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Jan 26, 2025

DEIFORMS CHAPTER TWO

(chapter one)

The thing about Madison Costello is that there really wasn't one thing about her, regardless of what people thought. She really wasn't some cruel monster who didn't care for anyone but herself, and she wasn't some cold aloof person with an ego or anything of the sort. She was just sort of a girl, and she had never really understood what everyone else meant when they called her a monster.

In fact, she'd been tracking every action she'd made since she was 7, just so she had proof that she wasn't a bad person, and everyone who thought she was didn't understand. She kept a mental tally of everything she'd done in the last 12 years, just so when the kids at school called her a sociopath and a freak and a bitch, she could point to her tally and remind herself she was still in the positive.

She was still a good person.

She took a drag of her vape as Sean jogged up to Genny.

Madi had never particularly gotten along with her, but she still nodded in what she hoped was a supportive way. (That's a plus two on the action tally, by the way, would have been plus three if Genny had nodded back, which she didn't.) She sighed hanging back with her friends, glancing at Dean and Lillian out of the corner of her eye. She knew full well that neither of them had ever really liked her, she was more or less just an excuse to get out of the house, but at the very least, they were both looking at her for a lead on what to do.

“Okay, let's look for this guy,” She said, tiredly. “What did Sean say happened?”

“Went out on a boat,” Dean shoved his baseball cap back on his head, scratching his forehead. “I think the fog rolled in and he just vanished from view?”

“And then never came back.” Lillian said.

“So, he drowned,” Madi sighed. “That's grim.”

“Yeah, it is,” Lillian muttered, digging through her purse, pulling out a tube of chapstick and applying it with a smack. “Okay, let's roll. Let's find this kid.”

Elvis' friends were more or less the outcast gang at the high school. His boyfriend, Lars, was a lanky, awkward looking young man who'd been held back in middle school for behaviour issues, not that anyone would guess from looking at him. Right now, he wasn't crying, at least, although he looked like he had been not long ago.

Genny was the weird hippie chick who did tarot readings and had an alter for some greek god in her room. She was still holding it together, but her hair was down, and in her face, and she was trembling a little bit.

Genny's punk rock girlfriend, Dani, was glaring at the waves feircely, like she was ready to jump in. All three ignored the cops and crowd of viewers who stood around thirty feet away and chatted and laughed, watching the small police boat that sat out on the lake, searching for the corpse of a boy who'd really never been this famous in his life.

That was the sad thing about their town. Rome, West Virginia was the kind of place where a few people would be known their whole lifes, and everyone else was just... not.

Genny had begun crying. Her and her friends had clearly been up all night, and Madi was shocked she'd lasted as long as she had.

“We should get you home,” Sean was saying, gently, as Madi and the others walked up. “You're not doing Elvis any favors sitting here.”

“I don't... I don't want to miss him,” She blubbered. “I don't want him to get back and we're not there.”

Sean glanced helplessly at Madi, who took another hit of her vape and shrugged. “I think… um… I don't know…?”

Genny huffed wetly. Her and Sean were close, practically conjoined at the hip since they were kids, but now Sean was clearly fucking things up.

Not that Madi would do much better.

Dean stepped forward. “So, you guys think he fell outta his boat, yeah?”

“No,” Genny shook her head, sniffling loudly. “I think he… God, how do I even explain this?”

“Genny,” Lars said, hoarsely. “Now's not the time.”

“I know he was taken,” Genny said. “I know it.”

Lars winced, but before he could say anything, another car pulled up, slowly, crunching on the gravel. Sean winced violently even before the driver stepped out. Madi sighed, and took a hit of her vape.

Diego took his time to walk over, squinting at them from a distance, as the other three climbed out. He murmured something to Miki, who laughed, and then they walked over.

“Hey Mik,” Dean nodded at his younger sister, who rolled her eyes but grinned goodnaturedly. “What's up?”

“We heard on the news what happened,” Miki said, a little too cheerfully, then, like she remembered the situation, her face fell into mournful melancholy. “I'm so sorry, Lars.”

Lars looked away, his jaw working uselessly as he struggled to say anything. Eventually, he just nodded.

“My family has a few canoes,” Lori said, quietly. “If you want to go out on the water and look yourselves.”

Genny’s hand grabbed at Dani’s, a look of hope flashing over her thin face for the first time. “Please?”

“Come on, follow me.”

Solidarity between losers, Madi thought. Cute. Then she took four points off the tally since that was an asshole thing to think.

Sean hesitated as the group walked off, looking at Madi. She shook her head. He paused, mouthed ‘sorry’ and followed. She sighed.

“Genny definitely killed him,” She told Lillian. “It's pretty obvious.”

Lillian raised an eyebrow. “I don't know if it is? Pretty obvious, I mean. I wouldn't have guessed that.”

Madi shrugged. She wasn't confident in that at all, she just wanted to be the first to say it so when people started figuring it out, she wasn't the last.

