Old Friend

In 2007, Rossland Canada, the Ollibee parents were out for dinner; treating themselves for all their hard work. It's been a few years since the two of them had a break from their children. Denali was suffering from that well known parental paranoia, the kind that makes parents worry about their kids 24/7, Madik on the other hand was calm and enjoying his night with not a care in the world! The two sat eagerly waiting for their food. They were at a nice restaurant, nothing expensive but definitely one that can stretch the extents of their budget. They were placed by a window in a lovely booth. The seats were leather and the wood was a lovely red varnish; smooth to the touch. The waitress walked over with menus and asked what they wanted to drink. The woman was rather short; she had two different coloured eyes and blonde hair. Madik paid no attention and stared out the window. Denali ordered the drinks for them while he drifted off into thoughts. Madik began to think back to a few months ago at his last therapy visit, "So Madik, when you spoke to me over the phone you didn't sound too concerned about these issues that we have listed off." Dr. Dave Dobson said with a serious tone. Dr. Dobson was a wonderful psychologist, he always asked great questions that usually helped Madik through his problems. Madik usually still failed to feel heard by him. He has been seeing Dr. Dobson for well over 10 years, and the only thing he feels has been done is learning how to suppress his urges. Madik was very open with Dave about how he didn't like his urges being suppressed. Madik replied, "well Dr. Dobson that is because I don't see my so-called problems as problems...I have told you multiple times that-" he was cut off by Dave with a slightly annoyed tone. Madik rubbed his face with a sigh as his head began to hurt, "that you wish to live in harmony with these things; yes I know Madik, but they are simply too dangerous to live with and embrace. Madik, you told me that 3 years ago you had the urge to take your daughter's scalp and use it as a face cloth, or turn it into a bowl for your food. That is extremely concerning that such an innocent injury inflicted on your daughter caused that reaction out of you." The psychologist got up from his chair, and paced around the room. Dr. Dobson often found his sessions with Madik uncomfortable, because his issues were so rare and unique; however, he still had the desire to help this man. Madik was quiet; he wasn't too sure how to respond. Well he did, but he didn't know how to word it in a way that Dobson wouldn't immediately shut him down. Rubbing his temples, "I know my morals are fine. I don't understand how I couldn't just embrace it a little with wild animals or invasive ones." Madik thought to himself.

After a few minutes the food was finally ordered and brought to the table where the two began eating. They both ordered shrimp and fish; sea food wasn't something they always ate so it was always a pleasant treat the two of them would have at restaurants. This restaurant was old and vintage, creating a comfortable and safe aura in the building. The staff were always kind, and Madik really appreciated the lack of noise. Everyone who visited there just naturally followed a social rule that their voices would never raise higher than just a little over a whisper. Even a librarian would approve of the chatter that happened here. Madik finished his meal before Denali. and as he watched his loving wife consume her last bit of shrimp she accidentally bit her tongue causing it to bleed a little. She winced, "ouch!" grumbling Denali grabbed a napkin dabbing her tongue to clean the blood. Madik's body tensed and large shivers ran up his spine. He began to feel tingles in his fingertips, "careful sweetheart, your tongue might fall off if you do that." Madik stated in a half joking manner, although he deeply wished for that to happen. He would love to collect Denali's tongue and take it to the basement.

As Madik was trying to prevent himself from thinking about what intriguing things he could do with his wife's oral muscle, she laughed at his statement. "Very funny Maddie," she chuckled, crumpling the napkin. Once they finished, and paid the bills, the two walked outside and over to their car. Their car was nothing expensive, nothing new and quite rusted. The car was a dull mint green, and the windshield had a large crack in it caused by one of the children who used to be in Zahara's class. As they were getting in Madik sighed, he was relaxed and peaceful, "I'm absolutely stuffed." he said while buckling himself up. Denali hummed in response. "So am I, how about we take the long way home to let our tummies settle before we deal with excited children?" Madik agreed and started the car, black smoke emerged from the exhaust pipe as they backed up. Denali sighed, fidgeting in her seat, "This car is rather embarrassing Madik..." He chuckled "yes but I said we do not need a new car till this one is no longer reliable." With that they drove down the road. The car was quiet and Madiks mind started to drift. That familiar static in the mind started to flow back into him as the sun began to set.

