*TRIGGER WARNING!*

**This chapter may contain verbal and emotional child abuse, slurs, and traumatic sequence.**

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New York General Hospital

March, 2013

The woman stood in the door of the hospital room, her hair a dyed mess, eyes red and swollen, fists clenched, veins bulging across her forehead. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Her face twisted into a feral expression as she crept closer toward the girl on the hospital bed. 

"What have you done, bastard?" the woman hissed. Her menacing voice grated on the ears of the thirteen year old girl, who was narcotized and covered in plaster.

The girl's eyes snapped open. Her vision was bleary, but the face staring at her was too familiar. Her heartbeat sped up in alarm. The woman's contorted features emanated more hatred than she could miss.

"I took you in and gave you a home. How could you do this to me?” the woman said through clenched teeth, spit coming out of her mouth. 

The girl blinked, breathing faster.  Her drowsy mind strained to comprehend the situation. 

Taking a step closer, the woman cocked her head to one side. "What? You don't know what you did?" 

The girl shook her head. Her lips quivered. Tears formed in her eyes as she stared helplessly at her accuser. 

Leaning down, the woman's face was inches away from hers. "Don't you dare pretend you're innocent. You killed my son, you evil bastard," she growled, gnashing her teeth. 

The girl gasped and held her breath. Her broken ribs throbbed as air filled her battered lungs. 

With a grim scowl on her face, the woman straightened up. She circled around the bed and began to fiddle with the IV tubes attached to the girl. "Ugh! Why do they put you on these. You should've died instead of him."

The girl blanched. Her body trembled. Her shoulders curled instinctively on the cold, stiff pillow. Her parched throat blocked her ability to speak. She wanted to explain what happened. That she hadn't meant to hurt the boy. But that wouldn't matter. Not to his grieving mother. Not to her social worker who promised to help her get adopted. Not even to herself. She shouldn't have survived.

Eyes darting everywhere, the girl searched for someone or something to save her from the wounded lioness who could eat her alive any second. The nurse call button seemed miles away. 

"Look at you." The woman curled her lips, giving her a once-over. She traced the cast on her legs, tapped on it with her fingers. "You broke your legs and a couple of ribs and that's it. Your fat skin saved you, huh? You crushed my son and survived. You think you'll get away with it? You think I can't send you to juvenile prison? Or even end your life myself right now?"

The woman clasped her fingers around the IV bag dangling from the metal pole and squeezed it.

Eyes growing wide, the girl shuddered, shrinking more and more into her pillow. She wanted to scream for help. She wanted to run for her life, but her injuries crippled her. The effect of the drugs was fading away, even though her self-preservation was still intact.

Praying the woman wouldn't notice, her fingers slid on the white sheet, reaching for the cord on her right side. Her only hope. 

"I've been feeding you like cattle since you've come to my house. I should've starved you to death. You didn't deserve to live." The woman kicked the side table, causing a plastic cup to fall and splatter its contents on the floor. 

A muffled squeal escaped from the girl's lips. Her shaky fingers continued their feeble attempt to grasp the button hanging on the rail of her bed. Each movement sent electric jolts through her body, but she didn't stop. Neither did the furious lady. 

"No wonder your parents didn't want you. You're cursed!" the woman spat, "They should've choked you in your crib."

The IV needle stung the girl's wrist as her desperate fingers clawed on the bedsheet for support. A stab of pain shot through her ribcage and she groaned in agony. The woman's scathing words drilled deep into her heart, more painful than a hundred broken bones. She was cursed. Unwanted. She had thought it before, but hearing it was a different thing. A cruel confirmation. 

“I wish I could take your life like you did to my boy, but you're not worth it. You're nothing! You hear me? Nothing!" the woman howled, her jugulars protruding as she pounded on the headboard. "You'll burn in hell, you disgusting criminal! You're a monster! A fat, ugly monster!”

