Chapter Thirty-Five:

I get woken up by the sun hitting my face and a bird pecking on my shoulder.

"Shoo!" I tell it and it quickly flies off of me. I brush off all the leaves in my hair and on my body. For the past two days I've been waking up in weird spots but truly, this is probably the best sleep I've had in awhile. Comfortable, fuck no but good yes it was. No dreaming about my psychotic fam-... fuck. I reach for my phone in my pocket that only has one percent left of battery and see that it is two in the afternoon... on Christmas.

It's so cold out here, I have no idea how I didn't wake up and I'm surprised I wasn't eaten by a wolf or something. I guess luck was on my side. I try wiping the dirt off me that I know is covering my entire body but it doesn't help that I can't see and that my phone is almost dead. I basically sprint back to my house in only ten minutes, that should have taken longer. In front is at least three police cars and Leandro and Gabriel's cars... fucking shit. I run inside where Leandro and Gabriel are screaming at each other and my Mom is yelling at Gabriel to get out while my Grandmother and Dad talks to police.

"Hey." Is all I manage to say. Really, 'hey'? I'm gone for fifteen hours and all I say is hey.

"Where were you?! The whole town was looking for you!" My Mother screams, marching over to me.

"Glad to know that you care that I'm okay." I sarcastically say.

"Are you stupid, Maddie?! It's Christmas and you run off without even calling!" She continues to yell, hitting me on the top of my head.

"That's the point of running away, Mother."

"Even these two boys are here, worried sick and the tall one won't even leave! I thought you were done with him!" I almost forgot that my Grandmother has a big mouth.

"She's here, you guys can go." My Dad tells police and they nod saying something about not being afraid to call. My Father looks at me in disgust then walks down the stairs.

"I'm going to tell your brother that you came home since he hasn't slept all night, may I add!" My Grandmother says then storms upstairs.

"This isn't over, but Madeline. Don't think because it's Christmas this is over!" She says before going after my Grandma. Great... just great. I fucked up more than I expected. I walk into the living room where both Leandro and Gabriel are sitting, still quarrelling with each other and they come to a stop when they see me.

"Really, Maddie? You disappear on us... me? Where did you go?" Leandro speaks up and says. Gabriel stays quiet, obviously not knowing what to say.

"I... uh I needed to get away. I just went to the woods and accidentally fell asleep." His jaw drops,

"The woods? Where there are wolves and coyotes? You could have died or starved out there for fifteen fucking hours and you come in here acting like you were only gone fifteen minutes? Unbelievable." He storms out and I try to run after him but Gabriel grabs my hand holding me back.

"What are you-" I start but by my surprise he just hugs me. No screaming, yelling just hugs me. He inhales the smell of my hair and holds me tight before letting me go,

"Are you fucking dyslexic? Like are you fucking dumb?!" He screams, catching me by surprise for some reason. He was so loud it feels like the whole house just shook.

"You just pick up and leave because you needed to get away? If you needed to get away so bad you could have came over to my place where it is fucking safe!" He continues.

"Were not together anymore Gabriel... I can't just come over and we agreed on giving each other space." I say.

"I thought we were trying to work it out! That means you can come over whenever you feel sad or if you need to escape! I don't fucking care if you need space if it means that your going to go sleep in the woods! This isn't fucking LA there are bears here, you know that right?"

"Yes, I do." Is all I say.

"Then why are you acting like a dumb bitch that doesn't know shit? Your not stupid Maddie stop fucking acting like you are!" He yells some more... I know I should be mad that he is calling me things but I know he just cares... I wish my Dad would care this much actually.

"That is enough!" My Mother yells interrupting Gabriel's screaming,

"I don't care what my daughter did, still you have no right talking to her like that! If you think she is actually going to take you back your funny sir! Is this actually how your Mother raised you?!"

"If I turned out the way my Mother tried to raise me, I would be a drunk and I think you would hate me drunk even more than you hate me now and I'm sorry I actually care enough to knock some sense into your daughter." He fights back... this is not going to be good.

"Care enough? Your calling her a bitch and stupid!"

"Oh get off my fucking dick! It's hard to be nice to people that obviously have no intention on being nice to me and I'm talking about you! You've hated me since I met you just because I have tattoo's and don't look the way you like!" He says,

"No, I hate you because you're hurting my daughter."

"Stop fucking lying! You want her to be with Leandro, but you know, if you admit it or not she will never be happy with him the way she is happy with me! And he will never love her as much as I love her so don't pull the whole I hurt your daughter shit because if I never talk to her for the rest of my life and she goes on and marries someone like Leandro, she will never be truly happy! Because I love her with everything I have and that is something no other man can give her, she will never have the same feeling around anyone else and that is a feeling you will never feel." I cover my mouth and he fake coughs once he realizes what he just said about loving me... I know he said it before but this feels different,

"That's bullshit! You're just saying that so she will go back to you! I know men like you, you're dirty! An asshole!"

"Okay I'll remember that when I'm balls deep in your daughter next week." He says before walking out. Yeah, I'm dead.

"You're not going back to him, Madeline. Don't even think about it!" She storms out to the kitchen.

"Take a shower and start getting ready for dinner! We will talk about this after!" She adds. I do as she says and go upstairs. I try to go to my brother's room but it is locked, meaning that he doesn't want to speak to me. Isn't this a jolly Christmas? My whole family is mad at me, Leandro the one person that is always positive actually thinks I'm stupid too and Gabriel... he says things. Some in which he means, some he doesn't and he is messing with my head. I know he was worried, but space means space.