A Beauteous Flower Ch. 19

"Madison...." Anger flecked Daniel's eyes as they flared from dusk to electric. Undeterred, Madison raged on.

"No! No, Daniel you can't just turn this around on me and make this into some kind of hysteria on my part! I won't let you! You need to either let me in or let me go! Let me work to earn your forgiveness and trust or tell me to leave! Do one or the other but don't do both because it kills me! It kills us! Do you hear me? It kills us, Daniel, and it has to stop! Right now!"

Madison took another step back. She had not planned to be so angry with Daniel, but it just poured out of her, just as it had with Todd.

"I've apologized! I've bowed and scrapped and done my I'm-not-worthies, Daniel! Where has that gotten me? I just tread water! I get nowhere! We get nowhere! We have to get down to us! So, tell me, Daniel, for once in our relationship! Tell me what you feel when you look at me! Is it love or loathing?"

"Madison... I'm just trying to sort it out... what I saw... that kiss..."

"I told you I'm sorry!" Madison screamed, flush and lightheaded with emotion. "I choose you, Daniel! Over and over and over again, I chose you! I chose you when he kissed me that night! That's what stopped me! I chose you and I knew he was the mistake I'd been making my whole life! My whole life, Daniel! Until I met you! I'll never love anyone else in my life but you!"

Madison backed up another step. Something changed in Daniel's posture and his face twisted in distress. She'd never seen a look like that from him before and it frightened her. She wished she could stop, but for better or worse, her fears and self-loathing and his fears and self-loathing had to come out right now, tonight.

"So, why let him win, Daniel? He's got nothing on you! You're everything he could never hope to be, and I want to be with you, Daniel! But you allow the memory of this man to haunt our home! To haunt our love! He's nothing and yet you've already convinced yourself you've lost me to him, even though I wouldn't ever be with him if he were the last man on Earth! It's all up to you, Daniel! You! If you want me, I'm right here! And I'll always be right here! But you're the one that holds back, Daniel! You're the one that keeps this thing between us! This is our home, Daniel! Our home! You can't just hole up in the cabin for the rest of your life! You've got fight back to take back our home! For me! For you! For us!"

"Stop it," Daniel warned as his frame bent uncomfortably. "Just stop it."

"I won't! I can't! You have to fight, Daniel! You have to fight! Fight this thing! Fight for us! You can't just huddle in a ball and take punches! I'm fighting! I'm fighting for us! I'm not the one who just knuckled under to a guy who can't even hold a candle to you! I might have kissed him, Daniel, but after that I sent him away! You let him live here rent free! You hold on to him like some sick self-flagellation ritual!"

"I'm not..." Daniel struggled to control his breath and held out his palm at Madison. "I won't listen to this!"

Madison retreated another step to line up the kill shot.

"You will listen to it, Daniel! You can't just let this eat you up inside! When are you going to fight back? When are you going to claim my love, Daniel? I want to love you! I want to make you so happy and safe, but you won't let me! I swear I want to love you through it all, but you won't let me! You won't let me because you're scared of a guy that has nothing at all on you! Nothing except for one thing!"

"Stop!" Daniel warned in voice thick with tension and threat. "Stop it, now!"

Madison paused and put her hand to her throat. She forced the molten steel of contempt into her voice and bored in on Daniel.

"He thought he deserved me! He made his play! He tried to have me for his own! He went after me, your wife, in our home, despite your presence all around him! You have every advantage on him! You deserve me! I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you! This is our home! But you can't do what he did! You can't reach out to me! Even here, in our own home, while I grovel in remorse and throw myself at you like some shameless harlot and all that's left of him is your memory!"

"I! Said! Stop!"

But Madison didn't stop. Instead, she took a ragged breath, stepped back into the kitchen and screamed her vitriolic coup de grace at the distraught and twisted Daniel.

"Well, maybe you don't deserve me! Maybe you're not the man I thought you were!"