The girl wept silently, taking each insult like a whiplash. Her wounded body convulsed, fighting the nauseous feeling building up in her stomach.  Deep down, she blamed herself for the accident and now a child had died because of her. She wanted to apologize, but she knew 'sorry' wasn't enough. Nobody would ever forgive her. She was a killer! A worthless killer!

You're cursed!

A fat, ugly monster!

You're nothing!

No one wonder your parents didn't want you!

They should've choked you in your crib!

You don't deserve to live!

The scarring words echoed in her head. A dark cloud of despair coursed through her mind, sucking all hope out of her soul. Her dream of having a family was crushed into a million pieces. Who would ever adopt a killer? A monster? A criminal? A nothing?

“I swear you will pay for it! You hear me? You'll pay for it!” The woman gripped the metal headboard, shaking it violently back and forth. "You'll end up on a filthy sidewalk. That's where you belong, you spawn of Satan!"

The hospital bed squeaked underneath the girl, sending a shockwave of sickness through her broken body. She clamped her lips, muffling the cries that wanted to escape. 

"You'll be miserable for the rest of your life! Yes, you will! Yes, you will!" The woman's voice reached a crescendo, then the screams shifted into an episode of hysterical cackles that shook her body. 

'Stop! Please, stop!' the girl pleaded in her head. Her heartbeat increased to a wild level, matched by the beeping of the heart monitor. She forced her throbbing body to move, writhing on her bed to reach the emergency button. 

Pain exploded everywhere when she pushed the button with all what was left of her strength. Only then, she couldn't restrain the wails that erupted from her chest any longer. 

Seconds later, two nurses rushed into the hospital room. 

“You can't yell in a hospital, ma'am. You're scaring the patient,” a nurse chided, clutching the woman's arm.

"Let me go!" The woman jerked her arm away. "Don't you understand? She's a murderer!" she shrieked, her eyes pouring all over her face.  

“You have to leave right now, or we'll call security,” the nurse commanded, trying to lead the angry woman outside. 

The woman shoved the nurse's shoulder.  “No! She killed my baby! He's only five for God's sake! ”

"Come with me, ma'am."

"No!"

"No need to cause trouble."

"Leave me alone! Leave me alone!" The woman reeled, throwing blind punches into the air. “I just want my baby back! Please, God! I'm so sorry. Please! I'll do anything. Please… ” The woman raved while the nurse held her firmly, steering her outside, until her voice faded out in the hallway.   

“You okay, honey?” the other nurse asked the girl, brushing her hair. 

Shivering and gasping for air, the girl shook her head. She was far from Okay. She wanted to disappear from the face of the Earth. 

 “It's okay, honey, she's gone,” the nurse soothed, wiping the girl's tears. “Just breathe in through your nose. I'm gonna give you some meds and you'll fall asleep in no time, Okay?”

The girl sobbed uncontrollably, trying to follow the nurse's instructions. Each breath she took burned its way in and fueled the fire in her bones. 

The nurse inspected the monitor and the IV tube as she drained a syringe into the injection port. “Shh! It's ok, sweetie. Get some rest. You'll feel better when you wake up.”

The icy numbness seeped through the girl's arm. A hazy mist began to spread across her mind, urging her muscles to unwind, her tears to dry up, and her eyes to close.

While the artificial peace was taking over, there were two thoughts swirling in the middle of the fog as her mind drifted away. 

One, the nurse was wrong. Nothing was going to get better when she would wake up.  

Two, she wished she would never wake up. 

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A/N

Hello dear ones!

Gosh! That was too sad, wasn't it? Probably not what you expected (yeah I know you expect Akram! 😉) but I hope it gave you a glimpse of the traumatic past that led to shaping Melody's character.

Please do share your thoughts on the chapter. I welcome any questions or opinions so please let me know how saw that part.

I hope it wasn't depressing and I promise you'll meet Akram in the next chapter. Okay? 😉😁

Much love

Most_bay