Lost In Purple

Chapter 13: Losing A Friend

The JOX house is bustling once more with drunk monsters atop their front deck. Heavy rock instrumentals blare through the wooden walls which annoys all the other fraternities and sororities down the street. There's at least one member from each house standing on their lawns with their arms crossed. I'm assuming they wouldn't normally mind, but it's literally the night of midterms; Everybody's exhausted and would like to get a healthy nine hours of sleep. I guess the JOX had a different idea.

Faust and Omar push me into the house where rainbow lights are flashing onto every surface available. Many monsters are swinging from light fixtures and there are even some sleeping soundly on randomly placed chairs in the minuscule living room and dining rooms. The house looks absolutely revolting in every sense. There's spilt alcohol on every square inch of the floor, partially eaten pieces of pizza on every piece of furniture, and couple pools of vomit in various corners of the house. I don't understand how people even live in this house.

"Welcome to the funnest place on campus!" Faust exclaims.

Funnest? What are you? A first grader? Also, this place looks like the dark underpass full of druggies that every city has, it's the exact opposite of fun!

"Yoooooooo… Faust! Siiiiick party maaaaan! Where've you been duuuude?" A lanky, yellow monster mumbles looking like he's about to fall over.

"Come on man, don't tell me you drank the whole pack without Omar and I," Faust responds putting a hand on the monsters back.

"But you took sooooooo long Faust. I got bored waiting for ya. So I just… opened them up... and drank 'em. Wait is that you Faust? Oh man, where've you been maaaaaan?" The monster slurs.

Wow this guy is HAMMERED! I could not possibly be more uncomfortable considering the fact that I have no idea what to say to people when they're drunk. I'm afraid I'll say something offensive and they'll try to hurt me. It also doesn't help that every guy in this house looks just as drunk.

"Hey Omar, would you take him outside for now? I'll join you guys in a second, I just want to introduce Melanie to the guys," Faust requests.

Omar nods his little head and directs the monster outside. Just before I close the door, I hear the monster scream at the tops of his lungs which elicits a sharp pain in my head. I almost breakdown in hopelessness cause I really can't deal with another headache right now.

"Come with me Melody. Hey, there's no need to be so nervous," Faust says pointing to my lowered ears, "nothings going to happen with me around."

Faust takes my hand and wraps his fingers in between mine. I try to escape but he's infinitely stronger than me, and pulls me towards the kitchen. I'll be honest, he's never done that before and it really bothers me since I've never seen Faust to be anything more than a friend.

"Hey Red!" Faust roars.

The big red JOX president who I've seen several times over the semester turns towards us after grabbing an unopened beer can. "Oh, is this the pretty lady you've been talking about Faust?" He asks with a low growl.

The rest of the JOX, excluding Omar, walk up behind him almost as if they actually were his personal minions. A feeling deep inside myself is telling me to get out of the house. The sharp pains striking the sides of my head make themselves known every few seconds.

"Faust, I'm not kidding, let me go," I whisper into his ear. He ignores me as the JOX members get closer. I also notice Percy and Baboso eyeing me up and down as if I'm modeling for them. They clearly see me as a toy and not a person.

"Melanie this is Red, Percy, Baboso, Dirk, and George," Faust says pointing to each member. I immediately recognize the big purple one as Percy, and the blue slug as Baboso. George is also a monster who's in my scaring class but we've never met before. However, Dirk is a new one. He's a yellow, ball shaped monster with orange spiked hair and a tail that's like a mace bludgeon. All their grotesque faces look at me with a smirk.

"You have a really good taste in friends Faust," Percy spouts before wolf whistling at me.

I gag and try pulling Faust away from his 'friends.' I just know that something bad is going to happen if I stay here any longer. I start to panic, I feel my breathing quicken and my legs start shaking violently. I try my best to hide it but to no avail. Red positions him self besides me and mutters, "She looks familiar…"

I feel a tidal wave of fear pulse through my body. I pull my hand as hard as possible which causes Faust to nearly fall over and knock over the table. While the other JOX rush to Faust, I race for the front door while weaving through the partygoers who are oblivious to what just happened to me. I dive over a couch and slide under a large chair that contains a fat sleeping student. The doors swings open and reveals Omar flying next to the person that Faust said he would talk to later. He looks startled to see me as distraught as I am.

I sprint down the front steps and onto the grass to see Javier and Chip running towards me looking worried, but as they're about to speak, so does Faust who's coming up behind me with Omar.

"Melanie!" They both say in sync. I feel a devastatingly painful sting in the front of my head which makes me grasp the side of my head.

Javier, Chip, Faust, and Omar stop dead in their tracks as if they're in a duel at the center of a western town. Omar's eyes go wide and he retreats back into the JOX house.

"What are you doing at the JOX party Melanie?" Chip asks narrowing his eyes.

