56

Reunited: Day Eighty-Six

Melanie stood at the top of the staircase, staring into the dark abyss below. Everyone around her remained silent, not wanting to rush her or do anything to cause her to change her mind. Otis's cabin was too small to hold everyone, so Simon, Sam, Kevin, Howie, Nick, and two of the police officers were waiting outside, watching through the door and windows. All of the Spice Girls, AJ, Brian, Officer Shaw, and Lucy were crowded in the kitchen and sitting area.

"Would it help if someone else went down first?" Victoria asked softly as she wrapped one arm around Melanie's waist.

Melanie shrugged, not taking her eyes off the staircase.

"You don't have to go down there," Victoria assured her. "We can leave right now if you want."

"Can I go down first?" AJ asked. He flipped up the light switch, illuminating the small basement with the single exposed bulb hanging from the ceiling in the centre of the room. He looked back at Melanie, who nodded slowly as she took a step back away from the stairs. He smiled sympathetically at her and slowly made his way down the stairs, disappearing from view as he stepped away from the bottom of staircase.

"You know we're not going to do anything if you go down there," Victoria stated. "If we were going to do anything, we easily could have forced you down there already, right?"

Melanie looked back at the crowd of people behind her. No one moved toward her or looked like they were getting impatient with her.

"I'm going to head down there, Melanie," said Officer Shaw. "If you want, you can just come down the first few stairs and you can tell me where they did everything, all right?" He gently squeezed her shoulder and followed AJ into the basement.

Melanie listened closely as Officer Shaw opened the cupboard and told AJ about what the forensic team had already found and she looked down at the yellow bracelet her friends had made her wear. There was concern from everyone that visiting the cabin would be too traumatizing for her and they worried she might try to run away. They all decided that having Melanie wear the GPS tracker was necessary so they wouldn't lose her in the woods again.

The bracelet was relatively loose around her wrist, but she still found it uncomfortable, knowing it would prevent her from escaping if she needed to.

"We'll take it off as soon as we get back to the car," Victoria assured her, watching as Melanie pulled anxiously at the bracelet.

"I won't run," Melanie squeaked, looking back at Victoria desperately.

"Ok", said Victoria. "We still need to keep it on for a little while longer though, all right?"

Melanie choked back a sob and hugged her arms to herself as she returned her gaze to the staircase.

"This is too much," said Victoria. "You don't have to do this. Let's take you back to the hotel and forget about all of this." She pulled Melanie close and wrapped her arms around her, immediately feeling how badly Melanie was shaking.

"Melanie, did they do it right here?" Officer Shaw asked, appearing at the foot of the staircase. "In this room?" Melanie shook her head, clinging tightly to Victoria.

"You should be able to see everything down here from that second step," said AJ, joining Officer Shaw at the bottom of the staircase. "That's really as far as you would need to go and you can just point from there."

Fighting back tears, Melanie stepped away from Victoria and looked at the staircase once more. She gripped Victoria's hand tightly as she apprehensively descended the first step, not trusting her legs to keep her up as they trembled uncontrollably beneath her. She began breathing quickly and stared fearfully at the remaining stairs leading her back to the setting of her living nightmare.

"Melanie, look at me" Victoria stated as she descended a few steps and stood in front of Melanie, forcing her to meet her eye. "You do things because you want to, not because we tell you to, understand?" Melanie considered Victoria's offer and nodded tearfully before slowly and shakily descending the rest of the stairs. Her body grew increasingly more tense the closer she got to the bottom and she was finding it harder and harder to breathe. Once they were both in the basement, she let go of Victoria's hand and backed herself into the corner, prepared for the trio to grab her and pull her into the room.

The basement was unfinished with plywood walls and a dirt floor. There were various animal skins hanging from the walls and the only door was to the cupboard beneath the staircase where Melanie had escaped from. There was a chill in the air and it smelled of damp earth and mildew.

"You can stay there, sweetheart," AJ assured her, staying on the other side of the room to help Melanie feel safe. "Just let us know where everything happened."

"Was this where they kept you?" Victoria gasped, approaching the cupboard beneath the stairs and looking inside. "Oh, Melanie!" She cupped her hand over her mouth and looked at the shelf Melanie had been chained to.

Melanie whimpered, pointing toward the wall behind AJ and Officer Shaw. The two men turned and looked at the black bear fur hanging from the wall. Officer Shaw lifted the skin, expecting to find a door, but there was no sign of one. He knocked on the wall, not noticing anything unusual or hollow, and he pushed against it in hopes of opening a secret passage, but the wall didn't budge.

"What's here, sweetheart?" Officer Shaw asked softly, turning back to Melanie curiously.

"Keep talking, honey," AJ coaxed. "You're allowed to speak here. Nothing is going to happen."

