Lost In Purple
Chapter 73: Aqua's Gaze
Melanie's POV
"You're going to see Johnny? Are you sure you don't want to rest, Moondrop?" My Mom questions while grabbing my cheeks and squeezing them.
"Errm…yeth," I say with an unintentional lisp.
Mom lets go of me and returns to the kitchen where she stirs a pot of chicken noodle soup for my Dad. He's gotten a cold somehow and Mom won't let him have anything else for breakfast. Even after staying in bed for the past few weeks, he has contracted a cough and scratchy throat that's been making him more irritable than before.
"It's not that I don't want you to see him, but I feel like you're being a little too reckless right now. What will happen if you start feeling unwell after you head over there? You know that I won't be able to get there quick enough if that's the case," She worries.
"W-well Johnny said that he wanted to do something today and he's been asking for me to see him ever since he brought me home a few days ago…I have to talk to Professor King about returning to class next year too, so…you know…I thought that this would, um, be a good time," I respond nervously.
That whole drive home from the hospital was a wild one. Johnny and Javier ended up taking me to some family restaurant downtown. I can't remember what it was called because I was too busy punching Johnny the whole time for not eating anything at all that day. How could he become a proper Scarer if he doesn't put anything nutritious in his system? He can't go around looking like the most bendable twig in existence just because he 'wasn't hungry.' He has to be strong to be a Scarer. Anyways, after I forced him to get the fanciest salad, biggest slab of meat, and the healthiest dessert on the menu, he and Javier dropped me off here. My mom about passed out when she saw me walk through the door, and sent my Dad downstairs to see me. Escaping his grasp was an entirely new problem because he wouldn't let me break away from his hug and kept me on the couch for about two hours before carrying me up to bed. It always surprises me how strong my Dad is because he isn't necessarily a bodybuilder of a monster, but he's not some sort of weakling either. Overall, it was still kind of cute because it reminded me of when I was a kid. Ever since that night, I've been sleeping and eating…because my parents refused to let me do anything else.
My mother whines before looking back over to me worriedly. "I don't know Moondrop, I'm really afraid of you being so far away.. I mean, you've been so tired recently…"
"Mom pleeeease? I've been taking my medication and everything, Johnny has been constantly reminding me and I'm going to go insane if I spend any more time in bed," I beg.
Mom hunches over while scratching the top of her hand. I can tell she's scared, but I've been feeling completely normal since the doctor told me that I don't need to be medically observed anymore.
"…A-alright Melody. You're a big girl now so it's not my place to tell you what you can and cannot do. I trust you," Mom croaks.
I would normally be grateful and excited, but I can see the pain behind her eyes after she finishes saying that. She's petrified of what happened with her parents will happen to me, and that she'll lose my Dad and I which leaves her all alone to fend for herself. This decision is slowly beginning to feel like an ultimatum where I decide who I love more.
"…Mom I….I don't want to leave you and Dad, but…," I stammer.
"No no no, it's alright. I've just always worried about you and your father parting ways. You leaving for college was rough for him, and I just don't want something to happen to you and then your father becomes more depressed than he is. As long as you tell him where you're going and what you're doing, then I'll accept your decision to go see him," My Mom explains.
I nod my head before giving her the biggest hug I can muster, resting my head atop her shoulder and closing my eyes. I don't say it out loud, but I promise her that I'll be back safe and without anything to worry about.
I'm then pushed away and she goes back to cooking. "Tell Johnny that I say hello then."
"Ok, I will," I respond.
With a twist, my feet bring me to the stairs and I climb up to the tenebrous hallway. It makes me wonder if I've somehow entered a horror film, and I wonder if there's going to be a thick fog that will build up the further in I go. Of course I'm over exaggerating, but it feels a little…off, especially since my Mom and Dads bedroom has no light emanating from underneath the door. I find myself facing the door, inches away from rotating the doorknob, and wondering if Dad is sleeping and shouldn't disturb him. But…he's waiting for soup and is more than likely to be awake at 9:30 in the morning. There's also the possibility that he has a headache and decided to turn the lights off. Whatever the case is, I decide to open the door silently and make sure that the ancient door doesn't creak. I then pop my head in the room and see my Dad sitting on his side of the bed with his feet on the ground, his back turned to me, and looking at the full sized mirror on the wall. It takes me a second to realize that he looks different…in a way that I've never seen him before. Streaks of his blue wolven fur have turned a sapphire blue while others have turned vantablack. His two straight horns look to have been cracked and begun to glow white within the cracks, and he's observing his withered claws that are being bared and retracted. He starts stretching his fingers apart and shows that his hands are now webbed too. His blue and black mane levitates like mine and compact into tentacle like protrusions that shake and jerk around like Cthulhu's tendrils. There's also aqua blue eye patterns similar to what's on a peacocks feathers, which at a closer look, wrap all around his body. All of that is topped off by his body being drenched in sparkles that make it seem like he's been covered in glitter. It feels like I can the hear screams of eternally suffering souls the longer I stare at him.
