In The Dark

57 - September 27th

The auditorium of the Oprah Winfrey Show was filled to capacity with excited fans of both the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys. They'd already seen both bands perform two songs each as well as an interview with Howie, Nick, Kevin, Emma, Geri, Victoria, and Mel B. As the commercial break came to an end, a pre-recorded video was played with Oprah describing the events over the past few months, from the accident to the court case, while images flashed across the TV screens of viewers at home and a projector on the stage for the live audience to see. The video came to an end and Oprah faced the cameras to introduce Melanie, Brian, and AJ. The audience screamed excitedly and jumped out of their seats excitedly as the trio walked out from backstage and made their way over to the couch next to Oprah, waving and smiling at the audience along the way. Oprah stood up and hugged each of them, welcoming them to the show and inviting them to sit down.

Melanie sat between Brian and AJ and smiled as she continued to wave at some of the fans that were screaming her name. The stage crew signalled the fans to quiet down and the crowd soon grew quiet to allow Oprah to interview the trio.

"I don't even know how to begin," Oprah breathed. "We wanted to sit down with just the three of you to really hear your side of the story. It's been an absolutely unbelievable chain of events that have taken place over the past few months. How do you even begin to cope with all of this?"

"It's taken a lot of time," Brian confessed, gripping Melanie's left hand tightly, AJ doing the same on on her right. "It's been a series of breakthroughs and new challenges every day. We're just really grateful to have come out on this side of things. Melanie's healthy and happy and we're gradually starting to feel somewhat normal again. As normal as you can in this industry, anyway." He smiled at Oprah and chuckled.

The audience was silent, listening in awe as Oprah had the trio describe the events following the collision until the retrieval of each of them. Behind them, photos from the scene of the crash and video footage of the helicopters bringing each of them to the hospital in Oregon was displayed on the projector behind them.

Oprah brought the attention to Melanie, describing for the audience the condition Melanie had been found in while some of the photos of her battered body were displayed on the screen. Melanie looked at the photos and smiled nervously as the audience gasped and whispered to themselves.

"Now, you two only just recently found out what really happened when Melanie was missing, is that right?" Oprah asked, looking at each of the boys.

"We kind of always had some idea of what she'd been through," AJ confirmed. "Obviously, looking at those images, you can put two and two together, but we didn't really know the extent of what they'd done to her or the actual process of the rituals."

"And you'd never spoken about it," Oprah said, looking at Melanie. "You only just opened up a few days ago. What kept you from wanting to say anything?"

"I was scared," Melanie confessed quietly, looking around nervously. "This lot has always been great, but in the back of my mind I always thought there was a chance I was being tested, like if I said it out loud, that lot would come back and do it again or maybe my mates were only pretending to be nice and they'd do it too if I did something I wasn't supposed to."

"You thought your captors would come back?" Oprah clarified. Melanie nodded. "You even went months without saying a word. For this same reason?" Melanie nodded again.

"When I first got away from that cabin, I didn't know who anyone was," Melanie added. "The only thing I knew was that if I opened my gob or if I cried or did anything without being told to do it, people would get cross with me." Oprah nodded sympathetically, listening intently as Melanie spoke. "And I didn't want to eat anything because when I was there, I'd been given biscuits occasionally and they'd put me to sleep. Then during the..."