Undefined Life of Mine

Sue’s screams finally came to a stop after about an hour but I couldn’t exactly tell how long it’s been. The screams kept replaying over and over again in my head, like a scratched record on a record player. The screams never stopped for me. Whatever was forced into my bloodstream hit me as soon as Steven left.
I was lying in tall green grass and staring up at the blue sky that had clouds here and there. A hand then wrapped around mine, which made me turn my head in surprise to see my mother with long black hair sprawled out and bright blue eyes staring at the sky with a smile on her face. I think I’m stuck in a memory or something because I’m suddenly six years old again and my mom is here. I was surprised to see her though, my heart was squeezing in my chest and I suddenly felt like crying. When she turned her head to look at me, she moved her other hand and brushed her knuckles against my cheek.
My mom was wearing a soft pink button up shirt with ripped jean shorts and I remember this memory now. I was dressed in a blue flower dress and it was just another sunny day. My mom wanted to be with me, since she spent too much time with him.
“I love you, mommy.” I smile.
“I love you too, love.” She smiles too, but soon it falters and she looks fast away from me. Her hand squeezes hard onto my hand, making me wince.
“Mom?” I stare at her and suddenly lightening erupts in the sky, making me jump with anxiety. I stared at the sky, clouds forming fast, rain starting to fall and hit my skin like tiny little pebbles.
“Mom, we need to inside or we’ll get all wet.” I spoke softly and when I looked back to my mom, there was…red running over her; blood spreading from her chest, getting all over her and all over me.
Her blood started to soak the grass, making me scream and pull away from her death grip that left a bruise on my hand. I stare in fear as my mom’s body started to fall apart, wither away.
I ran.
I ran towards the house to see Sue standing in the doorway but the more I kept running towards her, the farther and farther she got away. I try to scream but nothing comes out and I end up tripping over my feet. I hit the floor hard, my head started to pound each time thunder went off in the sky and I started to see shapes form within the clouds. Screaming started to echo with the thunder and suddenly, I’m kneeling in front of a door; the door where all the screams come from. I felt my heart begin to race and my body started to shake. Everything went cold until I felt a hand grab me by my forearm roughly and pull me up from my knees. I looked up to see that my father was staring at me with deep red eyes. A scream passed through my lips as I started to fight back. I scratched at his hand, his face; he wouldn’t let go. I kept screaming though and throwing my fists anywhere I could hit until suddenly, he released me and I hit the ground again. I stumbled back to my feet and started running again, my legs were trembling and my chest was tightening from the lack of air I was breathing. Did I stop breathing? Where’s the air?
I then ran into someone’s chest, making me stumble back and finally breathe in. I look straight into Scott’s eyes and find my heart jump from the sight of him. Suddenly, I’m not six years old anymore but seventeen, but I’m still wearing the same dress, it’s just smaller this time. The dress stops mid-thigh and my breasts are pressing tightly against the fabric.
“Scott…” I whisper and as I reach out for him, his fist collides into the side of my face. The hit was so sudden; I fell to my knees, holding my face in my hands. I felt paralyzed, dead.
“Melony!” I hear from behind Scott. I stand up fast and push Scott away from me, my stomach tightening as I kept running. Don’t throw up, I thought to myself, don’t throw up.
I ran towards the echo of my name, hitting a ledge. I gasp for air as I stare down to find bodies…covered in blood. They’re all lying on top of each other. I then see my mother’s face, and the body next to her…Eva, then Robin and next to Robin…Jonathan.
“No!” I scream. “No! This isn’t real!”
“Melony!” I look over to my side to find Derrick watching me. His green venom eyes stare at me with worry and need.
“Derrick?” I cry out and feel my tears flow down my cheeks. I run towards him, my heart pounding in my ears, fingers going numb. My fingertips sting as my hands start to shake, my legs feel heavy but I fight it. I’m desperate for a hug; I’m desperate for Derrick. The air around me goes thick but as I got closer to Derrick, it felt clear and warmer. It felt safe…
I jump on him, feeling his arms wrap around my waist in a warm embrace. I cling to him, sobs escaping my lips as I cried against his shoulder. I held onto him tightly, in fear of ever letting go. I didn’t want to let him go. I didn’t want to lose him too, not like the others. I didn’t want to be alone.
“Don’t go.” I breathe out. “Don’t let me go.”
“Melony!”

