Darkness Will Come to Light [1]

XV. May 11th

April showers brought May flowers, but also Mother's Day and tears from the motherless.

Today was Melaina's first Mother's Day without having a mother to spend time with, and it killed her inside, but she swore that she would make the best of it. If her mother's spirit still lingered, Mel wanted to be sure that she had a proper Mother's Day celebration.

"Hi, mama," Mel greeted softly. "Happy Mother's Day. I made you your favorite breakfast. Coffee and a blueberry muffin." She had woken up to her alarm before eight to bake them fresh.

Carefully setting the mug and plate on the damp marble headstone, Mel continued, "I didn't want to break tradition. Breakfast-in-bed, then we'd go for a walk in the park to look at the little goslings..." She sighed sadly. "They're as fluffy as ever. I brought a picture of them for you, so you wouldn't miss out."

She reached into the back pocket of her skinny jeans and pulled out a folded image of a goose and her three fluffball babies. Mel slid the corner of it under the plate so the light wind wouldn't blow it away.

After unwrapping a second muffin, Mel nibbled on the treat and her heart wrenched at the memories that wouldn't release her mind.

"Remember when a goose chased us one year on our Mother's Day walk? It wasn't even the pregnant mother. She hissed at us. Like, who even knew geese hissed?" Mel rambled around bites of muffin. "I hissed back like a cat, and you laughed so hard when the goose stared at me in shock before turning away. That was a good day. Just you and me."

Melaina talked to the wind until grey clouds clustered above her head and released its tears. She gently touched her fingers against the rough carving of her mother's name in the stone before leaving the cemetery.

She walked home in the rain. Her salty tears blended in nicely.

~*~

Life went downhill like a snow tube.

When Mel came home from school on a hot day in June, the front door refused to budge when she tried to open it. Mel shoved the key in the lock more forcefully and jiggled it around. "Agh!" She slammed her fingers against the door. Her father must have latched the deadbolt.

She sucked up her pride and knocked on the door like she was a pizza delivery guy and not the homeowner's daughter.

The light in the hallway flicked on and she saw movement through the frosted glass. Jeremy stuck his dark eyes against the window to see who it was. He frowned.

Well she wasn't too thrilled to see him either.

Her stepdad called through the door, "I'll let your lazy ass in on one condition."

Mel growled through her teeth. He was like the grumpy troll under the bridge. She had to solve a riddle to pass over, or in this case, pay a price.

"Seriously, dad? I live here too, you know."

He laughed like she was a stubborn child, then he said, "I'm having friends over for a party. I'm going to need you to entertain my guests."

Entertain his guests? Wasn't that why football existed?

"What does that even mean?"

Turns out Jeremy meant that he was basically whoring her out. Mel regretted giving in before she knew all the details; she should have crashed at Savannah's for the night.

"I'm so not wearing that." Mel held the short party dress away from her as if it were a bag of trash. It was to her. The vibrant pink piece of material was thin and skimpy. It was sleeveless, which Mel hated in general because of how her arms looked. She wasn't even sure if her small chest would be able to hold the material up. Every part of this situation screamed "disaster."

"Yeah, you are." Jeremy slammed Mel against the wall with his rough hands around her neck. She could feel her head bruising like the skin of a peach. "I'm not fooling around. You will do this, or you won't see the light of day again."

"Dad, please, no..." Mel said weakly. She hoped to appeal to his paternal instincts, but alas, he still lacked any.

"My friends think you're useless. Prove them wrong. If you step one toe out of line tonight, I will beat you into next week." He dropped his hand from her neck with a sadistic smirk. "Don't worry, sweetie. Uncle Simon will keep an eye on you."

~*~

Melaina brushed her dark hair over her shoulders. She didn't know what she was doing. Why had Jeremy taken this step? She knew that he was ashamed of being her guardian, but he had never forced something like this on her before.

In the slutty shirt of a dress, Mel felt uncomfortable and ashamed of herself. She had been ready to cut her feelings away when Jeremy dragged her downstairs by her hair. His guests were arriving soon. Mel wasn't ready. Her heart raced faster and it was getting hard to breathe.

"Get yourself together. Now," Jeremy snapped. He pulled two cartons of beer from the fridge and set them on the counter. "Smile. Or you'll be sleeping in the garage."

The doorbell rang. Mel's heart dropped to her feet. Voices boomed as Jeremy let his friends into the house. They all came into the kitchen in one swoop.

Eyes bulged at the sight of a young girl in a dress that left little to the imagination. Mel tugged the bottom of her dress down, uncomfortable with all of the lusty gazes.

"Drinks, now," Jeremy barked in her ear as he passed to the living room. All but one of his buddies followed.

Simon Jackson.

Ignoring his roaming eyes on her body, Mel turned to the counter to collect bottles of beer into her arms. She turned back and Simon was hovering over her. He reached out to touch her. She squeaked in surprise and darted away.

In the living room, Mel handed out drinks. Not knowing what else to do after that, she took a seat on the edge of the couch. She made sure her dress was pulled down over her thighs. Her stepdad was howling in laughter as he and a portly man named Ralph set up the card table for a night of gambling.

Smoke filled her nose as someone lit his cigarette in the house. Someone else sunk into the couch beside Mel and suddenly, a hand touched her knee. She pulled away and stared at Simon with wide eyes.

"Hi, sugar. Did you dress nice for me?" His rough voice was filled with mirth.

Nice? Mel shuddered.

"Are you cold? I could warm you up in more ways than one." The slimy man winked and scooted closer. He brushed a hand down Melaina's mocha locks. She swatted his hand away in disgust.

Mel's "entertainment" consisted of refreshing the men's beer and snacks while being the eye candy. With the exception of Simon, everyone kept their hands to themselves. She didn't have her knife on her because there wasn't a place to hide it beneath her clothes. Her heels would be the only line of defense if someone decided to pop her personal bubble again.

A half empty bottle of Budwiser was lifted into the air in celebration of another victorious round of black jack. A hoot of drunken laughter sounded at the same moment glass shattered against Melaina's skull.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

A/N: I'm not really sure if I like this chapter too much myself, but it's necessary for later chapters. As always, thanks for reading!♡