Pretty in Pink

10 years Later

Melani's skinny, frail frame sat up in bed, losing hope that someone would help her. She had never left the room since the day she arrived, and everything the woman needed to be done was thrown at her. Melani wasn't allwed to go into rooms, just as a safety precaution, but that didn't mean there were other things to do. Clothes were to be washed by hand and dried in Melani's room; anything that needed to be polished was placed at the door. The amount of chores that needed to be done seemed endless. To go to the bathroom, Melani had an old fashioned pot, and bathing was the same sort of thing; a small metal tub. It was a terrible like to be living in, but Melani feared death, well at least by her. Melani was never fed enough and wished that she actually pretended to be the woman's child. It was too late now. Melani was 26 and alone. She didn't even know if her family and friends were still looking for her. She picked up the small, golden Anubis statue she cleaned the day earlier and placed it on the shelf.

The woman came into Melani's room just as she placed it down. She was given a note and a feather duster. "Here are todays duties. There is nothing I really need more but to have the basement cleaned out. You are free to roam around, but I will be watching you when you are up here. Don't bother trying anything because I have made sure there is no way out." The woman left the room and Melani just watched the door frame, wondering if this was a dream. She was excited for the first time in like- forever! Melani realised it couldn't have been a dream as she hadn't had dreams in years. Melani slowly walked out of the room and looked around. Even though it had been 10 years since the last time she was standing in the hallway, it only felt like the first day she was there.

"HURRY UP GIRL! I WANT THE BASEMENT SPICK AND SPAN!" the woman yelled at Melani to get a move on. She didn't want to get beat up so she went down the steps in a hurry, making sure she didn't fall over. Melani looked at the bruises and cuts the woman had given her all the numorerous amounts of times she didn;t do something perfect or didn't do as she was told. They were all in the early years. Melani had slowly learned to do things the way the woman wanted. When Melani was 18, the woman threw a knife at her, luckily only just nicking her right arm. It had left a scar, and a painful memory. Besides the physical marks left on her body, there were mental ones too.

As she found the light switch in the basement, Melani finally had time to breath. 

It would have been an hour or two before she came across a bag full of ropes. Melani had one quick thought of using them, but couldn't bring herself to do it. Melani heard the sound of footsteps and quickly turned to see what would happen to her now and why. "This is my most precious possession GIRL! YOU DIDN'T CLEAN IT THE WAY I WANTED IT TO BE!!!" A sudden thought of being hit again wasn't what she wanted, so she quickly grabbed an old chair from a stacked pile and ran to the basement door. She had seen movie stars wedge chairs under door knobs all the time, so Melani thought to do the same thing. It should hold off the woman for a little while, at least long enough for Melani to think of a plan.

She walked back down the steps and sat on another nearby chair to her left. Up on a shelf she saw a stack of newspapers and decided that maybe she could have a little time off from being in the woman's torturous world. "OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!" Melani ignored the woman and progressed to reach for the newpapers. She didn't need to read much before she burst into tears. Melani lost all the hope she had left inside her fell to her knees. All the headline to the front page said was, "Peige family drops case." Melani couldn't bare to stand what was happening in her life anymore and reached for the ropes. She must have been staring at them for a while because she started to hear the woman break through the door.

From the experience of all the chores she had to do for the woman, Melani knew quite a few things to do with knot tying. Melani threw the rope over the wood beam on the basement roof and measured how far she needed to hang it. She stood upon the chair and held onto the rope with both hands. Just as Melani was about to kick the chair away, the woman burst into the basement. Sadness swept through Melani's body because of the act she was about to do. A rush of happiness and relief then flooded Melani's heart as all of this pain would finally be over. She took one last look at the womans shocked face, kicked the chair away and let go. The woman's face screwed up into anger and surprise both at the same time. It was over for Melani, it was from the beginning. 

Just when it didn't seem possible, a tear rolled down the cheek of the woman's face.