Haunted King

EIGHT | my prison

Melody stood at her apartment entrance, her escape was blocked by a tired Crystal. "I knew it. When you started acting weird a week ago I knew something was up," Crystal narrowed her eyes at her younger cousin. The backpack of clothes, a toothbrush, and her phone charger, was the perfect recipe for danger. "The nearest bus station is an hour walk. A hotel is even farther. I work for the police Melody, I would have found you in forty minutes minimum don't try me."

Crystal's flowery silk shorts and top didn't really give the vibe of someone to be threatened by, but her sharp and narrow eyes froze Melody in place. "Now do you wanna sit and talk about why you wanna run away or do you want me to call auntie?" Melody sighed and turned on her heels to the living room.

She could hear the sounds of Crystal locking the door back up. Crystal looked over to Melody with a tired expression on her face. When Crystal was first told she would need to room with her younger cousin she heavily protested. Melody was a known trouble maker in the family and Crystal didn't want to babysit some drama queen. She had better things to deal with.

A year had gone by peacefully, and she hadn't really minded Melody's weird addiction with dating games. Or her strange obsession with the color green. Even if Melody was a little socially awkward they had both synced into their happy way of life. But this past week was different.

First she disappeared from their apartment in the middle of the night. Then she stopped playing her dating games. Not to mention how much more chipper she acted. She looked. Brighter, and happier.

At first Crystal just chalked it up to Melody finally finding a boyfriend. But last night she looked on edge. Like she was having an internal battle she was severely losing. Like the world was collapsing around her and she had no escape. Every bone in Crystal's body told her Melody's past tendencies were resurfacing.

And sadly she was right.

Crystal walked to the kitchen and pulled out two orange popsicles. Food was their form of a peace offering. When one of them was upset the other would bring food as a sign of surrender. Melody took the popsicle and sat leaned into the cheap leather couch.

"So. Spill. What's got you so on edge you felt the need to jump ship?" Crystal sat down on the ottoman across from Melody.

Melody sucked out the juice and nibbled on the flavorless ice. Her heart was beating frantically in her chest. Her mind was still on an adrenaline high. She had forgotten the feeling she felt when she was willing to risk it all. To step out of her cage and dare to taste freedom.

"Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and not recognized the person looking back? Like you're not you. Just the you everyone says is you but it doesn't feel like it on the inside?"

Crystal lifted an eyebrow. "No, I can't say I have." Melody slowly nodded. "Ever day I feel like that. Like I'm in someone else's body just looking, searching for the moment where I can finally be the me I want to be. Not who my parents want me to be."

Melody looked up to the popcorn ceiling and started looking for shapes in the dots. "Recently I met someone." Crystal didn't say anything. She only listened with patience. "He makes me feel like I'm finally the me I've been hiding for so long. It's refreshing, and completely different from what I've experienced before."

"So what's the problem?" Crystal pushed. Melody munched on the remainder of her popsicle. "He wants me to stay with him. To choose him over all this," Melody gestured to the apartment but Crystal new the hand movement meant more than that. Crystal had more questions about this suspicious sounding man but figured now wasn't the best time.

"He wants me to choose his world over mine. But to me that just sounds like more chains. It's either chains here or chains there. There are god damn chains everywhere I just can never escape them! And the more I tried to make sense of my feelings the more I wanted to just escape them."

Crystal sighed and gnawed on her popsicle stick. She was concerned about how her introverted cousin even managed to find such a man but the vague answers she was getting proved Melody wanted to keep his identity secret.

"Well. Do you want my honest answer?" Crystal crossed her legs. Melody nodded. "To me. He sounds like he is a little bit obsessed with you. I have a feeling that choosing him will only mean putting your self in a prettier cage than before."

A prettier cage?

"What does that mean?" Melody looked down to Crystals Hazel eyes. Crystal shrugged, "it means what it sounds like. But I may be wrong. Maybe if you just tell him you want to take things slow and think about it, he will listen."

Melody smiled. Somehow in the chaos of her mind she hadn't thought to just talk to him. She slipped out her phone from her pocket and turned it back on. "Okay. I'll talk to him," she stood up and hugged her cousin. "Thanks Crys."

Crystal awkwardly patted Melody's arms. Melody snicked at the gesture and let go. She walked back into her room with determination guiding her foot steps. She was going to handle this tonight.