Racing Time

Pilot

Melody

Will it ever get better? When will this be over? I'm so sick of living in this fucking prison! I feel trapped! I don't understand why they hate me so much. What did I ever do to them? I'm sorry I was such an inconvenience to their lives. I'm sorry I was even born. Why did they take me in just to treat me like shit? I HATE them!!!! I don't want to be here anymore!!!!!!!

"MELODY!!! Get down here and wash the dishes, you lazy piece of shit! Did you bother to sweep the living room at all today? There's lint all over the damn carpet! When I get back from the store, this house better be spotless!" Shouted Melody's Grandmother. Melody Aviva inhaled deeply and closed her notebook. She slowly rose to her feet and crept toward her window, waiting to see if her Grandmother had left yet. THUD! She jumped. The kitchen door slamming was confirmation enough. She threw herself onto her bed and cried. She hated living there. She hated how her Grandmother treated her. She hated being the family's personal Cinderella –minus the happy ending. She hated how she had to do everything; sweep and mop the entire house, fold the laundry, wash the dishes, clean the entire bathroom and kitchen, take out the trash and organize every single mess her family made. She hated that she was the only one in her family who ever did well in school, received good grades and still found time to do her homework and read, while her cousins were disgusting slobs who never worked a day in their lives, snuck around, skipped school and disrespected their mother and always got whatever they wanted. She hated how she was always being compared to them. In everyone's eyes, her cousins were the perfect and beautiful princesses and Melody was the clumsy uglier version of them. They didn't live together but they lived next door to Melody and were always in her apartment making more messes for her to clean. Sometimes Melody even had to go to her cousins' house and help them clean their own rooms. It wasn't fair.

She sat up in her creaky old twin bed and wiped her tears. "And I already did sweep that stupid carpet." She whispered angrily to herself. She walked to her closet and hid her notebook under a basket of folded linen. Years of careful cleaning and organizing her room to the point of OCD taught Melody that her Grandmother would often raid her room. In search of what, Melody didn't know, but she always managed to find Melody's old diaries. The only place her Grandmother hasn't touched so far was the linen basket. And even if she did need to get a sheet, Melody thought to herself, there would be no reason for her Grandmother to move the entire basket. She took a few steps back to make sure her notebook wasn't visible and made her way down the squeaky stairs and into the kitchen.

Melody took one look at the kitchen and wanted to scream. Instead, she sighed heavily and began to sing while she cleaned. There were dirty plates and pots overflowing the sink and spilled food all over the kitchen counters and the stove. Grains of rice littered the floor. "I literally just cleaned this shit an hour ago," She muttered. She wished her best friends were there to see the mess. She only had two friends, Caleb and Gabriel. They became friends in third grade when another student picked on Melody for having an old lady name and nobody else would play with her at the playground. Caleb always came to the rescue whenever anyone looked sad or was getting picked on and Gabriel, being his cousin, was his closest friend and tagged along to defend Melody and they've been friends ever since. Gabriel thought Melody was exaggerating anytime she told him about her family and the messes she had to clean. "It can't be that bad." He would say. Or "Hey, you made it to today didn't you?" Sometimes those simple words hurt. It wasn't that he was being mean. That's just how Gabe is. He didn't know what it was like to struggle or grow up in a poor family or tiny, overcrowded apartment. He didn't know what it was like to be hated. He thought everything was good and simple, having come from a wealthy family and being Born with a natural talent passed on from his parents, his life was perfect. Sometimes Melody wondered why he even bothered to still be friends with her. A tear slid down her cheek. She often wondered what it would be like to have the same gifts as Caleb and Gabriel. To be Tempus Natus like Gabe, or Tempus Electi like Caleb.