How Far?
Chapter Nineteen: Remember
Disclaimer: I do not own Lizzie McGuire.
Matt sat in the shed which was now his studio. It had been three days since Principal Reynolds' speech. He looked a Tuesday's paper and turned to the Region section. He skimmed down the list of obituaries to see Melina's right in front of his face. It was set in stone, Melina was dead. He skimmed through her obituary.
Melina S. Bianco
Hill Ridge- Melina S. Bianco, 14, died on Saturday October 7th 2006. She was born in Baker, Oregon before moving to Hill Ridge at age five, just one year after the death of her dad, Carter Bianco. From age five on, Melina went to Hill Ridge Elementary, then progressing to Hill Ridge Junior High, and then to her freshman year in Hill Ridge High School. She was the Goalie of the Hill Ridge Vikings' field hockey team from seventh to eight grade. She is probably best known through the town of Hill Ridge for getting third place in a state wide spelling bee at the age of 12.
Her survivors include her sister Kelly and her mother, Natalie Bianco-Cox. Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, October 14h at 4:00 pm at the Berkley Funeral home on Dobson Street in Hill Ridge. Contributions in the memory of Melina Bianco may be made to the Hill Ridge chapter of SADD at 172 Terrance Boulevard or by calling 290-3521.
Matt took a pair of scissors and cut Melina's obituary out of the paper, took a thumb tack, and pinned it to the wall. He then took out a large piece of paper and a 2B drawing pencil and started to draw.
His creativity had kept him sane during this whole ordeal. He had locked himself in the shed which he had made into a studio a year back. The drawing took away his stress and helped him express himself.
He picked up the pencil and made soft curvy lines across the paper. The lines came together to form a picture, which looked like an angel wing. The pencil lines were closer together in some areas which created vast detail. The soft tips of the wings were softly sketched. As soon as he finished the wings, he started to draw a long, flowing dress. The dress seemed to flow in the wind, and had a few wrinkles in it, as Matt showed using shading. The dress seemed to be flowing in the wind. The body of what appeared to be an angel started to form.
He looked at the picture and tore it up into tiny pieces. He kept tearing it and tearing it until it was too shredded to be pieced back together. He wanted to forget about Melina. He wanted to forget about meeting her. He wanted to forget about knowing her. He wanted to forget every thought that involved her or caused him to think of her. He sat staring at the Obituary. Everything was real. Melina was dead. Maybe now he could forget that she ever lived because she was dead.
Forgetting was something he could do well, without thinking about it. He forgot about his homework, he forgot about what his privileges were when he was by himself, and he forgot when not to bug Lizzie. It was an involuntary thing for him. As hard as he tried though, he couldn't forget about Melina. Melina was one of those people that even if you met her once, you wouldn't forget her. It was like if you got black acrylic on your white shirt in art class, as many times as you tried to get it out of your shirt, it would still be there.
Matt sat there rummaging through a box. There were some old charcoal pencils, pencil shavings, old paint brushes, and a big white binder. He picked up the binder and brushed the pencil shavings off of it. He then opened it up. It was a photo album from elementary school. Matt was always interested in photography, but Melina had always loved it more. To her a picture was worth a thousand words. He remembered the time where he made a bet with her to see if she could write one thousand words about a photograph, and she succeeded. He didn't even remember what the photo was about.
He opened to the page with pictures of the sixth grade field trip, the one where he and Lanny had missed the bus. Melina had traded some of the pictures she had taken with the ones that Matt had taken while he was with Lanny. Matt and Melina weren't speaking during that trip because he told everyone on the bus about her crush on Andrew Kingsley, who had been on the other bus with his homeroom. While they were at the museum she got revenge on Matt and Lanny (who didn't even have anything to do with the fight) and told them that the bus was leaving at 1:45, instead of 1:30, due to their teacher's request. Matt and Lanny took the bait and were left stranded at the museum. The next day after getting yelled at by their principal, Matt and Lanny apologized to Melina. Melina accepted the apology and they were on their merry way.
He heard a knock at the shed door and stuffed everything into the box and kicked it underneath the desk he was sitting at.
"Matt, are you there," a female voice called from the other side of the door.
"Yeah, who is it," he asked grimly.
"It's Taylor Campbell," the voice replied.
"Come in," he said in a monotone voice.
The door opened with a creak and Taylor stepped in and looked around in awe.
"So, why are you here," Matt asked snidely.
She sighed, "I wanted to see how you're doing. Everyone at school is worried about you."
"That's nice," he replied sarcastically.
"So," she asked out of curiosity. "Is this your studio?"
"I guess you could say that."
"So, are you going to homecoming tomorrow," she asked.
"No," he responded without hesitation.
"Matt—."
She was cut off by Matt, "Listen, I'd like to be alone, so just go."
"Jeez, I'm just trying to be nice. Just because I'm not Melina, doesn't mean you can worship the ground she walked on, while you spit in everyone else's faces," she snapped.
Matt responded, "Okay, burn this into your brain. My best friend is dead!"
"Okay, she was my friend too and I'm not falling over myself while I'm grieving. You just need to calm down, Matt. You're pointing fingers at that David guy while he was just an innocent bystander."
"Taylor, she killed herself because of him! He could have stopped her," he cried.
"Listen, he didn't know this was going to happen, no one did. Everyone is sad and you're being this little drama queen about it. So basically, get whatever is stuck up your ass out, so we can move on," she sighed.
"Leave me the hell alone," he screeched.
"Thanks for the offer," she said as she exited the shed and slammed the door.
Matt knew lots of people hated him for being so bitter, but he couldn't help it. Maybe this is what Melina felt like, bitter and lonely without anyone trying to understand how she felt. Maybe being ignored made her feel bitter. Maybe no one understanding her made feel bitter. Maybe not being loved made her bitter. He wanted to know why she killed herself, but all his mind could do was put the blame on someone else, that person being Gordo.
[A/N: So, what did you think? Good or bad? Please review with your thoughts, thank you.]