I'm Having my Father's baby ?!?

Chapter 1

  

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(Mel's P.O.V)


I had arrived home early today, while the Summer sun was still high in the sky and world still smelled like dandelions. I enjoyed the walk to the front steps before shuffling for the key. As I opened the door, I was bombarded by people, and felt an instinctual tinge of fear.

"Surprise! Happy birthday!" My Friends screamed in unison, adorned in ridiculous party hats and blowing on noisemakers. A bag of confetti released itself upon my head and I, still too surprised to notice, stood there with a silly grin on my face.

"Wow, you guys! All of this for me?" I exclaimed, amazed by all the balloons and other celebratory decorations. I laughed and pulled some of the sparkling confetti from my hair and slowly thanked and hugged all of them, one by one, until I reached my mother.

"Happy birthday, baby," my mom said, blotting her teary eyes with a tissue.

I gave her a comforting hug. "Thank you, mom," I said, a tear sympathetically escaping from the corner of my eye.

"Look at us: a bunch of babies," my mom said, chuckling. She straightened herself and wiped the eyeliner off of her cheeks. She looked at me and smiled. "Well, I'm going to head out. I know you don't want me hanging around with you and your friends. I'll 'cramp your style' or whatever you kids are saying nowadays."

I laughed in agreement. "Bye mom, and thanks again."

She started to opened the door, but thought twice and turned back say something. "Melody, check your room, okay?" She gave one last smile before leaving.

With my curiosity piqued, I turned to my friends and told them I would be back in a second. I ran upstairs to my room and looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary, I thought. Confused, I shrugged and walked over to the bathroom to examine myself.

I wiped away the dark eyeliner that was running down my pale-skinned cheeks. I carefully applied more, aiding my waist-long black hair, curled lightly on the ends, in accenting the color of my sky blue eyes. My thin lips were still glossy from the fading lip gloss I had applied earlier. Not too bad, I thought, smiling at my reflection.

With nothing new to report back, I went to rejoin my friends downstairs. As I reached the door, my eye caught a medium-sized auburn box sitting on the desk across from my bed. I Walked over and pulled out the chair to sit down. Wow, this is beautiful! Note to self: don't forget to tell mom thanks, I thought, sliding my finger across the cold, smooth wood. I eagerly pulled the lid up and was greeted with a ballerina that mindlessly danced to a gentle tune. I smiled and took out the belongings: exactly 19 numbered letters addressed to me on their own carefully wrapped miniature boxes with soft satin bows. I decided to open the first letter.

June 1st, 1992
My Beautiful Melody,
Today is the happiest day of my life, because today is the day you were born. When I first saw your beautiful face, I knew that you were an angel sent here by God himself. And at that second, I knew I would have to leave you. I need help, and you deserve everything in this world that I know I will not be able to give you. I know that I will regret this moment for the rest of my life, but it is all for you. I know that you may never be able to forgive me, but just know this, Melody: I love you more than myself, more than this world, and more than life itself. I will always love you. I am so sorry...

What? No... None of this is right, I thought to myself, wiping the new tears from my eyes. I set the letter down and grabbed the final letter.

June 1st 2010
Dear Melody,
You are an adult now, and I wish I could be there for you on your eighteenth birthday. If you are reading this now, I want you to stop hurting. You are old enough to understand why I left.
When I first met your mother, I was hanging out with the wrong crowd. What she saw in me, I'll never know. And this beautiful woman (as beautiful as I imagine you to be after all these years), who could have any man in the world, saw something in me that I could not see in myself. Soon enough, she was pregnant with you. And those nine months, those nine wonderful months, all I thought about was you and how I hoped the world would understand how rare and how amazing you were. But June came and, at exactly 11:37PM, you were born.
It was the first time in a long while that I had felt such fear; you, this perfect little gift of a child, would never have the life I knew you deserved. I would never be good enough. I would have hurt you; I would have ruined your life. You never deserved the fate I would bring to you, so I did the only thing I could do: I left you.
I'm ashamed. The guilt drove me to drugs, but I went into a year of rehab and emerged a clean man. Oh, how I wanted to go to you so badly! But I never could... I'm ashamed of myself for wasting all of these years I could have spent with you on fear. You have no idea how much I regret my decision every day.
Melody, I am so sorry. The only thing that gets me through the day is knowing your life is full of all the love and happiness I could never give you. There is nothing in this world you can't do, my angel.
I love you.

I understood everything at that moment, and I hid my head in my hands and cried. After I collected myself, I gently put the letter down and picked up the corresponding box. I carefully unwrapped its brightly patterned wrapping. In it was a beautiful gold class ring, adorned with a stark sapphire accent on top, and an engraving of the words "Chestwood High School 1992" around the band. I put it down on the desk and got to my feet, wiping the excess moisture from my eyes on my sleeve. I realized I had been upstairs for a long time, and had to get back down to my friends. I didn't know how I could talk to them after what I had just learned.