This is a story that I wrote as a joke on my friend, starring her as the main character. I've also featured some of our mutual friends as the characters in the story. While I'm not terribly attached to this story (it WAS primarily a joke, after all), any constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

Naturally, all names have been changed to protect privacy.

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It was a cool summer evening as Maddi Abrams stepped out of the 9th Street temple. A soft wind had picked up from the east, and carried on it the smell of autumn fast approaching. More importantly, it carried the sounds of a city nightlife beginning to awaken. It was Saturday, and anyone who was anyone was at or going to one of the lavish parties thrown every weekend by the young, wealthy, and popular. Maddi herself had such plans, and looking at the evening sun, she smiled, almost able to hear the lively music, the din of conversation, and the unmistakable sound of wine glasses coming together. Walking down the temple steps, she made for her apartment first.

For as we all know, what one wears to church and what one wears to a party tend to be quite dissimilar.

Maddi did not live in a bad neighborhood. Nor did she live in a rich (or even upper-middle-class) neighborhood. She did, however, live in a moderately respectable apartment on a moderately respectable side of town. And in the alley beside her apartment building lived a moderately respectable homeless man. Of course, “Fedora Ron” (aptly named for the piece of headwear that was his constant companion) would not consider himself a “homeless man” so much as a temporarily out of work guitarist who, after buying some new threads and replacing a guitar string, was gonna make a name for himself in the city’s music scene. Ron had been “temporarily out of work” for 30 years.

Walking toward her apartment building, Maddi saw Ron sitting on the sidewalk strumming away at his guitar (minus one string). His tattered fedora was pushed forward over his eyes and his curly blonde hair poked out underneath. Beside him was his tip jar, half-full after a long day’s work. Seeing this, Maddi smiled, knowing that as ragged, unkempt, and just generally homeless as Ron looked, no one could accuse him of being a lazy dead-beat.
“Good haul today, Ron?”

“Better ‘n most, Ms. Abrams.” He said, and then slyly added, “Care to top her off?” Maddi laughed and said “Ron you know I spare the cash when I can. But I tell you what: payday’s tomorrow, so how about I pick you up something good from 4th Street Diner?” Ron nodded and scratched the stubble on his chin, “Weinmiller knows his cookin’ down there… All right Ms. Abrams, I’ll take you up on your offer. But…”

“’But’ what, Ron?” Maddi asked, having already ascended the stairs that lead to her apartment. She leaned over the rail and looked down quizzically. “I’m not sure…” the scruffy man said, his eyes strangely distant, “I just don’t think you’re gonna.”

“Whatever you say, Ron.” She said. And as the door closed behind her, she heard him say, “You take care of yourself Ms. Abrams.”

***

After exchanging the attire of the workplace for an evening dress that was much more amenable to dancing and merry-making, Maddi leapt lightly onto her sofa, telephone in hand, and called a certain man she would on occasion jokingly refer to as her “escort”. On the third ring James O’Donnell answered. “What is it?”

“Hi James.” A shuffling of papers from his end, “How was work?”

“Almost over.”

“I’m looking forward to going to that party tonight. Are you still up for it?”

“Uh-huh. Listen Mads; I have some important things to finish. Can we talk later?”

“Sure. I’ll call you in a bit. Love you hun.”

“Yeah, bye.” And he hung up.

Maddi sighed. James was good to her, but sometimes he was just so distant. But that was okay, because she was sure that would go away over time. She was sure it would.

Abrams didn’t have long to ponder that, though, as her phone began to ring. Answering it she was greeted with an unmistakable voice, “Maddi darling, it’s been far too long!”

“Katherine, what a surprise! How are you?”

“Wonderful dear, absolutely wonderful!” Katherine spoke with a British accent thick enough to make her very easy to single out of a crowd. This made sense when one considered that she was, in fact, British. She was perfectly capable of speaking what amounted to a normal (that is to say, some brand of American) accent, but here was a woman who relished the attention of others. And there’s nothing that fascinates an American more than a Brit.

“I was just calling to let you know that we, that is, Joseph and I, are in the city for the weekend, and it would be capital if you and I could meet over dinner and ta-“ a fit of giggles, and in the background, “Joey! Stop it! Lord, I thought you got all that out of your system back in Paris!” More giggles. Katherine returned to the phone, “Pardon that, Maddi. Anyway, I thought it’d be fun to have dinner and talk like we used to in college.”

