Title
After a long, exhausting day of work, I finally make it home. I drop my keys in the key bowl and slump down onto the couch.
I'm about to turn the TV on when Maddy bursts in out of nowhere, tears flooding her eyes.
I look at her in shock, usually, Maddy never cries, but she's covered in tears and the mascara on her eyelashes coats her cheeks.
"What's wrong?" I ask her, but she doesn't asnwer. Instead, she quietly sits down next to me and hugs my shoulder.
I hug her back, and notice her tears covering my shirt. Though I don't blame her, I bite my teeth together at the fact that my brand new silk shirt that I bought for work is now covered in mascara-stained tears.
I turn the TV on and start to watch a crime show, and Maddy soon starts to sob onto my shoulder again.
I let her cry for a while before finally asking her what's wrong. Maddy doesn't like to be confronted directly.
"It's just my teachers, I can't do anything right. No matter if I'm late or not, they're going to make a comment on it. I just feel like such a failure."
She says, then slumps onto my lap and continues to cry. My pants, sadly, are white too. I notice her foundation staining them and flinch back.
Then, Maddy seemingly snaps out of her crying and looks at the mess on my clothes.
She stands up and turns off my show.
"What are you doing?" I snap.
"Well, I'm obviously ruining your clothes, aren't I?"
"No-, Maddy, it's not that-" I start, but she cuts me off.
" You don't care!" She yells.
"What? Of course I do!" I yell, and she yells while I do, not letting me speak.
"All you care about is- is your stupid work!" She yells.
I'm not sure on what to say, so I stand around, stunned.
Maddy pauses for a moment before yelling again.
"And- and your work is stupid! You're just out there signing tickets when you could be saving lives!"
And I know exactly what she's talking about. She, like everybody else, wants me to work undercover.
"Maddy, we've talked about this!" I yell. "You know I can't do it, I'll just kill myself!"
"Well, at least you'll die saving lives, not because some crook shanks you to death!
You know, I worry every day, if they're going to come after me, Owen and Fawn."
I'm very shocked now.
"Yeah, they might come after ME because you won't join them!"
She yells, and then she rushes to her room before I can do anything but stutter.
I know that my job affects the family, but I never realised it had this effect, especially on Maddy.
"