I just wanted to mention something quickly before you guys start reading this last chapter of Light in Your Eyes. Remember that Melanie was sick for about four days. Only at the very end did she have the "conversation" with her brother, Brian, and "come back to life". I think I explain the transition well enough, but I don't want anyone to get confused. Enjoy this last chapter. It's also intense, but not in the same way as chapter 10.
Chapter 11
Finally, on the fourth day, June third, Melanie came to. She opened her eyes and whispered, "Brian…"
Everyone looked up suddenly and saw Melanie was conscious.
"Melanie," Mrs. Schwartz breathed with relief. She leaned down and hugged Melanie gratefully.
"Mom…" Melanie murmured. "W-what happened?"
"Well, Melanie, I, um…" Mrs. Schwartz began, but she stopped when she saw the looks Collins and Roger were giving her. She looked at Melanie, who had tears and a look of fear in her eyes. "Melanie, honey, you just rest, OK, sweetie? We'll tell you when you're better."
"Well, OK," Melanie said, and she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.
Maureen put a gentle hand to Melanie's forehead and looked at Collins, Roger, and Mrs. Schwartz. "Her fever's breaking," she said, smiling at them. The others sighed with relief.
"Let's let her sleep for a while," Collins said quietly. The others nodded in agreement.
Collins picked Melanie up and carried her to the other room. He gently set her in the bed and paused for a moment, in case she awoke. But she slept on peacefully, on her way to recovery.
Collins went back out to the living room and sat on a chair in front of Roger.
"Is she all right?" Roger asked him.
Collins nodded. "Yeah, she's sleeping now," he replied.
"Oh, thank God," Roger said, running his fingers through his short, bleached blonde hair.
"Did she tell you anything, Collins?" Mrs. Schwartz asked. "I mean, she must have. I feel like I'm missing something."
"She told me quite a bit, actually," Collins said. "She said it was a reckless, though not necessarily foolish, decision to marry you, Roger. And while she was sorry to do it this way, she couldn't think of any other way to do it, and it was killing her. She said she… wanted to go quietly." Collins looked at Roger. "You understand, don't you?"
After a moment, Roger nodded stiffly. "I suppose," he said, "but she could have said no."
Collins rolled his eyes. "Roger, you know how you would have reacted if she had said no," he said.
Roger nodded again. "I know," he said. He put his head in his hands wearily, and for a moment, he looked much older than he actually was.
"Regardless of what she told me, though," Collins said, looking at Roger, "you two need to talk about this. It may not seem like it to you, but you two have got a serious problem going on and no one's going to fix it for you."
"I noticed," Roger said.
"So you are going to talk to her once she gets better, and no matter what, you are not going to lose your temper, got it?" Collins demanded.
Roger looked up at Collins, angry for a moment. Then he nodded stiffly again. "Yeah, I got it," he said.
"Good," Collins said. He looked at Mrs. Schwartz, who nodded in approval.
Collins leaned back in his chair and tried to relax. Things seemed to be on their way to getting fixed and back to normal. But he couldn't be sure how long that truly would take.
The next morning, Melanie came out to the kitchen in a bathrobe she'd found in the bedroom closet. She saw Roger was sitting at the table with his head on his hands. He'd obviously fallen asleep there.
Melanie hesitated for a moment before going over to him and gently stroking his hair. He jolted awake.
"Oh, my God, Melanie," he said breathlessly. He stood up and immediately took her into his arms. "You're up."
"Yes, I am," Melanie said, looking up at him and he released her. "Would you like to go for a walk or something, so we can talk?"
"I, um… sure, I guess so," Roger said nervously. "Are you OK, though? You were sick for so long…"
"I know. And yes, I'm fine," Melanie said. "I just wish I remembered what happened."
"No, you don't," Roger said firmly.
"I don't?" Melanie asked.
"No," Roger said suddenly, his tone dark. "I mean, if you reallywant me to tell you, I will, but I'd rather not."
Melanie nodded. "I see," she said.
"It's up to you," Roger said, shrugging and stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"OK," Melanie said. "Well, if it's OK with you, I'm going to freshen up. I've been in these clothes for almost a week."
"Your mom brought you clothes," Roger said. "They're by your bed."
"OK," Melanie said, smiling to herself before going back to her bedroom. She grabbed her clothes, quickly showered, and met back up with Roger in the living room.
"Ready?" he asked, looking down at her.
"Ready," Melanie said, looking up at him.
"Do you… want to go to Tompkins Square Park?" Roger asked. "It would be a quiet place to talk."
"Sure," Melanie said.
"And it's not far away," Roger rambled.
"OK," Melanie said, smiling at him.
They walked slowly to the park. Roger took his time walking and stayed right next to Melanie. The longer it took them to get to the park, the more time he could spend alone with Melanie and the more he could pretend they would be getting married within the week.
