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Madison had known love from her birth, having two doting parents and an older brother named Jacob. They had a family dog named Nellie who even Ozzy adored– okay, maybe ‘adored’ was a bit of an exaggeration. Ozzy tolerated Nellie.
Oh, Ozzy... He had been her crush for weeks before she finally asked him out. She remembered the well-written, romantic letter she'd sent him, and the little hand sanitizer present she'd attached to it, putting a red– not green!– flower beside them. The letter had gone like this:
‘Deer Ozzy,
I no that yoo dont liek durty fingers so I washed my hands reely reely gud befour riting this lettur. I reely liek yoo and I hoep that yoo liek me aswell. Your my favoritestust persun and I liek yor fuzee jumpur. It is verry cyoot. I bort yoo a presunt and a flour but not a green won becus I no yor alurgik. Prity plees bee my boyfrend? I reely want yoo too bee.
Lotts of luv from Madison.’
It was the most poetic thing she'd ever written, and she had been very proud, especially when she got a reply that went like this:
‘Deer Madison,
Thank yu four thu lettur. Yes I am alergic to gren flours but not redd wons so yor flour is OK. Yes Id lik to be your boyfrend if yull be my gurlfrend. Just dont hug me beefor woshing yor hands furst plees.
Luv from Ozzy.’
She'd been overjoyed, washed her hands so well that they smelt like nothing but soap, and then flung herself at Ozzy, who didn't really like being touched but appreciated the gesture nevertheless. Things were so much easier back then.
But then Madison was called to the principal's office and told to take the elevator, stepping in with Penny as her escort. She’d tried making conversation with the other girl, smiling and chatting happily, only to receive nothing but a blank, almost robotic, stare in response. Penny was acting a bit funny, Madison thought, but decided to ignore Penny's weird behaviour. Maybe she was having a bad day and needed to be cheered up? Madison, always an affectionate girl, wrapped her arms around Penny and hugged her.
For a brief moment, Penny seemed to be distressed, calling out an almost desperate “wai–” only to cut herself off and stay silent and still for the rest of the elevator trip.
Madison was confused when they ended up in some weird underground place, and then in a lab.
“Where are we?” She enquired curiously, only to be brought over to a glass 3D rectangle (she couldn't remember the proper name for it) that swung open to let her in. There was already a girl in there, seemingly asleep, who had a magenta dress and reddish brown hair. Madison hopped in cheerfully, ready to greet the unknown girl, only for the door to slam shut again. At the sound, the auburn-haired girl's eyes snapped open and she jolted, looking terrified, the fear in her eyes intensifying at the sight of Penny.
“No, no, no!” The unnamed girl shrieked despairingly, looking on the verge of tears as her eyes flickered between Madison, the glass door, and Penny. “Let her out, you monster! Let us g-go...!”
Madison realised, concerned, that the redhead was crying, so tentatively wrapped an arm around her shoulders, causing Nameless Girl to flinch, but didn't shove her off.
“Now, now, Alice,” the voice of Madison's principal rang out, and Madison wondered if she could finally get some answers to her numerous questions. “I'd have thought you'd be happy to have some company.”
The girl– Alice– was shaking, but jutted out her chin and said, voice quivering, “you thought wrong. Let her g-go.”
The principal tilted her head quizzically. “And why would I do that?”
“Y-you have me,” Alice pointed out meekly, and Madison contemplated what the girl could mean by that.
“Yes, I do have you, don't I?” The principal smiled serenely, but there was definite malice to her tone as she said, “but you’re not enough.”
Alice slumped further, practically curling in on herself, and repeated, more pleadingly, “Let her go.”
“No,” the principal smirked. “I'll leave you to get your newest... Friend up to date, Two.”
And they were left alone, Penny gone too.
“Hi!” Madison greeted. “I'm –”
“Madison, I know,” Alice sighed wearily. “I'm Alice.”
“Cool name!” Madison complimented, looking around interestedly at everything around them. “What is this place?”
