Revealed

70. Solane

*Picture of Melissa's house*

We pull up into Melissa's driveway. Her house hasn't changed. It looks exactly the same. Why wouldn't it be? I've only been gone for two weeks.

"So when do you plan to tell me who this Melissa girl is and why I just drove all the way out here for you to see her?", Andre says to me before I have the chance to open the car door.

I sigh and cover my face. "Andre..."

"Look, I like you Solie. Like more than a girl I just met."

"Andre..."

"But you obviously aren't feeling-"

I have to cut him off.

"Aren't feeling what, Andre?" Our eyes make full eye contact for the first time in a while. Hurt is all I can see in his eyes. Normally, when I make someone feel bad, the feeling transfers to me, but amplified. Today is different though. This is different.

"I'm sorry Andre... but I've only known you for a few days. I don't think I've reached that level of feelings yet..."

Andre immediately breaks eye contact with me and clutches onto the driver's wheel with a lot of force. He takes deep breaths and at the same time tries not to make it noticeable. He doesn't do a very good job. The veins all across his arms and neck have become much more prominent. It scares me a little.

The reason why I haven't attached myself to Andre isn't the reason I told him. Jeremy is still in the picture. I realize that I had been the one to leave and that our relationship was not a two way street, but I just know, in my heart, I can't change how I feel about him. At least not now.

At this point, Andre just stares at me. I change the subject.

"Nobody's home. Melissa's not here. Where could she be?"

"Are you really asking me where this girl that I've never met could be?"

I tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear and disappointedly shake my head speechless. What am I supposed to say that? Just as I'm about to explain, something lites up in the bushes behind Melissa's house. My eyebrows furrow in confusion as I turn to open the car door.

Andre reaches out and grabs my left arm. He pleads with me to stay in the car, but I just can't do it. Shaking him off me, I walk towards the light.

It's buzzing... Melissa's phone. I get down on my knees and burrow through the bush to find it. By the time I reach it, it already stops ringing. Melissa is someone who never lets her phone out of her sight, let alone anywhere away from her. Something isn't right about this picture.

I run back to Andre's car with the phone in my hand.

"I think I found her phone!" I paint from being tired from the run. Andre stares at me with no words. I catch my breath a little.

"Andre?"

He starts the car and begins to back up from the driveway. "Andre!? What the hell!"

"Find your own ride back. I'm done helping you."

He continues to back up and I yell after him. "Andre! You can't leave me here!" He completely disregards my existence and his car gets smaller and smaller in the distance before disappearing.... Just as Jeremy had done a while back...

I gulp down a very bitter gulp and wipe a tear from my eye. I can't believe what he just did. "If you really loved me, the you wouldn't have left me..." Then, a shiver travels up my whole body. I freeze. I stand in the darkness looking into even more darkness. Now I'm really actually lost. No phone.. Well, not my phone. No ride. No place to be.

Right now, my only hope is to get into Melissa's phone. Why don't I know her password? When things get back to normal, I'm making it a point to have a fingerprint in all of my friend's phones.

Melissa's home screen is a picture of Stella, herself, and I at our junior year homecoming.

So many memories flood my mind from that day. All three of us snuck out of the school and went to a bar. But they wouldn't let us in because we were underage. Long story short, Mama was not at all pleased. I laugh away some of my sadness and teas while standing there.

Looking back down at Melissa's phone, I begin to type in every password I can think of.

123458
246800
987654
123032

"Okay these are all way too obvious passwords," I think to myself. I sit down on the ground still staring at the phone trying to reminisce.

Melissa had once told me her email password so I could log in and send an essay to a teacher when she was out of the country. I try to remember it. Then, out of nowhere, the phone lites up again. It's Stella. I answer the call very quickly.

"Stella?" I whisper in shock.

"Oh my gosh. Melissa. I can't imagine what you're going through right now. I want you to know that I don't blame you... for anything. You had your reasons."

There is a long pause before she continues. "I got discharged today... and I'm fine. I've been calling you.... Turns out everyone has been too. Where are you? Are you okay?"

I open my mouth to speak but no words come out once again. I'm in complete shock.

"Melissa please... No matter what you do, I will always be there for you. This wasn't one hundred percent your fault either.... I provoked you.. On purpose. I said some things I regret."

"Stella?" I say it a little bit louder this time.
".... Solane?"

I practically smile through the phone. "Yeah."
"Solie.... Is it really you? I'm gonna video call you right now."

The phone buzzes again and I tap lightly on the answer button. Stella has her hand over her mouth. She cries and smiles at the same time.
"Solie... it's really you."

Her tears give me a warm chill across my whole body and makes me start crying too. I missed hearing her voice. I missed hearing everyone's voice. Now that I had experienced life without a purpose, I appreciate things more.

"Where are you right now? I heard you're back. Why are you outside in a forest in the darkness? Don't tell me you're leaving." Stella speaks so fast that she barely gives herself any time to breathe.

"Relax. I'm not going anywhere. In fact, I am absolutely nowhere. I have nowhere to go."

"Already on my way to Melissa's house. Be there in a few."

My jaw drops. "How did you know...."

I hear a loud gust of laughter on the other side of the phone. "Melissa is reckless. You think I wouldn't connect my her phone to mine? She needs to be tracked for her own personal safety."

"That makes so much sense," I comment in realization.

"Yea, she's needed me one too many times. LOL."

"No. I mean that it makes so much sense why she would leave her phone here. Why she'd throw it carelessly away."

Stella's voice becomes more serious and it seems like the trees all begin to shake in one direction. "What are you talking about? I thought she was with you." She sounds concerned.

"Stella, hurry up and get here. I have a lot to explain to you."