Melody

6

Melody knew her mom was going to be mad at her, but she wasn't prepared to walk in her front door and immediately get a slap to the face from her mother before any words were even said. Melody's mouth hung open. Melody's mind was blank in shock. All she could hear was a thin ringing in her ears. She held one of her cold hands against the now flaming skin of her cheek where her mother had struck her. She could see her mother's mouth moving, but she couldn't make out the words. It was like she was underwater.

Her mother grabbed her roughly by the chin with pinched fingers and looked directly in Melody's eyes, breaking the trance she was in."Are you even listening to me? Melody Grace, why am I getting phone calls from the school about you assaulting your brother? What is wrong with you?" Her mom was right in her face, fuming, spittle flying into Melody's face while her mother screamed at her.

Melody could barely think she was so rattled by the slap. She moved her lips like a fish trapped on the beach a few times before any words came out. When she finally spoke her voice was so small, "Mom, he started it, he.." she started to try and explain what had happened, Alexander had known she didn't punch him for no reason, surely her mom would listen to her.

"Shut up Melody. I don't want to hear it. Do you know how lucky we are to be here? That Frank married me and took you in when your father abandoned you? Why can't you be grateful? Oh and I heard about what a bitch you were to Frank and the boys last night. Don't think you can get away with this shit attitude." Her mom dug into her, allowing no chance for Melody to defend herself or explain what had really happened. She just stood there in front of her mother as she was torn apart by her mothers words, tears leaking down her face. "I don't even know what the fuck I'm supposed to do with you anymore. Just get up to your room, I can't even with you anymore tonight. Don't come down until tomorrow. You're not getting supper tonight so I hope that boy I saw you whoring around with was good enough to feed you before you put out for him. Now get out of my sight." Beverly turned on her heels, not even looking back to see if Melody complied with her commands..

Melody heard her mother's voice change to the sickly sweet tone she used with Frank and the stepbrothers, asking what they wanted for dinner, offering to fix Frank his drink. Melody was devastated. She knew her mom was going to be mad at her when she got home today, but she thought she would at least be able to explain herself. She never expected to get slapped the first thing after she walked in the house. No one had ever hit her like this before.Tears flowing freely down her face, she went up to her room, pulling up the chain and turning the lock in place. Another night, alone at the top of the tower.

Melody had some secreted snacks in her room, mostly just some chips and junk food. So she ate what she could to keep her stomach from grumbling too much. She looked in her bathroom mirror at her still red face, a clear handprint visible on her face, and the start of a bruise along her cheekbone. Her mom had actually hit her hard enough to leave a bruise. Sighing, Melody sat on her bed, she didn't have a tv up here, just her small laptop and some books, but she didn't feel like she was in a good headspace to try and watch or read anything. It was also still too early to try and sleep, plus her mind was racing, there was no way she would be able to settle enough to sleep anytime soon.

She was stuck, and bored, and hurt. She opened up one of the windows, the moon was full in the dark night sky. The smell of autumn leaves, and the soft sounds of the night were soothing Melody's hurt heart. Today wasn't all bad she thought to herself, Alexander was nicer than she had originally given him credit for. He might actually be a friend. Everything else was a total mess though. She closed her eyes, letting the sound of nature fill her head and the cool lightly salty breeze take the sting out of her burning cheek.

She sat in her window dormer, just gazing at the treeline of the woods around the house, when she noticed a pair of shining eyes. The eyes appeared like they were looking directly at her, and they were too high to be from something like a cat or a fox. Whatever those eyes belonged to, it was something large. Melody was suddenly overcome with curiosity, she felt compelled to see what those eyes belonged to. Probably just a deer, but she wanted to find out. There was a wraparound veranda on the home, and a trellis along the south wall. Melody crawled out her window, grasping onto the trellis, and used it like a ladder to climb down to the overhang for the veranda. Once there it was easy to drop down to the ground, and she would be able to use a drainpipe to climb back up to the veranda and trellis to her room. She carefully scrabbled her way down the outside of the home, dropping silently to the ground in her canvas sneakers.