Instantly, something inside of Daniel snapped loose. Madison's attack had struck home with deadly accuracy and the tightly wound coil of Daniel's emotions finally broke. Daniel's presence darkened and loomed like thick, black pall over the room. His body strained outward, muscular and dangerous, his chest heaved in effort, and Madison's blood froze as his green eyes flamed with naked and unchecked emotion. One minute Daniel had been cool, calm and collected and one horrific minute later, Daniel spun out-of-control, dangerous and predatory.

"Daniel?"

Daniel glared malevolence and with a move that was both terrifyingly smooth and blindingly quick, he seized a vase and hurled it into the fireplace. A shower of crystal exploded against the bricks and glittered into the dark recesses of the room and underscored a low growl of threat from Daniel's chest as he focused his eyes on Madison. Instantly, Madison felt herself become prey and with her heart in her throat, Madison desperately squealed his name again.

"Daniel?"

*****

His roar of pain scalded down Madison's back like a whip crack. Daniel menaced one step towards her, and Madison turned and fled like a rabbit confronted by a hungry wolf. Behind her Daniel's footsteps pursued in unhurried, but ominous heavy thuds and his tempo portended Madison's inevitable capture. Madison's hands, numb with fright, fumbled the doorknob as Daniel thundered into the kitchen like a storm.

"Madison!"

Madison squeaked terror through a tight throat as Daniel stomped closer. Somehow the door sprung open before her, and Madison sprang into the night with just enough wit to pull Daniel's keys from the dead bolt lock and slam the door shut behind her. There she braced the door shut with all her strength while she trembled the key into the lock and the deadbolt clicked home just as Daniel's face, marred by an ugly sneer, glared hungrily though glass.

"Madison!"

Madison shrieked blind fear, turned, and bolted for the path to the lake. This was not the way this was supposed to happen. Sure, Cassidy had warned her of the dangers of this path, but she never in a million years pictured this. It was supposed to be like the Rom-Coms she watched with her friends; a cathartic moment of kisses and caresses and love, not an eruption of rage and terror. Daniel was supposed to cry gently on her shoulder while she whispered platitudes to him, not mutate into an enormous emotional beast. Whomever she had just locked in the house had consumed her quiet, sweet Daniel and her only thought now was not of tender moments, but escape. Madison's bare feet pounded on the dirt path as she fled towards the perceived safety of the dark woods, and she glanced back just in time to see the back door explode open. Someone that bore Daniel's face stepped into the moonlight, stripped to the waist, and, impossibly, seemed even larger than before.

"There was another key, Madison!"

With another shriek, Madison flew into the woods with desperate speed. Lake fog curled around her as Madison tore down the path towards where she could only guess. She had no plan other than to run as fast and as far as possible. Daniel, obscured from her sight by the thick mist, pursued her. His pace never hurried, but his muffled footfalls gained inexorably through the night. With every stride Madison imagined his angry breath on the back of her neck as it hissed closer and closer. Another terrified shriek burst from Madison's throat as she realized she could not outrun him. In scant moments, that man that had been Daniel would catch her defenseless and alone in the woods.

Madison gulped fear as her mind tilted and whirled and grasped for a solution. Her only hope was to hide, hide until whoever that was calmed down or she could escape, hide until her dear, sweet Daniel came back from wherever he had gone to hold her and warm her and keep her safe. The path forgotten, she dodged around trees and frantically searched for a place to hide. Madison's greatest dark fantasy, her Little Red Riding Hood dream, was now terrifyingly real and Madison had never imagined it to be this vivid and visceral. The Faceless man now had a face, and that face was the contorted countenance of the man who only moments ago had been her sweet, quiet Daniel. Moonlight stabbed through the gaps in the trees and threatened to reveal her. Behind her Daniel crashed into the undergrowth and a vengeful cacophony of snapped twigs and branches pressed every closer. Every bush and brush that snagged her clothes made her flinch as if Daniel had grabbed her from behind.

Finally, just as it seemed that at any moment, Daniel would seize her from behind and do God knew what, Madison dodged behind a huge oak tree and froze. The forest went deathly quiet, so much so that it seemed Madison's ragged breaths echoed in the dark. Madison pressed against the rough bark of the tree as if to force herself into the cracks and disappear from view. After only a few tense second, Daniel's footsteps raced closer and then the immense black shadow of Daniel crashed past and continued downhill toward the lake. Madison held her breath to let the sound of Daniel's pursuit move farther away. When she could no longer hear him, Madison sprang from cover and ran back towards the house. As she ran for what she hoped was safety, it was all she could do to not collapse and sob in fear. Where had her sweet, quiet Daniel gone? Who was that monster in his place?

