Melaine took off her part time work at the hairdressing salon. The job had been less of her stress and with skill of her right hand put the girl at the ease of work that paid enough to meet both ends meet for her single self. She could've got herself job at Grocery store, retailer or as waitress at the restaurant but the jobs didn't promise her protection of her identity to remain under cover and there had always been the good risk of him finding her easily in these places. She bid her red haired colleague goodbye and stepped outside in the crispy atmosphere of dark clouded evening. She dusted her black jacket on her navy blue blouse, colour that stood striking against the cemented streets of the block after the light pour at noon. She casually walked down the street enjoying the humdrum routine at the twilight hour. A woman, no older than in her mid twenties, passed by her rolling a pram and Melaine spared smile at the sight of sleeping twins. She felt her cellphone vibrated in her pocket and she grimaced at her unknown ID of caller. The girl cut the incoming call it and tucked her mobile back into her jacket's pocket. But phone, to her irritation, vibrated again and this time she resolved to answer the call.
"Who's this?" She asked sternly bumping into a man and apologized to him though she didn't get to see his face either in a rush to get home.
"You're looking quite radiant in blue", her caller spoke from the other end and she knew that it's no other than her nuisance neighbour himself.
"What do you want Rohan?" She sounded more agitated much to his amusement.
"My voice hasn't changed much that you couldn't recognize me", he chuckled at the oblivion of young girl.
"Who's speaking?" She stopped dead in her tracks.
"Daddy has a little Alan..." She gasped, her irises zeroing in horror at the recognition of horrid rhyme and she felt trapped back in her childhood.
"...If we play very quiet, my Alan..."
"Wh-Who?" Blood drained her face leaving her pale as if a dead one had come back to life from his grave.
"...Melaine never has to know." The blocks and buildings swirled around her as she stood frozen in the middle of street.
"You still can't tell ? To tell you truth, fear suits your pretty face". She turned around frantically looking at the crowd of people; her eyes scanning the people in street and a sinister grin formed on his broad lips as he stood beside a pole next taking in her panicking form.
"I'm watching you." She dropped her phone breaking its screen and jumped back when a boy on bicycle almost ran into her. She picked up her broken phone and started running down the street like a madwoman on runaway from mental hospital as tears streamed down her cheeks.
'He's found him'
.
.
.
"98, 99, 100", He counted as siblings giggled taking their places to hide from him. The girl slipped behind the door pinching her mouth tight and raised finger to her lips silencing her brother who hid underneath the table, grinning.
"Ready or not, I'm coming!" He announced before coming upstairs silently and both siblings waited for him to pass by their playroom. He cautiously treaded towards the playroom and stole a peek inside just when, Melaine thumped her hand on the wall from adjacent room snapping his attention towards them and his distraction bought them some time to change their hideout. The girl slipped into playroom through window and Alan sneaked behind him padding to the attic and closed himself in a closet.
The boy was holding his breath covering his mouth when he opened the door which made Alan shriek in surprise.
"Found you!"
.
.
.
Melaine ducked inside a narrow alley and rested her head against the graffiti of wall catching her breath. She covered her face in her both hands, quivering with sobs and slumped down against the wall.
'He will punish me now', she fisted her hands in the fabric of her jeans and rocked herself like when he used to do in his childhood, crying and whimpering in pain, on the floor of basement after 'he' would finish with his body. Melaine jumped when her cellphone vibrated in her pocket and she fished out her phone with her shaking hand. She stared at its screen as if her phone had a certified licence of her torture and a message from him popped up in notification. Melaine swallowed a thick lump in her throat and pressed open the message.
'Happy Father's day.
Street art for you, Alan'
Melaine shot up on her feet and turned to look at the blue eye drawn on the wall. The inner crease of the eye was painted red, from upper rim to the lower rim, and the red paint smeared at corner of the eye gave it appearance of bleeding one. Melaine's breath hitched at the colour of blue irises that, without any doubt, matched his own eyes. She finally snapped and smashed her cellphone on the wall breaking its casement and battery open. She ripped at her hair that were hanging loose from her ponytail and shouted at her cellphone crying hoarsely at the top of her lungs being reminded of the traumatic memories. Years of running away from him and it took few seconds for him to torment her in thousands of hell. Melaine had once again become the hunted and she knew that this time she couldn't escape him.
She had never escaped them.
It took Melaine minutes to recover herself from the hysteria and she knew that she wasn't safe on the streets. She looked around at the people before darting towards the underground metro to get off the street that might've seemed to take her life. The subway was dark, glowing with dimmed lights and the crowded platform had a suffocating air of its own. Nevertheless, it comforted her more than being on the streets; for she was vulnerable and open for him to approach her easily. The rush hour at the metro had had her being pushed around by the people at the platform. Melaine's eyes fell on a girl in bloodstained blue frock, standing on the railway track. Melaine remembered how both siblings got separated at the metro station when their parents were alive. Alan, himself, had been the one who couldn't board the train being, accidentally, pushed off the train by a fat woman and the doors had been closed. The train started running on tracks leaving the boy behind at the station with his teddy bear. Melaine looked at the coming train towards the apparition of his sister or should be said, figment of imagination of his troubled mind.
"Laine!" Melaine cried out reaching for the empty air and was suddenly being pushed off the platform, falling on the track. She clenched her knee and her eyes widened at the speeding train coming straight towards her, when she's grabbed by her arm and hoisted up back on the platform. She stood there numb, her mind trying to process near death experience as he shook her . She looked up at the frowning face of Rohan speaking to her deaf ears.
"Melaine, what happened to you?" She recovered from her traumatic shock and her head fell forward on his shoulder. He instantly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to his body.
"Melaine..."
"He's here", she whispered as her eyes darted around the crowded platform.
"Whom are you talking...your ex?"
She didn't say anything as she clang to him and Rohan took her silence as her affirmation.
YOU ARE READING
Melaine
Mystery / Thriller"If obsession falls in the category of love, then you can say that I love her." "Madness also falls in the category of obsession." A girl moves to a new neighborhood and meets a boy met who becomes possessive of her. Or rather, a boy meets a girl...
