Criminality

Chapter One: Communion

Tying the locks of flaming red hair behind her head in a tight ponytail, nine-year-old Melody Thatcher gazed eagerly at the equipment on the bench, her emerald eyes shining with excitement. Little did the Pearson family, the girl’s most recent foster family, of what havoc she was about to let loose upon them; they were all outside, enjoying the ‘beautiful sunshine’ – Melody had little interest in the substance. A pot filled with water and various alkali locked semi-safely inside water-soluble containers suited her perfectly well for her.

She liked to experiment with the things she found, especially if something were to explode; alkali had seen many usages in the past.

Smiling to herself, Melody steadied herself on the stool, taking the container filled with Lithium from its place in the stand and dropping it into the pot, watching the reaction as it popped and then fizzled out. “Perfect,” she hummed in satisfaction, dropping the container of Sodium into the pot and watching its result.

Again, Melody did the same with the container of Potassium, the glint in her eyes turning wild; the final two containers were left.

‘They’ll both explode, Melody, you know this well... Choose wisely...’ It was her science partner, Voice; he’d never been given a real name by Melody, nor had he revealed a name to her, so she simply called him what he was – a voice. It was always at a crucial moment in one of her experiments that he’d return, as provocative as ever, and, over the years, Melody had learned to not react to the surprise of his appearance, or lack thereof.

“I see what you mean... Caesium is further along the list, so I’ll assume you mean for me to use that,” she replied; having lived in Russia until the age of six when she was shipped back to England, the country of which she’d been born in, her accents had gotten confused. “It’s a pity we don’t have any Francium to use... that would have been fun.”

‘Yes, it is a pity, Melody, but we have to made do with what we have, don’t we?’

“Yes...” Carefully taking the container of Caesium, Melody held it above the pot, grinning madly. “Yes... perfect...”

The door to the kitchen that led outside opened up abruptly and Mrs Pearson stood there, gaping at Melody. “W-What are you doing, Melody?” she stammered, terrified; she’d heard that the girl could do some awful things, but who would have thought they’d be true? She seemed nice enough on the surface. “W-W-What’s that?”

“A small experiment, Mrs Pearson, nothing to worry about,” Melody said, not worried in the slightest about the consequences to her actions.

“Nothing to worry about? Melody, you’re in my kitchen doing God knows what! Tell me what you’re up to!”

Mr Pearson rounded the corner of the house and came to stand behind his wife. “Dear, is everything al...Melody, what is that in your hand?”

“It’s nothing too major, Mr Pearson.”

“Melody, tell me, or you’ll be in trouble...”

“But—”

“Now, Melody...”

Rolling her eyes, Melody began drumming her fingers on the bench impatiently. “Come take a look.”

Pushing past his wife, Mr Pearson did as Melody had suggested, staggering back a few steps when he read the labels on the stand, his eyes flicking to the container hanging loosely between the girl’s thumb and index finger. “M-M-Melody... Where did you get those?”

“Not quite sure... They were in my room in a box. That’s happened a few times, actually.”

Nodding, the man looked back at his wife, signalling for her to return to their own kids. “And you don’t find that odd?”