I don't own Charmed or its characters.
"I told you why I was late! I had a flat tire and I didn't have a spare, so I had to walk home!" Melinda yelled. Once again, Piper and her daughter were arguing. Piper and Melinda usually got along fine, but it seemed like the smallest thing set Piper off these days. It only started about two weeks ago when a band cancelled on her at the last minute. Melinda wasn't the only one being verbally attacked by her mother though, but unlike her brothers and father, she couldn't just orb away when she got mad.
"Why didn't you call? You could have at least done that instead of making me worry about you for two hours!"
"Why didn't I call? Why didn't I call?! I didn't call because someone took my cell phone away from me mother!" Melinda said, stressing the last word. She turned, ready to storm out of the kitchen.
Piper felt an uncontrollable fit of anger wash over her. "Don't talk back to me!" She grabbed Melinda's arm, turned her around, and slapped her hard across the face. Melinda quickly grabbed her cheek and looked at her mother in disbelief, tears welling up in her eyes. Piper came to her senses and realized what she just did. "Melinda… I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." Melinda turned and ran out of the house. Suddenly, Piper felt like a heavy weight was lifted from her body as a man seemed to come out of her. "What the hell?"
The demon smiled as he looked at her. "Wow. I must say, out of all the people I've possessed, you were the most interesting. Now that I have your daughter out of the house and scared of her own mother, she should be easy to kidnap."
"Don't touch her!" Piper went to blow the demon up, but he shimmered away before she had a chance. "Leo! Wyatt! Chris! Paige! Anyone!" She waited a few heart-wrenching minutes before deciding nobody was coming. Grabbing her keys, she got into her car and drove off to look for her daughter.
Melinda was lost in thought as she continued walking. She didn't know where she was going, but she felt that she had to get as far away from her mother as possible. She heard the screeching of tires and snapped out of her trance. Looking around, she realized she was in the bad part of town. Old, vandalized buildings lined the street in both directions. She shivered when she noticed how cold it was.
"What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" A man stepped out of the shadows, an evil smirk on his face.