A Silent Melody

Enjoy the Silence

Matt finished drying Melody's hair and helped her up by the hand, directing her to the bed and helping her lay down on her side. He pulled up the chair she'd been sitting on next to the bed and sat down on it next to her, watching her empty gaze looking past him. He thought about the events leading up to this moment.

It had been two weeks since she'd entered her catatonic state. She was now concluded to be clinically depressed. There was no sign of her getting better anytime soon.

In the time since Matt and Lia took it upon themselves to supervise her. They knew that Melody's parents didn't take her condition seriously, and neither of them wanted to intern her in a psychiatric ward, so they easily decided to keep her at home and become her sole caretakers. She wouldn't get better treatment anywhere else than at home with the two of them. They were the only true family she had, they told themselves, so it was their responsibility to look after her.

They devised a plan to supervise her, taking turns to watch over her while the other was busy. If either of them had to leave the house at the same time they'd take Melody with them, but this occurred very rarely.

They also decided from the start to keep Melody indoors as much as possible. They didn't want to cause her an adverse reaction from any outdoor stressors. They would only take her out to get some sunlight on their front porch, or take her to the park on walks occasionally.

Classes had restarted, and Matt dropped all of his to keep watch over Melody. He'd also dropped all of Melody's classes, explaining the situation to the educational counselor, who told him to take all the time they needed. Lia insisted on dropping hers, but Matt prevented her from doing so. He assured her he'd manage on his own for the foreseeable future. He promised to keep a close watch over Melody even if it meant giving up everything else.

As such, Matt and Melody continued spending all of their time together, albeit under different circumstances.

He would spend his days watching over her. He would wake up early in the morning to prepare their meals, gathering all the ingredients that Lia would bring from the store and maximizing their use so as to not waste any money. He would spoon-feed her, making sure she was getting all the necessary vitamins and nutrients. It was the first time he'd been in such a personal precarious situation, and he didn't want to potentially place the three of them in a physical or financial hardship by letting his ego get in the way.

Matt decided to provide Melody with some visual and mental stimulation while indoors. He thought it would help her to react to the outside world, so he took it upon himself to curate a list of media that would stimulate her senses.

He would occasionally read to her, giving Lia a list of books he thought might interest Melody for her to buy. He'd already gone through Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and was starting Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. He'd move on to Toshikazu Kawaguchi's Before the Coffee Gets Cold next and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird after.

He would sit reading to her on the couch, his head upon her shoulder, trying to impress some warmth into her. She remained as cold as before, her skin as damp as ever. This had worried Matt at first, but he read that it was an effect of her depression. The only thing he could do was keep watch over her and hope her condition gradually disappeared.

Aside from reading, he would put on movies and TV shows for them to watch. He remembered Melody talking about a few of the shows she loved and thought they would do some of her good in watching them. They'd sit through entire seasons of series and anime, going through New Girl first before moving on to Better Call Saul and Attack on Titan. It was the first time Matt had sat down to read or watch TV in years. He'd spent all of his time going out to parties and screwing around that he forgot how precious stories were. A few of the scenes touched him, leading him to tears.