Koalas (Kyle O'Shea)

Chapter 12

One thing Melody knew for sure was that she wanted to avoid Ian at all cost. She stayed away from him but kept herself busy, doing her part to make sure the people could live safely in the large cave system.

She went to supper before anyone else, quietly grabbed some food before going back to her room, where she ate in silence. In this silent moment Kyle's absence hurt her the most. She tried to distract herself by closing her eyes.

Imagining the stale tasting water to be the wine she and the brothers had took with them from the house they just raided. Surprisingly enough, it was Ian who pulled the wine out of his backpack showing the others. They all sat around a small but warm fire passing around the bottle. Neither of the three liked wine but enjoyed the effect of it, the ability to forget everything around them.

Her little daydream was interrupted by Ian placing the door aside to step in. He saw her eating food from the kitchen by herself and shook his head before quickly grabbing something she couldn't see and leaving.

Once Melody was done she went out of her way to clean her dirty dishes at the small stream before bringing it back to the kitchen. No one noticed her as they listened to Wanda talking about the dragons. They didn't have wings like the fantasy dragons of earth. Neither could they fly because the air was similar to jelly, so they swam.

Melody quickly left and walked back to her room. She had exactly one book. Kyle grabbed it for her during their early days. A handmaid's tale. It was one of the few human books the souls didn't destroy and was still in a book store. The souls wrote books of their own. Melody read one of those as she still was hiding with her brother. A soul transferred from one world to the other, met an old friend and got married. Everything had a happy ending. It had made Matthew angry. Did soul never suffer? How unfair!

Melody laid down in her bed. She only read a few pages before she grew too tired and snuggled under Kyle's blanket. When she was unable to keep her eyes open she turned off the lights and fell asleep.

Waking up was weird. Everything was blurry, her head hurt and everything was shaking. Melody was disoriented but soon realised she was in someone's arms and that someone was carrying her somewhere.

She opened her eyes and saw the sky above her. The sun shone down on her face. The man carrying her wore a simple blue shirt. She knew that shirt, she had washed it and saw a specific person wear it all the time. It was Ian's. Ian looked straight forward as he walked into an unknown direction.

"Where are we going?", Melody asked her best friend tired.

"Somewhere safe. Don't worry we won't hurt you." It was Ian's voice but not his typical tone. Melody struggled a bit but Ian just grabbed her a little tighter.

"Don't be scared. It won't hurt, you won't feel amything, I promise. We have the best people to do this. I'll stay with you until it's over. Then we can find Kyle."

That's when she saw it. The reflective ring around his pupil. Melody started thrashing. She kicked and screamed into every direction trying to get away from the body snatcher. With no avail he was too strong.

With a gasp Melody woke up. Sweat covered her entire body and made her shiver in the heat of the caves. It was just a night terror. A bad dream. Absolutely nothing to be scared of, right?

The beds next to the shaking woman were empty. Melody quickly threw on some clothes before she ran to the kitchen. Everyone was there eating silently and looked at her as she entered out of breath. Everyone looked at her and she looked at everyone. No one had those reflective eyes, that showed an infected human.

"Is everything alright, Melody?" Jamie asked her.

"What? Yeah, yeah, its all good. I was just..", she tried to catch her breath while thinking of an excuse, "doing morning sport for dingos."

Everyone chuckled quietly and Jamie laughed loudly. Jeb looked amused as well but looked at her in concern.

"Are you sure?" Jeb asked.

"Yeah, sure."

"Then sit down and eat."

As Melody sat in the corner of the kitchen eating quietly and to herself she knew she wasn't able to sleep in that room again, not if she felt unsafe resting next to the man she once called her best friend. He hurt her with his words. But Melody knew she couldn't go back to Lily either as she was also friends with Wanda. There were no options. Were would she go? Sharon currently was sleeping in her mother's room, because Doc was approving the alien wearing the body of a young girl.

There was one room, rarely used and quiet. The game room. After Sharon finished her lesson and everyone went to dinner Melody packed everything she had into her bag, similar to a year ago when she moved in with Lily and Ruth. She dragged the mattress towards the dark tunnel, a lamp hanging down her left wrist as she pulled the mattress with both hands to the game room.

When she entered the kitchen almost everyone was gone. Only Walter, Trudy, and Maggy were still there as Melody fixed herself a plate and sat down next to Walter.

"How are you doing, Walter." Melody asked.

The failing health of the old man became more and more visible over time. She wished there was something they could do but even human medicine could only fix the pain not the cause. Walter, however, still managed to smile and bring a lot of positivity into the room.

"I'm good, ah, I miss my Gladys. If she were here you would like her. She was a secretary of an elementary school. Yes, she loved children." He started to tell her.

His wife was one of his favourite things to talk about. The fiery red head stole his heart when they were very young but they stayed together as loving couple until she was taken. He had known Heath prior to everything and they travelled to Jeb's place with Trudy together.

"You seem a bit lonely, young lass."

"I miss Kyle." She stated the obvious.

Melody didn't want to talk about the pain over seemingly losing her best friend so she replaced it with her worry for Kyle and made sure she didn't have to see Ian like a constant reminder of their falling out.

"And you are not missing dinner because of the new girl here?" He asked, although he knew the answer. Melody stayed silent

"You know, sometimes things will get weird, and complicated, and strange. I know the unknown can be scary but sometimes you have to be brave and move forward. Learn something new, meet someone new."

Melody nodded as she chewed the rest piece of her food.

"I will keep your words in mind, Walter. Thank you for the advise."

"The man really is slowly getting mad.." Maggy whispered and Trudy glared at her.

Melody left the kitchen and slowly walked to the bathroom, more than ready to just relax and enjoy the feeling of the warm water. She quickly brought new clothes and a lamp with her as she walked to the bathroom. She undressed and quickly got into the water swimming back and fourth a bit before taking the soap and scrubbing the sweat, dirt, and worries off of her.

The soap left a burning sensation on her skin, that carried on even when she left the water and put on some fresh clothes. As she exited the tunnel she saw Ian looking around with a searching look. He was looking for her and quickly walked over when he saw her.

"Where is your stuff? Your mattress? Is me being close to Wanda really that problematic?"

Melody got a bit mad. "No, not everything is about Wanda!" She said and Ian was surprised at her anger. He was just used to her fear. "This is about you and what you thought was okay to say to me. I know you cannot relate to how I feel and by God I hope you'll never have to lose your brother. You didn't know Matthew, bringing him up wasn't necessary!"

Before he could reply she walked past him and left. Guilt settled in Ian's chest as he thought about what he said to her yesterday. She was right. Although, he lost most of his family he still had his brother. Even if Kyle could be a complete asshole, Ian knew he wouldn't have come that far without him and he was glad to still have him. Melody's words left an uncomfortable feeling of emptiness.