Helpless (Aaron Hotchner Fanfic)

Chapter Six

(Melanie's apartment and bedroom. Enjoy chapter six!)

CRASH!

Melanie yelped as another crash of thunder shook her entire apartment floor. She always loved dark, overcast weather enabling her to wear her favorite oversized sweater and comfy leggings. When there was thunder and lightning, however, it also enabled her to push her panic button and crawl under a million blankets, trembling in fear. The damsel was always afraid of thunder and lightning, for when she was a tiny girl, her best friend Nadia was struck by lightning. Right in front of her. Little Melanie had watched as a giant flash of light came from the sky and her best friend with the Goldilocks curls fall to the ground, smoke emitting from her back.

A flash of light poured in through her floor to ceiling windows, lighting up the entire floor of her apartment. It reflected of the shiny glass coffee table and the marble counter tops and Melanie ran towards the safety of her room. Throwing open the door, she stumbled in, her slippers sliding all over the hardwood floors and making her trip into the small blue-cushioned bench at the end of her bed. She flopped down, the cold floor meeting her face.

"Floor! We meet again," she grumbled, sitting back up and adjusting her off-shoulder sweater. Touching the side of her head, she winced as she felt a swelling bump beginning to grow. That would hurt like a you know what.

How in the world could she go from serious, top-of-her-class FBI Academy Trainee to a goofy, clumsy thirty four year old, living alone in an apartment who watched Disney movies and danced to eighties music? She had no idea but one part of that seemed to be working for her. Melanie had never dated. EVER. In her entire life, not once had she been on a date or kissed someone. No one had ever asked her to. She couldn't really blame herself. In school, the 'super nerd' was her title and throughout high school she was just the same old kid that she never wanted to grow out of. A lot of adults grew out of their kid personality and never found it again, that's why they all were so serious all the time. Melanie never wanted to lose her inner kid and she couldn't no matter how hard she tried. It was always stuck with her.

Melanie was the kind of girl who didn't wear ten pounds of makeup and stuck to the bare concealer, to hide blemishes, simple eye shadow and some mascara. But there were always most days where she hardly wore anything at all. Just stuck her long, wavy brown hair up in a bun and throw herself on the couch with a cup of coffee. Melanie was glad that she had grown into the person where she didn't give a crap about what she looked like in front of other people. She thought that maybe that contributed to her poor dating life, but if people don't like what they see on you every day, than what's the point. Melanie would rather have a guy be surprised to see her wear makeup than take all of it off.

Rubbing her head, she climbed up on the bed, her initial target before she was introduced to the floor instead, and settled back into the white bedsheets and the many pillows behind her. Closing her eyes, she listened to the rain pattering against the window to the right of her and reached up to turn both lamps that sat on each side of her bed off, making the room dark.

Her small room consisted of a large king sized bed, decorated with pearl white bedsheets, a gray accent blanket and about seven or eight pillows (because who can get enough pillows, am I right? :p). It sat up against an accent wall decorated with rustic wood panels. Above her bed on either side were to gray lamps, which provided light for the entire room, and below them sat two rustic side tables her uncle had made for her before he died of cancer. Her bed sat on a blue and white splattered rug and at the foot of her bed was the blue-cushioned bench that she had tripped on earlier. Translucent white curtains framed the only window she had in her room, looking over the giant park that stood between her and the FBI ACADEMY.