Her mom smiled and waved, “slow down, honey! You’re going to fall!”
“I can’t stop!”
Her mom laughed and walked over to her, with a quick sweep she lifted the child off of her feet and into her arms, “better?”
The child giggled, “Yes.”
Her mother set her down, “Go play with the other kids,” she smacked her butt gently as she walked away. “Have fun sweeties!”
“Okay mommy!” The child skipped away.
“Cute kid Madeleine.”
“Thanks Ralph, she’s perfect,” the twenty year old single mother looked at her daughter happily.
“Um… Madeline, I was, I mean to say, would you… oh never mind.”
“Ralph, just spit it out.”
“Would you like to go out on a date with me sometime?”
Madeline’s face turned slightly red, she shouldn’t say yes, she shouldn’t set herself up for heartbreak again, but she couldn’t say no, she didn’t want to. “That sounds great, when would be a good time?”
“Friday?”
“Sounds great.” Oh no, she said that twice? could she have a bigger stupid moment?
Ralph’s son, Christopher, was stuck on the monkey bars crying out. “Oh no, I’ll be right back.” Ralph ran over and lifted his son onto his shoulders.
“Mommy!”
Madeline looked over and saw her daughter, Elizabeth, stuck in the sandbox; two boys were kicking sand in her face. Madeline marched over and grabbed the two boys’ ears. Nobody messed with her daughter.
“What do you think you’re doing to my daughter?”
She got only whimpers and whines.
“Who are your parents?”
The little red-headed boy pointed at a sour looking woman sitting on a bench. Madeline took the two boys by the ears over to them, leaving Elizabeth alone in the sandbox to play.
“Excuse me,” she said politely, “are these your boys?”
“Yes,” the woman said, “what have they done now?”
“They were kicking sand in my daughter’s face.”
The mother glared at the children and took their arms, Madeline let go, “what did you think you were doing?” her voice became very stern.
“We-we-we were just…playing mommy.”
“Yeah well you should know the difference between playing and bullying by now Anthony!”
Elizabeth tugged on Madeline’s sleeve, “mommy I’m hungry.”
Madeline picked her daughter up, “alright honey, wanna go to McDonalds?” Elizabeth smiled and nodded. “Alright, go get your jacket, I’m going to say good-bye to Ralph.”
“Okay mommy.” The little girl ran off again.
“You’re daughter sure is something,” Ralph commented.
“How so?”
“She’s your daughter for one. Two, she is the most well-behaved little girls I have ever seen.”
“Ralph you sure are a sweet talker,” Madeline said and kissed his cheek just as Elizabeth came up. Oh my God! she thought, what am I doing? She ignored the question in her head and turned to Elizabeth, “Ready honey?” Elizabeth nodded. “Alright say bye to Ralph.”
“Bye Ralph!” she said in her cute five-year-old voice.
Madeline buckled Elizabeth into the car seat and went to hers. She looked back and smiled at Ralph before shutting the door and driving off, eager for Friday.
Friday
Madeline held up an outfit and threw it down, ugly. Seven outfits later she heard a knock on her door and shouted helplessly, “come in!”
The door opened and- twenty-year-old mother of three-Donna came in. “Hi Madeline, how’s the outfit hunt going?”
“I’m going naked!” she threw her hands up furiously and threw herself down on the bed, she felt like such a teenager.
Donna laughed and pulled her back up, “not on the first date, hun. Besides, I brought some of my own.” She stood up and pulled off the first top. She stood Madeline in front of the mirror and held it up to her. “Ehh, green’s not your color, clashes with your eyes.”
“Green and brown go good together,” Madeline protested.
“Maybe in your world, but in the dating world, that’s a huge no.” Donna put the green top on the bed and pulled off a pink one. “Perfect, try this one on.”
Not being shy Madeline pulled off her blue knit sweater and buttoned the pink blouse up, “wow that looks…”
“You look great, now where is that skirt,” she continued to dig through her pile until she found a black-denim mini-skirt. “Ha, put this on and your outfit is done, Then on to your hair.” Madeline pulled the mini-skirt on over her sweat pants and let those fall to the floor. Donna French-braided her hair twice, letting the short hairs fall down.
There was a knock on the front door, Madeline jumped up and walked as fast as she could to the living room. Her heart was racing faster than she thought possible. She smiled at Ralph, and when he handed her some lilies she nearly melted.
“Ready to go?”
“Absolutely,” she took a deep breath and went outside.
“What did you do with Elizabeth tonight?”
“Donna’s staying until I get back.”
“Ah, Chris is at his moms.”
“Is that such a good idea?”
“She just got out of rehab, and is staying with her mom. If Georgia’s still unstable her mom will take Chris to the McDonalds.”
“The child’s paradise.”
They reached the end of the oddly long drive and climbed into Ralph’s truck. The giant thing made Madeline feel abnormally tall, something she enjoyed. Ralph hadn’t told her where they were going yet, and as they passed out of town she started to feel a little nervous about it. Although she trusted Ralph, she still couldn’t stop the feeling she got in her gut.
“Ralph, please tell me where we’re going.”
“It’s a secret,” he put his hand on her knee, “don’t worry, you’ll love it.”
“Ralph,” she pleaded, “come on tell me.”
“Fine,” he said. Then he sat there, staring at the road for the longest time.
“Ralph?”
“Oh right! It’s kind of like a dance, but is more about listening to one band, really loud.”
“What band?”
“Lifehouse.”
“Wait… there’s a Lifehouse concert in Jackson, is that what you’re talking about?”
He pulled out the concert tickets, and she squealed, “Oh my God, Ralph, if you weren’t driving I’d so kiss you right now.”
