Chapter 7 - Don't give up

It had been a few weeks now and there had been no sign of Maddy's father. It was as if he'd simply vanished. Klyde had been doing more vigilanty, or 'hero', work with the support of the chief who promised to keep the secret. He even gave Klyde access to a police radio to hear the chatter and be able to assist if necessary. Klyde also managed to get a job cleaning in a hotel restaurant. Girls at school are now almost constantly chasing and drooling over him. Maddy manages to scare them off sometimes but they just come right back shortly after.

They were beginning to lose hope in finding Maddy's father. And were worried about Klyde's family, they were still in comas bodies still active but no signs of regaining conciousness.

Maddy was sick today, so she had to stay home, klyde had to go to school, his plan was to learn everything for the day then help Maddy with catch-up work. Going to school that day however, ended up being one of his biggest regrets. Arriving at school was reasonably normal, but as he walked in the girls flooded from all directions.

"Klyyyyyde! Show us those hottie abs!"

"what the heck..." was Klyde's only reaction before attempting to push through.

"Oh my gosh he touched me!"

"Luckyyyyy!"

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" the principal, perfect timing.

"These girls are harassing me." Klyde said. "Disperse immediately ladies."

"Awww, but sirrr." they all whined.

"No buts, leave the poor man alone." And so they went.

"What was that about Klyde?"

"Ever since my shirt burned off they've been all over me."

"I see. Well, off to class with you."

"Yes sir."

The day went back to normal, till gym Class came. He was just walking out of the changing rooms when he was yanked to the side into a hidden corner by a girl. He looked at her face and saw pure psycho in her eyes. She proceeded to press herself against him. He had had enough, he slid aside and swung a leg under hers, knocking her to the floor, then picked her up and put her in front of the teacher.

"This student attempted to rape me."

"Um, why is she unconscious."

"She slipped."

"I see, would you like me to take her to sick Bay? Or do you want to."

"I'd rather not be left here with the psychos." "Psychos, what're you-" Klyde pointed to all the girls glaring lustfully at him.

"Oh. Go on then." he carried the girl to the sick bay, lay her gently on the bed, then went back to class.

"Alright class, go do some warm ups, after that we'll be going for a run." They began warm-ups, Klyde avoiding all the girls, was hanging off the basketball hoop doing sit-ups. Then plopped off and went out to the field prepared to run. Everyone else followed and the running began.

Normally Klyde would hang around the middle. Of the group, so that he was blending in and wasn't showing off, but that's where all the girls would be, so he gave it his all.. He zoomed around the field, everyone gaping as they ran. Klyde raced past all the boys at the front with ease and was now already on his second lap. He overlapped them once, twice, three times, then finished next to the teacher. "My goodness klyde, have you been holding back this whole time?"

"Maybe." he replied whilst somewhat catching his breath.

"I'm gonna go get changed before the girls finish, I don't want another incident like at the start of the period."

"That's fair, go on ahead."

Bell for end of school came and Klyde raced to his car, climbing in quickly and pulling out before the girls could get to him. "Gosh these girls are like zombies." he thought, driving off.

Arriving back at the house, he walked in to find Maddy half hanging off the couch, asleep. He walked over quietly and gently moved her back onto the couch. Then went to the kitchen and got to work, the noise of pots and things clanging softly in the kitchen woke Maddy from her nap, she sneezed, sniffed then called out as loud as she could,

"Klyde.? Is that you?"

"Oh your awake. Yeah it's me."

"What are you doing?"

"You'll see." About 5 minutes passed and Klyde walked out with a bowl. "whatever that is," Maddy thought, "Smells fantastic."

"Here, have some soup."

"You.. Made this?"

"Yeah."

"I um, can't, move my arms."

"Okay, I'll feed you." He grabs the spoon and gently pours soup into Maddy's mouth, she blushed and ate willingly, her face lit up, clearly indicating that she loved the soup.

"Oh my gosh this tastes amazing! Where'd you find the recipe.?"

"I made the recipe. You're the first to taste it." "I- thank you." he smiled softly then quickly went back to a straight face and continued feeding her till the bowl was empty.