“Ah, college…” Maddi said with a sigh, “Good times.”

Maddi remembered college. She remembered walking alone through the expansive campus during fall, going out to clubs with Katherine, chatting with the various boys Katherine found for them, and tagging along to the various parties Katherine got invited to. One could say that Katherine was a key part of her social life. “Girlfriends have to look out for each other” she remembered the British exchange student telling her. Maddi also remembered doing all the laundry for the dorm she and Katherine shared, finding other places to sleep when a tie belonging to Katherine was hung on the door of their dormitory (a weekly occurrence, at the very least), and more often than not doing homework for her otherwise indisposed friend. But as Katherine said, “Girlfriends have to look out for each other”.

“Good times, indeed.” Katherine replied, “But I find that I’ve quite taken a liking to being a married woman. Did I ever introduce you to Joseph? He’s the heir of some large company. We just got back from our honeymoon: a month-long trip through Europe.”

“You backpacked through Europe?” Maddi asked. Laughter now, “What? Backpacked across all that land? Don’t be silly, dear! We cruised. Sometimes by ship, sometimes by plane. Always in style.”

“I see.” Maddi said, checking her watch. It was almost time for the party. “I’d love to meet you for dinner, Katherine. I’m afraid I have to go now, though.”

“Wonderful!” the Brit replied in her ever-chipper voice, “I knew you would want to! You always were so agreeable. I always liked that about you. Give my best to James!”

For the second time that night Maddi was hung up on. She paid it no mind though. It happened all the time.

***

The party throbbed with life and energy. Spirits were high, and only got higher as the hosts graciously offered various spirits.
The hosts were one of the social anomalies that Maddi had never managed to wrap her head around: boys born into wealth who had taken a liking to the frat-boy existence in college, and who had made the conscientious decision to bring the frat culture with them when they graduated college. These parties, while reminiscent of a frat party, had been touched by that all corrupting force called “wealth”. In all the sophomoric merry-making, there was also a sense of elitism. These parties, unlike most one would find at colleges, strictly enforced an invitation-only policy. Granted, it was a simple task to obtain such an invite, especially if one were to catch one of the hosts in a state of alcohol-induced intoxication. Having breasts aided in this process considerably.

For Maddi’s part, one of the hosts was a long-standing friend of James, and whenever James was invited to one of these parties, an invitation was extended to her as well.

And while Maddi hardly knew any of the people that came to the parties thrown by this specific group, she enjoyed coming for one reason: the small mansion in and around which the merriment took place sat on a cliff over-looking the bay. A beautiful view, and Maddi liked to go to a particular spot on the edge of this cliff whenever she grew tired of the social stresses of the party.

Having met up with James after arriving, they had split up to speak with various acquaintances. After a couple hours of social graces, idle chat, and gossip, Maddi decided to go out and watch the sunset.

As Maddi stood on the edge of the cliff, she looked down: it was a long fall, maybe forty feet. Lot’s of sharp rocks to help break the fall, though. Maddi chuckled at this thought and looked back at the setting sun over the sea on the horizon. She sighed. Her life wasn’t good. Not when she took a long, hard look at it. Decent maybe. Certainly passable. But not good. Sometimes she wondered if it’d be easier to just leap toward the sunset, and put an end to the farce.

And for once in her life, Maddi’s wish was answered in full.

At these parties Croquet was an incredibly popular sport. Like many things, it was made much more fun with the inclusion of alcoholic beverages. Tournaments would be held, thought they tended to end in the middle of the game, as few people had the attention span to keep up with the game if it went on longer than an hour. As such, balls from the many games played could be found strewn all over the property.

It was Maddi’s misfortune to step on a black one as she turned away from the golden sunset. Before she could comprehend what was happening she was already over the side and falling.

She hit three rocks on her way down. The first dislocated her right shoulder. The second cut through the left side of her stomach. The third turned the right side of her head into a bloody mess. By the time she hit the bottom all sensation of pain was gone. She lay on the rocky beach, salty water washing over her broken body. The chill of the water barely registered, nor did the salt that entered her wounds.

Minutes (which felt like days) later she heard a voice yelling, “Hey Maddi! Are you okay?” It was James. “Do you want me to come down and help?”
She smiled. She knew he would come for her. Then she heard another voice.

