Mad Love: Madison by Lisa Boone

she said glancing over
her shoulder at the Santa behind her.
    She tried to turn around, but the man’s hands bit
into her arms, holding her firmly in place.
    “Hey!” she said in annoyance as he squeezed her
arms tightly. “You’re hurting me. Let go!”
    A few heads turned to stare at them, but turned
back to the Santa’s Village when the man immediately dropped his hands, pushed
her aside, and hurried away.
    Madison shook her head in annoyance. “And Merry
Christmas to you too,” she said to his retreating back.
    He stopped suddenly.
    Madison watched as the man slowly turned around
and faced her. She frowned at his threadbare Santa costume and the long ratty
grey beard that obscured his face. “Is there something I can help you with?”
she asked coldly when he continued to stare at her.
    He nodded.
    Slowly.
    Pointedly.
    “I did apologize,” she said.
    He shook his head. Again very slowly. After a few
seconds, he waved goodbye and rushed away.
    Madison glanced back down at her phone. “I hate
going to the mall on Christmas Eve. No one has any patience,” she muttered to
herself as she dialed her sister’s number once again.
    She knew the odds of Sarah hearing her phone was
rather low, considering the noise coming from the crowd of shoppers and the
Christmas music blaring from the sound system, but she had to try.
    A few seconds later, she dropped the phone back
into her purse. It seemed the only hope Madison had of finding Sarah was by
physically tracking her down.
    Sarah wasn’t the only hunter in the family , Madison thought as she
climbed on top of the nearest partial empty bench. She ignored the looks from
the passersby as she scanned the crowd.
    She squinted her eyes.
    There, in the distance, she caught a glimpse of a
blonde in a pink coat heading past the food court and out the doors toward the
strip mall.
    Finally, she thought as she hopped down from the bench.
She juggled the packages in her arms as she hurried toward the blonde in the
pink coat. Dodging people left and right, she raced through the door and out
into the cold night air.
    She looked around in vain for a few seconds until
she saw a flash of pink turn down an alley towards the parking lot.
    Madison dashed down the alley in pursuit. It
wasn’t until she burst out into the parking lot that she finally got a good
look at the blonde she had been following so diligently.
    Her shoulders sagged as the forty-year-old
stranger greeted her husband and then got into their car and drove away.
    Realizing that her hunting skills clearly needed work,
she turned around and froze.
    The creepy Santa she ran into earlier was
standing at the end of the small little alleyway watching her.
    Madison looked around her as people passed
through the alley going to and from the parking lot.
    The only people not moving were she and the Santa
at the end of the alley.
    Feeling more and more nervous the longer they
stood there watching one another, she reached into her purse for her phone.
    “Paul?” she asked taking a wild guess as to who
was underneath the Santa costume. He was about the right height and build. Who
else would follow her through the mall right now? “Mr. Harris, I know it’s
you.”
    The Santa shook his head as he continued to stare
at her.
    She was safe, she told herself.
    There were people everywhere.
    Suddenly, a red headed woman in a leopard print
coat appeared behind him. Linking her arm through his, she tugged him away from
the alley.
    Breathing a sigh of relief, Madison warily walked
back down the alleyway and toward the shops. Once she emerged from the alley,
she spotted the Santa and the red head a few feet away talking.
    The red head tossed her hair over her shoulder as
she spoke soothingly to the man. “Don’t worry about it, Baby. Everything’s
fine.”
    A memory tugged at Madison’s mind as she stared
at the woman. Somehow, she knew the redhead but couldn’t think how. She took a
step closer hoping the memory would come to