My Dad then lets out a snort, probably to keep all of his common cold snot inside, but then holds back a wild sneeze that causes an aqua blue goo to fall out of his mouth and nose. When it plummets to the ground, the goo makes a sizzling sound before bubbling up and evaporating, leaving a burn mark on the carpet. He realizes what he's done and with a bright flash, he's returned to how I've always seen him: A blue wolven monster with arms that look to be decaying.
He's…he's terrifying… not only because of the obvious dangers of him being like that, but because there isn't a Scaring Company that will let him show how terrifying he his. I feel my heart ache a little bit, which scares me because I thought something was happening to my heart again, but I'm able to calm down and realize that it's just a normal response to such a tragedy.
My Dad stands up from the bed, making me panic and jerk back behind the door, but I quickly realize that he's not doing anything aside from looking down at the carpet. He then reaches for the nightstand and grabs a candle that's been lit, blowing it out to extinguish the flame and turning towards the bedroom door. I manage to run across the hallway before he's able to see me and enter my room, swinging open my door and closing it without a sound. I hold my breath as I hear my Dad swing his creaky bedroom door open wide, but stopping for a split second. His stomps then continue down the hallway and slowly descend the stairs.
Oh god, I think he noticed that the door wasn't closed. My Mom will probably ask my Dad if I've talked with him and he's going to say no because he's a truthful man. What do I do, WHAT DO I DO!? Oh, yes, I'll grab my phone and my handbag and just say that I was looking for a couple of things to take with me, and that I haven't talked to him yet. It's not totally foolproof, but maybe Dad will think that the door wasn't ever actually closed all the way. I quickly gather my things and then exhale loudly before acting like I'm about to see Dad in his room. I open the door and see that he's not there, obviously, and then go back down the stairs to look around the wall, finding my Dad talking to my Mom in the kitchen.
"Sorry love, I knocked the candle off the nightstand and burnt the carpet a little," He lies but in an extremely deceitful way. Like seriously, he said it in such a horrifyingly believable way that it sends shivers down my spine.
For how long has he been able to look like a demonspawn, and for how long was he going to keep that a secret? Does Mom even know that he can do that? Maybe his siblings? Did Grandpa Ambrose and Grandma Hazel even know he could do that? Now that I think about it, I don't even think they know about my little banshee ability either. For how long will I keep that a secret? Also…why is Dad being secretive and deceitful? Why is he hiding things?! Oooooo the stress this is generating is unbearable, but this isn't something that I can just casually bring up out of the blue. It would be insensitive to talk about something my Dad doesn't want people to know.
"Oh Ronan, are you alright? You didn't set yourself on fire or anything did you?" My Mom worries.
"No…just upset that I destroyed the carpet…again," He says monotonously.
My Dad tosses the used, but innocent candle into the trash before snorting some more and reaching for a tissue. He sneezes again, but I notice that there's no aqua blue goo this time.
"It's alright, the carpet isn't something to worry about as long as it's not on fire. Anyways, your soup is almost done, Ronan. It might be a little bland this time since I'm out of spices right now, but it shouldn't be too inedible," My Mom states.
"I don't care…anything you make is delicious," Dad mumbles.
Mom swoons a little before patting his cheek and scratching his chin. "Doh, you're so sweet."
While I could spy on them the whole day, it would be better for me to not unintentionally make myself seem suspicious. I walk out from the stairwell and let them know I'm here. "Hey Dad."
"Hm? Oh… hey Moondrop," My Dad murmurs.
He doesn't seem to be focusing completely on anything at the moment. He's pretty lifeless which is upsetting, but I wouldn't really want to focus on anything while being sick and filled with sorrow.
"I, um, just wanted to let you know that I'm heading over to MU to see Johnny," I divulge.
"Oh…y-you are?" He questions when his ears fall.
I feel guilty for leaving him again, but I'm struggling to manage my time with the people I love. Everyone wants me to be around them but there's almost no time to satisfy everyone when they're all living across the city from each other. I also technically promised Johnny that if I got out of the hospital I would spend time with him today, and I don't want to disappoint him.
"Y-yeah. It's just for today though… I should be back by tomorrow," I respond with a bit of uncertainty.
My dad snorts again while looking down at the floor and throwing his used tissue in the kitchen trash can.
"…Ok…Hope you, uh…have fun kiddo," He sighs.
The slow saunter of his over to the couch looks painful. He pulls out those grunts when he puts his hands on his knees and falls onto the cushions with enough force to make them wheeze. Those withered fingers of his then travel up to the sides of his head as he coughs intensely.
