Hey everyone! I'm back for another chapter! I hope everyone is enjoying this. Like I said, bear with me while I re-direct the plot. Six years is a long time and I've forgotten where I was going with this! But I've got some ideas...
I'd like to thank Peanut-4ever for being an amazingly loyal reader. Your review almost brought me to tears (happy ones, of course)! So thank you! This chapter is dedicated to you!
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"Scissor!"
Melinda gasped, looking up to find Paige in her doorway, blue orbs fading as she gripped the handle of the scissor, a look of shock and grim determination on her face.
Melinda jumped up from her spot on the floor, but her legs refused to hold her and she tumbled backwards onto her bed, shaking like a leaf.
What had she been thinking? How could she even consider cutting again? Her wrists throbbed just with the idea of doing something so horrible. After everything Piper had told her...
She glanced up at Paige, a guilty look on her face.
Paige put the scissor down on Melinda's dresser and walked to her, arms crossed.
"What were you thinking?" Paige scolded – more fear in her voice than anger, though. "After all the progress you've made? After everything your mom told you?" After everything I went through, she added silently.
Tears welled in Melinda's eyes. She bit back a sob and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Aunt Paige. I'm so sorry. I just.. I just..."
Paige sighed and sat beside Melinda, wrapping her in a tight hug.
"I just couldn't take those anti-depressants. I don't want to be drugged up. It scared me and I – I panicked!" Melinda admitted. "The stress... I shouldn't have let it get to me but I just... I don't know!"
"Shhhh," Paige soothed. "It's okay, Melly. I understand. I..." She paused, swallowing her words. She hadn't spoken to anyone about her stint in the institution, not in a long time. She and Piper had discussed it at length over the years. And Phoebe and Leo knew, of course. But to tell Melinda now? The poor girl was traumatized enough!
But wouldn't hiding it make it worse?
Melinda sniffled, glancing curiously up at her aunt. She could sense Paige's hesitation. Paige frowned and sighed, letting Melinda go and turning on the bed to face her niece. She tucked one leg under the other and sighed again.
"Melinda... I never told you about.. how I first met your mom and Aunt Phoebe and Prue."
Confused, Melinda tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Drying her tears, she asked, "Wasn't it a few years ago? Like.. Before I was born? Mom told me this story."
Paige bit her lip. "Not quite... There's more to it than that."
Taking a deep breath, Paige launched into her story. She wasn't sure how Piper would feel about this, but she felt she owed Melinda the truth. She had had too many bad things happen, and too many secrets had been kept. It was time.
When she was done, Melinda stared at Paige with wide eyes.
Paige grimaced. "You deserved the truth, Melly. Your mom would kill me if you knew... But you deserved to know. Now you see why we're all so worried about you? Piper and I have BOTH been there and we don't want that for you."
Melinda nodded once, eyeing her prescription bottle.
"Take them, Mel. Your doctor wouldn't have given them to you if you weren't meant to take them. He knows what's best for you."
"Like your doctors did?" Melinda asked sarcastically, referring to the orderlies that were actually demons and had tried their hardest to kill Paige and Piper so many years ago.
Paige frowned. "Don't, Melinda. That was very different."
Melinda scowled, but she picked up her prescription bottle and popped one of the little white pills, dry swallowing it, then shuddering.
Paige sighed, hugging her niece once more. "Get some rest, okay? Dinner's in an hour."
Melinda nodded, watching her go.
...
"You told her what?"
Paige winced at the high shriek in Piper's voice. She'd expected this kind of reaction, but that didn't make it any easier.
"She deserved to know, Piper," Paige insisted. "She needs to know what we went through, so she doesn't make the same mistakes we did."
"That was different, Paige," Piper snapped, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Demons were involved then! We didn't know we were witches, or sisters for that matter."
Paige scowled. "Right. I know that, Piper. But that doesn't change the fact that she deserves to know the truth – the whole truth."
Piper sighed, shaking her head in dismay. "I know, Paige. I know. I just... I guess I wanted to protect her from what we went through. I didn't want to scare her."
"Well... Maybe scaring her will keep her from cutting again. It could save her life."
Piper hated to admit it, but she agreed.
...
After Paige had left, Melinda had decided to take a nap. She curled up under her covers and rested her head on her pillow, staring at the ceiling. A nap seemed elusive.
And yet every second that passed by, she felt more and more sleepy. And despite struggling to keep her eyes open, Melinda could feel herself drifting.
Maybe it's that damn pill? Melinda wondered, remembering briefly what her doctor had told her about fatigue and anti-depressants, before giving up the fight and letting sleep take her.
Melinda found herself wondering a deserted hallway. The place felt cold and clinical. Doors lined either side of the hallway, each closed and with only a small window at the top center.
"Hello?" Melinda called, shaking slightly. "Is anybody here?"
A soft shuffling caused her to jump, spinning around – to find nothing there.
"Okay, this isn't funny!" Despite the false bravado she tried to place in her tone, Melinda's voice shook with each word.
A chuckle (well, it sounded like a chuckle, at least) sounded from behind Melinda, and she spun around again to find no one there.
"Seriously! Not. Funny." Melinda emphasized every word, finding anger quickly replacing fear. Where was everyone? What was going on?
"This should shut you up, you stupid little witch."
Melinda spun at the sound a voice, whispering into her ear. A man stood behind her, an athame raised, its tip gleaming in the dim fluorescent lights.
Melinda screamed, throwing her hands in front of her face to block the attack. The athame slashed across her arms and a stinging pain gripped her.
The man grinned wickedly. "I'm finally going to finish what I started."
Melinda gasped, waking in a cold sweat. Her heart was pounding. The fear she'd felt in the dream gripped her. It had felt so real! Her arm even stung from where the dream athame had gotten her!
Feeling cold, Melinda looked at her arm, hoping to reassure herself that it had just been a dream. She froze in fear, eyes widening. There was a long slash, healed and scabbed over, on her arm.
It was in the exact same spot as in her dream.
And her sheets were stained with dried brown blood.