Mallory's Melody

Chapter 47

OUT OF ALL THE PEOPLE who she'd expect to fall short of her expectations, she hadn't envisioned it would be Jane Anderson, her own mother, the woman she'd looked forward to meeting since she was old enough to notice the absence of a mother figure in her life, but now a sense of grief eluded her, at the realisation that the same woman didn't want to meet her. She wanted nothing to do with Mallory.

Mallory was nothing to the one who meant the world to her.

And all she could do, reading the letter in which Jane professed her dislike for Mallory, was ask why. Why, why and why.

Bringing that child into the world was the worst mistake of my life

I wish she would just die.

She destroyed my life.

Mallory swallowed back the lump of pain in her throat. "What did I ever do to her to make her hate me like this?"

"She's complicated," William responded. "But as far as I know. You're an emblem of her past. You remind her of responsibility. And she hates that word like she hates hell."

Mallory shook her head vigorously and dug her head into the menu, a temporary abstraction from reality. William had brought them down to the Academy's restaurant, a serene miniature heaven that was brimming with resplendent delicacies. All it took was for her to glean the glass display case and all her worries melted into oblivion, and she wondered if this was William's way of manipulating her. Because if it was, it worked.

"You must really love cake," William noted, whilst Mallory was burying her face in the vanilla tower that had been placed in front of her. Mallory shook her head, her mouth too stuffed with the creamy essence to speak.

William soon broke the heavingly charm by speaking. "You promised if I told you all about your mother, you would agree to be starlight star" He slid a paper over the table.  "I'd love if you could do that now."

Mallory knew she shouldn't, but she suddenly became aggravated, by William's unsubtle manipulation of her. She'd know he was manipulating her from the very moment he'd asked her to lunch, but this was a very indecent way to make that more obvious. But she took the pen and paper and was about signing it anyway when a quiet voice of resistance struck her.

"Why are you so bent on me becoming Starlight star anyway?" Mallory asked. "I'm curious."

William seemed startled by that question, but he regained his equilibrium and laughed out loud. "You're my daughter. I want the best for you."

Mallory, warmed by the fatherly concern she saw on his face, uncapped her pen and was about to sign the paper when she heard another voice of resistance. But it wasn't an internal voice this time around. It came from her outward surroundings. It was...familiar.

"Don't sign it, Mal! Don't sign the damned thing!"

Mallory looked around to locate the person that was speaking, but William snapped her attention back, and said, with impatience, "sign it, Mal. Quickly."

It was then Mallory sighted them, Diana and Cole, behind William's head. They were standing outside the glass wall of the restaurant, making frantic gestures that she couldn't understand, but the message was clear enough. They didn't want her to sign the paper.

"Can you let them in?" Mallory asked, "I can't make out what they're saying..."

William waved them away. "It's not important. It really isn't. Sign and I'll let them in."

But they needed no one to let them in. Diana threw something at the glass wall that punctured a hole through it, and she continued to throw at it until the hole became the size of a man. Then she and Cole walked through it and drew Mallory away from where she was sitting. Diana gave her a hard-palmed slap on her face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled. "When someone is giving you a warning. You heed to it!"

Mallory held her face. "What warning?"

"My God, your ignorance is appalling." Diana shook her head/

Cole was standing next to Willaim, challenging William to what appeared to be a staring contest, except William wasn't participating. He stared at Cole with boredom in his eyes, a passivity that was almost translating to hatred. They'd met each other before, and Mallory was curious how.

"I'm sorry, you know each other?"

William snorted. "Unfortunately, yes."

Cole took Mallory's hand. "Come with me, Mal. We're leaving."

"Except she isn't." Wiliam snatched Mallory's arm.

Cole again. "Yes she is!"

"No, she isn't." William.

And it went on and on like that for five minutes straight before Mallory, struck by a strange migraine from nowhere, collapsed to the floor, everything becoming a blur around her. She heard Cole and Diana scream from a distance, and William utter what appeared to be a laugh. He said something about him winning, about sedating her, about all of them being doomed.

And then all went black.