"…Um, H-hey Dad?" I ask from the kitchen.
His mane sways when his attention falls back to me, and his arms plummet back into his lap. "Hm?"
"Will you be alright if I leave?" I ask nervously.
"…I'm happy if you're happy," Dad responds.
He's not happy about it though, it's strikingly obvious. Even if we ignore the fact that he's clinically depressed right now, he's not happy about me not being around him again.
"D-dad, I promised Johnny that I would see him today…I don't want to leave you again, but I don't want to disappoint him…I guess what I want to ask is…w-would you promise me that you'll be here when I get back?" I question hopefully.
I really don't want to hear that he's hurt himself voluntarily or that he's back in the hospital after becoming more mentally unstable. Everything would point to me being at fault for that, and I don't want to be at fault. Ugh…why does it feel like this is the most important decision of my life?
"Deep breaths Melody. I can tell you're scared for me but I promise you that it's not as serious as you're making it out to be... I'll be here the next time you see me, I promise," Dad discloses.
I give my mother a worried glance, but she just gives me a smile and a hand gesture that means to calm down. I'm still uncertain though because he's continuing to push us away as if he doesn't want us to know what's really going on.
"Just go have fun… You deserve it after the past few months," Dad adds while shooing me away emotionlessly.
Mom walks up behind me, pushing me towards the door. "I'll be watching him the whole time, you don't have to worry."
The front door is twisted open and I feel the rigid surface of the concrete pathway that winds down to the street touch the bottoms of my shoes. There's a warm breeze that blows my mane back. The wind also surprises my mother once it flies through the doorway. "Oh! I didn't think it was this nice outside. Anyways, will you be alright taking the bus by yourself?"
"Um…y-yeah. It's just a bunch of business workers taking the buses around this time…," I stammer.
"Are you sure? It's alright to feel uneasy after what happened. I can at least drive you over there and watch to make sure you're in good hands," Mom comforts, bombarding me with statements.
"N-no, I would rather you stay here with Dad," I dismiss.
My Mom can't help herself and lunges towards me in order to grab my hand, squeezing it with enough force to make me notice my own heartbeat. "Then please be careful…if you're not comfortable with anything, run straight back here."
"I-uh…ooookaaay," I say as I hear a car pull up to the sidewalk in front of my house.
As the windows of the car roll down, my mother steps up beside me while narrowing her eyes and angling herself to get a view as to who's in the car. "Is that someone you know, Melody?"
The monster in the passenger seat leans down so that's his silhouette takes shape. At first I couldn't figure out who I was looking at due to the major light difference between the inside of the car and the wondrous outdoors, but then I was able to put shape to name. The circular head that's rounded off with a horn near the front of their head and two more symmetrically placed horns on both sides. Yeah, It's Chip. Javier then exits from the other side of the car, meaning he was the driver. There's a little more movement in the back of the car too, but I'm not able to observe whoever it is back there well enough to know who's with them. Javier walks around the car and up the pathway to the two of us.
"Lo siento dama de la luna, I hope we didn't cause you and your madre too much of a fright," He states with a smile.
"Yeah, um…kind of," I admit in shock, "Wh-why are you here?"
"Señor Johnny asked me to come pick you up for today. Chip and Bruiser also asked to tag along. They wished to see you for the first time in a while," Javier explains.
Johnny asked them to pick me up? I mean, I love these three just as much as the other person but why wouldn't he come pick me up himself? He's the one that's been excited for this outing of his all week, but here he is having these three do the hard work.
"Why?" I interrogate while narrowing my eyes.
"Mmmm, no puedo decirte eso. Johnny desea sorprenderte más tarde esta noche," Javier mumbles, pretending to not be interested in what I had to say.
My cognitive functions just halt entirely as I try to figure out what he just said. I unfortunately haven't taken any Spanish classes because I didn't think I would ever become socially competent in the future, let alone meet someone who speaks it. Like seriously, I can feel the neurons in my head gasping for oxygen and freedom as if they're third graders wanting to go to recess.
"Would it be alright if we take her to campus Señora Everett?" Javier asks my Mom.
She giggles at him and blushes after he bows down. You know, it's really hard to tell if he's trying to be respectful or if he genuinely thinks he's some sort of real life butler.
"Oh yes, I would feel much better having you boys be with her. Would you all like to have something to eat or drink before you head back though?" My Mom responds.
"We appreciate the offer Señora Everett, but we're unfortunately on a time constraint," Javier discloses.
Mom puts her arms on my shoulders and gives me a slight push towards Javier after giving me a kiss on the cheek. "Then don't let me keep you. Have fun, be safe."
