CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 7
Tyler left first.
He didn’t slam the door. He didn’t make a scene. He simply backed out of the waiting room like a boy whose perfect life had suddenly developed witnesses.
Madison watched him disappear into the rain.
For a long moment, she hated him.
Then she hated herself for almost believing him.
Her mother sat beside her in the plastic chair, careful not to touch her until Madison leaned in first.
When she did, she broke.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just one small sound from a girl who had spent the whole night pretending she was harder than she was.
“I don’t know what to do,” Madison whispered.
Her mother held her.
“You don’t have to know tonight.”
Madison stared at the closed consultation door.
“I was so ugly about it.”
“You were scared.”
“I said things like it didn’t matter.”
Her mother brushed wet hair from Madison’s face.
“Then let tonight be the last time you pretend something doesn’t matter just because it terrifies you.”
The rain kept falling against the windows.
Senior photos were missed.
The perfect uniform wrinkled.
The future Madison had imagined did not return neatly to its box.
But for the first time that night, nobody was rushing her. Nobody was selling her panic as confidence. Nobody was calling her heart an inconvenience.
Madison looked down at her phone.
Tyler had texted seventeen times.
She turned it off.
Then she rested her head on her mother’s shoulder and whispered, “Can we go home?”
Her mother kissed the top of her head.
“Yes,” she said. “We’ll figure out tomorrow when tomorrow comes.”
May you like
And together, they walked out of the clinic before anyone could turn Madison’s fear into someone else’s escape plan.
What would you have done if you were Madison’s mother?
