Becoming Maddie (The Casterhouse series Book 1) Read Free

through those times but also broke her heart because they reminded her of the young girl she used to be. Now they were her friends. Some she had managed to keep hold of during each stage of her life, others had kept her comfy when the loneliness took over her.
    With the fire starting to take life she stood and looked out the window again. When she had been looking for her safe haven there had only be one thing that she knew that she defiantly wanted and that was a peaceful view. A view that changed with the seasons, brought a smile to her lips and allowed her to spend many hours looking out at it and day dreaming (a habit that she had not managed to break since childhood).
    The town that she decided would be her home, Casterfield, looked like something out of a book or a daydream. It was big enough that she could live there and not have to socialise with people and get sucked in by the goings on. Maddie liked that it was also small enough that it kept that small town care for itself. There was still a lot of effort made to keep the parks looking nice and hanging baskets in the town square. People still held doors for each other and until today she had never been spoken to rudely before. When Maddie decided on Casterfield a year or so ago she knew that she could make a home and a small peaceful life here.
    Of course it had taken her a while to find a place to stay but when Maddie’s eyes had fallen on Casterhouse she knew this is where she wanted to live. The view of the park was a big bonus and was a reason that she took the place but the building itself was not something to sneeze at. It was a beautiful, red bricked, 4 storey mansions. It was like no other building she had ever laid eyes on before. Even now when she went to bed in her little piece of that building she got a giddy feeling in her belly.
    Walking behind the sofa there were two doors, one to the bathroom and the one she took now to her bedroom. Behind her she could hear Marvin following her on the varnished wooden floors. Taking off her uniform and changing into jeans and a comfy strappy black top with cardigan the events of the day flowed through her head.
    There was no doubt that working 3 days a week as a receptionist was not the most thrilling or even interesting job but it paid the bills and left her with 4 days to do more exciting things. Or at least things that she felt were more exciting. She made and sold candles to local shops. They either used them for their displays or to sell on themselves. Some she made and gave to a couple of local churches. She wasn’t religious herself but there were many people there that did good work and had helped her out in some of the worst of times. The candles made her a little bit of extra money so that she could do a couple of fun things a month or buy some new things. Maddie never really splashed out without thinking it over first (and often taking herself out of it). So she managed just fine on the money she had. Plus it meant she didn’t have to rely on the neighbours children to take Marvin for a walk…not that she ever would.
    Today had started as your ordinary day but it sure hadn’t ended that way. How dare he speak to anyone like that! It made her sick to the bones and fed up of people thinking that they can talk to others like that. Just thinking about it now was making her angry.
    Huffing and throwing her smart uniform skirt and blouse in the wash basket and hanging the jacket in her wardrobe she walked out of the bedroom and turned left into her kitchen. It was open plan and was separated from the main room by a breakfast bar. All the appliances looked great but didn’t match. It was the one room she hadn’t fully finished. The walls were painted the same happy and bright buttercup colour that the main room was and the counters were ivory Brown. The colours gave the room a ‘let’s cook’ feel to it. Over time she hoped that she would be able to buy the best appliances but in the meantime the stuff