“Dude, what are you doing over here?” Looking up, she saw it was Andrew, one of the patrons of the evening and James’ close friend. He looked down at her and asked, “Maddi! What the hell are you doing down there?”

“I think she’s hurt…” James said.

“Nah. She’s just bein’ dumb.” Then, “Maddi! Quit bein’ stupid and get back up here!” He turned to James, “Come on man, there’s some people I want you to meet. Cool guys, you’ll like ‘em.” Andrew walked off back towards the party.

James looked back at the house, then down at Maddi, his face looking like he was struggling to solve a difficult puzzle. Then he shrugged and walked away.

In her heart she’d seen that coming. She didn’t see much anymore though. As the darkness invaded her vision, she laughed. Her current situation was like the rest of her life: lonely when it most mattered. Except now it was coming to an end. What a shame she thought. And then, is it really though?
Everything went dark.
***

There was a light. A blinding light. It filled the darkness and surrounded Maddi. Wherever she looked, all was white. Delicate mists rolled slowly about. And as she stood suspended in this strange place, a figure began to emerge from the mists. But was it moving towards her, or was she moving towards it? It was impossible to tell.

Finally the mists between her and the object of her curiosity cleared. It was a man dressed in a fine white suit sitting at a desk. He was hunched over writing something, obviously very absorbed in this task. She now stood several feet away from him, silent. He continued to write intently, his face turned away from her. Maddi noticed that his entire being seemed to radiate light.
Maddi prepared to speak, and the man suddenly turned to her and spoke, “I’m not entirely sure how to begin.” The light that came of his body, along with the already partial blinding whiteness of the setting, served to make his facial features impossible to see. “You’ve been through a lot, Maddi.” Even as he spoke he continued to write. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for… what?” The bewildered woman asked. The man sighed and said,

“You’re life was a joke. An amusing statement, but true.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You were an average woman, to put it simply. You were going to live an average life. But I was bored. And so to entertain myself I created torment after torment. A part of me wanted to see how much you could take, how far you could be pushed. But for the most part it was merely for amusement. And not just for me. You’re few successes were inspiring to those close to you, as well as myself, and your constant failures provided great entertainment to every one who witnessed them. In short, I made your life a tragedy, for the viewing pleasure of myself and, to a lesser extent, all the people you’ve met.”

“Why me?”

The man shrugged. “You were the first one to catch my eye. Pure chance. But… it was not fair. At the very least, it was not supposed to come to this.”

“You’re talking about how I… how I…”

“Died. Yes. But, I’m going to change it!” His right hand was still ceaseless in penning whatever document he was so intent on finishing. “I’m going to change your story, Maddi. You’re going to go back, and it will be better from now on. I promise.”

She asked the only logical question a person could ask in this situation, all things considered, “Are you God?”

The man, still writing, rubbed his chin for a moment in deep thought.
“Yes.” He finally said, “Well, I am here at least.” The man turned back to his writing. Maddi saw now that it wasn’t paper he was writing on, but rather a stone tablet. The man wrote a short sentence, and at the end brought his pencil up to his head and slammed the point down to make the period. Maddi doubled over, feeling like she’d been struck. Another sentence. Another period. More pain, and she was on her knees now. This second time, Maddi thought that it didn’t feel so much like being struck as it did being- another period. Another… shock! It felt like being shocked! The man completed another sentence. Maddi was lying on her back now. Another period, and the darkness was coming back. The sound of the man making those periods, she realized, sounded just like the gavel of a judge being brought down when his verdict was made. Darkness engulfed her completely and she heard that sound one last time.

***

Maddi opened her eyes. Her body hurt, especially her stomach and head. There were lights and people around her. She was inside something. It was moving.

“She’s back.” A man said. She looked at him: he wore the clothes of a paramedic and held the two pads of a defibrillator machine. He put them away as another voice cried out “Thank god!” This voice was familiar. James entered her field of vision, a smile on his face and worry in his eyes. He took her hand and held it tight. And she could tell it was all genuine. For the first time, nothing was as important to him as she was. It was as though she’d been born into a different life, a life completely different from the last. She had no idea why she would think that. It was absurd, but for some reason she couldn’t help but believe that her life was going to be a much happier thing from now on.
In her heart she knew it was true.

And she smiled.