The Host (Fan Fiction)

Chapter One

The main plaza buzzed with life, everyone on their way as they all got ready for an important event. I'd never have thought two years ago that I'd even be here, happily living among humans, but I was. I felt I had finally found where I'd belonged after travelling for so many years. I was more human than anything. Wherever I went today I was greeted kindly, more so than usual but I knew exactly why each and every person here, even Sunny, Lacey and Candy were feeling that bit more excited for the day ahead. By the end of today, a new married couple, a happily married couple would be living under this rocky roof, Jared and Melanie were getting married! I had never experienced a human wedding before, there was either no need on the other planets I had lived on or the ceremony was done differently and had another name.

I rushed quickly through the tunnels I now knew so well, holding onto a neatly folded veil made from some old curtain netting from a raid a while back, but you would never know from how beautiful it looked. It was all down to the skilled work of Sunny, she felt she needed to help with something, to show that she wasn't useless, 'a waste of space' to coin a human saying. She had been playing games in the game room with Kyle, still never leaving his side when I reached her, the dress was neatly placed on a rock near the lip of the tunnel. I had fancied a walk to stretch my legs so I had offered for Sunny to leave the veil somewhere safe and I would get it later. That place turned out to be the game room.

It didn't take me long to reach Melanie and Jared's room, the gurgle of many voices, the sound both high and soft indicating that there was only women in the room with Melanie. When I had reached the door and was pushing it away, I suddenly could hear what was being said, the gurgle turning into fully formed words.

"...You look so beautiful Melanie." Maggie beamed.

"So beautiful." Sharon mirrored her mother happily.

"You look so much like your mother, she was just a picture on her wedding day. They'd both be proud of you today Mrs. Howe." Maggie laughed warmly as a faint wavering thought...memory came to mind. Though myself and Melanie had been apart for so long mentally, I still had faint memories, never of this body's as I now remembered a younger Melanie from a time before the Souls had come.

"Mom...Dad come and see." the younger Mel shouted playfully as she spun herself in a full circle, taking in every angle she could to see herself in her very oversized wedding dress. Her parents, and Melanie had been tidying the attic, going through the various boxes from up there and giving away anything they did not want anymore. This dress however was one of the things to keep as it belonged to both Mel's mother and Grandmother. She couldn't help herself as she kept looking at herself in her parents big mirror which was situated on the inside of one of their cupboard doors. Footsteps came quickly up the stairs, both set of feet making different sounds as they hit the floor. Her father's steps were quite loud and strong, a thicker sound while her mother's were quiet and dainty, almost inaudible but not quite, a thinner, airier sound. "What have we here?" her father's voice sounded, cheerfully, before either of them had entered the room. When they turned the corner from the stairs to their bedroom, they could see little Melanie in the dress. "Oh Melanie, you look so beautiful." her mother cooed as she walked into the room and towards Melanie, placing her hands ontop of young Mel's shoulders.

"Beautiful." her father echoed with a smile as he stayed just under the doorway, his back against the frame, his arms crossed over his green check shirt. "You're just like your mother, only smaller." he added with another smile and a deep, rich laugh. Melanie took his comment with a smile before he stopped talking and seemed to think back on a memory, probably his wedding. Melanie continued to swirl around, the edges of the dress billowing slightly with each turn.

The memory slowly faded as the twirling continued before I was back in the 'Brides room' as it was being called, a name that I just remembered, no one knowing I was there just yet. A single tear rolled down my cheek from the left over memory which I wiped away with the thin sleeve of my cardigan like it never happened. The similarity between Maggie and Sharon's words and Melanie's parents were too hard to ignore - déjà vu. I put on a bright smile for everyone before walking in fully, making sure this brief moment of negative emotion washed away from my smile. "I've got the veil for you Melanie, here you go." I placed it on her head as quickly and as carefully as I could before I backed away and looked at her as a whole. There was no other word but "Beautiful." I said. "You look stunning. Jared is a lucky man." I laughed softly, smiling at my attempt at a compliment. Everything she was wearing was stylishly simple, no frills or anything, there wasn't a choice if you did want that though. I knew however, Melanie wished this dress was her mother's and not one that Melanie had gotten when I was on a raid with Ian, Jared and Kyle. You couldn't be fussy in these situations, though things were a little bit better knowing there are others like us hiding all over the world. My train of thought however was broken when I heard Melanie's reply back to me. "One day it will be Ian who's the lucky man Wanda." she teased, a bright smile on her lips as I started to cough on cave air. I quickly replied with an embarrassed laugh. "Maybe." I murmered but I had a smile on my face which showed I wasn't too embarrassed by her comment.

"There's no maybe about it, you love him, he loves you, it's going to happen." she smiled once more before turning back to sorting out how she was looking. I blushed at that thought, me Mrs. O'Shea? I liked the sound of that, I had always wanted to be with someone for life and I knew I had found that with Ian. My mind then quickly wondered to thinking about getting married. I must have somehow in this thought train said that I was heading back into the hallway as the next thing I knew, I was in my room, curled up on Ian and my bed. I must have been like this for a little while, as when I was with Melanie and the others, the light coming through the cracks in the roof told me that it was just after midday. Now the sun was slanted at an angle telling me it was now late afternoon, early evening. My quiet room was suddenly broken when I heard the all to familiar voice I had heard so much. "Hello my Wanderer. Mind if I sit?"