Crystal blue eyes dressed with the infamous “Looney Bin” bags stared at me for a reply.
“I’m not much in a talking mood.” I sighed.
“Lucky for me, I like to talk …” Maddie trailed off, and I wanted to slam my face into the porridge. How was this for payback. Now I knew how Zeke had felt with me. “ … so, I have been here ever since. You’re American, ya? I’ve been to America once before. To Florida, actually. My mum and dad brought us to Disney World. It wasn’t as I hoped tho—”
I shot my palm into the air, slicing the thick Irish accent. “Please … stop talking.”
Maddie pursed her lips together. “Take the puss off ya face, I’m only codding ya! I wanted to see how long you would go before ya cut me off.”
I glanced over to Detached Tiny Lady who watched me from across the room, probably making sure I ate. Maddie turned her head to see what had caught my eye. “Ya, she’s a brutal one. If ya don’t eat, they’ll hold you down and force feed ya.”
“You’re joking.”
“Ah, I wish.” Maddie leaned back in the chair and fixed her sweatshirt. “You see that girl right over there with the blonde pony?” She nudged her head.
Turning slightly behind me, I saw a girl about the same age as me. Her hair was pulled back so tight, I wondered if she aged ten years once she released her hair tie—instant Facelift.
“Just yesterday they strapped her to her chair and fed her like a chiseler. It was a holy show.” Maddie let out a chuckle, and the thought alone made me bring the spoon to my mouth.
“There ya go. All you need is five bites, and Dr. L will leave ya be.” Maddie smiled, and I flashed her a tight-lipped grin with a mouthful of porridge in return. “Ya play cards?”
I shook my head.
“After you eat, I’ll teach you.”
As I counted down each bite, I wondered if Maddie was a secret informant hired by Dr. L to get the crazies to eat. She seemed annoyingly normal, and I wondered what she had to do to end up here. Every person who passed our table stopped for a quick conversation with Maddie, and she smiled back up at them as I ate.
After my last disgusting bite, I pushed the tray away from me as Maddie pulled a deck of cards from under the table. Had she been holding them this entire time?
“What’s the craic on campus? I haven’t been there since the summer …”
Great, Maddie liked drama. “I’m sure nothing has changed.”
Maddie shuffled the cards flawlessly like a professional. “Liam still a dick-wad?”
I laughed. “Liam is harmless.”
“Sounds like ya know from experience,” she said with amusement in her tone.
Rolling my eyes, I relaxed in the chair. “Liam is predictable. Its people like you who you have to watch out for.”
Maddie slowed her shuffling pace, and there was a small lift in the corner of her mouth. Anyone else would’ve missed the slight curve, but I didn’t, and a part of me knew I was correct about her. She was trouble.
“You and Liam together or something?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“You with anyone on that side?”
“Nope.”
“What group you attached to over there?”
What was this, twenty-one questions? My patience was thin. “What’s it to you? If there’s something you want to ask me, stop beating around the bush and ask me already.”
Maddie slammed the deck of cards on the table and leaned in. Her tone was harsh but controlled. “I’m only trying to get to know ya, pet. Nothing more. Now don’t cause a scene.” She scanned the room before retreating back into her seat and reshuffling the cards. “Me fella is on that side. He’s waiting for me to come back.”
Remembering what Jake, Alicia, and Ollie had told me, I said, “I thought there were no relationships at Dolor.”
