When the world comes crashing down | Toby & Madeline
Toby
Toby sighed as he uncoiled the ends of the cough drop, letting it fall into the palm of his hand and then popping it into his mouth. He had already been through more than half of the pack and he only bought them the day prior. But he wasn't going to let a sore throat stop him from attending the weekly party. It was more than that though, he had agreed to picking up Maddie along the way. He focused on the flavor of the drop instead of the wind shipping in his face as he approached her house, walking up the walkway to her front door and knocking on it.
Madeline
Pacing in her room as she started to get ready, Madeline took a deep breath before stopping and looking around. Rubbing the back of her neck, she shook her head and sighed. It had been a couple of days since they were in the hospital, or in her case again, and she was just tired. Despite having been asleep for the whole week her whole body was just sore. She had hopped not to return to the hospital so quickly, but alas she wound up there anyways. Fixing her shirt and making sure that it was neat, Madeline nearly jumped when she heard knocking. "I'm coming!" she called out, quickly grabbing her things and putting on her coat, she raced to the door. "Hey!" she greeted him when she opened the door and smiled. "Right on time." Stepping outside, she closed the door behind her and grinned at him. "You ready to go?"
Toby
A hand absentmindedly came up to run through his hair, gripping the ends and making a mental note to get it cut again. He shoved the cough drop to his cheek, not wanting it to get in the way when he talked with Maddie when she opened the door, shoving is hands into his pockets. It wasn't long before the door was getting pulled open, reavealing the brunette on the other side which caused him to smile. "Hey," He nodded, knowing that he would be since he was never one to be late. "Ready when you are," He said and glanced at her, aassuming she was ready and heading down the walkway. "How are you?"
Madeline
Nodding eagerly, Madeline flashed him another smile before taking his hand and making their way to the party. She noticed that as he talked, his voice sounded hoarse and deeper than normal. Furrowing her brows, she kept quiet though and listened to him. "I'm doing alright. My body is still a bit sore," she admitted and tilted her head to the side, effectively making a small cracking noise. "I didn't think I'd be in the hospital less than ten hours after my release." Madeline then laughed and shook her head. "Are you..." she trailed off, trying to figure out what to say. "Are you sick? Your voice sounds different."
Toby
The twenty one year old wasn't expecting her to grab his hand, smiling as he moved his fingers just a little bit to slide in between hers. He kept his eyes mostly on her as they walked since there really wasn't much to trip over or run into in the middle of the road. "Understandable. Being there isn't much fun at all, especially when you're stuck in there for a long period of time." He was silent for a moment before speaking again, "I'm glad you're out, and I hope you don't have to go back." He sighed, realizing that the cough drop probably didn't work as well, or as quickly, as he wanted it to. His free hand rubbed at the back of his neck, "Uh," He cleared is throat, or attempted it, "Just a sore throat, nothing too crazy. It's been on and off for about a little while, and it's probably allergies. I usually get them around this time of year."
Madeline
Madeline didn't even realize she was holding hands with Toby or that she was the one that insinuated it. It just felt so normal for her given how comfortable she felt around the boy. Shaking her head, she flashed him another smile. "I really don't think I'll have to anytime soon. I mean, I feel okay now. That time, I had been feeling off and I sort of just ignored it until it got worse." Shrugging she turned her head to him and frowned, giving him a sympathetic look. "I hope it all clears up for you and hey," she said, stopping and taking both his hands, standing in front of him. "If you ever need someone to take care of, you can always call me," she reassured him. Not long after she finished speaking the ground then started to shake. "What..." she trailed off before it shook even more violently. Losing her footing, Madeline then jerked forward, falling towards Toby.
Toby
"That's great to hear, Maddie," He said honestly, more than happy to know that she was better and he shouldn't expect her back in the hospital anytime soon. He nodded, "I know the feeling." His brows furrowed when she stopped, wondering if he had said something wrong or did something. He let out a small breath of relief when it was just her reassuring him that she would be there if needed anything, "I'll be sure that you are the first one I call if I need some-" He was cut off when the ground shook and the brunette fell towards him, his arms automatically wrapping around her to keep her from falling to the ground. As the ground continued to shake, something clicked in his head as he looked around with wide eyes. "Come on," He said to her, keeping an arm around her waist before moving towards the closest open area. "I'm pretty sure it's an earthquake," He said in as calm of a voice as possible, quickly chewing what was left of a cough drop and swallowing, "We need to get to the meadow."
Madeline
Closing her eyes and waiting for the crash, she looked up when she finally noticed that arms were wrapped around her. Blushing furiously, upon examining her surroundings, she realized that the houses were shaking as well and things were starting to tip over. "Toby," she said in a small voice, fear evident in her face. Never before had she ever experienced anything like this. Madeline was amazed that Toby managed to keep such a calm demeanor considering what was going on. By now, Madeline was hyperventilating and freaking out about what was going on. Nevertheless she followed him diligently, clutching his arms tightly. "How is this happening?" she wondered, her breathing becoming heavy as they started towards the meadow. Then she started to worry about Pixie. "Oh my god, what about Pixie?"
