Pandora's Box

Chapter 5

Homework

When Melody had finally calmed down from her temper tantrum, she was able to walk back into town and to her dad's house. She unlocked the door and found the place completely deserted.

She sighed and kicked her off shoes before stalking up to her room. Once she was in the safety of her own room, Melody emptied her school bag onto her bed. She eyed her math homework with hatred.

Although she would've loved to set her homework on fire and stab it a million times so it could feel the pain she felt whenever she looked at it, Melody knew she would only be scolded by Snow the following morning. Unfortunately for Henry and Melody, Snow White still worked as a school teacher. And having a relative at school meant the two of them had to be on their best behavior.

That meant Melody couldn't ditch classes as she did before.

After having an internal argument with herself on whether she should take a nap or suffer through math first, Melody decided to do neither and went off to find a snack to eat.

She found an unopened jar of peanut butter and Melody knew she was going to depend on the jar for just a moment of happiness. She went back upstairs to her desk after grabbing a spoon. Her math book, notebook, and jar of peanut butter were all before her and she was ready to battle her homework.

After an hour of attempting to do her math, Melody stabbed it a couple of good times with her spoon before ripping it to shreds.

She did do her Science and English homework, thinking it was definitely easier than Math.

After clearing her papers away, her eyes landed on the book Henry had given her. Her breath caught in her throat and she coughed.

Melody didn't want to read it. If she could, she would bury the book somewhere deep in the forest where no one would ever find it and it could rot away with the world.

But curiosity got the best of her.

In a matter of seconds, Melody reached for the book and opened the cover. And she began to read.

Second star to the right and straight on till morning, there is a place beyond that star. Passing the star is an island called Neverland, a place that runs on pure belief and imagination. As beautiful as it may seem, true dangers are found there as well. Nobody is truly ever safe on the island.

Melody scoffed. The paragraph was enough for her to shut the book and throw it out her second-floor bedroom. She watched happily as it hit the ground.

She walked out barefoot and stared emotionlessly at the book. With the little magic she knew, the pirate conjured up a fireball and lit the book on fire. She watched as the book diminished into nothing, and the book was forever destroyed. Only the leather cover remained.

The Wonders of Neverland was plastered in gold on the burnt leather. Melody scowled.

She snatched a shovel from her father's shed and grabbed the ashes of the book and the leather cover. Melody wrapped the cover in a white cloth and headed into the forest behind her house.

Once she walked far enough, she began to dig a hole. She wiped her sweat away before dumping the remains and leather into the hole and tossing the dirt back inside. After tapping it down with the shovel and dragging a tree branch over the dirt to disguise her tracks, Melody lit up some sage and began to purify the area. Once she had finished burning the herbs away, the pirate wiped her hands and left back to her house.