Melody's Secret

A Sweet Goodbye Memory

I wake up the next day with the sun shining waves of light through my curtains creating a rainbow across the floor. I sit up in bed, and suddenly the smell of french toast wafts into my room. It takes me a minute to realize that today is my eighteenth birthday. A day that should be filled with happiness and joy, but for me it leaves me with a bittersweet emotion, for today is also the day I must leave Damien.

I walk down the stairs and enter the amazing smelling kitchen and hug my mom from behind. I breath in her scent of chocolate and cinnamon, and look past her at the food and say, "It looks awesome mom, I can't wait to dig in."

She smiles at me and says, "Thanks Melody. A special meal for my special birthday girl."

I smile back, and hope that she does not see the sadness beneath the surface. Then I suddenly hear the front door open and before he even walks through the kitchen doorway I already know it's Damien.

I look at him and with a soft smile say, "Hello Dai."

"Hey Mel, Happy Birthday." He replies, while coming in for a hug.

As he hugs me I breathe in his scent of wood and think of everything that is going to happen tomorrow.

"So my beautiful birthday girl, how have you been?" He asks, as he brushes back my hair.

"Fine, I woke up to a rainbow." I reply.

"Seriously, you woke up to a rainbow? Well that must be a good sign. I bet you are going to have the best eighteenth birthday."

"Oh really, and what makes you so sure?" I say as a pull a little away from him to look into his eyes.

"Cause you are going to be spending it with me." He replies, while he smiles down at me.

"Alright you two, it's time to eat. You still have to go to school you know," my mom interrupts us.

We all sit down at the table, then I notice how my mom has set up my plate. She's made eyes of butter on the top of my toast with a smiley face of syrup, and she took my chicken strips, and made pointy ears, and with my little cup of barbecue sauce made a little tuft of hair at the top. After I examine my plate we all tuck in and begin to dig into our delicious syrupy food, when Damien says, "I will never understand why you like chicken tenders with french toast Mel. It is absolutely insane."

"I'm just special like that." I reply.

"Allright. Hey Mrs. Allen, where is Mr. Allen?" Damien asks.

"He had to go to work early today, and please call me Analise. You and Melody have been friends since you were three," mom replies.

"Oh well, that's too bad, and I call you Mrs. Allen because I respect you, Mrs. Allen," he replies.

I look back and forth between them and realize another battle of the names is about to occur. To escape, I set down my fork, stand up and say, "Well I best throw on some clothes and grab my backpack so Damien and I can get to school."

My mom looks at me, tells me she will come with me, and tells Damien to wait downstairs. I get up and follow my mom up the stairs to my room. My mom sits down at my desk and with my window at her back looks around my room, taking in the bookshelves filled with books and snowglobes, to my bed with my gray and turquoise bedding, and my purple wall with the posters of Einstein, and Alice in Wonderland above it. Finally she looks at me and, with a sad smile says, "Melody you should tell him that your ITP came back. Let him know that you're leaving tomorrow for steroid treatments. Don't just disappear."

"Mom, it's not that easy. How am I supposed to tell him that I am sick again? That I fell into the percentile that got sick again before the age of 18? That I found out a month's ago and kept it a secret? That I may not live long enough to graduate with him like we always wanted? It isn't fair," I reply. I looked past her and out the window to see the tree out there as it bends to the will of the wind, just as I must bend to the will of my sickness.