In The Dark

23 - June 30th (Continued)

Melanie sat alone on the floor in the corner of her hotel room, which was lit by the two lamps on either side of the bed. It was her first night in the hotel and the girls had wanted to give her enough space to be comfortable, but also wanted to be able to watch over her. They had decided to put her in the room attached to Geri's, so she could be there when Melanie was tormented by night terrors that had plagued her since she'd been admitted to the hospital.

Geri was in her own room, reading quietly in bed, so a small amount of light from her room was leaking into Melanie's room from the open door between them.

Melanie hugged her knees and looked around the room fearfully. She could hear people walking around the hall just outside her door and she stared at the light coming in from the spy hole in the door which flickered each time someone walked past her room. Her heart was racing and all of her muscles were tensed.

She looked toward Geri's door and fought back the tears that had been building for the past half hour. She slowly stood up and hesitantly made her way over to the door.

She stood in the doorway and looked at Geri, dropping her gaze as Geri looked up from her book and smiled at her. She began shaking and hoped she wasn't making a mistake approaching Geri.

"Hey, you. I was just thinking I should come check on you," said Geri, setting her book on the bed and sitting up against the headboard. "Can't sleep?"

She watched as Melanie nervously hugged her arms around herself and looked as though she was having second thoughts about coming into Geri's room. Geri's smile faltered and she moved to get out of bed, but quickly reconsidered, not wanting to scare her away. She opted instead to try coaxing her into the room from where she was sitting.

Melanie looked up at Geri, scrutinizing her body language before dropping her gaze once more. She flinched as a door clicked shut outside and she instinctively took a step into Geri's room. "Come in, darling," Geri instructed. "It's been a long time since you and I had a little girlie sleepover." She patted the empty side of the bed and smiled up at Melanie. "Come on. It's all right."

"Melanie, come here," said Geri sympathetically, watching as Melanie struggled to decide whether to go back to her own room or accept Geri's invitation. Unable to watch Melanie cower at the door any longer, Geri slowly slipped out of bed and made her way over to her. She wrapped her arms around Melanie, who immediately stiffened at her touch. She could feel the girl shaking and could see her fighting back tears.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," Geri sighed. "This has got to be absolutely horrible for you, not knowing anyone and being in a strange place. We took you out of the only place you felt comfortable, didn't we?"

Melanie shrugged, remaining rigid. Geri held her for a moment, before pulling her over to the bed and convincing her to sit down.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked wrapping her arm around Melanie and leaning her head on her shoulder. "Is there anything you want to know?" Melanie shrugged and chewed at her thumbnail, staring down at the floor. "Why don't I tell you a bit about us?" she suggested. "I can tell you about how we all met."

Geri rambled on, spouting off information about herself and the other girls and how they had formed the Spice Girls. She described Melanie's relationship with each of them, as well as Melanie's favourite things and least favourite things. Melanie listened closely, growing steadily more tired, but too fascinated by the onslaught of information Geri was giving her, to sleep.

"I think I should probably leave it there for now," said Geri, noticing Melanie was struggling to keep her eyes open. "I don't want to overwhelm you. Why don't you sleep with me tonight?"