“The lab,” Alice replied tonelessly. “Here, you're not Madison. You're Three. Some other poor kid named Ron’s going to be Four, I'm Two, and One is Isa...”
Madison’s brow furrowed as she took in Alice’s words, not yet addressing the girl’s crumpled face.
“Wait, I know Ron! He’s my friend, and Ozzy’s best friend. Is he coming here too? Why are we here? Is this a sleepover? If this is a sleepover, can Ozzy come too?”
“NO!” Alice yelled, and Madison jumped. “I... Sorry. I should start from the beginning. Did you know a kid named I-Isaac Markson?”
“I think so,” Madison nodded. “He was in the Smart class, though, so I only saw him in Science. Ozzy knew him. I haven't seen him there for a couple weeks though. Apparently he transferred schools.”
“He didn't,” Alice shook her head sadly. “He was kidnapped, like me, like you, like the other kids.”
“Kidnapped?! No, no... I just got told to visit the principal so Penny took me down here to see her. I'm sure that this is just a big mistake!” Madison laughed nervously. “...Right?”
“Sorry, Madison,” Alice shot her a sympathetic look, full of pity and pain and companionship.
“O... Oh,” Madison whispered, and to try and keep herself from freaking out, she decided to keep asking questions. “What do you mean by ‘other kids’? And where's Isaac?”
“I don't know where Isaac is,” Alice said sorrowfully. “She moved him a while ago. Said that she was ‘testing it out’, and I, uh, won't go into details, but what she did to get to that point was not pretty, for me or him. I... I think I might be next. I'm Two for a reason, right?”
“You're going to be completely fine,” Madison told her with a firmness that she didn't possess. “...and the other kids? You got any names?”
“Thanks, Madison, " Alice said sincerely. "And, um, not really, but as far as I know, we're– and Ron are– the only ones here. She does talk about another principal a lot though, and what sort of... Experiments,” Alice's face twisted into one of disgust and rage, “he does on his test subject. Subject being singular, so that kid gets, like, four times worse a deal than us.”
“Oh,” Madison's voice was small. “Does that one have a name?”
“Yeah,” Alice nodded. “But I don’t know it. She talks about that principal a lot - and i mean a lot. I'm starting to think she has a crush on that guy or something.”
“Ah, yes,” Madison said wisely, suppressing a giggle. “We can call it ‘Ship of le Principals’.”
Madison asked plenty more questions, Alice happy to give as many answers as she could, and Madison decided that maybe, this wouldn't be so bad.
A week later, she fully regretted those thoughts. Ron was dragged in, fighting violently, but as least Alice hadn't been taken off like Isaac apparently had. The girl had constant nightmares which Madison had to help her with, being tested on was torture for both girls, and Madison was starving, exhausted and miserable, though tried to keep up her cheerful façade for the other two.
She began to lose hope that they would be rescued as the days blurred together in a jumble of screams, sobs, pain and sleep. She wrote letters to Ozzy to keep herself sane, though wrote them in her head because she had no paper.
‘Deer Ozzy,
I hoep that yoo rescyoo me and Ron and Allice soon. I dont like it heer and the prinsipull is meen and the testing herts. I dont want to bee Three anymor. I want to bee Madison. Get heer soon, plees.
Luv from Madison.”
And, a few days later:
‘Deer Ozzy,
Yoo are akchooulee rescyoing us, arrnt yoo? Plees do. I haet it heer and I mis yoo.
Luv from Madison.’
And again:
‘Ozzy,
I dont no how much mor I can tayk off this.
Madison.’
And again:
‘Ozzy,
Sayv us.’
And again:
‘Plees, Ozzy.’
And again:
‘Yor nott rescyoing us, ar yoo?’
And finally:
‘I surendur.’
She gave up, letting the days blur together and not fighting when she was tested on. If Ozzy was coming to get her, he obviously would’ve done by then.
“Are you okay, Madison?” Alice asked gently during one of the periods where they were left in their glass prison, picking up on her now best friend’s sadness.