It was in the early evening, and 12 year old Madik was playing outside while his grandma sat outside in her rocking chair watching the hummingbirds zip past; observing as they went to feed on her flowers she had planted on the other side of the yard. Madik was kicking a ball against the fence, with every bounce off the surface the fence shook. It was a rather old fence, some of the boards even rotting caused by weather damage. Suddenly, Madik and his grandma heard a racket coming from the skies, in unison the two looked up and saw two hawks. The hawks appeared to have been fighting; the smaller hawk seemed to be holding something on one of its tallens and eventually dropped it so that it had a better chance at fighting back. "Oh my" his grandmother murmured as she leaned over to the small table beside her chair and grabbed an old camera, "Madik dear please take this and go try to take a picture of those two, I would love to have a picture of their fight. Think of it as preserving the memory for whichever loses the fight" she held out the camera to him and Madik ran over and grabbed the camera, then left through the back gate. Making his way over to the hawks, Madik spotted the dead animal the smaller hawk had dropped prior. Getting oddly interested in it he walked over, crouching down by the animal; "a duck?" He whispered under his breath.

Madik stared at the duck for a while, admiring the blood and the wounds caused by the hawk's tallens, its guts peeking out of the holes on its belly. Madik sat the camera down and picked up the duck. He slid his index finger into one of the puncture holes in the duck's belly and twisted it around, "it's so slimy..." Madik giggled as he entangled his finger with one of the duck's intestines and pulled it out. "It looks like a worm!" He moved his attention from the intestine that was now dangling out of the ducks belly and observed its head. One of its eyes was missing, and its skull was slightly crushed; the neck also had tallen holes with feathers missing. Madik opened and closed one of its wings, played with its feet and even smelled it. In the process he accidentally got blood on his cheeks in the process. Madik looked up from the duck and came face to face with a tall slender being. Madik gasped in fear and dropped the duck, spun on his heels, and started sprinting back home. As Madik was running his vision started to blur, he ended up running into a tree knocking himself down. The impact caused his nose to start to bleed.

Once he was no longer dazed he blinked a few times and looked around frantically, "what was that?!" he said to himself. "Madik!" His grandma yelled from the house and shook Madik back to reality. He frantically dropped the duck and grabbed the camera, his bloodied hand staining the material as he looked anxiously for the hawks. He noticed they had flown further away; it would take him forever to catch up to them, "oh no what am I going to tell grandma now?" He thought. His grandma would probably beat him if she found out what he was doing instead of taking pictures for her. Madiks grandma would be revolted by the sight of him too now that he noticed he was more bloody than he thought he would have gotten, "I can't go back like this either!" Madik began to panic and tried to think of an excuse or way to get out of this situation he got himself into. "Madik, get back here those hawks are too far away now!" His grandmother yelled again. Suddenly an idea came to him, the boy broke the camera against a tree, rolled around in the dirt and scratched himself up with a stick.

Was this over dramatic? Definitely, but any child would rather get off the hook than be hit. Madik did what he thought he had to do, especially after this experience. Madik knew his grandmother would never have believed him. Walking back to the house Madik explained to his grandma that he 'fell out' of a tree trying to get a good picture of the hawks. His grandma scoffed at him and told him to clean himself up. He was also told that he would be the one buying her a new camera and would work around the house for the money.

