When the family got home, Maddie was still throwing her fit. After squaring up with Katie- and giving her extra for putting up with Maddie and her tantrum- David called Maddie down from her room to eat dinner. It was one of the rare occasions in which they ate out. She sat down at the table and started to throw her food into the floor. “Madison Jade Draiman, you do it and you go to bed without dinner and you lose everything”, David said.
“So?”
“You can eat your dinner later, then, Maddie”, Brie said. “March your ass up to your room now.” Maddie slipped from her chair and Brie followed her to her room. “Seeing as you just can’t seem to act the way you know you’re supposed to act, you’re going to lose your TV, your toys, and your books. You get to sit in your room and stare at the wall and think about what you’ve done wrong.” Brie took everything one item at a time from the bedroom and put it all in her and David’s room- more specifically in her closet.
When her mother left the room, Maddie screamed at the top of her lungs, “I HATE YOU!!!!!”
Brie froze in the doorway and turned to looked at her daughter. “Good, hate me. I could really care less, Madison. Hate me all you want, but you’re not going to embarrass your father and me in public. And you’re not going to continue on this path. One way or another, you’re going to learn how to behave. Your father and I will not tolerate this nonsense.” She shut the door.
Maddie started trashing her room by throwing everything around. I hate Mom! she thought as she threw her old coloring books in the floor. I hate Dad! she thought as she threw a music box her father had bought her for her birthday a few years before in the floor. I hate Malachai! she thought as the threw a picture frame that held a picture of Malachai, Jake, Jordan and her against the wall. I hate them ALL! she thought as she knocked everything on her dresser into the floor. She threw herself onto her bed and sobbed. Everyone was getting more attention than she was; and now there were two new babies in the family. She was sure she’d never get attention again.
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The rest of the family sat downstairs and listened to the commotion from Maddie’s room. “Is she ever going to stop?” Jordan asked.
“I don’t know”, Brie said. “She did tell me she hated me as I left the room, though.”
“Really?” David asked.
“Yep. She screamed it. ‘I HATE YOU!!!!!!!’ she screamed. She probably thinking about how much she hates me right this moment.”
“That has to hurt, Mom”, Jake said.
“It does. I lost count of the number of times you’ve said it, Micah.”
“But, I never really meant it. I was just mad. Do you think Maddie means it?”
“No, she’s just mad”, David said. “Each of you seems to hate us when we discipline you. But, once you realize you were wrong, you always tell us you’re sorry and that you didn’t mean it; that you really DO love us. I’ve heard it a million times.”
“But, Maddie’s taking it really hard, it seems”, Jordan said.
“And she’ll calm down and apologize in the morning.”
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She lay in her bed in deep sleep. And as she slept, she dreamed. A familiar voice rousted her. “Madison Jade, wake up”, the man’s voice said.
She sat up and looked around for the voice. “Uncle Matt, is that you?”
“Down here Maddie”, he said. He was standing at the foot of her bed.
She looked at the foot of her bed to see her dead uncle. She should have been afraid, but she wasn’t. “What are you doing here, Uncle Matt? You’re dead.”
“I may be dead, but I still don’t approve of the way you’re acting, little girl.”
“What do you mean?”
He gave her a hard look. “You know exactly what I mean, Madison Jade.”
She looked down at the bed. “I know what you mean, Uncle Matt.”
“Do you really hate your parents?”
“Well, no.”
“What about your big brother?”
“No.”
“And the rest of your siblings?”
“I don’t hate them either.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because I’m mad.”
“What has you so mad, Maddie girl?”
“Everyone gets more attention than me. I mean, Malachai and Jordan have their band that just got a record deal; Malachai and Mandy had the babies today. Everything revolved around everyone else and it seems like Mama and Daddy don’t have any room left for me. It feels like they don’t love me anymore.”
Matt sat on the edge of Maddie’s bed. “Maddie, your parents love all of you kids equally. You know that. Now, you need to realize that not everything revolves around you. Sometimes, the focus needs to be on someone else. Right now, the focus is on Malachai and Amanda’s babies. Isaiah and Miranda are important members of the family now and you’re just going to have to accept that. You need to apologize to your parents as well as Malachai and Amanda. Understood?”