Melanie stared fearfully at the wall for a moment before apprehensively taking a few steps toward it. She stopped in the centre of the room, too scared to get any closer. Officer Shaw and AJ stepped aside and moved over to the cupboard where Victoria was standing, hoping to make Melanie more comfortable. She watched them and fought back tears as she cautiously approached the wall and slid two small panels of wood to the side. A section of the wall buckled as she pushed against the panels and it slowly swung out toward her. She took a few steps back, desperately trying to fight back tears as she looked away from the passage she'd opened.

Officer Shaw's jaw dropped as he watched the passage slowly swing open. He waited, not wanting to rush into the other room and scare Melanie away. She took a few more steps and choked back a sob, still looking away from the room.

"Melanie, you can go upstairs now, darling," Victoria instructed, hoping to make Melanie feel safe. Melanie didn't respond, but took a few more steps back so her back was against the side of the staircase. Victoria slowly walked toward Melanie and gently pulled her close, wrapping her arms around her and looking over at the darkened secret altar room.

Officer Shaw examined the panels Melanie had pulled aside, impressed with how well-built the secret panel was. He extracted his flashlight from his belt and walked slowly into the room, finding a light switch on the wall and turning it on to illuminate the area.

"Holy shit," he gasped, nearly dropping his flashlight as he caught sight of the bloody altar in the centre of the room. There were candles, books, and small sculptures littering shelves around the perimeter of the room. There was a large amount of dried blood in one corner of the room and all around the floor next to the altar. There was a table with brass goblets, a dagger, and more books next to the door where he'd entered the room, and there was another door at the opposite end of the room.

He ventured inside, careful not to disturb any of the evidence within the room. He walked around the altar, observing the clips at one end where Melanie's wrists had been fastened, shaking his head with disgust as he walked to the opposite end of the room to open the other door.

AJ took a few steps into the room, not daring to go in too far. His eyes went straight to the altar and he found he couldn't look away. Victoria leaned back away from Melanie, trying to see Officer Shaw around AJ, who was blocking her view of the room. As Officer Shaw opened the door, Melanie looked back and gasped, hearing the familiar squeak of the hinges.

Officer Shaw turned on the light, illuminating the room where Otis had taken Melanie to beat her. Her bloody handprints were still on the wall along with splatter from when the straps cut deep into her skin.

Melanie's face paled and she panted as she looked over at Officer Shaw. Victoria quickly turned Melanie's face away and forced the girl to look at her.

"I'm not letting you go in there," Victoria stated seriously. "You did what we needed you to do. Go upstairs and wait for us, okay?"

Melanie looked at Victoria, her eyes filled with terror and unshed tears. She swallowed hard, her breathing still laboured as she nodded her head. Victoria gently turned Melanie away and coaxed her toward the staircase, assuring Melanie she was safe and no one was going to stop her.

Melanie ascended the stairs as quickly as her trembling legs would allow and she scanned the occupants of the living room and kitchen apprehensively. They all looked at her with concern, some asking her if she was all right as she slowly stepped outside. Brian was immediately at her side, catching her as her legs gave out and he gently guided her over to the van and opened the door so she could sit down. Her face had lost all colour and she was shaking uncontrollably, not meeting Brian's eye as he knelt to her level.

"Talk to me, honey," said Brian. "It's all over. You're okay. Just let me know that you can hear me."

Melanie was struggling to breathe and she began tugging at the tracking bracelet on her wrist, desperately using her nails and teeth to try to get it off.

"We'll take it off," said Brian, trying not to sound panicked. "Just try to calm down and we'll cut it off."

Now fully panicking, Melanie pushed past him and stumbled away from the van, dropping to her knees as she gasped for breath. Brian raced to her side once more and called to Howie to grab something to cut the bracelet off in hopes that it would settle Melanie's nerves. Howie raced into Otis's kitchen and grabbed a knife from the block on the cupboard, then ran out to where Melanie and Brian were kneeling next to the van. Lucy followed quickly behind him, realizing she needed to step in to get Melanie calmed down.

Melanie looked up at Howie as he approached her with the knife and her eyes widened with terror. She scrambled to her feet and attempted to run, but Brian quickly grabbed her and pulled her back, gripping both of her arms tightly so she was facing him.

"We're just going to cut it off," he stated quickly. "We'll cut off the bracelet and then we'll leave."

"Brian, you need to calm down, too," Lucy warned softly. "She's probably feeding off of your reaction as well." She tried to get Melanie to focus on her as Howie gently gripped Melanie by the wrist. She protested and squirmed to get away from the two boys as Howie quickly slid the knife under the bracelet, sawing through the silicon until it snapped and fell from her wrist. Without a word, he went back inside to take the knife out of Melanie's sight.

"See?" Brian stated, attempting to sound calm. "That was it."

They looked back as Victoria and AJ walked out of the cabin. Victoria was in fits of sobs and was quickly gathered into Emma's arms while AJ walked off and lit a cigarette, unable to cope with the emotions that were flooding through his mind after what he'd seen.