"I-I didn't mean to. I was going b-back to my dorm and I ran into Faust an-" I say before I'm interrupted.

"You're friends with the RORs aren't you Melody," Faust's growls. His brows are furrowed and his arms are crossed. "I thought I told you to stay away from them."

"Why can't I make my own friends Faust?" I ask desperately.

"BECAUSE THEY DON'T DESERVE TO CALL YOU A FRIEND MELODY!" He screams back.

Faust's voice grasps the attention of the PNK and HSS girls who were all silently watching the party in their pajamas. They all start power walking towards us in attempts to figure out what's happening. The street is almost silent now aside from the heavy rock music playing inside the JOX house.

I see Omar and the rest of the JOX members flush out of the house in genuine confusion. I open my mouth to give him my side of the story by saying, "Faust they're not what you sa-"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK OF THEM! I TOLD YOU SEVERAL TIMES THIS SEMESTER THAT THEY'RE VAIN, APATHETIC, AND EGO CENTRIC PIECES OF SHIT! YOU CANNOT CHANGE MY MIND!" He snaps.

This causes everyone on the street to take a step back, except the RORs who all now stand behind me with their arms crossed and their eyes narrowed. Johnny, Chet, and Bruiser must have snuck up behind me while he was screaming at me.

"Melanie, What happened?" Johnny asks with angry eyes.

His question is overwritten by Faust's voice. "How do you know them?!"

I freeze up and stutter. I've never felt as stuck as I do now. It's almost like being stuck in a box that has walls that close in around you. With every word that Faust says, the walls move in closer. "Melody I can't believe you right now! Do you not trust me? Do you hate us?"

"N-no," I whine feeling another agonizing exertion in my skull.

"I would say so," Red screams from the JOX house, "She's the one who helped Rios and Goff beat up our boys!" He points to both Percy and Baboso who give me nasty looks. Great, so they did figure that out.

"Ooooh. So you do hate us! So all those years of friendship meant nothing to you! That's it, either you choose us or them. And if you choose them, I will no longer be your friend!" Faust roars.

"Of course they meant something!" I finally manage to scream back with tears welling up in my eyes. "They meant everything to me!"

I feel like time stops entirely once the first tear drop falls off my face. I feel the agonizing pains in my head vanish as my body starts to feel uncomfortably warm. My hair feels almost weightless and I hear an airy harmonization within my voice.

"Because… Because,"

Johnnys POV

The entire street is in complete and utter shock. The HSS girls look at Melanie with sorrow and wide eyes, their pupils almost nonexistent within their irises. The PNK girls all have their hands over their mouths as they gasp with worry. Javier, Chip, and Bruiser all look forward with misery. The JOX are all standing with no emotion as they watch Melanie.

Melanie inhales, almost sounding like she's in pain, and starts twitching involuntarily. Her head moves in disturbing ways and her mouth emits hair raising sobs. Her hair floats in the air and the spaces in between her scales glow a bright blue. She looks like a ghost, a banshee. She starts weeping as if she's lost someone close to her. Every breathe reverberates down the street and sends a bone chilling shiver through our bodies as if we were all in a blizzard. None of us have seen anything like this before.

"Melody?" Britney asks reaching for Melanie's arm.

Once her fingers touch Melanie's arm, she flinches and lets out a helpless yelp which pierces everyone's ears.

"Because I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you! I wouldn't be a scarer if it wasn't or you! So if I have to choose… between the people who made my life worth while… then I choose none of you," She sobs.

Melanie then walks down the street while maintaining her nearly paranormal appearance and leaving everyone speechless. After about another 20 feet she races towards the amphitheater, with her tail droopily swinging behind her. I chase after her and leave everyone behind without a care in the world because nothing matters more to me right now than her. I follow Melanie's blue glow down the street and onto the amphitheater road. She turns into the trees once we're about to reach the theater and I follow the sounds of her cries, every sob breaking my heart more than the last. All she ever did was try to avoid confrontation with people, but no matter what she did, it always found its way back to her.

Melanie and I dash through the trees with leaves crunching beneath our feet and branches snapping as we step on them. Usually she's terrified to be in this part of campus alone, but now that she's exploring it during an unstable mental breakdown, it's very obvious that she doesn't care about what happens to her anymore. Her cries still echo when we eventually exit the campus jungle and race along the riverside that contains no aquatic monsters. She runs underneath the bridge that connects the multiple scaring related schools with the rest of the campus, and sits with her knees to her chest and face buried in her arms.

"Melanie," I say trying to get her attention so that I don't scare her.

She lifts her head to show me her tears that gravitate downwards into the dirt. "Just…stay…away," she says hyperventilating.

"I'm not leaving you here alone Melanie," I say getting down on all fours and slowly advancing towards her.

"Stop!" She screams while crawling away.

"Melanie I know you're upset, but you can't stay down here," I say.