I open my eyes, feeling hot and sore. I’m lying in my bed, my warm safe bed with my pillow against my chest. A soft knock came to my bedroom door, making me grab my phone to see that it was two thirty in the morning. I detangled myself from my pillow, feeling my head pound and ache behind my eyes. My face felt sore and my chest felt weak. I let out a groan as I stretched before I got to the door to find Aunt Sue on the other side. Her clothes were ripped, her hair was a mess and by the sight of the bruises on her arms and face, I can tell she tried so hard to fight back. Her face was tearstained and smeared from makeup.
Her body then slammed against mine, an embrace of desperation. She began to cry against me as I shut the door behind us. Despite my massive headache, I held her and cried with her.
We laid in my bed facing each other in quiet sniffles. Sue tried to sleep but every time her eyes closed for too long, she’d jump in her sleep and start to shake. I held onto her hand, receiving a squeeze every ten minutes.
“Where’s Steven?” I ask in a whisper. Sue lets out a shaky sigh.
“Still with your old man.” She hissed in anger or pain, it was hard to tell.
“And Nora?” I asked soon after, receiving another sigh and sadness spilled from her eyes in a puddled mess against my pillow.
“She’s with Steven’s sister. I don’t know if I’ll be able to see her tomorrow.” She then released my hand to wipe her tears away.
“Why?” I then brought my blanket over her, to keep her warm, just in case she was shaking from withdrawals.
“I have to work tomorrow to pay off how much money is gone just from that one deal.”
“Even though my dad will reschedule the deal again,” I rub at my temple, feeling nauseous. “Steven will take you to Nora; I’ll give you some money so my dad won’t get curious.”
“How much?” she looked at me through her fingers, sniffling.
“I have two hundred dollars saved up and three hundred hidden.” I breathed out.
“T-two hundred?!” she said loudly, which made me wince from the hangover. “I can’t take that, you clearly saved it for a reason.”
“Yes, a reason to get us out of here.” I said, and Sue took me in her arms.
“I swear, you have your mother’s heart.” She whispers and kisses me on the top of my head. I then felt tears slip from my eyes again. I miss my mom; even though I just saw her in my dreams…she’s hanging on a thread now.

I woke up in the morning to give money to Sue and walked her out to Steven whom was waiting in his car. Once I got her into the passenger’s seat, Steven immediately took her into his arms. I knew they were both desperate for a better life; I was desperate for a better life for the.
Once they drove off, I walked back inside receiving stares from some prostitutes and some of my dad’s men. I didn’t know what expressions were on their faces or what emotions they were feeling but their eyes all had something written in them.
Help.
I let out a sigh and felt the bruise in my shoulder throb as I shut the front door behind me.
“We heard what happened.” Clara spoke from a group of six girls.
“And we also heard about the threats.” One of the men spoke.
“Word gets around fast in this house.” I scoff and smile.
“Yes, it does,” Clara nods. “Especially when the walls are paper thin,” she stares at me.
“It also goes around fast because we’re family.” One of my dad’s men with a beard and short brown hair spoke. His name is Giovanni, he’s one of Steven’s good friends who knows about Sue but doesn’t know about Nora. I breathed in deeply as Clara suddenly ran up to me.
“Melony, we know you go through so much,” she said softly. “We know what you went through last night and we all heard Sue’s screams…” she looked back at the others then back to me. “Can you help us out of here?” she asks and I stare at all of them and I see desperate feelings. They all want to leave, I can now tell from how they’re looking at me.
“Your mother helped four girls get out of here.” Giovanni said. “And we all believe you can do it.”
I’ve heard stories of how my mom helped four girls get out because they all had dreams. They kept trying to get out but my dad wouldn’t let them leave. My mom hid them, gave them money, and bought them tickets to get to their families if they were under the age of twenty. I could do what she did but she died doing it.
“I’ll help you all.” I breathed out. “But you’re going to have to give me time.” Clara started to cry suddenly and everyone walked up to me, to hug me, to thank me, and all I could do was smile.

I decided not to go to school today but go to work. I’ll work more hours for more pay. I needed to keep myself moving though; I couldn’t stop and let my thoughts take over. Serving meals, my feet started to hurt and I felt exhausted. I was sore and people have kept staring at my face because of the bruise on my cheek. Mr. Harris asked about it, too. I told him I fell in the library, understandable.
After I took a nap in the back, I woke up to the smell of hamburgers. The scent filled my nostrils and I noticed I was starving. The chef, Ray, made me lunch; a nice cheeseburger and French fries. I gave him a tip before stuffing my face in the back of the diner. I took a sip from my cup of soda, which helped me swallow down my food.
“So, this is where you were.” I heard from my right side. I looked up to see Derrick’s green eyes staring at me. He had a soft smile on his face and his hands were stuffed in his leather jacket. His gray jeans clung to him and his shirt was bright for the color white. It looked really clean, but then again, Derrick was always neat.
“Hey,” I spoke softly, swallowing down a French fry. I then noticed how his eyes went wide and he sat across from me in a swift movement. “What’s up?”
“What happened to your face?” he demanded, ignoring my previous question, leaning close to me. I let out a sigh and started to eat again. Derrick’s eyes never left my face though. I kept focusing on my food until Derrick grabbed a napkin from my side and pulled out my pen from my shirt pocket. He began to write before sliding the napkin to me.



