... A Smooth Criminal

[MK Kilmarnock]

((Nathan Coleman, continued from the bay where there were no docks))

Madison and Nathan had a very long walk. At some point, they slept, and Madison found some shelter from the rain underneath a tree on sloped ground. It was not much, but Nathan was so tired he found her shoulder to be a good enough pillow. Now, it was morning again. Nathan did not bother to ask about breakfast. He knew there was no breakfast to be found, just like yesterday, but in his head, he imagined a big stack of pancakes around every corner and an apple, and a glass of juice, and toast, and cake because sometimes cake was also a breakfast food. When there was no food around that corner, it was okay, because he imagined it to be around the next one. And the next one. They would eat eventually because eventually, they would find somebody to give them food and this time they would take it.

They stopped walking when they arrived in a pretty garden. "The Alice in Wonderland garden!" Nathan had said when he first saw it because something about it reminded him of the Queen of Heart's garden in the last part of the movie. There were all sorts of funny little markers and decorations. It looked old, but it also looked bright, happy and peaceful. Madison suggested Nathan collect rocks to make a campfire. Last night was cold and wet, and though he was now being warmed by the morning sun, Nathan happily agreed, scooting all around to collect rocks he thought were suitable for their campfire.

"Found one!" He would say, selecting a smooth, round stone. "What... about, what about this one!" Nathan asked, holding up a reddish stone with more angles. He came back after collecting two rocks at a time, because it was all he could hold until his hands were full, and he arranged them in a ring. Slowly, but surely, he was making progress with his task. If nothing else, it kept him busy.

[Mimi]

** Madison Springer, girl no. 12, continued from... Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay

Fire was a far gone dream, a fantasy belied by still-soaked nature and Madison's own lack of supplies. She'd tried for awhile the previous day, clinking rocks together or trying to catch spark over a pile of soggy twigs using Nathan's glasses and the sun, if just to be able to say that she tried. It was a forgone conclusion that nights would be spent amongst the wet underbrush, though, trying to siphon whatever body heat from Nathan's fuller frame that she could.

Night was the worst part of the day. Beyond the chill and the wet and the mud, there was the dark and the worrying. The waiting and the wondering. She didn't have to think about much whilst they were moving, was able to busy her mind, but once night came, all she had was time to think.

So she thought about how hungry she was and how badly she wanted a hamburger, instead of thinking about Mercy's writhing body.

She thought about her headache and how thirsty she was, instead of thinking about Ramsay's name on the announcements. And Oliver's. And Richard's.

She thought about the mosquitos that would have kept her awake if she could sleep, instead of the sounds of the wind and every cracking branch.

And she thought about how stupid she was for wearing a mini dress instead of a parka, instead of Connor and her Mom and her Dad and Cassidy.

And that's why it was important for Nathan to make them a ring for their make-believe campfire, to focus on something that wasn't the pain in his stomach or his classmates in the woods. Less whining she'd have to endure, right?

“It's coming together nicely, Cass,” She said flatly from her seat on a downed tree, “Your mom's gonna go nuts once she sees how many of them you can move by yourself.”

And maybe he'd tire himself enough to sleep without the nightmares and the stirring.

[MK Kilmarnock]

"That's not my name!" Nathan laughed and called back to Madison.

Then, things were quiet, and Nathan vanished from sight.

[Mimi]

Had she even called him a name? Let alone one that wasn't his? Truth be told, most of what she felt like she was saying lately was empty, noises to placate Nathan and fill the silence; though she would have much preferred it. And sleep was so fleeting that she could barely remember to breathe, let alone remember anything else leaving her mouth.

“Nathan?” She called out, realizing he'd escaped her vision and instinctively rocketing from her seat.

“Nathan!?”

[MK Kilmarnock]

The sound of crunching leaves in plodding, heavy steps sounded behind Madison.

Nathan had found a particularly large rock, big enough that he needed two hands to hold it. Of course, Nathan was not very strong, so the rock could not be especially massive, but it was still about half as large as his head. He grinned up at Madison, though he huffed and he puffed from having to carry such a heavy object.

"Yeah! I'm Nathan!" Nathan wheezed. "You called me... called me... Cass!" He paused as if he had forgotten, and needed to place the exact name. He should have remembered the name well enough. Cassidy, Madison's sister, was a classmate of Nathan's. They knew each other. Sometimes, when Nathan danced during lunch time, Cassidy would come watch. But 'Cass' and 'Cassidy were not the same name, not to Nathan, so the connection was somewhat difficult to make. Paying it no more mind, Nathan hobbled over to his fire ring and plopped the rock smack dab in the center, then stood up and dusted off his hands, making a real big show of it.

Nathan turned to Madison. He spun on his feet, placing his hands in front of his stomach like Michael Jackson did in his 'Bad' video. He put a hand up to his face and shuffled his feet, only for his dance to be interrupted by a loud rumbling noise. Nathan slumped, obviously tired.

"Madison, do we... got... any food? I'm still hungry," Nathan mumbled.

[Mimi]

“No I didn't.”

Immediately, Madison crossed her arms across her chest, weight shifting to one hip as she watched him climb from the woods and back into the clearing.

“And don't go where I can't see you, Nathan.” She could feel her voice going monotone, icy. Defensive, maybe, quickly tacking on a 'please' before reclaiming her seat on the uprooted tree. No explanation or justification was needed, nor did she much feel like providing one. If she told him once, she's told him a thousand times and all that.

The same went for the food situation.

She knew he was hungry, she could see it from the sallow in his skin. Thirsty, too. Thirstier than licking beads of rain from plants in the woods could ever hope to quench, but it didn't stop the question from fraying her nerves. There was the same amount of food and the same amount of water as there'd been when he asked two hours prior.

