“Mom, Dad, I’m home!” Melody called as she stepped through the door, into the living room. She saw a few small bags on the couch; her parents were obviously ready to hit the road.
“Here we go,” her dad said, rushing out form his den and grabbing the bags. Her mom quickly followed. She smiled and wrapped her arm through Melody’s. Melody hopped into the back of the car and leaned her head up against the window.
“Tired?” her dad laughed from the driver’s seat.
“No, not at all,” she joked back. She quickly fell asleep and hadn’t even noticed when they pulled into her grandparent’s driveway and hour later. Her mom shook her gently to wake her up.
“I think go should go to the doctors Mel, you haven’t seemed yourself lately,” her mom said as they walked to the door. Her grandmother, a tall, plump lady with salt and pepper hair and a big smile. After hugs all around they went to the kitchen, plates of cookies sat spread out across the table. Melody’s grandmother loved to cook, and loved to feed her family even more. Her dad grabbed a peanut butter cookie and gobbled it down.
“Is it okay if I go lay down?” Melody asked her grandmother, she felt rude to ask to go sleep when she had just got there, but she was tired. Her grandmother nodded, with a quick glance at Melody’s mom, a knowing look. Melody figured that her mom must have told her what had been going on. She slid into the back bedroom, her room that she used to sleep in when she spent the weekend there. Melody sat on the bed remembering all the time she had spent with her grandparents. The pool out back, the plastic basketball hoop that hung over the edge, low enough for all the children in the family to be able to reach. All the children that Melody would never see grow up. She wouldn’t even grow up the whole way herself. Melody stretched out and crawled under the sheets. Perfume, deep, rich, the smell of her Aunt Diane. She always smelled like expensive perfume, the scent had soaked into the bed after years of use, until she had died.
Death. Such a strong yet meaningless word. What is death anyway? Is it the end of your life or is it the begging of a new life? Melody would soon find out, whether she was prepared to or not. She cried, not from fear, from the idea of death, the idea that she would be leaving everything, and everyone, she loved, but because she felt her life had been useless. Melody had never helped anyone, never saved anyone from anything. She had been saved her whole life, and would be until her very last day. Aj had saved her, had been the guide to make the most of her last days. Melody could never have been that strong. Why do I even deserve someone as great as Aj, she thought. Soon Melody had drifted into a deep sleep.
“How are you handling it?” Melody’s grandmother asked, standing in the doorway of the room where Melody was asleep.
“Horribly, I don’t know what is wrong with her. She has been out of it mentally and physically. I hope it isn’t this new boy she is seeing,” Mrs. Hartford replied.
“She is seeing a new boy?”
“Yes, his name is Aj. He is in some musical group,”
“Like an orchestra?”
“No, like a singing group, you know the kind you see singing on the corner for change.”
“Oh my, he sings on the corner?”
“No, they are a real group, they travel, have an album, and are on tv and everything.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I don’t know. It’s just that ever since Melody started seeing Aj, she has gone down hill. I don’t know what kind of influence he has over her, but I don’t like it. I am thinking about telling her not to see him any more.”
“Now sweetie, do you think that is fair? I mean, you don’t even know for sure that he is the cause.”
“That’s true, and he does seem like such a nice young gentleman. I guess I should just take her to the doctors.”
“That’s my girl.”
Melody awoke a few hours later. She stretched and headed back to the kitchen where her parents and grandmother were playing a game of cards. Her dad asked if she was ready to leave, she nodded. After saying goodbye they were on the road again.
“Honey, I made a doctors appointment for you tomorrow. You’ve been so sick that I thought it was about time to take you,” her mother informed her.
Melody panicked. Oh no, she thought, if the doctors see me then they will find out how serious this really is. Melody knew that if they saw her they would immediately put her into the hospital and that was not the place she wanted to spend her last few days of her life. Cold, gross food and a stiff hard bed did not appeal to her. Once they had pulled into the driveway Melody immediately jumped out of the car and ran to her own. Melody jammed the keys into the ignition and took off full speed. Her parents looked on in total disbelieve as they watched Melody fly down the road.
I don’t care what will happen, I can’t let them take me to the doctors, she thought frantically.