Back at the house she paused on the patio and looked at the back door. Surely when he reached the lake, Daniel would figure out she had doubled back and return to the house to hunt for her. Should she lock the door and hide in the house? No, she couldn't shut him out because Daniel had the spare key. Fear crept up Madison's back like a cold spider. Where could she go?

Madison whirled in place and saw the cabin. She had Daniel's keys and since the party only Daniel had the key to the cabin. She could hide in the little cabin and stay nice and quiet until she could escape, or this madness left Daniel. The cabin was a magical place after all. Maybe it could keep her hidden until the coast was clear. Quickly Madison unlocked the cabin door and closed it behind her. What now?

A howl of rage shattered the night and cowed the night creatures to silence. It's raw edge and import made Madison's flesh crawl. Daniel knew she had doubled back. He would be here in minutes. Blank terror took her thoughts again, and she huddled under Daniel's desk like a frightened little girl after a nightmare. A second roar echoed from the lake and Madison whimpered and wished for morning, then just as suddenly the night went deathly quiet. All Madison could do was cower under the desk and strain to hear any warning of Daniel's approach.

Tense seconds passed as Madison chased her frightened breath. Eventually tense seconds piled up into a tense minute and, after a forever, another tense minute crawled passed. Madison's teeth began to chatter, so she clenched her jaws and took deep breaths through her nose. It was vital that she remained quiet and still, and she clutched her knees to her chest to fold in on herself and vanish.

Madison's ears strained out into the night, but she heard nothing. No screams, no footsteps, no Daniel. She began to hope. Maybe Daniel still raged through the woods and chased shadows, or maybe he'd calmed down and just sat down. Alone, afraid and huddled under the desk, Madison's fears ran wild inside her mind. She had known what she had said would cut him to the bone and would hurt him, but she never imagined that Daniel would undergo a metamorphosis like that. Nothing in her experience with him had prepared her for that reaction. In fact, if she had known this could happen before she started, she would have never chosen to fight Daniel. She was no match for Daniel even when he was sweet and quiet. Now he was full of rage and danger. What the hell had she been thinking?

"We'll just stay here and it will be alright," she consoled herself in a whisper. "It will be all right."

Time passed slowly, but all remained quiet. Despite herself, Madison's mind began to spin down from panic and her fears subsided enough for her to think. Perhaps Daniel must have given up and calmed down. Maybe now she could talk to him? Madison didn't know exactly what to say after what she had just witnessed, but it was obvious Daniel needed help with all that pent up emotion and pain. Emotion and pain that she had brought to the surface with her own anger. Emotion and pain that she had caused.

Suddenly, in those moments of quiet Madison felt a deep stab of guilt. She did this to Daniel. She summoned the monster of hurt and pain in him and then left him alone to deal with it. Her words, her actions had caused all the hurt and pain to well up in him until it burst out like a flood from behind a rickety dam. Now he was lost in that torrent of hurt and pain and she had caused it, but she was the one who was supposed to save Daniel, save him from all that hurt and pain and self-loathing. After all, she loved him. Right?

What was her alternative? She could leave Daniel and... and what? Go back to her parents? Go back to her apartment? Go back to a life with someone like Steve the Oaf? Her mind revolted at the thought. Besides, could she live with herself if she just left? She caused this explosion inside of Daniel. Could she really just abandon him here, like this, when he needed her the most? If she did, wouldn't she be just like everyone else in Daniel's life? He would be left to believe she didn't really care about him and left him because everything in him was worthless and stupid. She had hurt him again and this time it had been intentional and if she ran from it, then she was worse than everyone else. She would be the one that mocked his deepest pain.