"Whatever you put in there, it made me feel alot better." Maddy proclaimed with a smile. "I'm glad."

"Welcome home mum." Maddy said as Elis walked through the door.

"Thanks sweety, what're you two up to?" "We're just watching TV."

"I see, how are you feeling?"

"Much better thanks to Klyde's soup."

"Klyde made you soup? That's sweet."

"Yeah." "Where is Klyde?"

"Um," she laughed awkwardly, "he's asleep, on me."

"Awww that's cute."

"Um, yeah" she laughs awkwardly, "we were sitting watching TV and he fell asleep and leaned onto me."

Elis came and looked and sure enough Klyde was laying on Maddy's shoulder, fast asleep. "You know what that means right?"

"No.? What does it mean?"

"It means he feels safe and comfortable with you."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, he trusts you."

"Oh um."

"I'm gonna go make some dinner, I'll wake him if you don't feel like it, when dinners ready that is, for now we let him sleep, he needs it." "Yeah, ok mum."

Thirty minutes go by and dinner is ready, Maddy gently nudges Klyde, then nudges a little harder,

"Klyde, wake up, it's dinner time." He peaked his eyes open and looked directly into hers. She smiled.

"You were certainly tired."

"I um, sorry, I didn't realise I was so tired."

"It's okay, I don't mind."

"Oh, okay."

Klyde's phone rang,

"Hello?"

"hi this is the hospital, is this Klyde?"

"Yes it is."

"We.. May have to declare you family.. Deceased."

"Oh.."

"We've done all we can, they aren't waking up, I'm sorry kid." The call ended.

Klyde had been sitting silently for about an hour now, his face expressionless, empty. Maddy sat next to him, she didn't know what to do so she just watched him, rubbing his back as a form of comfort. Klyde looked slowly at the time, stood up, and walked to bed, Maddy followed. That night however, Klyde did not sleep, just laid there staring at the ceiling. He wasn't sure what to do with himself now, he blamed himself for the predicament his family is in.

"Klyde? You still awake?"

"Yeah..."

"Can't sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Neither." She put a hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry about your family Klyde.. It's my fault-"

"No, it isn't."

"I dragged you into this though.."

"No, I dragged myself into it, it's my fault..." "Klyde no." Klyde stopped responding and the two lay there silently.

It was now 5am when Klyde's phone started going off.

"hello?"

"Hello Klyde, it's the hospital again. You need to come in."

"What happened?"

"One of your siblings are showing signs of waking up, I feel you should be here for it." "Thank you for letting me know." The call ended and Klyde got changed quickly, Maddy did the same. And they climbed in the car and went off to the hospital.

"You came quickly. Just in time too, this way." The nurse led them down a hallway and into the room where Klyde's family was being monitored. His younger sister was waking up. Klyde had 2 sisters, and a brother. Now has 1 sister and a brother, it brought him huge relief to see her waking up. He sat next to her as she stirred, she suddenly shot up panicked, Klyde rested his and on her shoulder and she looked at him, calming down. This sister, Lila, is 6 years old, short brown hair, bright eyes and is missing one of her front teeth. She hugged him tightly,

"K-Klyde? Where am I? What happened?"

"it's ok Lila, you're safe. We're at the hospital. They were looking after you while you slept." "T-there was a man, and a fire."

"You saw who lit the house?"

"Yeah, it's the man from TV." Maddy and Klyde sat silently and looked at eachother.

"Klyde? Why are mommy and daddy and Ben still sleeping?"

"They aren't quite ready to wake up Lila. They're very tired."

"Oh ok, when will they wake up?"

"We don't know.."

"Oh."

The doctor then spoke up, "We'll need to do some checks before she can leave."

"Alright."

"Klyde sat holding Lila's hand as she was checked by the doctor."

She seems to be reasonably healthy, no physical traumas, you're good to go.

"Thank you doctor." Said Klyde as he picked her up and carried her out the door.

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to Maddy's place."

"Maddy? You mean the pretty girl?"

"Um, yeah."

"Is she your girlfriend?" The two froze and looked at the girl, then at each other, Maddy laughed awkwardly.

"No Lila she isn't my girlfriend."