Tears welled up in her eyes. “Yes, Uncle Matt.”
“That’s a good girl. Now, I’m going to go now. When you wake up in the morning, you need to start out with telling your Daddy you’re sorry for yelling at him like you did and that you’re sorry for acting like you know you’re not supposed to in the hospital. And while you’re at it, clean this room up. It’s a mess.”
She smiled. “Ok, Uncle Matt. I will.”
“Good. Bye, Miss Maddie.”
“Bye Uncle Matt. I love you.”
“And I love you, sweetheart. Go back to sleep.”
And she did just that.
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The next morning, she woke early and started cleaning her room. She knew she’d made a mess of her room and she was wrong for it. She picked up the music box her father bought her for her birthday and almost cried. She treated it like it was expendable and it wasn’t. She loved her Daddy and she couldn’t believe that she treated the gift he’d gotten her like it didn’t matter. Thankfully, it wasn’t broken. She placed it back on the shelf it was sitting on and wiped the tears from her eyes. She gingerly handled the photograph she’d thrown against the wall the night before. It was Malachai at 8, Jacob and Jordan at age 3, and her at only a few days old. Her brothers and sister sat in the living room of the safe house they were living in as Daddy took the picture with Mom’s old camera. When they went through the family photos that were taken during the war that was the one that Maddie had chosen. She felt horrible for breaking the frame. She was going to have to find a way to replace it. The frame had been a gift from Malachai.
There was a knock on the door. “Maddie, it’s breakfast time”, her father said.
“Daddy, can you come in so that I can talk to you?”
David opened the door and looked at his daughter. “Yes, Madison?” he said.
“I wanted to say that I’m REALLY sorry for the way I acted yesterday. I know what I did and said was wrong and I don’t really hate you OR Mama.”
David nodded. “Apology accepted, Maddie. Now, why did you do it?”
“Because it just seems like everyone is getting more attention than me. I mean, Malachai and Jordan’s band just got signed to a record deal. Now, Malachai and Amanda just had babies yesterday. It’s not fair.”
David made his way carefully through the wreckage that was Maddie’s bedroom floor and took a seat on the bed, patting the spot next to him. “Sit down with me for a minute, Maddie. I want to tell you something that only three other people know.”
“What three people?” she asked as she sat down.
“Your Mama, Aunt Kristen, and the midwife that helped deliver you.”
“Ok, what is it?”
“Sweetie, do you really know why you’ve always been my little princess?”
“Well, no. I always thought it was because you loved me more than the other ones.”
“No. I love all of you children equally. The reason you’ve always been my little princess is because I actually got to catch you when you were born. Your brother and sister, I got to help your mother while she was in labor with them. I got into the tub with her and held her while she pushed. You, however, I was a lucky enough bastard to get to kneel in the water, and with the midwife’s instructions, pull you from your mother. That’s why you’ve always been my princess. I know I spoiled you and contradicted myself with you and your brothers and sisters on several occasions, and I also know that I shouldn’t have. I’ve been trying to make up for that, but you keep fighting me. I shouldn’t treat you any better than I do your brothers and sisters and I try not to. Now, with ten of you kids sometimes Mom and I have our attention divided into way too many pieces and someone’s bound to get left out, but that doesn’t mean we love anyone one of you less than the others. It just means that you’re going to have to wait your turn to get out attention. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yeah, I understand that. And, I’m really sorry. I’ve been acting like a I don’t know any better, but I do. I know what I should do in public. I know how I should speak to you and Mom. But, I was feeling neglected so I acted out so that you’d pay attention to me.”
“And now you know that you shouldn’t have done that?”
“Yes, sir.”
He kissed his daughters head. “I love you, Maddie Jade”, he said.
“I love you too, Daddy.”
“Now, let’s go downstairs and eat breakfast. And when we get down there, you need to apologize to your Mama.”
“I will, Daddy.”
“Good girl. Now, you wanna race down the stairs?”
She laughed. “Are you kidding me, old man? I’ll smoke you!”
David’s eyes doubled to the size of saucers. “OLD MAN?! Who are YOU calling OLD? Last one down the stairs cleans up after breakfast.”
“Oh, you’re on.” And so, they raced down the stairs.
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