A Shattered Song ✔️

Chapter Four: Liar, Liar

CHAPTER FOUR: Liar, Liar

EVELYN STARED AT HER. "You're lying."

"Why would I lie?" The girl casually examined the underside of her fingernails- which, Evelyn noticed somewhat hysterically, were shaped like perfect crescent moons.

"To get to me. To- I don't know, but you are. You aren't Melody."

"Oh, I assure you, I am." The girl smiled again, revealing rows of sharp teeth. "Some call me The Songbird. But Melody is my true name, and nothing you can say will change that."

It couldn't be true. It couldn't be true, if only because the real Melody would be twelve by now, suspended between being a child and a teenager. And this girl wasn't twelve, simple as that. Even whoever this strange child was couldn't stop aging.

But Evelyn couldn't help notice that the girl's eyes were the exact same shade of grey as Melody's, her hair the same raven black. And though Melody's locks had always been held back in tight braids while this girl's curls flowed freely, the resemblance was...unsettling. Down to the freckle below her chin Evelyn had always joked about when the two had been younger, Imposter Melody had replicated her cousin exactly.

"You're not." Evelyn insisted nonetheless. "My cousin is gone."

"Your cousin?" Not-Melody looked confused. "I don't understand."

"My cousin." Evelyn hissed. "She's been missing for six years, and you aren't her."

"Missing, hmm? Lots of humans go missing every year. It's none of my concern."

Missing. And now, Kayleigh would be added to their ranks...

Evelyn's eyes darted to her best friend's form against her will. If it weren't for the obvious pain the position would have caused her had she still been alive, Evelyn would have thought her sleeping.

Kayleigh, Kayleigh, Kayleigh...

How could Evelyn even be thinking about her lost cousin at a time like this? Kayleigh was dead. She was dead.

The last of the sand had run out of her hourglass.

Kayleigh was gone.

Forever.

"People die every single day, and only a couple of others care. Like, someone could be dying right now and we'd have no idea."

Kayleigh had said that just- was it a couple of minutes before? And she'd had no idea she was speaking about herself.

How could everything have gone so horribly wrong?

Her fault. It was her fault.

Kayleigh had been trying to help her and now she was dead.

Evelyn's eyes drifted up to Imposter Melody again, and she was suddenly struck with a blinding hope.

Maybe this was all a dream. Conjured up by her imagination. And the more she thought about it, the more that hope grew.

Because of course it was a dream. It was, after all, too fantastical to be real. Really, what were the chances that she'd meet her missing cousin again- who, by the way, hadn't aged a day- who also happened to kill her best friend and now needed Evelyn for something important that she wouldn't explain?

Exactly.

Okay, I'd like to wake up now,,,

Weren't people supposed to wake up once they realized they were in a dream?

Three...two...one...opening eyes.

Nothing happened. Evelyn blinked hard, and realized her lashes were wet.

"Anyways..." Not-Melody drawled, bringing Evelyn out of her rapidly deteriorating thoughts. "We'd really best be going before Lady Briar gets impatient with us, don't you think?"

Evelyn didn't answer.

"Now, now, don't be like that." Not-Melody cooed, as if Evelyn was the child and she the adult, "It's true."

It was such a Melody thing to say that Evelyn choked on a laugh, though nothing about the situation was funny. "No."

"Shhhh, darling, you don't understand." Melody looked desperate to show Evelyn her side of the story. "It's for the best, really. Lady Briar knows what she's doing."

"I'm not going anywhere with you." Evelyn said. It wasn't as if this tiny girl could force her. "Not ever."

For a moment, Melody looked puzzled. "Why not?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

"Yes."

"Uh- you just killed my best friend." A sob caught in her throat. Evelyn held it back. "You- you physco. I hate you!" An inadequate description, perhaps, but it flew past Evelyn's lips nonetheless.

"I'm sorry." Melody said, and she truly seemed to mean it, but she didn't deserve to care about Kayleigh. Not when she'd murdered her. Not when she was trying to take Evelyn against her will.

"You don't get to say that." Evelyn hissed through gritted teeth. "You don't get to pretend she mattered to you. You don't get to act like it's not your fault-"

"It isn't." Melody raised an eyebrow as if to say, what are you going to do about it? Evelyn was filled with so much hatred she was surprised it stayed inside of her. "I'm not responsible for the human's death. Happy?"

"No!" Evelyn glared at her and again tried to run, but this time she tried to charge at Melody. She wanted to punch the child's serene face. She wanted to scream. She wanted to shout at the unfairness of it all. But she wasn't able to do any of that, because again she was held back by an invisible force, her feet still planted firmly on the ground.

The same ground where Kayleigh's body lay...

Evelyn felt sick.

"Well, let's get going, shall we?" Melody's voice was sweet and understanding. Evelyn was too focused on not upchucking her school lunch to respond, and Melody seemed to take that as acceptance. "Wonderful! Briar, open."

Nothing happened.

Melody began to get annoyed, and she repeated the command in some silvery tongue Evelyn couldn't place. It sounded like bells, and it took all the willpower Evelyn possessed not to gape at her, mouth open, because it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever heard

And then there was light and stars and galaxies. A million pin pricks of brightness in the dark. Laughter and flower scents and lavender, all contained in a small little tunnel growing larger right beside Melody's head. The little girl clapped and jumped up and down, behaving like- well, like a child. The rapid personality change had Evelyn blinking in shock.

"Come on, new friend!" Melody exclaimed, bounding over to Evelyn. She grinned and grabbed her hand.

Evelyn didn't pull away. Instead, she was frozen, trying to take in the sight of the tunnel, trying to contemplate what was surely impossible.

Impossible like Kayleigh's death. Impossible like Melody's reappearance.

It's a dream it's a dream it's a dream-

"Let's go!" Melody cheered, dragging Evelyn forward, toward the light and spinning galaxies.

Dragging her into the unknown.