A Silent Melody

And Your Bird Can Sing

Matty, Melody, and Joey were having a sleepover at Melody's house. Matty had just recovered from his sickness and was enjoying spending time with his friends again. He'd been out for a full week, so he considered the sleepover his rightful prize.

The three of them sat in the living room watching Finding Nemo and eating fruit, their eyes glued to the TV screen. The movie ended and they ran upstairs to Melody's room to play with her assortment of toys and dolls. Matty and Joey sat in the center of her room, watching Melody go up to her drawer and pull out a small box. She sat down with them, opening the box and spilling its contents in the center of their circle.

It was a rock collection that Melody had put together. A few of them had googly eyes that she'd stuck on during arts and crafts hour at school. They admired them for a few seconds, turning them over in their hands and feeling the googly eye's texture, before quickly throwing them back in the box and setting it off to the side.

She then brought out a small plastic bag with her silly band collection, spilling them out on the floor for them to inspect. Matty pointed one out that had a Nemo design, and Joey pointed at one with a Dory design, recalling the movie they'd just watched. They got bored a few minutes later and threw them back in their bag, setting them to the side.

Melody then brought out a few sheets of colored paper, and they got to work making cootie catchers. Joey made his about careers. Matty made his about crushes, writing in the names of a few of his school friends. Melody made hers about personalities, writing about good and bad personality traits.

They played Matty's first. Matty got Katie Lamb, Melody got Bryce Jackson, and Joey got Dylan Mendez.

"Haha, you're gay!" Matty said.

"Am not!"

They moved on to Joey's.

Matty got nurse, Melody and Joey teasing him for it. Melody got police officer, and Joey got astronaut.

"Yes!" he said cheering, "I've always wanted to be an astronaut!"

They played Melody's last.

Matty got a mean personality.

"Uh, yeah, that's not true. Your cootie catcher's broken."

Melody got a happy personality.

"I am happy. See, it's not broken."

Joey went last. He got a cute personality.

"I am kinda cute. See, Melody's right, it's not broken."

"Whatever," Matty said annoyedly. "I'm getting tired. Let's just go to sleep."

"Alright, I just need to brush my teeth first," Joey said, grabbing his toothpaste and toothbrush from his backpack and running into the bathroom across from Melody's room. He prepared his toothbrush, singing a song from one of his favorite cartoons, before quickly brushing his teeth and rinsing.

He hurried back and opened the bedroom door to find Matty and Melody kissing in the lips.

He dropped his toothbrush and toothpaste. He'd never seen them kissing before, so he was quite surprised. He took a few steps backward, not knowing what to make of it.

Matty and Melody realized Joey was back in the room and stopped kissing, going back to their spots and acting as if nothing happened.

"Are we going to sleep or not?" Matty asked annoyedly.

"Yeah, just finished brushing my teeth," Joey replied.

Melody jumped into her bed, visibly embarrassed, while Matty and Joey took their pillows and blankets out of their bags, laying them on the floor. Matty walked to turn the light off and walked back, laying down to go to sleep.

It was quiet for a moment, the three of them hearing the sound of crickets outside. A small nightlight illuminate the tiny room, casting shadows on the walls.

Matty's voice came out of the darkness.

"Have you guys heard about the county fair they have in the summer? We should ask our parents if we can go."

"That sounds really fun," Melody said, smiling in the darkness. "I wonder if they'll have cotton candy. It's my favorite."

"I don't know," Joey said. "I heard they have clowns. I'm scared of clowns. Maybe we shouldn't go."

"This one doesn't have clowns," Matty said, unsure of whether or not it actually had any,

"You should go even if it does have clowns. To confront your fears," Melody said. "My mom says it's good to confront your fears."

"I still don't know if I'd want to go, though," Joey said.

"Well, we'll probably be going once school ends, during summer," Matty said, staring up at the ceiling "You can let us know then if you still want to go or not."

"Ok, I will," Joey said.

"You'll go?" Matty asked.

"No, I mean I will let you know if I'm going or not."

"Oh, ok," Matty said, turning sideways. "For now, I'm going to sleep. Have a good night."

"Good night," Melody and Joey said in unison.

Matty closed his eyes, falling asleep. He was just on the verge of being fully asleep when he was awoken by the familiar warbled scream he knew all too well. He got up and ran to turn on the light to find Joey standing and thrashing around in the middle of the room, his blanket wrapped around him. He looked like a ghost.

Melody was wide awake in her bed watching Joey thrash and scream.

Matty ran over and plucked the blanket off of Joey, who immediately jumped into Melody's bed.

"What's the matter with you?" Matty asked groggily.

The door opened behind him and Melody's parents appeared standing by the doorway, their eyes puffy and their hair tussled.

"What is going on!?' Melody's dad barked. Everyone jumped.

"I felt something crawling around on the floor while I was sleeping," Joey said, his voice shaking, "It had a lot of legs."

Matty laughed and walked over to where Joey had been sleeping, lifting the blanket and pulling out a little toy spider from underneath.

"Sorry," Matt said, smiling, "I slipped it into your bag when we were making cootie catchers. It was in Melody's toy box."

He walked over and put it back.

"Matthew Prado, your mom will certainly hear of this, young man," Mrs. Amano said, glaring at Matty as she walked to where Joey was seated. "Are you alright sweetie?" she asked him, helping him off the bed.

"Yes, thanks," Joey replied, a few tears falling from his eyes onto the carpet below.

"Alright, then everything's settled," Mr. Amano said. "Let's go back to sleep, everyone."

Mr. and Mrs. Amano left the room, turning off the light and closing the door. Matty, Melody, and Joey settled back into their previous spots.

"Sorry Joey," Matty said in the darkness, "I didn't mean to scare you that bad."

"It's ok, I got scared mostly because I couldn't tell what it was. Because of the darkness. I'm alright now."

"Ok, that's good. I'm going back to sleep then. Good night."

"Good night," Melody and Joey replied in unison.

Matty closed his eyes, falling soundly asleep.