“I could always pull over?” He lifted an eyebrow, and grinned.
She returned the smile and said, “if you want, but I doubt we’d get there on time.”
“Good point.”
The concert rocked, Madeline couldn’t stop smiling. When they started playing “You and me,” she couldn’t stop herself, she looped her arm in his. But that’s as far as it went. She jumped and sang along, all the while keeping her arm looped with his. When the concert ended and everyone started to file out Ralph put his arm around her waist.
“Oh, my God, my feet have never been in so much pain!” she said.
Ralph laughed, “I take it that’s a good thing?”
She smiled, “that’s a very good thing.” They reached his truck, Ralph opened the door for her and helped her climb in. The height wasn’t as cool anymore. When he scrambled into his seat he turned the CD player on. “All American-Rejects,” she commented admiringly. Her second favorite band, Oh Ralph, you’re…perfect. They played the music as loud as it would go (without damaging their ears) all the way back. Madeline felt like a teenager again.
When Ralph pulled onto her block they saw flashing lights, and heard sirens. A look of panic crossed their faces and he went faster. The police cars were parked outside of her house.
“Oh, my God!” she shouted and jumped out before the truck had completely stopped. Her hands and knees collided with the pavement but that didn’t stop her. She ran up to the first officer she saw and said, “I’m Madeline Crawford, what’s going on in my house?”
The police officer explained that the neighbors had called after hearing gun shots, and that they had arrived finding Donna dead.
“Where’s my daughter?”
“We don’t know.”
Madeline’s world collapsed, her knees buckled, and everything went black. When she woke, not five minutes later, She was sitting on the back of the ambulance that was a few feet away. Ralph came over and put a blanket around her before handing her a cup of coffee. Madeline began to sob, and Ralph did his best to comfort her.
A detective came up to her, “Miss Crawford?”
She looked up at him and wiped the tears from her eyes, “yeah?”
“Mind if I ask you a few questions?”
“Anything to help get my baby back.”
“Alright, first: where were you tonight?”
“At a Lifehouse concert with Ralph Parker.”
“Who was watching your daughter?”
“Donna Simons, she was going to stay with her until I came home.”
“Is there anyone who doesn’t like you? Anybody who would want to hurt you for some reason?”
Madeline shrugged, “I don’t know.”
Agonizingly long weeks passed, and the worst part was they didn’t find Elizabeth. No sign of her anywhere, Madeline spent more time pacing around the living room and crying.
Every day was worse than the one before, her cell phone never rang, and she heard nothing. Ralph helped her a lot, he took her out to dinner, to movies, anything to keep her mind away from her cell phone, but at the end of the day, when he failed and she finally broke and cried, he held her, letting her sob.
One day they were sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and her phone rang. She scrambled to pick it up. “Hello?” She brushed her hair away from her face.
“Hello Miss Crawford? This is detective Mason.”
“Yes, hi, detective Mason.”
“Miss Crawford, we’ve found your daughter.”
“Oh my god, really?”
“Yes, but...”
“Where can I pick her up?”
“Miss Crawford, she’s dead.”
Madeline’s world fragmented, her daughter, her beautiful baby girl, was dead. Madeline couldn’t think, she couldn’t focus, it was like her mind broke inside her. Ralph took the phone from her and hung it up.
How could this have happened? How could she have let her daughter be killed? Why had it happened? Thoughts swam around in her head as she balled, if she hadn’t gone out with Ralph she could’ve protected her. But she couldn’t bring herself to blame Ralph, it was her own fault, nobodies but her own. And she would never forgive herself.
The drive to the police station was short and silent. They were led down to the morgue.
The coroner pulled back the sheet and Madeline screamed. Elizabeth smiled up at them from the slab, her eyes closed, her face scarred. Ralph held her up as she sobbed, letting her bury her head in his shoulder.
“How did she die?” Ralph asked for Madeline.
“Multiple fractions to the abdomen and the ribs, she was crushed to death.”
Madeline sobbed harder, and Ralph put an arm around her, “she was run over?”
The coroner shook his head, “no, someone much larger than her was on her.” Although he hadn’t said it, Ralph and Madeline both knew what had happened.
“Have they found who did it?” The coroner nodded.
Another month went by. Elizabeth had been buried, the trial had happened and the pedophile had been sentenced to life in prison.
Madeline visited Elizabeth every day, never bringing Ralph. She didn’t blame him, she couldn’t blame him. He had been so helpful throughout the whole ordeal, and he never grew tired of her. She still couldn’t bring herself to go back to her house, Elizabeth’s memory was etched all over it. The first time she tried she saw Elizabeth skipping from the couch to the kitchen to sneak a cookie.
She couldn’t do that again. Elizabeth was her life, everything revolved around what had been right for her, the best way to protect her. Madeline would have done anything for her, she would have killed, and she would have died, anything to ensure her daughters safety. And the one night she did something for herself, with no bitter thoughts in her head, was the night Elizabeth needed her more than ever.
She couldn’t cry any more, all the tears she had were shed.
Four years passed.
Madeline was sitting at a dinner with Ralph. He looked extremely nervous. “Ralph? Are you okay?”
He swallowed, “yeah, why?”
“You just look really nervous.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, “Madeline,” he swallowed again. Madeline was having a hard time not laughing. “Will you marry me?”
“What?”
“I wanted to ask you for… a year now but, I couldn’t get up the courage to ask you.” He opened the box and she gasped silently.
“You mean you’ve been carrying this around with you for a year?” He nodded. “I love you,” she sighed taking his hand.
“Is that a yes?”
She smiled, “that’s a yes.”
End
Creeeeeeeeepy! 
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