PULSE

(twentyone) january 11

(TWENTYONE) JANUARY 11

This time, when Melanie came tearing into our apartment complex like a hurricane, she brought the spare key. I didn't ask her how she happened to find it under a rock and behind a bush out on our shared lawn space, and still, I don't care to know. All that mattered to me, especially when she came bursting into the place unannounced, was why she came.

The moment the front door swung open and slammed against the wall, I was out of my bed and hurrying down the hall. In the entry way that led to the living room, I found Melanie standing in the doorway, and Lev sitting silently on the couch, staring at her in shock. As soon as her eyes landed on me, though, she came at me with a determination that should have scared me.

She reached for me, but I quickly stepped out of the way, glaring at her in complete bewilderment. "Melanie, what the hell? Why are you here?"

"Don't even start this shit with me, Aidan!" she yelled.

"Start what? Mel, you came into my house uninvited. You're the one starting something. Get out," I countered.

"No!"

I'd seen Melanie angry plenty of times before, but never like this. Neither she or I had ever been people to act much out of anger—if we were ever upset with something, we settled it in our own ways, but it rarely included shouting. There were certainly times when we didn't cope with our anger as cleanly as we could; still, simply screaming at people had never made much sense to us. So when I say that I'd seen Melanie angry, but not this angry, I mean that she had never once genuinely yelled at me. And the first time she did, she did so without provocation or explanation, and right in front of my friend.

"What do you think you've been doing, Aidan? I start getting calls that you've been acting strange, and then Candace gets in an accident and you stop answering the phone, and now I have to find out from my roommate that you caused a scene in a public place? Do you go around often these days, throwing dishes and disturbing the public peace? Or is that sort of a passing hobby?"

I found Lev in the corner of my eye where he was still sitting behind Melanie, and he opened his mouth, intending on speaking up. I gave him a quick, small shake of my head, and hoped he could read my eyes well enough to understand my plea. Luckily, his mouth snapped shut again, and he stayed silently where he was.

"Aidan? Are you even listening to me?"

I turned toward the floor, my voice falling. If there was any way I knew how to diffuse whatever Melanie was feeling, it was to pull out her power source.

She usually found her power when I fought back.

"Melanie, go home."

"Are you listening to me, Aidan? Do you even listen to me anymore? Listen to me when I talk! I want to know what you think you've been doing!"

She was really screaming now. At the top of her lungs. Not holding back.

And the longer I had to hear her shrill voice like needles in my ears, the more I began to feel fury boiling up at the back of my throat.

"You have no right to be here," I hissed. "Get out."

"Who are you? Who the hell are you? You're not my brother! You're not my fucking brother, because when I ask my brother a question, he'll answer!"

"Get out of my house!" I shouted, gesturing wildly toward the door.

Melanie reached suddenly forward, but before she could hit me, I seized her wrist in my hand and shook it roughly. Almost as soon as I touched her, Lev appeared at my side, grabbing my hand and looking quickly toward me, pleading for me to let go. Melanie used this moment she wrench her arm away from me, staring toxically at Lev as she backed up a few steps.