GEORGINA

I wake up before anyone else. Outside, the morning sun lights up everything in a fully shinning way. 6:52 am. I get up from the bed and I enter the shower. Today it begins. I will get out of the shower, gather all the pieces that Madison could have left as evidence and then I will go to Levy's house to talk to Clarisse. The sooner it starts, the sooner Madison can return and be out of risk.

I get out from the shower getting dressed in a burgundy skirt and a white blouse, dry my hair with the help of the automatic dryer from the mirror and comb it in my usual tall bun. I do my makeup and when I'm finally ready, I go to Madison's room.

As I expected, her room could easily give them all the answers they would be looking for without hesitation. Her school stuff is all over the bed, proving that she's not where she's supposed to. The silver key on the desk and her phone right next to it.

The phone begins projecting her messages in front of me as soon as I lift it up.

7:05 AM ANNE: Madison, where are you?

7:05 AM ANNE: Sam is looking for you...

7:21 AM JESSICA: Madison! Have you seen Levy this morning? He hasn't answered my calls since yesterday's night.

7:32 AM JESSICA: Are you with Levy? Why aren't you answering?!

7:47 AM JESSICA: Are you both planning to attend school today? This is not funny.

7:48 AM SAM: I've been looking for you all morning, where are you?

8:00 AM JESSICA: Are you alright?

8:02 AM SAM: Just found of about your encounter with Emma! Nice way to get rid of her! That's my girl!

8:15 AM SAM: Lunch?

My girl? Who's this Sam? Does Madison have a boyfriend? I guess that's the kind of stuff daughters tell their mothers when they hear them. This is the kind of surprises that you get when you not pay attention to them.

I lock the screen and save the phone in my pocket along with the key. Lock the door behind me and then, finally leave the house.

MADISON

I get out of the bathroom with my hair soaked while I try to dry it with a towel. Alison is leaning completely against the window, attached like one of those stickers that people paste on cars when they have a baby on board, staring at everything that happens in front of her eyes.

"...I will be there in the afternoon, babe," I hear Levy from the living room. I find him on his phone when I get there. "She argued with her parents, we are near the Golden Gate..." he lies. "I will see you at your house, I love you," he says when he sees me and hangs up.

"What's wrong?" I ask sitting on the uncomfortable wooden chair next to him.

"Seem like neither of us have answered Jessica's calls since yesterday. My phone ran out of battery and yours..." I get back to the room and start searching in my improvised suitcase over the bed for my cellphone, to then realize I didn't bring it.

"I left it in San Francisco," I say sitting down on the bed with Levy next to me.

"I supposed you left it on purpose. You know they could track it right?" he asks getting my attention.

"I wasn't planning on leaving it..." I say embarrassed. "You have to leave," I say a couple of minutes later.

"I am going to bring you some groceries. Then I will leave for San Francisco," he stands up. "I won't take long," he promises and then leaves us alone.

I lie down and cover my eyes from the light with my forearm thinking of how incapable I am to help the plan until the bed sinks a little. I uncover my eyes, finding Alison's blue eyes staring at me with a smile that, for some reason, forms a lump in my throat.

"What are you doing?" she asks without moving from over me.

"I was just lying down," I reply forcing a smile and she reincorporates, sitting down on her legs.

She touches the hand I leave extended over my head, passing the tip of her little finger on my palm. I close my hand trapping her finger, she giggles which makes me smile releasing her finger. I sit down.

"Are you sick?" She moves sitting down on the mattress, crossing her legs in front of her so that she can touch her white socks.

"No."

"But...your hands aren't white," she repeats and looks me in the eyes full of confusion.

"They are like yours," I say showing her.

"Daddy has white hands," she says. I take one of her socks which makes her look at her little barefoot and then at me. "Look at this." I put my hand into the sock as a glove and then I open and close my hand with it. "Do you see? It is white now. They are called gloves," I tell her and she just grabs her toe on her little hand.

"I am sick," she says and I just look at her all panicked. My mother didn't tell me anything about telling her the truth or not, but even if she had told me, in what possible way could someone explain to a little girl like her, that nothing of what they have done to her has been for being sick but for being fully healthy? Maybe that's the reason why they didn't tell me before. I wouldn't have been able to understand or them to explain it to me, it's just too hard to believe.

"Go and look through the window," I dismiss her and she obeys immediately. I really don't know what I am going to do with her.

Half an hour later, Levy returns with thousands of things. "I think this will work perfectly," he says leaving the things on the kitchen counter. "It was the best I could get with my money, get the idea."

"I will pay you for everything when we get back," I assure him and he shakes his head.

"Make sure to get back and we are even."

I look into the bags and help to organize everything. I don't know in what place on earth the things he bought could be considered real food but I guess he tried his best buying cereal, bread, frozen pizzas, and instant soups. "Do you know that it's more probable that this kills us before we even manage to get back?" I show him one of the pizzas and the container with the dehydrated soup.

"I am sorry I couldn't buy lobsters, Miss Perfect." He takes the pizza from my hand and puts it in the freezer. "In my defense, I am pretty sure you don't know how to cook anything... and I remembered I made a pact with Jessica that we were going to get you fat before graduation." I fake laugh. "So... I'm going to prepare one last breakfast for you before you starve to death," he shows me a box of waffles and takes out the toaster putting in a pair of them.

Ten minutes later, we have six waffles. We set two for each of us and when everything is ready I go to get Alison, sitting her at the table. We begin to eat immediately. I serve some syrup on mine and check on Alison to see if she wants some too, but find her without eating. She hasn't even tried it yet, she is just watching us eat.

"You can eat," Levy says, mouthful. Alison shows me her arm.

"What?" I ask without any idea of what I am supposed to be looking at.

"Needle?" she asks pointing at her forearm. I look at Levy who just shrugs as confused as I am.

"Food," I tell her taking a piece of my waffle and showing it to her. I put it inside my mouth and chew it. She lowers her arm letting it rest on her legs and stares at the plate passing her other finger on the fork. She doesn't know how to eat.

I stand up behind her taking her hand along with the fork and I press it against the waffle cutting a slice, then I pick it and bring it to her mouth. "Open up," I tell her and she obeys immediately. I put the slice into her mouth and push her chin up to close her mouth. She just looks at me without chewing the food on her mouth.

"Chew it," Levy says this time. "Like this." He chews with his mouth open and I laugh getting a smile from the girl. I nod at her and she begins to chew as any younger child would probably do, in a less exaggerated way than Levy.

"It's strange," she says between giggles and we both smile.

"The strange thing here is that you have never eaten," replies Levy and instinctively I hit him with my foot under the table which makes him look at me and apologize without making noise.

The girl doesn't even notice, she just keeps trying to eat.