"I'll stay…down here if… it means… neither of you…will hate me," she wails, harmonizing in two different tones and sharply inhaling every few words. It's amazing yet terrifying to hear her normal voice and a high-pitched, airy tone on top of it.

"I don't know about Faust, but I promise you when I say that I could never hate you," I argue.

Melanie remains motionless. I see more tears drop down from her magenta eyes and hit the ground below her. Her sobs echo along the rippling waters in front of us and bounce back with a resonating intensity. After a couple of steps, I finally get close enough to her and pick her up so I can put her in my lap comfortably. She digs her claws into my sweater and buries her face into my chest. I wrap my arms around her and give her a gentle hug in hopes that she can find the strength to calm down.

"If I knew you were friends with Faust, I would have keep you far away to keep this from happening Mel," I say looking into the river.

"I'm...sorry," she whimpers. I shush her before she could continue any further.

"You don't have any reason to feel like it's your fault Mel. It's Faust who thinks you can't make your own decisions and be who you want to be. That's simply the JOX mindset," I explain.

I hug her tighter. Yet another innocent woman who fell victim to JOX manipulation. Never did I think I would have to go through this again three years later.

"Faust is...going to hate me... from now on isn't he?," Melanie whimpers while taking short breaths in between her words.

"I wish I could say he won't but if he's treating you like this, not taking your feelings into consideration while expecting loyalty in return for being your friend, then you never should have been friends with him in the first place," I attest.

I feel Melanie's claws dig into my fur a bit more. Saying that might have made her feel even more despair. "But…but…"

"Melanie… you try so hard to make everyone happy. You've accepted dumb little lunch invitations, you've listened to everyone's stories or struggles that would otherwise mean nothing to you, you've gone to parties you never wanted to and helped keep them stable out of the worry that someone might be hurt or inconvenienced. You've even put up with the unruly behavior of many guys at your expense, and kept secrets from them. All of that to keep as many people as possible by your side," I explain.

Melanie looks up to me with her eyes spewing out tears. I can tell she's scared, scared to be alone in a world where nobody will help her or listen to her. I can see it in her eyes that she believes she has no voice, no importance. I wouldn't have believed it if someone told me about how broken she is. I mean she's part of a family on the brink of collapsing with a dream that seems just out of reach. I wouldn't have ever guessed she struggled with so much by just looking at her.

"You told me earlier today that I don't have to pretend to be tough when I'm around you; That I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not. So why is it that you have to? Why do you have to pretend that you like who Faust is? Why do have to put up with what Faust wants you to?" I ask.

Melanie looks away and rests the side of her head on my chest. I understand that she doesn't have an answer to that, so I don't push her anymore than I already have. I put my arms under her legs and proceed to carry her out from under the bridge.

"I'll take you home," I say gently.

I swing her around to my back and I lean down to walk on all fours. She wraps her arms around my neck and I sprint to the dormitory making sure to keep her stable. I lunge the farthest I've ever lunged, and I run the fastest I've ever gone. The pathways are empty, and the street lights are dimly lighting the areas surrounding them. I follow them all the way to the dormitory, where everyone is either away or sleeping. I stand back up, swing her around into my arms, and hold her as I ask, "Which room is yours?"

Melanie takes out a key from her pocket and I take it. It's a room on the top floor. I push open the dormitory door and proceed to climb the stairs until I find her door drowned in darkness. I unlock the door, walk into the room, and quickly close the door silently like I would while scaring. Melanie refuses to let go of me, and so do I. I hug her tightly as I take her to bed and sit on the edge. Her blue glow starts to fade and her crying devolves into sniffling as the night turns to morning. Her hair becomes weighted again and overall turns back into the Melanie I've come to know. The clock reads midnight and the moons aura peeks into the room, shining down onto Melanie who still won't let me go.

"Johnny... I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she sniffles while still sounding like a ghost.

"About what?" I ask gently.

"That my friend was a JOX. I know you guys hated each other but I didn't think he would consider hating me if I did become friends with you," she explains with tears welling up in her eyes once more.

"I could care less about that. I know losing a friend is hard, so I can't be mad at you for something like that. But I would like to know why you were there in the first place," I request.

"Faust forced me to go and meet the rest of the fraternity. I think Red was about to figure out that I was the one who hurt Percy when Javier and Chip were fighting them. Percy must have been able to describe me, when we ran away. So I ran away and... you know the rest," Melanie reveals.

I say nothing and keep hugging her. If I had the chance, I would keep hugging her for as long I live. However, a thought crossed my mind. Do I stay here and make sure she's not alone with her thoughts, or do I leave to let her think things through.

"Mel do you need me to stay the night?" I ask.

She removes her arms from around my neck and slumps down. "No. Sorry. I just didn't want to be alone, but you can go," she whimpers.

I take my hand, put my pointer finger under her chin, and lift her head up so that she can look at me. "I promise Melanie… I promise that I won't leave you behind."