They arrived at the park and Melanie walked past Roger without saying a word, and sat down on a park bench. Roger was feeling slightly sick at the idea of her leaving, however, so he stayed standing.
"So… you're leaving?" Roger asked suddenly, looking at her. He couldn't hold in his question any longer.
Melanie nodded. "Yes," she said. "I… I need to clear my head and think and try to get my life together again."
"But what about us?" Roger asked.
Melanie stood up, went over to him, and put her hand on his cheek. "I'll always love you," se said, "but you have to admit, we've been backwards from the beginning; first with Brianna, then getting married?"
"We never did, Mel," Roger said, suddenly angry. He wrenched away from her gentle touch.
"I know, but you see what I mean?" Melanie said, looking at him as he walked away from her.
"Yes, Melanie, I do," Roger said, "but I can't accept it."
"Why can't you, not even out of respect for me?" Melanie asked him.
"Oh, you call this earning my respect, running off like you did, with no word?"
"There was word. None of you found it is all. I call Scarsdale my home now and you want to leave it as soon as possible. You never even took me into consideration, but you expect me to cooperate and stay with you?"
"You were the one who did this without me," Roger snapped, "when you know I would have gone with you! I stay here only for you. I belong in the city, not here."
"So am I keeping you from the city? Roger, I have tried everything to stay with you, but nothing has worked. We got into all of this way too fast, way too young. It isn't going to work. I can't keep pretending it will and then having it not work and we both get hurt over and over. It is too hard. I'm losing myself; I almost literally did! I am only eighteen. I can't deal with this. I've tried, but I can't. I just can't," Melanie said.
"We've got people who will help us, Mel," Roger said. "We're not alone. It can work out. We can try really hard and then all our hard work will be worth it, like anything else."
Melanie shook her head. "I don't want to have to try so hard," she said. "We're only in this for the idea of it; and don't you dare deny it, Roger Jay Davis. You know it's true."
"I can't believe you're accusing me of such a thing," Roger yelled.
"We've never really considered what it will be like if we have to spend the next fifty years minimum together, which is what marriage is," Melanie said.
"I just can't believe you're walking out of my life like this, just like that," Roger said angrily, snapping his fingers together. "We never even talked about any of these… insecurities before."
"I'm talking now," Melanie said coolly, looking up at him.
Roger whirled around and put his head in his hands. "I can't take this," he said. "I wanna love you. I wanna marry you. I wanna make love to you, Melanie!"
Melanie nodded, but said nothing. She wasn't agreeing, she was just going along with this.
"Can I ask you something?" Roger asked abruptly, looking back at her.
Melanie nodded. "What?"
"If you hadn't gotten sick and—" Roger began, but he found he was uncomfortable continuing.
"— raped," Melanie said.
"— would you have left without talking to me, with everything so incomplete and unfinished?"
Melanie nodded. "Yes," she said. "It was my plan to leave a letter."
Roger gaped. "I don't believe this," he said. He looked at her angrily. "Show me."
Melanie realized in that moment how easily Roger read her sometimes. She pulled an envelope out of her pocket and gave it to him.
Roger opened it. Inside was the letter. His eyes widened more as he read further.
"Wow," he said, and he threw the letter at her in disgust. "You've got a lot of nerve doing this after I saved your fucking life."
Melanie frowned and shook her head. "You didn't," she said, "Collins did."
"I helped!" Roger yelled.
"Well, yes… a little…" Melanie said coolly. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. My head is bothering me and I don't feel well."
"Fine, then I'm taking you home," Roger said.
"No, Roger, I'm fine," Melanie insisted.
"Damn it, Melanie, I'm taking you home whether you like it or not. Last time you were out on your own, you got raped and nearly killed. I'm not letting that happen again," Roger snarled.
Melanie stood up and walked away from him. "Fine," she said.
They arrived back at Collins' apartment, but he wasn't there. After scribbling out a quick note to Collins, Roger stormed past her and she followed him to the car. The entire way back to Scarsdale, they didn't speak. You could have cut the tension in the air with a knife.
Finally, just as they were arriving at Melanie's house, Roger looked over at her and asked, "Are you going to go to the police about…?"
"No, I'm not," Melanie said abruptly.
"What?" Roger asked, aghast. "Why the hell not?"
"I just don't want to," Melanie said.
"How can you not want to?" Roger asked. "He could have killed you."
"Maybe, but he didn't," Melanie said. "It'll turn into too big of a mess. I'm already too deep as it is."
"I still think you should at least go in and identify the guy. We can press charges and put him behind bars," Roger said.