“Yeah, I’m... I’m...” Madison burst into tears.
“Maddie!” Ron exclaimed, both him and Alice rushing over to comfort her.
She wept into their shoulders, heart aching and throbbing, and she thought about how much she missed everyone.
“I want to go home,” Madison sobbed, tears dripping off her chin.
“I know, Madison,” Alice rubbed soothing circles into the other girl's back, her own voice thick with tears. “I know.”
“Wh... Where is home?” Madison whimpered.
“It’s with your mom and dad remember, Maddie? And your dog and Ozzy and not here,” Ron reminded her. “We’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna get rescued.”
Madison wiped her eyes, exiting the embrace with a heavy heart and opening her mouth to reply when...
Creak.
The door swung open to reveal the blurry figures of four kids, and Madison felt hope reignite in her heart when she realised that they might have come to rescue her, Alice and Ron. Maybe it was Ozzy!
“OZZY?!” She yelled out, a hint of desperation in her voice. She knew he still cared about her, that was why he’d come to rescue her! She was going home.
She felt Ron’s warm hand clasp her own as he said quietly, “I don’t think that’s him, Madison...”
“No! You kids have to get out of here!” Alice shouted, much to Madison’s anguish. Why would Alice decline the chance to be saved?! Yeah, Madison understood that her friend was kinda self-sacrificing, but... “That blonde girl’s who put us in here!”
Cold washed over Madison as her stomach dropped, eyes widening as she attempted to see better out of her smudged glasses. She wiped them quickly and put them back on her face, looking outside to see...
A normal looking brown-haired kid wearing a blue shirt who looked like the protagonist of a game, a boy with black hair and a brown hoodie, a girl with a pink flower and a blue hoodie, and... Penny.
“I’m sorry,” Penny was crying, and Madison felt a little sympathy edge back into her heart which she shoved back out firmly. Penny was the reason she was in here in the first place, after all. “I wasn’t in control of myse–”
The girl with the black hair interrupted her, saying, “why don’t we save apologies and explanations for after we’ve saved everyone and gotten out of here alive?”
Madison’s face lit up as it dawned on her that she was getting out, even if it wasn’t Ozzy who’d come to get her.
“Lily’s right,” the black-haired boy agreed, putting a name to the face of the unnamed girl. He turned to the kids in the test tube, determination, concern and something unidentifiable written across his face. “How do we get you guys out of there?”
“I don’t know,” Madison chewed on her lip nervously. “Try pressing one of the buttons on here. See if that–”
But she was interrupted by the voice that haunted her, Alice and Ron’s dreams nightmares as the principal cleared her throat.
“*AHEM*” the principal came put onto a ledge over a closed-up rectangular pit, and Madison froze. “Penny, what are these children doing unsecured in my secret lab?”
“I’m here to–” Penny began, before looking at the other three children. “We’re here to stop you! You can’t do this anymore!”
“I do not have time for this, Penny,” the principal snapped, her next words making Madison want to scream in fear and anger because they were so close to being rescued... “I’m sending all of these children to the principal’s office!”
Madison (like Ron, who tightened his grip on her hand) was shocked when Penny only stared her mother defiantly in the eyes.
“Penny?! Did you hear me? I said–” something clicked in the principal’s brain. “Oh. Your chip fried, didn’t it? That’s quite unfortunate. That means you’re useless to me.”
Chip?! What did that mean?!
Alice’s jaw dropped, Ron simply blinked in astonishment, and Madison sighed in annoyance because she didn’t know what that meant.
“But... But... I’m your daughter.” Penny choked out, eyes brimming with more tears. “Mommy, please–”
What happened next made Madison clamp a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. The principal pressed a remote and blew Penny’s head off.
“Penny!” Lily shrieked, mortified.
“And since I don’t have a daughter to help me out anymore... Looks like I have to test the new mutator out earlier than expected,” The principal decided, and Madison gasped.
