Granting a Thief's Wishes

The last time I was in this building, it was when my dad died. And I didn't want to go back. The hospital practically reeked of misery. Everyone looked pale and weak. I just found someone with a pirate-y eye patch. Turned out someone stabbed him with a pen when he announced that the stocks dropped.

The waiting room was more depressing. When I was a kid, I was overwhelmed by all of this. The look on everyone's faces - it was as if they wanted the ground to swallow them up. I felt a pang and gripped on Nick' sleeves harder.

Nicole was there. Her elbows were resting on her knees. She looked pale and awful but otherwise fine. I had a feeling that she looked worse when she called me. I left Nick and walked rapidly to Nicole. When she saw me, she gave me a small smile.

"Her parents are with her right now," she explained after I flung my arms around her. I sat down next to her. Maddie was fine. She was okay.

Was she?

I frowned. "Nicole, what happened? Why did this happen in the first place?"

She sighed, rubbing her forehead. I could see out of the corner of my eye that Nick sat somewhere behind us. Then I heard a man starting a whispered conversation with him. Well, at least he had someone to talk to. I felt as if I've troubled him enough.

But whatever. It was a payback for him stealing my bracelet in the first place. Now he was dragged into my life. So ha-ha.

Focus.

"I don't know," Nicole said truthfully. "I got home when I saw Maddie sobbing hysterically with a phone in her hand. Turns out that she called the ambulance. She...changed her mind."

Even then, sitting beside Nicole and hearing her saying those things, it all sounded so surreal. She took a deep breath before slumping back in the uncomfortable plastic chair. "She had this deep gash on her wrist and blood was everywhere. It's like something out of a horror movie."

"Their parents have been in there for quite a while," Nicole continued. "Try going in if you want to."

After a while, I got up and shot a look at Nicholas. He gave me a tiny, assuring smile before returning to his conversation with a fifty-something-year-old guy. When I started to walk away, Nicole called after me.

"Yes?" I said, turning around. She gave me a onceover before staring at me dead in the eyes.

"What on earth are you wearing?"

Always the same Nicole.

"This is the third time for two years, Robert!" I heard a woman's voice hissed shrilly when I knocked and opened the door. Maddie's parents were very posh and elegant and it looked as if Mr. Reynolds rushed from work. He was still in his suit that probably cost more than our rents.

They were so engrossed in their own conversation that they didn't even notice when I entered the room. Maddie was on the hospital's bed, looking fragile and pale. When she saw me, her eyes twinkled in glee. "Pudding?" She asked, holding up her plastic bowl.

"Then what are you suggesting? That we transfer her somewhere else, again? I don't have the time or money to do that anymore, Catherine," Mr. Reynolds replied back, running a hand through his coppery red hair. I shot a nervous look at them.

"Err, maybe I should come later…?"

Maddie shook her head instantly, patting the spot on the bed beside her. "Please don't."

Mrs. Reynolds looked at me for the first time and shot me a stiff smile. "Hello there, Susannah! It's been a long time!"

Right. Confession time.

A few months ago, just when Maddie moved into our house, she invited us to her parents'. I kind of broke a weird-shaped, moss green vase that turned out to be a sacred vase of…something or another (an ugly thing, it was). But the bottom line was, ever since then I didn't think Mrs. Reynolds liked me very much.

Mr. Reynolds fixed his tie before muttering something to his wife and they both excused themselves before storming out of the room. God, the room felt so much peaceful without the tension they brought in with them.

Maddie took another spoonful of the pudding. "Hospital food is actually not bad. Not bad at all. They made it sound as if we were going to eat something that was cooked straight out of hell or something. D'you want some, Suzie?"

"No, thanks," I said and couldn't resist giving her a small smile.

I sat on the plastic chair near the window, just staring at her. I didn't know what to say. To be honest, I was still pretty shocked that Maddie would even do such a thing.

And you know how mothers would give you advices like "don't talk to strangers" or "say please and thank you". But they left out the one important advice that would probably go like, "when you friend just tried to kill herself…"

Maybe I should call mom.

The thing was, I actually listened to a psychiatrist going on and on about depression and suicide and what "it could do to teenagers today" (make sure to say that last bit in a very grave voice). She was invited to give a talk at school after this one kid killed himself by taking a bunch of pills.

For the entire talk, I was near the back row of our school's auditorium showing Mike Letcher's tongue the insides of my mouth.

My bad.

"I'm moving," she muttered. I snapped back to reality with a start.

"Moving?" I said, looking at her. She nodded, setting her pudding on her lap.

"I've talked to Nicole about this," she said, scratching her cheeks self-consciously. I couldn't resist but to steal a glance towards her bandaged wrist. "She said it would be a good thing that I…take a break for a couple of months or so."

I looked at her, feeling a pang of sympathy mixed with confusion.

"Maddie…" I trailed off. I daren't ask her why she did it. I just couldn't. Not now, at least.

She gave me an innocent pout. "Now, now. Don't you ever think I won't be dropping by once in a while! We'll always be friends, right, Suzie?"

"Right," I said, reaching for her hand and clasping it over with mine. "We'll really, really miss you though."

Maddie smiled. She looked serene and I couldn't even imagine what went through her mind—

"Why are we here?" She muttered. "That's what I thought. I couldn't find a purpose for any human to…live through these god forsaken challenges that's thrown at their faces. My parents always had high expectations for me, you know that, Suze?"

No. But from the looks of what happened earlier, I pretty much had the gist of it.

She stopped herself, playing with the pudding's bowl before letting out a big sigh. "I didn't know what came over me. By the time I realized what I was doing, I was panicking."

"Challenges that we have to go through in life are what makes life…life. It's not always pretty. But if we cruise through life breezily, what fun would that be?"

"I wish I could be happy again, you know? Stress-free. Just for a while. Maybe cruising through life is just what I need for now."

I didn't know much about Maddie's background since we've only met a few months ago when she moved in. But when we went to dinner at her parents' house, I could practically tell that Maddie was some sort of a genius. Mrs. Reynolds boasted about Maddie's awards all night, for god's sake. And trust me, there were many of them adorning the walls.

Nicole even told me that she felt intimidated by it all.

"You will be," I said, smiling and patting her hand. The charms on my bracelet clanging into each other. For a while, Maddie and I stared at my bracelet.

"Is it important to you, the bracelet?" She asked.

I couldn't answer.

I felt as if someone just punched the air out of me.

"Suze, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine," I mumbled, feeling the sharp, prickling pain slowly ebbing from my chest.