"Oh, so now you're suddenly caring? Since I guess you care now, I should tell you, there was nothing to identify the guy with. He wore all black and a facemask. Before it all happened, I only ever saw his eyes and his hands," Melanie snapped. Before Roger could retort, she got out of the car and ran up the front walk. She opened the front door and went inside.
Roger sighed and put his head on the steering wheel. Even though Collins said Melanie seemed off, entirely different than normal, he was so frustrated with her. He was trying so hard to love her, and she kept pulling stunts like this. He knew he couldn't keep giving her his heart and having it thrown back at him, or he would go insane.
He sighed and guided the car out of her driveway. He was going to stay with Collins for a while. He knew the philosopher would be able to talk some sense into him. He needed Collins badly right now.
Roger drove back to his house, walked inside, and walked past his mother.
"Roger, honey, what happened? Did you take Melanie home?" Mrs. Davis asked.
"Yes, Mom, I did. I'd rather not talk about it, OK? I'm going to Collins' place for a while. I need to think and rest. I don't know how long I'll be gone," Roger called over his shoulder, not looking at her.
"Well, OK, just call me when you get there," Mrs. Davis said.
Roger went upstairs and packed some things into a suitcase. At least for a while, he was going to leave Scarsdale, if it was what he needed to clear his head and think and heal. He was doing now what Melanie had done to him.
Words were going through his head. The idea for a song he could write. He could already hear the melody and the opening guitar chords. It was gentle and soothing. He needed to vent his feelings somehow, and he'd found out long ago that writing songs was his way of doing that, even if he hadn't had any true inspiration worth anything.
Roger walked over to his desk, sat down in the chair, picked up a pen and began to write. It surprised him how easily the words flowed onto the paper. The feeling was so strong that his emotions easily translated into words.
I can't remember the last time that we kissed goodbye
All our I love you's were just not enough to survive
Something your eyes never told me
But it's only now too plain to see
A brilliant disguise when you hold me
And I'm free
I've been thinking and here's what I've come to conclude
Sometimes the distance is more than two people can use
But how could I have known, girl
It was time in that space you would need?
Darling, tonight, I could hold you and you would know
But would you believe?
There's a light in your eyes I used to see
There's a place in your heart where I used to be
Was I wrong to assume that you were waiting for me?
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me?
Cards and phone calls and photograph pictures of you
Constant reminders of all the things you get used to
Is there a chance in hell or heaven
That there's still something here to belong?
Or do you just pick up the pieces after they fall?
But after all
There's a light in your eyes I used to see
And a song in the words that you spoke to me
Was I wrong to believe in your melody?
There's a light in your eyes
Did you leave that light burning for me?
Should I keep on waiting?
Or does love keep on fading away?
Fading away
Roger put down the pen and took a deep breath. He looked around at his room and all that was familiar to him, that of which he was about to leave for as long as possible. So many things in his room, in his house, in this town reminded him of Melanie. He knew he had to get away from it, at least for a little while. If things worked out a certain way, though, he would never return to Scarsdale.
This is the end of Light in Your Eyes. I want to thank rosablasifann08, my beta and buddy, for writing part of this last chapter for me. Without you, I probably wouldn't have been able to finish it, since you got me past that one awkward part (you know where I mean.) I was finally able to correlate the song into the story. The entire song is not there for a reason: because I want to use the last part of the lyrics for the sequel. You'll see what I mean once the sequel's work begins. I knew from the beginning how I wanted to correlate the song to the story; it just took FOREVER to figure out exactly how. I think it worked out rather well. Go to their Myspace if you want to hear how the song sounds. I love it. :) I know, I know, I'm not very nice to my female OC's and I'm not very nice to Roger much, either. But this is the way the story worked out, as I actually had planned once for it to do.
I do want to write a sequel to it, since I left it off at a very open-ended spot. I will start writing the sequel as soon as possible. Keep an eye out for it. I don't know how long it will be until I post up the new sequel, especially within the next couple of weeks, when my summer job starts getting really busy and I won't have much time to write again. These two chapters alone being written and finished were rather surprising to me. I'll do my best, though; I'm not going to purposely leave you guys hanging for long.
Thanks for being patient with me as I struggled to update this story at times. I think it all turned out rather well, don't you? As always, don't forget to review. I love feedback and haven't heard from some of you guys in a long time. Oh, and also, with my new job, I work Monday through Friday, 8-5, and have weekends off to be free and write and do whatever I want! Woo hoo! :)
Quick note to rosablasifann08: I know I gave you the honors of writing the "conversation" between Brian and Melanie, but I got a brainwave and just couldn't stop. I don't know how much of it you've written so far, but still, I apologize. Thank you for volunteering, anyway. I do want to see your version of it and I may still use your version. You rock my socks off, chica. This story is dedicated to you. :)
Until next time, lots of love,
Renthead07