chapter 15 - aftermath

It took 2 weeks for Maddy to recover enough to be released from hospital, l was relieved to hear there would be no permanent damage from what the kidnappers had done to her. Some of the others weren't so lucky, a few were permanently hospitalised and others had permanent nerve and organ damage from the injections. I felt bad for them so I sent anonymous donations to each of their families, unfortunately not alot as I wasn't exactly a billionaire, but it was enough to give some support to the struggling families with anything from hospital bills to grocery shopping. I just did it because I felt bad and wanted to do something, Maddy says it's empathy or something. Important thing is all those that were rescued will live, unfortunately there were about 10 casualties before the rescue took place. I somewhat blamed myself for not realising the danger sooner. From now on I'm going to be far more alert and train as hard as I can. For weeks I began to train day and night, meditation, running, Weightlifting, swimming, pushups, pull-ups the list goes on. Sleep escaped me so I figured I'd fill my nights with something.

However, Maddy noticed that something was off with me, she began questioning and following me around more which made it quite difficult but nonetheless I managed. aAt one point regrettably I had to, let's just say out her to sleep so I could get away for a bit. She was clueless fortunately but I still feel bad that it had come to such measures.

It has now been three months since the incident, everything was sore from all the training but I kept pushing, hiding the pain away when I was around anyone. I soon regretted pushing myself so far beyond my limit...

Maddy found me laying awkwardly on my bedroom floor, she had heard a thud and came to investigate. I awoke in hospital, I had cracked a few bones and pulled almost every muscle in my body, I was not permitted to move nor would that be an easy task for me. I winced as I attempted to roll over to turn on the TV and check my phone, it took me a moment to notice Maddy asleep on the guest bed next to me.

"She refused to leave your side, a loyal girlfriend you have there-"

"she's not my girlfriend." I cut him off.

"Loyal and dedicated friend then."

"So you're my, doctor?" "yes I'm your doctor, I've been asked to just observe and report for the moment but perhaps a bit of interviewing is also called for."

The doctor then sat next to my bed with a piece of paper on a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other.

"Now, how did you end up like this?"

"Worked myself too hard apparently."

"I see, how so?"

"Just, excessive excercise I guess."

"interesting." He scribbled something down on the piece of paper. "Have you felt like or thought about harming yourself in the past month?"

"Are you serious? You think I want to self harm? It was an accident okay? I was frustrated and got carried away."

"It's just a mandatory question but thank you for that answer."

"Anything else?"

"Yes one more question, have you had a problem like this in the past?"

"No."

"Alright, thank you for your time."

The doctor then left the room to hand in his findings. I felt so tired yet wide awake, I wasn't going to sleep soon that was certain. Maddy on the other hand was sleeping like a baby the entire time. "She's so cute" I thought to myself. I tried to reach for a glass on the table next to me for a drink but I couldn't move, I looked at my hand realising I was strapped down. "Great" I thought, "they think I'm a self harming psycho". All my muscles ached and groaned. It was almost unbearable. All I could do was stare at the ceiling, I couldn't watch tv or read a book, what're they tryna do here, drive me nuts? They didn't play music, it was just dead silence apart from the occasional screaming of other patients out in the hall. I may never know how Maddy slept through such a nightmare. I could only just tell it was dark out, I guessed around 6-8pm. I had no way of telling the time cus there was no clock in the room and I couldn't reach my phone. "This is so boring." I whispered under my pained wince of a breathe. I tried not to think too much til I dozed off into a nice long sleep...

I awoke sweating profusely and nearly ripped my hands of with the restraints. panting I looked around to find Maddy still asleep and no one else in the barely illuminated room. "jeez" I thought, " the hell was that about"? My failure was now haunting my sleep, I had no escape. It was my own fault I ended up hre, I can't blame anyone else, if I had gotten to those poor kidnapped civilians sooner maybe they wouldn't have died, maybe I wouldn't have ended up feeling so bad that I pushed myself too far physically and ended up in hospital with restrains. I felt like such a fool.

I awoke again to Maddy tapping my cheek, "Hey klyde, klyde, klyde, wake up." I hadn't realised that I'd fallen asleep again, I forced out; "Yes, morning to you too" with a slight groan. "Breakfast is here, you hungry? even if you say no I've been told I have to feed you so open wide!" Before I could say anything I had a mouth full of food, "Gosh, I appreciate her looking after me but what the hell is this is?!" I thought. "She's being kinda, agitating." I didn't bother fighting her over the food as I knew it would only cause more problems.i thanked her when it was over and asked her to put the tv on, she did so excitedly and put it on the news channel.

'Todays coming live we have Mrs Verdensel who finally agreed to an interview with the press to talk about what happened, with her late ex-husband.

"I will keep it brief but I must say this, if it weren't for my daughters friend neither me nor my daughter would be here today, he is a true hero at heart and by action. I will take questions now."

"Mrs Verdensel, will you be returning to your maiden name soon due to the divorce?"

"Most likely, I have been thinking about it for a little while now."

"What exactly did your daughter's friend do that saved you and your daughter's lives?"

"He showed us how vile my husband was and we had my husband arrested, but as you all would have known from the news, he broke out and came after us, the boy risked his own life and fought him off long enough for the police to arrive and me and my daughter were kept safe."

"Where is this boy now and what's his name? Can we speak with him too?"

"He is unavailable at the moment and I'm afraid I can't disclose where or what his name is."

"Are you afraid that your husband might break out again and will come after all three of you?"

"That is a concern yes but we have the full support of the police and the boy is very skilled in self defence."

"What is this boy to you?"

"He feels like family, he protects me and my daughter without being asked, he has a heart of gold in my opinion, the world is so lucky to have a kid like him in it, he has the capability to change the world for the better."

"What is his relationship with your daughter? Is it true that he's screwing her as payment for protecting you?"

"Are you mad?! What sort of absurd accusation is that?" He is a well mannered boy who would never do such horrid things. They're just good friends."

"Do you have anything to say about the somewhat recent mass kidnapping event?"

"Yes, such a horrible thing for those poor children to experience, I with them and their families all the best and offer my condolences to those who lost loved ones in that sickening incident. Those responsible should be ashamed of their wicked deeds."

"Mrs-"

"No more questions please, I have things to get done today."

I was dumbfounded, her mother? on tv? she hated being on tv.

"I know what you're thinking kyde, my mum hates being on tv, she would never do this but, she really felt that she had to get it across, she said it's probably gonna be a one time thing but I'm quite proud of her for standing up for herself and for us like that."

I was too, what a powerful woman, no doubt Maddy would end up like that or maybe even more powerful some day.