Later that night, Madik layed in bed tossing and turning. Unable to get the image of that duck out of his mind. Why did it interest him so much? Animals never interested him before, but for some reason this dead one did. Strangely enough too his mind wasn't thinking about that faceless man he saw in the woods; he just wanted that duck, he wanted it badly, it was an urge he couldn't control. Frustrated with his thoughts the boy sat up and sighed annoyed. If it was that interesting he would just sneak out and go look at it again. Once he threw on his sandals and a sweater, he took a flashlight and snuck out the back door. After he found the duck Madik picked it up, which was now stiff and cold. It had bugs on it, and was already starting to stink; Madik didn't mind however. As he smacked a few mosquitoes off of his legs, Madik took the duck and walked back to the backyard and over to his little treehouse; which was built by his other grandma before the two women broke up and she moved out of the reserve. Ever since his grandma's ended their relationship, Madik didn't really play in his tree house out of frustration for what happened. However, this duck gave him a reason to use it again.

After that night Madik wouldn't ever be the same again. That thing all throughout his teenage hood and early adulthood; Madik eventually accepted it as a friend, even though its presence was rather threatening. With the unsettling atmosphere also came some 'good', whenever this thing was near, Madik would be reminded of that duck. From then on, he would collect dead animals at any chance he got; it became an obsession, an addiction. He would find them and eventually after all the collecting he started turning them into things. His first creation was when he was 15, it was a hand puppet made from a possum he had found on the road while heading home from a sleepover with his friends. The only reason why he stopped was because his father caught him when he was 23. He was found in the shed making an eye mask out of the neighbour's cat. He was promptly sent to therapy and kept going till a few years after having Beckett and Thatcher.

Suddenly Madik came back into focus as Denali grabbed the steering wheel. However, she was too slow, and the car came into contact with a large semi truck full of grain. As the two vehicles impacted, the frame of the car shifted into what some would have described as an Accordion. Madik had been going so fast, during his daydreaming his foot became heavy on the gas, and was going at almost full speed. The semi tipped over and rolled, after that Madik became unconscious and the car flipped 5 times causing him to be thrown out the front window. When Madik reawakened, he was lying on the gravel road, blood leaking from his head. His body had scrapes all over it, his arm was twisted backwards, and he was in shock. Everything was blurred, "Madik'' Denali called out, it was quiet, and she sounded like she was in pain. Madik looked over at the wreck and saw Denali hanging out of the car door. She was trying to crawl her way out of the car, but her legs were crushed in-between the seat and the now squished part of the dashboard. However, that wasn't even the worst of it, the seat belt had broken her ribcage and collapsed her lungs. If no one called for help soon she would suffocate and die. Madik stumbled to his feet and hunched over. Whatever had hit his head hit him hard; he probably had a concussion. Taking a few steps he stumbled, almost falling, he felt like he was going to throw up. "Madik please help me, I can't breathe!" Denali murmured, tears in her eyes. Breathlessly, Madik looked up at the car and saw that familiar faceless figure looming over him, "hello old friend." Madik hummed to himself as he managed to walk all the way over to the car. He observed Denali's body, it looked beaten and scraped just like his. The limber man grabbed ahold of his wife's arm, and with whatever strength he had left, he made a pathetic attempt to pull her out. Denali let out a shriek of pain, loud enough to make the man's concussed head ache, he stopped pulling and leaned against the car grunting. "I'm sorry my dear, you cannot be saved, this is what he wants." he huffed and picked up a hunk of metal as his mind began to blur, "Madik? What are you doing?!" Denali cried while growing werier by the second while also concerned by her husband's actions. Madik held the metal above his head, and with one quick swoop to the side of her head, Madik had helped his wife fall into the familiar yet strange never ending slumber we all meet eventually. He snapped out of his trance and stared down at his wifes dangling head. He wasn't scared, surprised, or shocked; as he had done this to many animals in the past. He sat in the car and tried to gather his thoughts. Madik realised what happened, but was trying to grasp the idea that his wife, the only woman in his life that actually helped him with his past struggles, was now dead. He felt nothing as he saw the police and ambulances show up. Madik closed his eyes and passed out as a medic ran over to him. After everyone was taken to the hospital and attended to, Madik got confirmation that Denali had passed. He was escorted home by an officer, and was informed that in a few days time there was going to be another officer coming to interrogate him.