Back Into Your Arms

John's P.O.V

I had been in a sour mood until I called Mel and calling her was probably the best decision I had made.
She seemed so frantic and panicked at the fact she had remembered something but I on the other hand was so happy I had to hold back until we ended the call.

The guys looked at me as I hung up and I started jumping excitedly. I started dancing even though there was no music playing, the news that had been given to me was like music.

“What’s going on?” Garett asked me. I had the biggest smile on my face.

“Did she tell you she missed you?” Pat said grinning.

I shook my head.

“Better”

“Better?”

“She remembered something! SHE REMEMBERED SOMETHING!” I exclaimed to them all.

“What?” Jared asked.

“What did she remember?” Kennedy joined in.

“She, she recalled a moment where I was sitting in bed playing the guitar, apparently with my long emo messy hair and my white v-neck”

“SHE WOULD REMEMBER THAT!” Garett said laughing very hard.

“That’s incredible, she’s remembering you!” Pat said starting to jump around too.

“SHE REMEMBERED!!!!” the five of us exclaimed as we jumped all over the place excitedly.

This was the best news we had received in years.

“Get to writing those songs!” Kennedy declared and the guys started hooting and hollering.

I just laughed almost wanting to cry of happiness. I had so much to write about.

Mel's P.O.V

I woke up the next morning confused as to where I was, the lights were too bright and the smell of the house was unfamiliar. I looked around and saw the music equipment scattered around the room, I smiled remembering I was at John’s house.

I jumped out of bed full of energy, ready to start the day. I showered, I got ready and this time took the bus to Tempe.
It wasn’t an unpleasant ride but it sure was confusing. A lady that sat next to me helped me out by telling me when to get off. I got off not too far from the street I used to live on.

I walked all the way to my old home.
I stood in front of the house, as I observed how different it looked now. The house had been painted a different color, the grass was so dead, my parents would be disappointed. They always took so much care of the front lawn.

For a moment, I decided to imagine.
I imagined John dropping me off.
I imagined myself in my room, talking to him on the phone for hours. I imagined myself walking out of the house on the day I lost my memory.

I was about to walk away when a girl, who looked like she was in her 20’s walked out of the house. She saw me and we made eye contact.

“Can I help you?” she said looking confused walking in my direction.

“Oh, no, no. Sorry, I was just reminiscing on when I used to live here. I’ve been living in New York for a long time and hadn’t seen this place since”

The girls’ expression changed.

“You used to live here?”

“Yeah, we lived here for about 18 years”

“Wow, yeah, you must have a lot of memories here”

“Well, yes and no” I said and laughed a little.
“I lost my memory when I was 18, I lost about 4 years’ worth of memories, I came back to see the house hoping maybe it could somehow bring some of them back”

“No way, that’s crazy…So you never recovered them back?”

“Nope” I said giving her a sad smile.

“Well…do you want to come inside and look around?”

“Oh no, I don’t want to be a bother”

“Not a bother at all, we just cleaned too, so come on in” she said and started walking back in. I couldn’t help but follow her.
It’s funny how a house can look so different when inhabited by other people.

She told me to take a seat on their couch. She had two kids playing on the carpet.

“I’ll be right back; I was going to get a toy of theirs from the car”

“Oh okay” I said to her. Her kids just looked at me. Probably wondering who I was and why I was in their house.

“Hi” I said to them, the older one was the only one to acknowledge me.
She came back in and gave the little one the toy.

“The house must look very different from back then huh?” she asked me. I looked around and nodded.

“Yeah, it sure does”

“I’m Helen by the way, these are my two kids” she said introducing herself to me. She was definitely younger than me yet she already had two kids.

“Melody Riley, nice to meet you. How old are your kids?”

“This one” she said pointing to the older one.
“His name is Drew, he’s 4 years old and the little one, his name is Kian he’s 2 years old”

“Wow! They’re very cute!”

“You don’t have any?”

“Oh no, no. I’m not even married or anything” I said and laughed a little embarrassed.

“Hey, that’s not a bad thing! I mean you’re still young!”

“I’m 28, the clock is ticking” I said giggling.

“You’re not 30 yet” she said laughing with me. I nodded she was right.

“You want to go look upstairs? Which one was your room?”

“The room on the left”

“Wow, really? That’s the kids room now, c’mon go and take a look”
She was very friendly. I nodded and began walking upstairs. Everything felt familiar. If I closed my eyes it’s as if time hadn’t passed by.

I walked over to the door to the room that once belonged to me. I twisted the door knob and opened the room. Although the room looked very different, it still gave off that familiar vibe. I walked over to the window and looked outside.

The view was my favorite part about the room. I walked over to the door frame and looked for my name. I had carved it into the wood, unless they were to remove the frame, the name would remain there forever. I found it right away and passed my fingers over it.
I heard Helen coming up the stairs with the kids.

“Your room used to be her room back when she used to live here” she explained to the 4-year-old.

“My name is carved over here” I said to her showing her the carving that had been covered with green paint.

“Mel Riley” she said reading it out loud.

“You moved here recently huh?” I asked her.
She nodded.

“Yup, about 4 years ago when I was pregnant with this one” she said as her child ran past us.