She clutched Alice’s hand too, helpless as the principal clicked a button and there was pain. White flashed before her eyes and she seized, able to see her friend’s bones before she wasn’t in control of anything anymore.
She heard herself roar, but this wasn’t her, this was a monster she was trapped in the body of, and she hated it, her friends roaring after her. Her hand hurt with the sting of broken glass piercing it when the monster broke out of the test tube, jumping out as she heard the most horrible words yet.
“KILL THEM!!”
Madison was going to kill her saviours, because she couldn’t stop the monster controlling her. She was a prisoner in her own body, and a soon-to-be murderer.
“I have questions,” the protagonist-looking child said, much to an incredulous Madison’s surprise. Who chose to ask questions when they were about to die?! Why was the kid so casual?! Was he just trying to stall?
“Oh... Well, I suppose since you’re about to die, I can provide you with some answers,” the principal said, only furthering Madison’s shock.
“What’s wrong with the lunch lady?”
Madison’s mouth would’ve been gaping if she had any form of control, because was that really the most pressing question that unnamed boy could think of?! This was... This was ridiculous!
“I get what you mean, but honestly... Even I don’t know,” the principal admitted. “She’s just like that.”
The weird kid continued to ask questions (apparently, Penny was a robot) in a lackadaisical manner, like he wasn’t about to die. When he asked ‘what’s with the monsters?’ Madison winced internally, her mutated body frozen in place as she awaited a command.
Finally seeming to accept his fate, the kid said, “okay. Let’s get this over with.”
“Okay then...” the principal grinned placidly. “KILL THEM!”
She saw Alice pounce on Lily, grabbing the girl’s leg with a set of unnaturally sharp teeth. Black-haired kid jumped on a box, his eyes huge as he zoomed in on Lily, ignoring the way Ron was advancing on him.
“Ah! Help!” Lily cried in pain and fear. “It’s got my leg! Get it off me!”
Get her off you, Madison corrected internally before remembering that this wasn’t really Alice, this was a mutant.
“Hang on, Lily!” brown-hoodie child called out frantically from where he was stood on the box, then turned to Protagonist Child. “Kid! You gotta help her! Take out the one that’s eyeing you and then save Lily!”
Protagonist boy– Kid– accepted this and said expressionlessly, “what about you?”
“I’ll be fine!” the other boy replied, and Madison half-admired his selflessness, the other half thinking that he had to be pretty dumb, because there was no way that that box was going to hold. “Just save Lily!”
“Okay,” Kid replied.
Madison felt her eyes move over to Kid, focusing on him as a low growl started at the back of her throat. What had Hoodie kid said about ‘taking her out’?!
It became apparent when Kid went over to the control panel and pulled on a level that worked the green claw what his plan was, because the next thing Madison knew, she was being lifted into the air, splitting pain erupting from her head. It was agonising, and she let out a quiet whimper, eyes sliding over to Alice as Hoodie congratulated Kid, giving him more instructions. Then, her eyes slipped shut, and she let herself drift.
Next thing Madison knew, she was back in her own form again, drenched in a disgusting green goo alongside her two friends.
“Yuck! This stuff is so gross!” Alice spat out a mouthful of green goo.
“It’s so slimy!” Madison agreed, her voice a little shaky. “Let’s get out of here!”
“I’ll take being slimy over being a monster any day,” Ron told them, heading towards the end of the pool.
“You’re all alive!” Lily squealed, her eyes bright as she stood by a blonde kid who was covered in blood. “This wasn’t all for nothing! I’m... so happy.”
“We did good today, Lily,” Brown Hoodie child grinned, then turned to Protagonist-looking kid. “Especially you, kid.”
“Thanks,” was the short, emotionless reply.
“Come on. Let’s all go home,” Hoodie decided, shooting a warm smile at the slime-covered trio.
When walking to the elevator with her friends, Ron said randomly, “what was it like for you? Being a monster, I mean.”