"Turn off here and you'll end up on the highway," I direct Javier.
He follows my directions and we find ourselves on the fairly empty six lane highway that heads towards the north side of Monstropolis. We will of course not be going all the way north and turn off near Westpine, but one could dream. It's also always weird seeing the world around me drastically change whenever I fly down this road. The buildings gradually becomes less 'abandoned' and more modernly bustling, and the pedestrians walking around become seemingly more approachable on first glance. Thinking about this only makes me hate Cormeadow more.
That's not something I can technically dwell on for very long though. Bruiser hasn't stopped hugging me since I got in the ROR's Roar Rover, and Chip has been in the passenger seat trying to persuade him to let me go.
"But Ms. Melanie's been gone for forever!" Bruiser argues with Chip.
"That doesn't mean you can manhandle her like a stuffed animal! Do I seriously have to teach you about this wild concept called personal space?! LET…HER…GO," Chip demands.
Bruiser wiggles his eyestocks and twists them to look at me for a second before looking back and Chip who's genuinely considering violence at this point. "Nuh-uh."
I was expecting Chip to pull out some traditional parenting tactic like threatening to take something of his away or telling Javier to pull over, but he literally unbuckles himself and throws his limp body over the center console.
"What are you doing?!" Javier screams.
"Keep driving!" Chip screams back while flopping over the console like a worm.
Bruiser starts letting out some distressing grunts and shoves his entire body into mine. "NO! I missed her! I don't wanna let go!"
"Well you're going to!" Chip howls as he finally rolls over the center console. His hands claw their way underneath Bruisers legs which begin flailing in random directions. Chip pushes the giant, dark green child away from me and then he puts himself in between the two of us. Bruiser attempts to punch Chip plenty of times for the sake of revenge but he catches his fists as if he's some sort of clairvoyant, capable of looking directly into the future.
Chip then holds his arms still and checks in with me. "Sorry Melanie…whew…he has detachment issues we have yet to work through."
The buff, three horned, purple monster then scoops Bruiser off the seat and slides him over the center console like a piece of plywood.
"NooOOooOoOoo, I want to sit with Ms. Melanie!" Bruiser whines.
When he reaches the passenger seat, he gets on his knees and starts swinging some more at Chip but they lack force and just sound like a piece of cheese slapping against skin.
"SIT DOWN AND PUT THAT SEATBELT ON BEFORE I SHOVE THOSE EYES INSIDE THAT FAT LITTLE BODY!" Chip growls.
Like an obedient pet, his anger dissipates and he plops down on the seat, grabbing the seatbelt and clicking it in place before staring at the road in front of him.
…
"Ok…um…are you alright Bruiser?" I say to break the silence, hoping he's not actually extremely upset.
Bruiser gulps and nods his head rapidly, but fails to elaborate on any specifics. I can, however, notice that he's looking over his shoulder to make sure that Chip isn't going to end up hurting him. I'm guessing there was a point where Chip really did shove his eyes downward and making them bulge like a pet's squeaky toy, traumatizing him for the rest of time.
"We should be asking you that. Javier told us about everything you went through these last few weeks…which were less than ideal," Chip chimes in.
Oh wow, I'm guessing everyone on campus knows what happened to me at this point. Rumors and straight up slander tend to spread like wildfire on that campus.
"I…I could be better," I reply. I look out the window not really wanting to talk about myself or my family right now, and hope that Chip will just drop the topic entirely.
"I don't doubt that. I went through the same thing when I was a kid with... you know... the whole situation regarding my mother," Chip continues.
"Oh no no no, you don't have to talk about that Chip, I know how much she meant to you," I say urging him to stop.
"I want to talk about it though…I wasn't very nice to you the last few times I saw you because I thought I was going to have to go through all of that again. I thought I was losing another friend and ran my mouth without thinking…so I really am sorry for not being there for you when you were suffering," Chip fires back.
I appreciate him saying that, but I can't help but feel more sad because he just proved to me that the RORs really are just a bunch of kids that never got the support they needed growing up. Bruiser has got social issues that have to be covered up by toughness and 'scariness' for people to take him seriously, Chet has confidence issues whenever things don't go the way they're supposed to, Javier puts on a mask and uses it to hide the truth, Chip is constantly afraid of losing his friends and family, and Johnny feels like he has no identity other than the one society deemed perfect for him. It was even apparent how Randall felt when he was a part of ROR. He just wanted to feel accepted but I guess the world had other plans for him. The only odd one out was Sullivan who was simply arrogant and ignorant for reasons unknown.
"Alright let the chica breathe," Javier rejoins.
"WHA? MS. MELANIE CANT BREATHE?" Bruiser panics.
I've never heard Chip sigh in such frustration. "Oh my god…This is about to be the longest drive ever."