Hello, Little Sparrow by Jordan Jones (the reading list .TXT) 📕

said. “But, Madison was different. She was turning thirteen next week, but she acted like she was mature enough to be in college. She always wanted to make huge life decisions. Any time I told her to just ‘be a kid’ for once, she would lash out and scream. She wanted to just grow up and experience the world.”

A mouse noticeably scurried across the floor from behind Kay. I did my best not to look.

“I guess this was the most adult decision of all,” Kay said, breaking the short silence. Her tone was somber, and demeanor solemn. She had no fluctuations in her voice, which was a far cry from what we experienced at the bridge.

I looked towards the hallway. “Do you mind if we take a look around?”

“By all means,” she said.

The hall was against the outside wall, with doors to the left. We passed a bathroom and a room used for storage. Madison’s room was obvious, as it had many brightly colored paintings on the wall, along with many darker ones.

“She’s taking this about as bad as she can,” Abraham said in a hushed tone.

“She’s not doing well at all,” I replied. “We need to get psych on the phone to see if they need to do an evaluation. I don’t feel comfortable with her here alone.”

Madison’s bed was unmade, with the black comforter pushed back and almost on the floor. The wood paneling walls offered no resistance to sound from the other rooms. The structure was even more weakened by all the nails driven into it, possibly adding to the idea that Kay should’ve heard Madison waking up and getting around so early in the morning.

The paintings themselves were hung anywhere and everywhere. No rhyme or reason, and not always placed straight. Almost like they were meant to be crooked.

Her room was spotless compared to the rest of the house. Her closet door was closed and clothes were color coordinated. Her dresser was wiped down and didn’t even have a flake of dust or dirt.

A tiny booklet was open with yesterday’s date on it. It read:

 

I am leaving and I’m not coming back. I feel the pain that you have caused, but don’t worry…I won’t call you out by name; your secrets are safe with me. You are like a terrible Phoenix, destroying everything in your path. You are caged, but you will soon be free to do as you wish.

 

Have fun with it.

 

Madison M

 

I handed it to Abraham who scanned it over. “What do you think this means?”

He shook his head, studying the writing one more time. “There’s obviously someone in her life that she is afraid of.”

A bottle of fluoxetine sat lid-open on its side. The contrast of the bright and dark paintings only intensified with the words on the paper. You are like a terrible Phoenix, destroying everything in your path. Many of the paintings depicted phoenixes in the act of breathing fire and destroying small, unprepared villages.

“What is this for?” Abraham asked, pointing to the medicine bottle.

“It’s for anxiety and depression. She was prescribed this from a doctor at Ridgehaven Medical it appears.” I turned the bottle over to see Dr. Alrizar’s name in print. We should probably take a lot of this in as evidence, especially the pills. There’s enough here to overdose on and we don’t want to give Mrs. Maise the opportunity.”

I called in forensics and they confirmed they were en-route. We walked back into the living room where Kay sat, having not moved a muscle since we left.

“Mrs. Maise, we have a few questions for you before we leave,” I asked, reseating myself on the couch. “Also, there’s a forensics team on their way to bag up some of Madison’s stuff. We’ll return it once this investigation is over.”

“I’m not sure what there is to investigate, Detective,” Kay said. “She jumped and now she’s dead.”

“Some cases are that simple, but she did this in a public space, so there’s a little more to it than that,” Abraham chimed in. “We’ll make sure all of her belongings are well taken care of. Our team members are experts.”

She shrugged.

“Mrs. Maise,” I started. “Have you been in Madison’s room since yesterday?

“No,” she answered, taking another sip of coffee. “I didn’t stay here at all yesterday. I was on a friend’s couch. I only came back to meet you two.”

“She was taking the generic form of Prozac. I’m sure you’re aware. We have to take it back to the lab and have the remnants destroyed.”

She nodded, not seeming to care.

“Oh. Well, she had a note written on her dresser. It was part of a booklet” I handed it to her and she read through.

“She always loved using metaphors and similes in her writings. She was a clever child, for sure.”

“Any idea what she meant by that? By any of it?”

Kay held the booklet closer to her face and reread. “It’s her father, Philip.”

“What do you mean?” Abraham asked.

“He’s getting out of prison in about six weeks. He’s been upstate at University City Prison. It was a well-known case a few years back. She hated him and everything about him.”

“Do you know why?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

“He’s on the registry…or he will be once he’s released anyway,” she said, obviously embarrassed. “He served six years of a ten year term. He was caught trying to meet some girl; the police had a sting set up or something. After he was arrested Madison’s mood changed, but it’s gotten much worse here recently. I knew she was upset he was getting released, but I didn’t know it was this bad. It wasn’t like I’d ever let him move back in or be around her again. I hated him for what