“Have you told my parents?” Taylor asked, walking into the living room. It was nearly eight o’clock and the room was dark; Maddie had all the lights off.

“Told them what?” Maddie asked carefully, switching her gaze from the wall to Taylor’s face.

Tay crossed the room and sat down on the sofa next to her. “About Jessie’s nightmare,” he clarified. “Have you told them?”

Maddie shook her head. “There’s no need to. Not yet. If she has another tonight, then I’ll tell them, but there’s no use in making them panic if it was a one-time thing.”

He nodded. “I get what you mean,” he agreed. For a minute, he shifted uncomfortably. Finally, after clearing his throat, he asked, “So, what’s going on with you and Ike?”

“Nothing,” Maddie said too quickly. Then, she added, “He hates me.”

Again, Taylor shifted. “No he doesn’t,” he said at length.

“How do you know?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I just know. He’s my brother,” he replied.

She nodded. “And you don’t hate me either.”

Tay gave a small smile. “Like Jessie said, she’s okay so it’s okay,” he told her.

Maddie looked up at the ceiling. “Oh, man,” she muttered.

“What?”

She shook her head. “This is just my luck, you know. I mean, if you’ve gone anywhere near my computer table, you’ve probably figured out that I’m a fan of your guys’ band. And, I mean, I’d always think about how cool it would be to meet you. And then I do - when I run your little sister over with my truck. Just like -” She cut herself off and looked down from the ceiling.

“What?” Taylor urged her. “Just like what?”

She shook her head. “I can’t remember what I was going to say,” she lied. “But,” she said, taking his hand and squeezing it, “it’s nice to know you don’t hate me.”

Taylor returned pressure in her fingers and smiled.

Isaac waited until everybody was asleep before sneaking into the computer room. He looked around nervously as the computer booted up. His palms were sweating. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do.

But, he told himself logically, this is the only way to find out what’s going on. Maddie won’t tell you.

Finally, the desktop popped up onscreen. After a few seconds of clicking around, Isaac found the file “me” before him. Taking a deep breath, he began reading.

Therapy: Day One -
After I started having the dreams, Mommy and Daddy said I had to start seeing a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist says the dreams are because of the accident. They are about me and Daddy in the fire station parking lot, where we got my crutches, and the lady that hit me drives into the parking lot and runs over Daddy. Then she comes to run me over again . . .

Isaac felt his eyes grow wide. The words “accident” and “crutches” and “run me over” kept popping out at him. So, that was how Maddie knew everything.

He skimmed over the pages, reading entries that seemed the most relevant. Then, around page fifty, he realized something: This journal wasn’t just dealing with Maddie’s days of therapy, it was her diary. However, this realized, Ike did not cease reading. The true life story of Madison J. Patrick was like a book too good to put down.

I started going out with Trevor Dunn today. He’s so cute and sweet and nice to me . . .

Trevor came over today. Mom and Dad weren’t home, as usual. He spent the entire day. We played basketball in the back yard and . . .

He was over all day again today. But today, he did something he’s never done before. Trevor hit me. He slapped me across the face. He promised he’d never do it again . . .

I found out today that Trevor was cheating on me. I confronted him about it and he was so apologetic. He promised he’d never do it again . . .

. . . left bruises all over my back . . .

. . . caught him with another girl . . .

. . . the side of my face is so sore now. Both my eyes are black . . .

. . . promised he’d never do it again . . .