Besides, Genny was kind of known for her weird satanic pagan witchcraft bullshit, she definitely would be the kind of person to kill.

Madi subtracted three points from the tally and took a hit of her vape and followed them down to the boat house.

“There's enough to send six people,” Lori said. “Two per canoe. Just in case anyone is really wanting to go.”

“I am,” Lars said, glancing at his friends. “You guys?”

“Yeah, a hundred percent,” Genny straightened her back. “Dani and I will take one.”

“I'll take one too,” Diego said. “If that's fine. Miki-”

“I'll go with you, actually, if you don't mind.” Sean said.

The group fell silent, and Madi felt eyes on her. She took a hit of her vape and ran a hand through her hair, watching Diego's face carefully as it morphed into something almost disgusted, then something thoughtful, then something sly.

He looked at her, met her eyes, and nodded. “Yeah. Come on Sean.”

In her mind, Madi leapt on him, ripping his hair out, hitting him and screaming and throwing things.

In reality, she turned and started walking back to the car.

She added a point to herself for self restraint.

She'll break up with Sean when he got back.

She'd pulled out her phone and opened Instagram by the time Lillian and Dean got to her, and when she looked up, the others were already getting in the lake- Lori and Lars in one boat, Genny and Dani in another, Sean and Diego in the third.

None of them were wearing life vests.

She hoped they all drowned.

“You seem awfully calm,” Dean said, impressed. “You not worried?”

“I don't care,” Madi said, shrugging. “It doesn't matter.”

She pocketed her vape. It was dying anyways.

Lillian sat on the hood of Madi’s car, ignoring the sharp look Madi gave her. “I thought you hated Diego?”

“I do,” Madi said, wishing she had her vape again already. “I just don't care.”

They fell silent, watching as the three boats drifted out over the lake. There were a couple others, too, not just those three, people fishing or joining in the half hearted search. The people on the shore were dwindling, losing interest and heading home.

Madi mentally compiled her day in her head. She had a shift tomorrow, so she had to get to sleep early. She was a pharmacy technician at the only CVS in town. It wasn't bad, and Sean worked at the camera store next door.

Sean… he'd looked right at her before volunteering to go with Diego. She fought the urge to get in the car and go home and stay there forever. Diego would come home sometime, of course, but she didn't have to leave her room.

Family, she thought, was the worst thing on Earth.

She detracted five points and winced. Points were dwindling.

“What do you think of Miki, Dean?” She asked.

“What do you mean?” Dean asked, looked up from his phone.

“What are your thoughts on Miki?”

He tilted his head. “I guess… I mean, she's my sister. I grew up with her. I remember when we met her, and that weird shady foster worker who sweated the whole time. I remember when she chose her name. And I remember when she discovered My Little Pony,” He snorted. “It all went downhill from there.”

“You like her though?” Madi prompted.

“Yeah, I mean… yeah. She's my sister, why wouldn't I like her?”

Madi didn't respond, didn't tell him she didn't remember ever liking Diego, ever not wishing he didn't exist. Her parents were right about him, anyways. Minus a point.

She was definitely a bad person. Two points for admitting it to herself.

“Lillian, what do you think of your siblings?”

“Like, Mitch, Randy and Madeline? Or do step siblings count?”

“Just those three.”

Lillian opened her mouth, paused. “Well, Mitch hits his wife and Randy's in jail for selling ecstasy.”

Madi nodded. “I heard about that.”

“Madeline is… fine, though, I guess?” Lillian lied through her perfect teeth. “She's not either of them so it's fine! It's okay.”

Feeling a little vindicated, Madi nodded. Madeline was at college, and in a sorority, and was- generally- known for being a good person. If Lillian didn't like her… well, then, Madi couldn't be too awful for disliking Diego, who was known for being a bastard.

Diego's group were all bastards, each in their own ways, she thought, meanly, but she didn't detract points. It was true, after all.

Diego sold drugs, no doubt to high schoolers, and Kyrie was a Jesus freak and carried a Bible in his bag, and Miki was too obsessed with kid's cartoons, and Lori was just… scary and weird.

They all gazed out at the lake.

Right as Madi opened her mouth to suggest they go home, some happened on the lake.

One of the tiny blobs on one of the canoes lunged at the other, and the whole canoe tilted, spilling them into the lake.

At the shore, Miki let out a panicked yell, jumping from foot to foot. “Shit, that was Diego and Sean!”

Dean jolted to his feet, Lillian clapped her hands over her mouth. Madi rolled her eyes. Drama queens, she thought. Sean and Diego were big boys, they could swim.

There was a pause, before one of the other canoe blobs reached into the water and pulled out a shape. A limp shape.

Madi frowned. “Why isn't he moving?”

Lillian whimpered in panic, and took off running down the hill to the bank, Dean on her tail. The police boat was nowhere near the canoes, didn't even seem to have noticed the commotion.