I stared at his beautiful handwriting. The question sunk in, wearing me down to the depths of hell. I started to remember what happened last night…the memories.
I then took my pen back from him and started to write that I fell. When I showed him, he laughed sarcastically, took the pen and wrote under my sentence.



I laughed lightly at the Nazi joke; ever since sophomore year in history, I was always called a Nazi for being anal about my test scores. Or for saying women rights were dumb and Hitler’s thoughts were correct. Though I was only joking, everyone thought I was serious.
I took the pen back and started to write again. Dad, I write heavily and hesitated before sliding it back to him. Derrick stared at it, his eyes narrow and his face expression changes instantly. He stares at the napkin for a solid minute before snatching my pen away and writing.



The way he wrote it pained my heart. Words can affect you so much and those three words danced around my head as I stared at the napkin. I chewed on the inside of my cheek and finally looked up to see Derrick’s green orbs. His eyes burned into mine, a fierce stare.
I nodded to answer his question and suddenly, his hand touched my cheek. I flinched and started to remember the way my father’s hand collided with my face. I started to remember the way Scott’s fist collided with my face in my dream. I started to remember the poison that was injected into my bloodstream…
I then started to cry when I remembered the gun being pressed against my head. I tensed up as Derrick’s fingers wiped away the tears.
“Shh…” Derrick whispers and takes my hand in his, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. I shake my head and let out a deep sigh.
“Maybe you should stay with me.” Derrick said softly. I pulled my hand away fast and grabbed a napkin to blow my nose.
“Oh Derrick,” I speak softly and smile at him. “I can’t. They’ll look for me and they will find me.” I whisper.
“Whose ‘they’?” he stares.
“My father’s men,” I rub at my eyes. Derrick lets out a sigh and runs his hand through his hair.
“I wish I could get you out of here.” He says and the words make me smile. The way Derrick cares makes me smile. Sure he’s such a big flirt, but he cares a lot when it comes to the people that matters.
“I know.” I muttered and started to eat my food again; which is now cold. Derrick then sneaks a piece of my food, causing me to glare at him. He gives me one of his famous smiles and flicks my forehead. I throw a fry in protest and we both end up laughing.
“Thank you, Derrick.” I said.
“For what?” he said, confused.
“For making me laugh,” I say, taking one more bite of my food before drinking my coke.
“My pleasure,” he smiles big. “By the way, Jonathan has been looking for you. He’s worried.” Jonathan…..I can’t really say I’m still mad at him anymore but I thought he’d still be pissed at me.
“Oh…” I averted my gaze and remembered Scott. Shit, Scott. He left me after he kissed me.
“Did you guys get into a fight or something?” Derrick asks and sits back. I shrug.
“You can say that.”
“About what? It’s you and Jonathan! You guys are practically related!” He says and keeps his eyes on me. I looked at him, giggling. For some reason, staring at him too long makes me dizzy.
“We got into a little argument about Scott.” I said and brought my hands together in nervousness.
“Scott?” Derrick questioned. “Scott Lorell?” I nodded and stared down at my hands. “What’s there to fight about? It’s Scott!” he says but before I can talk, he does. “But, I do know that he’s bad to be around.” I let out a sigh.
“Jonathan hates Scott. Everyone does.” I spoke.
“Well, yeah! He’s into some hardcore drugs.” Derrick says. “I hate Scott too, but I’m not going to lecture you into not speaking to him when you’re already around people like him.” I just shrug in response. “But…if he hurts you, then that’s a different story.” He shrugs, then his eyes narrow at me. “If he ever hurts you, Melony, promise me, you will tell me.” His voice went cold and his eyes darkened.
“I promise.” I breathe out and he smiles wide.
“Good.”

I rubbed my hands together and breathed in the cold winter air. I snuggled into my coat and black soft scarf. I took a sip of my vanilla cappuccino and kept still on the hard cold bench. It started to snow again, over the picture of my mother that was placed on her tombstone.
Mom always loved the snow. She enjoyed the cold nights and shivering days.
I breathed and let out a shaky sigh.
“I wish you were here.” I gasp out and began to sob, wincing from all the aches and bruises.