But he was trying, using what was left in him to dance just like he was back in Tennessee and she felt like she needed to try, too. Even if it was just for his sake.

So instead of answering his question, she leaned toward the empty circle of rocks, rubbing the back of her wounded hand with the other.

“The fire's warm, huh?”

[MK Kilmarnock]

Nathan looked, confused, to the empty ring of fire. He looked back at Madison with that look of puzzlement crossing his face. It did break, though, eventually. The longer he stared at Madison the wider his smile broke until it was a big toothy grin.

"Yeah! Super warm!" Nathan played along, stomping to the other side of the stone ring and wringing his hands together, rubbing the back of his hand to imitate how Madison was doing it. "Roasty toasty!" Nathan giggled.

He swayed back and forth a few times. There was nearly a hint of the flames glinting off of his glasses. He stopped shivering for a little bit, but it was clear the quiet was making him uncomfortable. His stomach groaned again.

[Mimi]

Madison appreciated him playing along, even if it was stupid. With the sun beginning to duck behind the treeline, a fake fire was better than nothing, as was a little bit of fun. With his cars long gone, however, keeping Nathan entertained rested solely in her less-than-capable hands. She never considered herself terribly fun, typically leaving plans up to Connor as she was often complacent to stay home and watch TV or disappear into the internet. She liked being alone. Or she told herself she did. Preferred it to having to engage with someone who wasn't interested, at least.

But at the end of the day, whether she was entertaining or not, she knew what Cassidy enjoyed and she and Nathan weren't that dissimilar.

Pulling her legs closer to her body to preserve what little body heat from leeching into the air, she locked eyes with Nathan across the 'fire' and forced a smile.

“Wanna play a game? Like, a camp one?”

[MK Kilmarnock]

Nathan's eyes lit up brighter than any fire could.

"A game?" He fidgeted in place, fingers tapping against the palms of his opposite hands. "What... uhm, what kind? What game?"

Madison seemed happier now, happier than before. That made Nathan happy. It was good that they had built this fire, because it was starting to get dark.

[Mimi]

“Come, come,” She said, tapping a spot beside her on the tree and shifting over slightly.

“It's a fun one, you'll like it. So, we're gonna make a story, okay? But, like, together,”

She'd never been great at explaining things, at least not concisely, often getting too wrapped up in her words or overthinking and then just looking stupid. When she was younger, she'd been gung-ho about being a teacher and realizing only recently what a shit show that would've been.

“We're each gonna say one sentence, okay? So, like, if you say 'The dog jumped over the roof', I add on to that and say, like, I dunno, 'But he landed on a flying saucer' and then you go again.”

“It's fun,” She repeated.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Nathan seemed perplexed again. Madison's explanation was confusing to him, and by the time she had gotten to the end of her sentence he had pretty much forgotten the beginning. How were they supposed to 'make' a story together?

When she followed it up with an example, however, Nathan nodded. He grasped that a lot better. He could picture the dog that Madison talked about jumping over a roof. He giggled when he pictured the UFO popping into existence under the dog. Some aliens appeared in the window of the flying saucer and shook their fists angrily at the dog, and then it flew off. Nathan stepped on one of the rocks that made up the fire pit and then backed up. "Almost... burned up!" he said excitedly, using up what had to be a lot of the energy he had left to run around the pit and jump onto the spot next to Madison, plopping his butt down hard enough to wiggle the tree just a little bit.

"Go first!" Nathan insisted, eager to play this fun game.

[Mimi]

Madison smiled softly before quickly reigning it back in and brushing an imaginary ash off Nathan's shoulder as he settled in next to her, his body heat a welcomed presence. The imaginary fire wasn't cutting it as far as warmth went, chill air provoking furious goosebumps as it nipped at any exposed skin. Quickly releasing her arms from Connor's jacket, she let it drape as much as it would across both hers and Nathan's shoulders before clearing her throat.

“I'll start, okay?” She gazed once more at the would-be fire and continued,

“So, once upon a time...”

Nothing else popped immediately to mind and she debated leaving it there for Nathan to continue, but she relented.

“There was a furry monster with six teeth and braces.”

[MK Kilmarnock]

"And the monster was mad because he couldn't eat cookies anymore!"

Nathan craned his neck upwards and turned his chin to the side to peer up at Madison, seeing how she liked his addition to the story.

She felt warm. Must have been the fire.

[Mimi]

“That's right he couldn't,”

She only met his gaze for a brief moment,

“But cookies were his favorite and he had to have them, so he thought, and he thought, and he thought, until one day it hit him...”

Every ounce of her wanted to send to monster to fat camp, but she handed to reigns over once again.

[MK Kilmarnock]

Nathan flattened his lips and hummed in thought. His tongue pushed through them as a red line between two slightly pinker lines, and he exhaled slowly to make a soft 'pfffft' sound. What hit the monster? His neck was getting a bit sore from a few seconds of looking up at Madison like that, so he looked back down to the fire pit. Now he wished it was a real fire, just so there could be more light. He was warm just fine, and he could imagine the crackling and popping of the firewood well enough to make do. It was just getting a little bit hard to see.

"He could... grow a cookie tree!" Nathan giggled. The cookie tree was an idea he had seen in a book his mother read to him once. It became his favorite book for at least a year, and he would bring it all around. He lost the book eventually; mom said he forgot it at a party. Nathan could not remember forgetting it. It was a good book, but he eventually found other books that he could read and enjoy. It was a book for babies, anyway. "And the tree could, could, give him... all the cookies he wants!"

Nathan had seemed to forget why the monster could not quite have those cookies in the first place.