Toby
It was hard to listen to the fear that was clear in her voice when she spoke. His eyes met hers, stopping for a second, "We're gonna be fine." He reassured her before continuing on, trying to avoid any of the buildings and live wires hanging from telephone poles. He shook his head, "I don't know." He wished he had an answer for her but he didn't, focusing on making his way towards the the open field. When she mentioned Pixie his steps faltered, coming to a stop. Pixie. He squeezed his eyes shut and looked behind them, fighting with himself about not running back to help her. He couldn't, shaking his head at Maddie and starting to walk again, "We- We don't have time. I'm sorry." He said, wrapping his arm around her again to keep her close and trying not to think about Pixie and everyone else being left behind.
Madeline
Tears started to spring from her eyes when he told her that they couldn't go back for her. Every part of Madeline's body was telling her that she needed to go back to her best friend. She needed to make sure that her best friend was okay. Hearing that they couldn't had to be the hardest thing for Madeline. Fisting his sleeve a little harder, her knuckles were starting to turn white. Looking back at their trail, she fell behind a bit as Toby continued to walk. The ground had stopped shaking by now but from what she could see, a lot of the houses were tilted over. Turning back to Toby, she shook her head and followed him. "Tob-" she started but then fell into a scream when she felt herself letting go of his hand and falling. There was a loud thud and for a moment she felt nothing but then was soon hit with an intense pain as she hit the ground.
Toby
Walking in the oppostie direction of Pixie was probably one of the toughest decisions he had to make but he couldn't go back. It would be putting Maddie at risk as well, but it still took everything he had to keep walking away and focusing on the girl next to him and not the redhead who was still at home. He just had to hope she was okay, there was nothing more he could do. He was so focused on his thoughts and getting themselves to the meadow that he hadn't felt Maddie's hand slipping, trying to reach out and grab it again but all he got was air. He gritted his teeth as he turned all the way around to find her on the floor, immediately mobving to her side. "Maddie," He said slightly panicked, his voice cracking a bit from how dry and irritated his throat was. "Are you okay?" He brought a hand up to push some of her hair out of her face, brushing some tears away with the pad of his thumb, "Does anything hurt or can I help you up?"
Madeline
Laying on the ground, Madeline shut her eyes tightly as she tried to keep the tears at bay. She could faintly hear Toby calling for her and when she felt him reaching her, she struggled to sit herself up. Groaning when she did so. Her body felt as if it was on fire, knives stabbing her as the pain in her tailbone refused to go away. Looking up at him, her eyes started to dart from side to side in a panic. "I think so," she whispered hoarsely. Closing her eyes, she leaned into his hand as it started to brush the tears away from her cheeks. Nodding, she groaned and winced when she started to get up with the help of Toby. She winced and nearly screamed when she stepped on her right foot. "M-my ankle. I think it's sprained." Tilting her head up, Madeline let out a small breath of relief when she noticed that the manhole she fell in wasn't too deep.
Toby
He tried to wait patiently for an answer but he could feel the anxiety bubbling up inside him, swallowing thickly and quickly flickign his eyes to their surrounding area and hoping that maybe this was all over soon. He looked back to the girl as soon as he heard her speak, using his arm to wrap under hers and try to help her up. He could tell she was in pain which was expected, moving closer when she cried out. He locked eyes with her before trying to take some of her weight by encouraging her to lean on him, "Do you want to just lean on me? I could carry you if you wanted." He didn't want her to be in pain but he was also aware that they needed to keep moving.
Madeline
Clutching onto his arm, she tried to suck in the pain and to carry on. There were probably other people who were worse off than her. She was just lucky to have Toby with her and at the time when this all happened they were in a fairly open space where nothing could really fall on them. Sure she was a bit banged up but if they could just make it out of this ditch she knew that they would be okay. "I'll be fine. I just need to lean on you," Madeline reassured him, forcing a smile at Toby before they struggled to climb up the ditch. Once they were out, she sat on the edge of the ditch and looked around. "What do we do now?"
Toby
"Okay," He said, "You can put as much weight on me as you want to, I've got you." He reassured her, helping her the rest of the way before sitting down next to her on the ledge. He looked around at the town and tried to wrap his head around the fact that they had just experienced an earthquake, running a hand through his hair. "We wait," He said, looking over at the girl and reaching for her hand, "We'll wait a little while, make sure there aren't any aftershocks and then we'll go to the hospital." He squeezed her hand before letting go to wrap her arm around her shoulders and bring her into his side, resting his chin on the top of her head as he let out a sigh of relief that they had made it out a lot better than it could've ended up.