The rescue canoe got closer, and Madi shuddered, following the other two down.

Genny dragged Sean to shore. He was soaked and shivering and covered in blood, and completely limp.

Madi felt her heart seize as she stared at her boyfriend. He looked awful, and part of her wanted to be sick, but instead, she just squared her shoulders.

Genny was panicking. Hell, everyone was panicking, demanding answers she couldn't give. The poor girl was shaking and crying, staring at her unconscious brother.

So Madi turned, and started walking back to the car.

She heard a few people call her, heard Dean ask her a question.

And then a hand grabbed her, and she whirled.

“What is your problem?” Kyrie spat, his hand on her arm too tight to shake. Behind him, Lori stumbled out of their canoe and came running up to Sean's side, Lars behind them. “You're his girlfriend, aren't you?”

“I'm…” Madi choked back vomit and tears and panic. “I don't like blood.”

“I thought your whole thing,” Kyrie let go of her to cross his arms. “Was that he needs you?”

Madi stepped back. And then again, and then she kept going, and she turned, and she walked away.

“I can see why Diego calls you the biggest bitch on Earth!” Kyrie called after her. “You really are a total fucking cunt!”

She kept walking.

She got in the car, and then just… sat. She couldn't see Sean from her, but she could still envision his face, his terrible, pale, gaunt face. She wanted to be sick.

She dug her nails into her wrists as hard as she could without breaking skin, and then released.

She was going to be fine, she reminded herself. And so was he.

Sean wouldn't die. That stupid dream was just a stupid dream. He was fine.

Dean appeared over the hood of the car, jogging to the passenger side of the car, and climbing in.

He sat there for a bit, not looking at her, at her watery eyes and the way she was grabbing her wrist and the way her chin was wrinkled.

“Did you guys-” Her voice cracked. “-Did you call an ambulance?”

“Genny wants to wait until he's awake.”

“And if he doesn't wake up?”

Dean ran his hands over his thighs. “I don't know.”

Outside there were yells, and Madi rubbed her eyes, and took some deep breaths. “You saw nothing.”

“What could I possibly have seen?”

Madi chased an amused huff back into her throat, and got out of the car. It was a shame that Dean was going back to school next week, she thought. It was a miracle he had the courteousness to reach out last year, there was no way he'd do it again.

Sean was awake, and, when she slammed the car door, his terrible, pale face turned to her. Someone had wiped the blood off, at least a little, and she could see, even from here, that the source of it was a long, shallow cut down his face, starting over his piercing blue eye and ending halfway down his cheek.

Madi slowly walked down the hill, so aware of his mismatched eyes on her.

“Madi?” He asked, hoarsely.

“Hi Sean,” She said, watching blood drip on his shirt. “We're going to get an ambulance for you, alright?”

“No, don't,” He rasped. “I can't afford it. I'll be fine.”

“Your face is bleeding,” She pointed out a little too drily. “What do you mean, it'll be fine.”

“It'll heal,” Sean said. “I'm fine.”

“What happened?” Lori asked him, gently, before Madi could respond. “We saw you and Diego fall out, but… Diego never resurfaced.”

Like Elvis, everyone thought. Genny put a hand over her mouth, her eyes squeezing shut.

“I don't…” Sean stared blankly off at the distance. “He just… he said something about how something had gone wrong, how… how he knew I wasn't myself, how he knew something else was controlling me. He kept trying to get me to admit it. When I told him I had no clue what he was talking about, he lunged at me. I think he had a knife- well, no, he obviously had a knife, but…”

Miki was frowning and shaking her head. “That doesn't sound like Diego, though.”

“I swear to you,” Sean said. “That's what happened.”

“Diego is a fucking nutjob,” Madi said, tiredly. “I wouldn't put it past him.”

Kyrie whirled on her. “When do you shut up?”

Madi rolled her eyes.

“Don't start,” Sean muttered. “Please.”

A rattling breath rolled in with the waves, and they all turned to see Diego, soaked to the bone, wading to the shore, his eyes fixed on Sean with a burning rage, a large knife clenched tight in his hand.

“We'll talk to him,” Lori said. “Get Sean out of here.”

Dean looped an arm under Sean's knees and waiting for him to wrap his arms around his neck, and then he took off, making his way up to the car, Madi and Lillian following.

Diego let out a horrible, almost inhuman howl of rage, and Madi felt a shudder roll down her back, as she slid into the driver's seat, watching Dean set Sean in the back as Lillian climbed in passenger.

She threw the car in reverse, watching as Diego crested the hill, all six of the others grabbed at him, trying to stop him, but he shook them all off like they were nothing, charging after the car with another howl.

Lillian screamed as Madi spun the car around and took off down the road, her own heart pummelling her ribs with a vengeance. In the rearview, she watched her brother stand there, knife in one hand, his curly hair plastered to his forehead.

And she hated him.

#writing tag #deiforms #madi tag

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