“I... It was like I was asleep,” Alice looked slightly haunted. “I didn’t feel anything– no sight, no sound, no memory. Then I woke up in the slime pit.”
“I could see what was happening,” Madison piped up. “I just couldn’t stop it. I was... I was helpless. It was horrible.”
“I was nearly fully aware,” Ron looked a little guilty. “But there was, like, this voice in my head. It kept telling me to kill the kid on the box. And... And I couldn’t help but listen.”
“We’ve... We’ve sure been through some stuff, huh?” Alice laughed weakly.
“But we’re okay now,” Madison smiled, one of her first sincere ones in ages. “We’re going home.”
“Er... About that...” Alice looked disturbed, but said nothing more as the elevator doors opened.
They reached the school exit, and Madison saw...
“OZZY!” her voice was alight with joy, relief flooding through her.
“What?” Ozzy had his confused, suspicious face on. “Who said that?”
Madison rushed out as quickly as she could, ignoring the way that slime stayed on her clothes and in her hair, disgusting and sticky.
“Madison! I thought you didn’t go to this school any–” Ozzy seemed to light up in a similar way to Madison did until his nose scrunched up and he edged away slightly. “Uh... What are you covered in?”
“Oh! It’s some weird slime from the principal’s secret lab,” Madison rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
“Gross,” Ozzy’s words hurt, but Madison knew he was just a germophobe. “Why don’t we pick this up after you’ve had a bath?”
“Oh... Okay,” Madison’s voice was small, but still hopeful. “I’ll call you tonight then!”
And so, she left.
Her reunion with her family was a joyful one, and they were always there for her when she had nightmares. Eventually, they all decided that it would be for the best if Madison got some therapy to help deal with all that had happened. One of her ways of brightening her day was to write a letter to herself at the start of every day each year.
‘Too Madison,
Today is gonna be the best day evver! Lunch will be hot dogs, which is always yummy, and Rons feeling better again after his cold! Have a great day and make the most off it!
From Madison.’
She, Alice and Ron became close friends after the incident, giving themselves the nickname ‘The Slime Gang’ (Ron thought of it). As the years passed, she, the rest of the Slime Gang and Billy had all bonded over the strange side-effects and the bad memories that came with lab testing. Letters were one of her coping mechanisms to cope with the stress of it all.
Madison went on a holiday at age 12, still keeping in touch with Ozzy over the years, though she wasn’t quite sure what their relationship was anymore. She didn’t know if she liked him as a friend, as a romantic partner, or even just not at all, but it became almost a hobby of hers to send the boy letters sometimes, which he often replied to. In fact, Madison liked sending letters to everyone, despite the fact that texting was far easier.
‘To Alice,
Hey bestie. Miss you! How’s France? You said you were going skiing? It sounds cool! Have fun!
From Madison. :D’
‘To Ron,
How are you doing? Is Coco doing alright? I hope that you’re not too lonely by yourself, but then that’s what Coco’s for, right? She is the best dog ever. Besides, think of all the food you get to eat by yourself...!
From Madison. :)’
‘To Billy,
Hi! How are you and Lily? Your weird mutanty side-effects aren’t showing up again, are they, ‘cause mine have been kind of weird lately; I woke up floating the other day. Outside the window. I’m fine though! Enjoy the holiday!
From Madison.’
‘To Ozzy,
How’s life treating you? You know, I saw a shop the other day that was selling Destructotrons! I thought those were discontinued ages ago, but just know that I know what I’m getting you for your birthday. ;)
Anyway, I hope you’re having a great holiday. No freaky germs or deaths or flowers attacking you? Seriously though, make sure you always have your inhaler on you.
From Madison.’
Sure, her life was tough. Sure, Madison was dealing with unnatural abilities and strange emotions. Sure, writing letters like she did was seen as ‘weird’ in a world of modern technology.
But if Madison was one thing, it was resilient, and she was going to get through life, no matter how hard it got. Besides, she had the friends and determination to do so, so there was nothing left in her way.
Not anymore.