This line of thought challenged Madison. What was she so afraid of? That was her Daniel out there, alone in a forest of pain. He needed her. It made little sense given the circumstances, but it sounded right and extinguished her fear. Madison could not abandon him like this. Not her Daniel. Not ever. For the last six weeks she had wished and waited for him to come to her. It had been her most fervent hope. Now Daniel, all of Daniel, was out in the open and because he had finally shown her his deepest pain, she ran from him. Something about that seemed terribly incongruent to her, and suddenly her fearful flight and urge to remain hidden no longer made sense. What did make sense was she had to go to Daniel right now and show him the love he needed from her so desperately. The Daniel had just seen was what made Daniel beautiful. His pain and need, the dark, attractive mystery inside him, was what made him beautiful to Madison and in that moment of clarity, Madison chose to give herself, all of herself to Daniel and chose the path of beauty and love. Her fear evaporated like a thin morning fog before the warmth of the sun, and Madison unfolded herself from under the desk and stood with purpose and determination. She would not selfishly hide like a little girl anymore. She would sacrifice like a grown woman and boldly love her man with everything she had and all she was.

Just then the whole cabin shook and groaned as if something wild and huge had struck it with a terrible blow. The door creaked with some unseen force and Madison emitted a surprised and involuntary squeal. A second blow buckled the door and rocked the cabin again. A third blow landed, and a rent opened in the wooden door as one of the door's panels splintered under the impact. Daniel's face peered at her through the rent, and he smirked manically as he rocked back on his heels and then slammed his shoulder into the door with another thunderclap blow. The whole cabin shuddered in protest, but despite the violence Madison returned Daniel's gaze with a calm and even heartbeat.

The whole door buckled and bowed under the next blow. It was solid, but not much of a barrier. It certainly would not stand up to this kind of assault for very long. Another giant impact bulged the door and Madison steeled herself. The cabin was small. There was nowhere for Madison to run. Nowhere for her to hide. She was trapped in a little box with no escape in sight, but that didn't matter to her. All that mattered was her Daniel was here and she had to save him; she would save him.

The next impact sprayed splinters of wood across the room. Daniel would be inside very soon. A last tingle of fear and doubt flitted through Madison mind, but she shoved it aside just as the door exploded open. Daniel's body careered across the cabin and smashed into the louver doors of the small coat closet. Shards of wood and items from the closet cascaded down to cover his body and for a moment he lay still in a pile of rubble. Blood oozed from a gash that a splinter of wood had carved in his left shoulder. Then Daniel raised himself on his elbow and faced Madison. His eyes sparkled with emotion, but not anger. Instead, rivulets of sweaty tears streaked the dirt that covered his tortured and twisted face. It was not a face of rage, but a face of anguish and suffering. His mouth worked out a single word.

"Why?"

Madison's heart went out to him as he lay bereft in a pile of rubble. Yes, she saw the dark and dangerous man that stalked her in the woods, but she also saw her quiet, sweet Daniel. Her Daniel was still there, lost in all the pain and frustration and shame that poured out of his eyes. He was lost and he needed to come home. He needed her help to come home, to the home she wanted to fill with love and laughter and children with Daniel, all of Daniel. Daniel needed Madison to love him, all of him.

Despite his size and strength, Daniel splayed on the wreckage in defeat, like a bull that struggled and fought and chased so hard, but finally downed the accumulated pricks and cuts and stabs of the bullfighters. He had pursued her and fought to reach her and now, bloodied and masculine, he lay before her, awash in pain and self-hatred with all his soul laid bare before her, and cried to her for help. Madison drew closer to him and posed, feminine and vulnerable, on bare feet.

"I love you, Daniel," she told him honestly. "I love you so much. But if you want me, I'll be in the house."

With a sultry gaze of hooded eyes, Madison invited the wreck of Daniel to follow her.

"Our house, Daniel. Our home."

Daniel's face pinched and fresh tears streaked from his eyes, so Madison placed a gentle finger on his lips, and shushed to him.

"Come home, Daniel. Come home to me."

Then Madison turned on her toes and sashayed out of the cabin towards the house, their home, without a backwards glance. She didn't have to look back. Daniel wanted to come home, so he would follow. Halfway to the house, Madison shimmied out of her red dress and strolled naked through the silver moonlight and into the kitchen.

And she wished with all her might for would happen next.