“We moved out of here 10 years ago, I never got to meet the owners before you guys”

“They were an old couple, I think they moved out because the lady fell and she couldn’t go up the stairs anymore”

“Oh wow, well I hope she’s doing alright”

“I hope so too”

I was running out of things to say, I was so timid with strangers.

“Thank you for letting me see the place again, I appreciate it Helena”

“Helen”

“Oh right” I said laughing hard. She laughed with me too.
“It’s just your name made me think of that song by My Chemical Romance, I don’t know if you’ve heard it before?”

“I have, trust me it’s not the first time someone calls me Helena, I just didn’t expect it from you” she said and laughed some more.

“Were you a fan of MCR?” I asked her. She laughed.

“My sister was a huge fan, I was like 12 when the song came out”

“Ah that’s right! I don’t remember hearing it when it came out but umm well anyways, I’ll be heading out”

“You’re more than welcome to come and visit Mel, I’m a stay at home mom and it can get boring”

“I’ll come by before I go back to Brooklyn”

“You’re going back?”

“I have my apartment over there and my job, but who knows, we’ll see what happens”

“Where are you staying right now?”

“At a friend’s house in Chandler”

“Oh, wow, well like I said you’re still more than welcome”

“Thank you, Helen” I said as we began to walk downstairs again, I waved to the kids at the door and proceeded to walk back to the bus stop.
I had made a friend; I was sad that we lived so far away from each other.
I wasn’t sure where to go after that. I wanted to see my parents, but I knew it wasn’t the right time yet.
I went to the mall instead, bought myself an ice cream and ate it as I watched the people passing by.
So many people, I had never seen before. They weren’t as hurried as the people of New York, they took their time walking, enjoying their day.
At that moment, I felt my phone vibrate.
I thought it was John so I answered right away.

“Hello?”

“Melody”

“Alex?” I asked confused.

“Yeah, it’s me, how are you?”

What kind of question was that? I was so confused as to why he was calling me.

“I’m doing well, why did you call?”

“I miss you”

I was left in shock; it was so sudden. He had never ever told me he missed me, even when he had been away for months.

“I think you called the wrong person”

“No, Melody I’m serious. I’m sorry about what I said, I was having a bad day, I shouldn’t have let it out on you-”

“It’s been over a month and you barely decided to call?”

My phone made a sound, I was receiving another call, this time from John.

“Look Alex, I thought we ended things that day. I’m-I’m actually in Arizona right now and I’m not really interested in talking with you. Have a good one Alexander.” I said to him hanging up and answering John’s phone call before it went to voicemail.

“John!” I exclaimed.

“I almost thought I was going to be sent to voicemail, I’m glad you answered”

“How’s everything going over there?”

“Excellent, this is going to be our best record yet, gosh when you hear it you’re going to officially become our #1 fan, just you wait”
I smiled and laughed.

“Where are you, I hear a lot of noise”

“I’m at the mall here in Tempe, having an ice cream as I people watch, it’s great really”

“How’d you get there?”

“Bus”

“You can use my car, I left the keys there”

“I can’t possibly use your car! I don’t even have a license”

“I trust you”

“What about the authorities?”

“I’ll bail you out from jail” he joked.
“Just know that my car is there, in case of an emergency or whatever” he added.

“Thank you, I’ll keep it in mind”

“What else have you done today?”

“I went to my old house and met a woman named Helen, she’s actually 4 years younger than me but already has two kids, she invited me in and allowed me to look at my room, I was hoping maybe it would help me remember something but it didn’t but I did make a friend so, so far it’s a good day”

“Bummer that you didn’t remember anything, but I’m glad you went out and that you’re meeting people, wish I could be there with you. We are starting to record vocals today; I’ll keep you posted on how that goes”

“Send me your stories on IG”

He laughed.

“I will, I’ll call you tomorrow. Text me when you have made it home safely, kay?”

“I will, have fun recording, bye”

“Bye”

I ended the call.

I had two missed calls from Alex, he dared to call me after I told him not to. I went over to his number and blocked it.
There was no point in him calling me anymore, my heart had already moved on.

The week and a half went by fast.
I spent a lot of the time visiting Helen and her kids and chatting with John’s parents.

It had already started to get nice and warm in Arizona.
I was beginning to get used to the weather again.
I had organized John’s kitchen and fully stocked his home with food.

I no longer want to go back to Brooklyn, I was enjoying my vacation too much.

A day before John arrived I got a call from Mrs. Shepard.

“Dear, they are asking me if you are going to be giving classes this upcoming month”
I sighed heavily as I placed Mrs. Shepard on speaker and looked at my calendar.

“I don’t even want to go back Mrs. Shepard”

“I understand sweetie, but you are the owner of this place and you have to assume responsibility”

“I know” I said sighing again. I’d have to go back to Brooklyn this week if I was going to teach during the month of April. With a heavy heart, I gave her an answer.

“I’ll be back to teach in April”

“Alright Miss Riley, I’ll let them know”

“Thank you for calling me, I’ll see you then”

I sat there with my phone on my lap. I plugged in my phone to the amp and pressed shuffle on my playlist, the song I Want Wind to Blow by The Microphones started playing.
I laid there on the couch staring at the ceiling.
I didn’t want to go back, there was nothing for me in Brooklyn.