I Love You to the Moon and Back

ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ｍｏｏｎ ａｎｄ ｂａｃｋ

A mother cradled her baby as she lightly rocked back and forth in her rocking chair. She sang softly making the baby smile at her mom. This went on until the babies eyes had finally drifted shut. The mother then took her child over to the crib slowly and carefully making sure not to wake her up. She placed the babies head on the fluffy pillow, tucked her in, and then kissed her on the forehead.

"My Melody, my Melody," she whispered, "I love you to the moon and back," her mother then exited the room after turning off the light, leaving her daughter blissfully asleep.

Sweet, innocent, pure were the gifts that every Melody seemed to possess. Her name was like a song that your mom would sing to you after a nightmare, it's calming. Her name was like a warm hug from a loved one or stuffed animal, it's reassuring. Her name was like your head hitting your pillow after a long day, it's beautiful. Melody had big things in her future, big things.

A car window broke into a million pieces cueing the blaring car alarm. A few seconds later, a hand reached through to unlock the door. A girl quickly sprang into the car and took a seat as she searched for the keys in the compartments. She fumbled around the car until she finally found a key under the passenger seat. She jammed it into the ignition starter and crossed her fingers.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon..."

The engine let out a puff of smoke starting the car, which automatically turned off the car alarm. "Bingo," she smiled as she slammed her foot on the gas pedal. She looked in the rear view mirror to see a group of men running and screaming at the car. She smirked.

As you could have guessed, this was Melody, well, 19 years later. Brown spirals that ombre into blue was her new hair, unlike the one curl she had as a baby, not to mention her skin had become a richer brown. She also traded in her green pajamas for something a little more ..... PG 13. She wore a pair of ripped jeans with paint splattered on them and a Panic! at the Disco top and a Monroe piercing was now placed gracefully above her upper lip.

"That was way too easy," Melody remarked as she ran stoplights and passed speed limits. She then turned down a tunnel beside an assortment of bridges from the highway. She parked the stolen car and then checked her phone.

Ding!

Her screen lit up with a text from Zenobia.

Don't go to the tunnel. It's a setup. One of them found out what we were planning on doing, so DON'T GO DOWN THERE! Meet me at the subway station. Good luck. See ya there.

Melody swallowed hard. Hopefully, it wasn't too late to turn around and-

BANG!

A gunshot echoed from the tunnel. "Oh no!" Melody mouthed. She quickly hid behind the car and held her breath. Footsteps came towards her.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," he mocked.

Melody shot up and grabbed him by the arm and forced it behind his back. "You called?" she sang. She then kicked him onto the ground and grabbed his gun. "Now tell me," she placed her foot on his back, "were you bold enough to come alone?"

A pair of hands grabbed her by the waist and threw her to the ground. 

"Okay. That answers that question," She moaned. Without hesitation, she grabbed the man's arm and launched him towards the one who had just gotten up as though it were bowling. "Strike!" she cheered. 

The men then shot her a look as the other one aimed his gun at her head.

"Nope. Nopeity. Nope," she put her arms in the air and backed away. She rounded the corner to the tunnel and then frowned once she saw a pack of people aiming their guns at her. She backed up to where the two men were.