Melaine

Chapter 8: The Killer's Gift

Melaine didn't meet anyone's gaze in the class, trying her best not to focus on their murmurs and kept her head low during the entire lecture. Rohan looked down at her sprawled hand on the desk and slipped his fingers into her hand intertwining them and gave her a light squeeze. Melaine spared a glance towards their entwined hands and Rohan felt her fingers tightened in his grip in return.

During Recess, Melaine headed towards the cafeteria and looked around for empty table to sit. She took a table in the farthest corner and dumped her bag on the table unzipping it to pull out her lunch box and settled to eat.

"Can we sit here?" Melaine looked up to see the girl from earlier along with Rohan and another boy from their class were standing there. Melaine nodded, knowing she had no other choice and they sat the table putting their lunch tray on the table.

"Hi, I'm Annie". The girl offered her hand to Melaine who stared at her hand at first but took it otherwise shaking it firmly.

"I'm Sam!" The boy with dirty brown hair waved at her not risking to offer her his hand and get his bones broken in the answer. Rohan looked at her opened lunch box, smelling brownies and snatched the tiffin from her hand taking a piece in his mouth. Melaine gawked at him with open mouth, who was moaning at the delight of chocolate flavour in his mouth and licked clean his fingers.

"They're tasty!"

"Where are your manners?" Annie slapped his shoulder taking tiffin from his grasp and handed it back to Melaine.

"Don't mind him he's retarded." Annie apologized on behalf of her friend 

"That's a definition of verbal harassment girls", Rohan complained focusing on Melaine's mouth as she took a bite of brownie and a dribble of chocolate syrup trickled down her lips to chin. She wiped her lips glancing up at him through her thick eyelashes, catching him staring at her mouth. He momentarily met her eyes and she nipped at the digits of her fingers holding his heated gaze that burnt his cheeks.

"That's the beauty of feminism", Sam snorted at Annie's words and scoffed down his noodles and meatballs. Their eyes fell on Jessica in the cafeteria who went to sit with her group.
"I don't like that girl and her boy toys", Annie said it aloud making sure that it would reach the brunette's ears.
"Rohan was quite into her, twice." Sam told Annie slurping at his noddles.
"Wait what?" She turned to look at Rohan who was grinning sheepishly.
"You slept with that bitch!" She whispered smacking his head, and he wondered if that beating thing ran in the genes her family.
"What if I did?" He brushed aside her hand.
"Well your taste sucks. I mean even Sam is better then her." Annie commented.
"You're insulting me, baby?" Sam pushed back empty bowl and crossed his arms at her.

"That's a compliment." Annie bemoaned. She's stuck with two stupid people for a lifetime. She then looked at Melaine eating in silence and thought that befriending her wouldn't be a bad idea

-

Jessica wrapped towel around her bust, adjusting it in the bathroom after a night shower when she heard the door of the room opened with a creaking sound and slammed shut. She jumped at the sound and walked out of the bathroom into her room. She checked the kitchen and living area brushing it aside as a draft of air, but the door of her room opened again and shut with a banging sound. She clutched towel closer to her chest. A mop of brown hair, tied in a bun, was dripping wet with beads of water disappearing between her cleavage. She padded silently towards her room and heard the sound of running shower along with faint humming. She breathing slowly twisted the knob of the door and the soon she opened it, the shower stopped. She pulled the curtain of bathtub aside only to find it empty. The water dribbling from the showerhead created a sharp tipping sound in the ceramic white tub. She heard someone sighing behind her and blew breath on her ear which made her stumble back screaming and fell in the bathtub. She looked up to see a person bending over her in white mask and coat, holding out a hand for her.

"Who...Who are you?" She whispered scurrying back into the edge of bathtub.

"I'm your suitor and have come to escort you to your death." The person swung a dagger in the air bringing it down to stab her. She shrieked, turning her face away and waited for the knife to twist inside her belly. But when she didn't feel pain in her stomach or pooling of blood down her legs. She craned her head to see sharp tip of the dagger pressed at the hollow of her throat.

"What do you want?" She whimpered hoarsely clutching at the brim of bathtub. The person trailed the knife down to her chest, lowering the towel that threatened to fall and her hand flew to cover herself. The person chuckled, kneeling beside the tub and trailed the blade of knife from her shoulder to the crook of her arm and took her hand in his, tracing the edges of fingers with tip of knife.

"You've hurt a person who's dear to my heart", the person spoke cutting the blade into her finger and carving letters in her skin. She whimpered in stinging pain and he pressed the knife to her lips, hushing her down in warning.The person lifted her bleeding finger to her face and asked her to read it loud what he had written.

"Slut", she whispered as tears trailed down her cheeks.

"Read it aloud!" The person barked slapping right across her cheek that left her face stinging hot.

"Slut!" She shouted and pulled her legs up to her chest, trying to free her finger from that person's grasp that he refused to let go and tugged her forward.

"What do you want from me?" She cried hiding her face against the crook of her left arm around her knees.

"I've told you that you've hurt a person today who's quite dear to me". The person in mask asked her to kiss her finger before placing her finger on the rim of bathtub. A horrific scream ripped out of her raw throat when that person cut her finger and chopped it off. The person closed his arm around her shoulder trying to soothe her down and kissed her tears, "Who's my brave girl?"

"Why are you doing this to me?" She cried, holding her hand covered in blood.

"You've hurt my Melaine." He brought her finger near to her mouth.

"Say Aaaa!", she stared at the masked face in horror who slapped her again splitting her lip. She opened her mouth whimpering when he placed her cut finger between her teeth and tipped her jaw up with his hand closing her mouth.

"Bite onto it to hold back your screams!"

-

Melaine tossed the towel on the kitchen chair, wearing her black T shirt and slacks after taking a bath, and went to check on the cake in the freezer. She took the cake out of the refrigerator closing the it shut with her right shoulder. Melaine placed the cake on the table that she had baked and starting sticking candles in the cake. She ignited the matchstick lighting the candles one by one smiling and blew the matchstick. She switched off the lights and sat on the chair looking at the time on her cellphone. She picked the knife and blew at the candles.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...", she cut the cake with knife slicing a piece for herself.
 "Happy Birthday Dear, Melaine...Happy birthday to you." She lifted the piece to her mouth and took a big bite of chocolate cake. Her cellphone rang and swiped the screen to unlock her phone and answered her call furrowing her eyebrows.

"Happy birthday, Melanie!", she looked through window of kitchen and saw him leaning over the banister of his balcony in his white shirt. The girl didn't have any slightest clue how he had put his number in her contact list . Rohan smiled at her who was staring back at him in complete look of shock with her mobile pressed to her ear.Her face was glowing in the warm light cast by dancing flames of candlesticks on the dinning table that sharpened the slants of her cheeks and Melaine smiled back at him ending his call.

"I wish you're here on your birthday."

'But I'm glad that you are not, of course!'