"Melanie, we're going to let you go," Lucy stated softly as she returned her attention to the girl. "I need you to promise me you're not going to run off. I know you need a moment to sort everything out, so we're going to just take a minute, okay?"

Melanie nodded, still breathing quickly with her eyes wide. Brian slowly released his grip on Melanie's arm, not completely trusting that she wasn't going to take off.

"You did a really brave thing," Lucy encouraged. "It took a lot of courage to go back down there and not many people could have done that. Now, you never have to go down there ever again. The police are going to go through there and then it's going to get boarded up so no one can ever use that room, okay?"

Melanie nodded shakily, her eyes darting from Lucy to Brian and over to the cabin as Simon, Sam, Geri, and Mel stepped outside to join Nick, Howie, and Kevin. Mel moved to approach Melanie, but Simon quickly stopped her, instructing the girls to leave Melanie alone until Brian and Lucy could get her settled.

"Sod off," Mel snorted, pushing Simon away and approaching Melanie with purpose. Simon rolled his eyes, not bothering to try to call her back, knowing it was a lost cause. Ignoring the protests from Lucy and Brian, Mel pulled Melanie aside, out of earshot, and looked her in the eye as she spoke deliberately to the girl.

Lucy looked at Brian with confusion, not knowing how to react to Mel's direct approach. Brian met her gaze, looking just as confused as she did as he got to his feet and looked over at Mel and Melanie. They couldn't hear what Mel was saying, but Melanie was nodding fearfully and clenching her hands tightly at her side as she kept her gaze glued to Mel.

"Come here," said Mel, she pulled Melanie toward the cabin by her arm and she bent over to pick up a large rock that filled her palm. She took Melanie by the wrist and plopped the rock in Melanie's hand, then pointed at the cabin.

"I promise, you'll feel loads better," Mel stated. "It'll be like a big fuck you to that lot and I'll be right here to back you up if anyone says anything."

Melanie looked at Mel apprehensively and attempted to hand the rock back to Mel, but Mel shook her head and crossed her arms.

"This one's for you," Mel stated firmly. "Do you want to mess with me right now?" Melanie shook her head fearfully, her eyes wide. "Well, neither does this lot. They've got to get through me to get to you, all right? Go for it. Show that lot of assholes they can't hurt you anymore."

Melanie continued to stare at Mel fearfully and glanced over at the cabin. She swallowed hard and gripped the rock tightly in her hand.

"Don't just toss it over there," Mel stated fiercely. "Do it like you mean it. Take all of that shit you're feeling right now and put it right back into that cabin. Like this." She picked up a rock and flung it at the cabin, missing the window, but hitting the side panel hard enough to chip the paint.

Realizing Mel's tactic was working, Lucy carefully approached the two of them and smiled at Melanie.

"What are you feeling right now, Melanie?" Lucy asked.

Melanie looked at her, a tear trickling down her cheek as her emotions were pulled in all different directions. Her chin wobbled and she tightened her grip on the rock.

"I hate them," she squeaked, looking back at Lucy. Lucy nodded and smiled.

"That's good," she responded. "I think all of us would feel the same thing."

"I'm scared," Melanie whimpered, dropping her gaze and letting another tear fall.

"It's all right," said Mel, wrapping one arm around Melanie and pulling her close. "There's nothing to be scared of. It's just us lot here and we're not going to do anything to you, right?"

Melanie set her jaw and glared tearfully at the building that had been haunting her for months. She focused on the hate she felt towards Otis and the cult members, pushing aside the fear and the depression, wanting nothing more than to hurt them they way they'd hurt her. She pulled her arm back and growled as she heaved the rock toward the kitchen window.

The glass shattered into hundreds of pieces with a satisfying crash and the rock could be heard bouncing off the door of the fridge and landing on the wood floor. Geri and the officers immediately raced up the stairs and outside to see what had happened. Officer Shaw looked at the window and scanned the group of musicians questioningly as Nick pointed to Melanie and smirked.

Melanie stared at the shattered glass, suddenly feeling a sense of calm and satisfaction. Her breathing had slowed, her muscles had relaxed, and she had the overwhelming desire to do it again.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Mel chuckled as Melanie wiped the tears from her cheeks. She smiled sheepishly and nodded, her smile fading as she looked over at Officer Shaw who had his arms crossed over his chest. She looked at Mel nervously, wondering if she'd just made a huge mistake as Officer Shaw approached the two of them. He put his hand on her shoulder and looked over at the mess of glass in the dirt beneath the broken window. He clicked his tongue and sighed as he pulled his baton from the back of his belt. Melanie tensed and watched him anxiously.

"I guess we had a few vandals in the area," Officer Shaw stated, winking at Melanie as he handed her the baton. "Luckily, all they destroyed was the upper floor. Go hard, sweetheart."

Melanie looked at Officer Shaw and smiled as she gripped the baton tightly. She stepped back into the cabin and stood in front of Otis's television, clutching the baton in both hands, and pulling it back over her shoulder to gain momentum before smashing the screen into pieces.