I rolled out in the torturous sofa, feeling physical and mental pain in every inch of my existence. My eyes were swollen, head pounding, spine painfully stiff, legs tensed from the uncomfortable position in the past hours of sleep. Groggy and achy, my thoughts were tangled up into an incoherent mass.

Then everything came back to me.

Swallowing back the tears , I bit my lips hard, holding the sides of my head in hopes of reducing the headache. I distracted myself by checking my phone that apparently slipped from my hand and landed on the floor when I fell asleep. There was a new text message from Akram.

I sighed, sweeping my thumb to open it.

《 Sweet dreams, Mel. 》

The time of the message was 3:35 a.m.

I groaned.

How selfish of me to keep him up all night!

Eagerly, I typed a quick text for him:

《 Sorry for keeping you up. Thanks for everything.》

He was still asleep, for sure. He must've been really tired because of my childish request.

The memory of Akram, playing Brahms Lullaby for me was a ray of sunshine after the long night.

My heartbeat spiked up when I gawked in horror at the cellphone digital clock.

I'm late for work!

Life had changed since yesterday, but I still had to go to work just like any other Sunday. It was 7:05. I should be on my way to the café right now. I needed to hurry up and get dressed in less than 5 minutes.

Stumbling around to get ready, I hoisted Asha's gift sack and headed for the bathroom upstairs, feeling like I was going to lose my balance any minute.

Praying that nobody would barge into the bathroom, I freshened up quickly, and threw on a new outfit in a cautious hurry. My hair stuck out like the spikes of a porcupine, so I smoothed it back with tap water and my fingers. Sadly, there was no time for a real shower.

When I left the bathroom, I faced a ridiculous problem.

Where do I leave the bagful of clothes?

My heart couldn't find the courage to enter the empty, yellow-taped dorm room. I didn't even know if it was allowed to go in. Maybe I should leave it with the security before I left. With this ridiculous headache, there was no time to think.

My mind froze up in the middle of the hallway, when I heard the sinister high-heeled steps, quickly approaching me.

Click, clack, click, clack.

A second of crippling fear passed my mind, but then it morphed into a rush of simmering anger that pulsed through me in overwhelming waves. I spun around to eye the pretty cobra. The one who poisoned a poor girl who used to be breathing only yesterday.

The emotion was so intense that I couldn't control myself. I didn't know what came over me when my face contorted in disgust, dropped the sack and dashed towards Vivian, who pranced down the hallway with her reptilian grace. My surroundings blurred and turned into a red thoughtless haze.

How dare this dirty scamp show her face here again? How could she just come back to occupy human space and breathe and sleep in her contaminated room after she caused Tina's death?

Vivian smiled as sweetly as a killer shark when she spotted me walking towards her, but then her smile changed into a confused expression that caused her neat brows to furrow. She stopped in her tracks and tilted her head sightly as if she was asking for it.

" You happy now?" I said through gritted teeth, my pulse whistling in my ears. " is that what you wanted you-- you piece of f-fungus!"

She didn't see it coming when my hand collided with her exposed face, smacking her with all my might. The sound of the slap on her cheek echoed in the empty corridor.

Vivian gasped, her eyes turning devilish red.

" WHAT THE F---!" She growled.

Before Vivian even finished her sentence, the back of my hand sang on her other cheek. Her face reddened, eyes wide, as a thin thread of blood formed in the corner of her lips.

I held my breath, frozen in place, realizing in horror what I'd done.

Her jaw dropped for a second. I tried to retreat but she got over the surprise so quick, baring her teeth in fury, an animalistic grunt rumbling in her chest. She gripped my arm painfully, twisting my elbows behind my back.

I groaned.

Sharp pain shot into my bones when she tightened her grip and pushed me violently to walk in front of her.

I sucked in a breath and squirmed to free myself. It didn't work. " Let me go, you murderer! You killed Tina, you filthy sleaze."

" Oh yeah? I could snap your neck for that, hun. Unfortunately, you're more useful alive. But you've lessons to learn."

Vivian kept pushing me towards the yellow-taped door. Her hands restrained me like clamps. I looked around for any sign of life. Unluckily, the corridor was empty.

"HEL--" I tried to call for anyone, but Vivian, somehow, kicked the door open, flung us inside, and locked us up in the room, without breaking her grasp.

" Heard you were all spunky with the cops. Since when, the feistiness, huh?" She breathed on the back of my neck, pulling me closer to her, until my ankle hit the tip of her pump.

" Since you hurt an innocent girl and eventually killed her," I yelled, wriggling to pull myself away from her cringe-enducing proximity. I had a strong desire to smack her again, kick her in the guts and possibly choke her with my bare hands, which was frustratingly impossible right now.

With a surprisingly firm stranglehold, Vivian slithered a slender arm around my neck, holding my bent up arms behind my back with one hand. My heart was pounding frantically, shocked at how strong she was, and terrified of what she might do to me. The pressure pulled my eyes out that I couId hardly breath. Tears of frustration wanted to escape but I held them in firmly. I was weak and helpless in her grasp, but I didn't want her to think she broke me. I shifted again, trying to kick her leg, but I failed.

" Easy, hun. Nobody's innocent. Not any more. You lied, she chose this end, and you can't prove the crap you're hanging on me, so let's just talk this out like grownups, will ya?" She hissed while she loosened her hold a teeny bit. I inhaled sharply, hungry for air.

" When I let go, you sit down and pay attention," Vivian ordered, her voice stone cold. She shoved my body on the bed, leaving me gasping for oxygen. She stepped back quietly, sat down, and crossed her legs, making herself comfortable on the edge of the opposite bed; the one that belonged to Tina.

Massaging my neck, I glared at her, feeling my chest burning with bitterness. " You're crazy," I rasped. " I have to go to work."

I lurched up from the bed, striding towards the door and tugging at the door handle. It was locked.

Oh my word! I'm trapped with a monster!

" Crazy is one of the things I've been called before. So don't test my patience, OK?" Vivian said.

While I anxiously continued to attack the door handle, I heard her heels chiming closer, and felt her arms sliding again to wrap around my shoulders, gently pulling me away. She wasn't violent this time, but the gesture was even more threatening, like a soft snake coiling itself around its prey.

" Aw! You smell like vanilla," she cooed sweetly, as if she wasn't about to choke me a minute ago.

I shuddered.

" Don't touch me, creep!" I shook her arms off me, spinning around and pushing her away with my hands. She staggered a few steps backwards and laughed, her long blonde hair shaking with her laughter, arms loosely folded.

I shifted to rest my back on the door, and wrapped my arms protectively across my chest, feeling my heart bouncing behind my ribs. I pressed my lips together, and tried to breath deeply through my nose, eyes locked on her nonchalant posture.

I didn't want to think I was afraid of her, but I kinda was. I couldn't guess what she had up her sleeves. She could be a real psychotic killer.

If she has something to say, I might as well let her say it. Maybe she'll leave me alone. She can't kill me here, can she? Not with all the residents knowing she's back.

" What do you want?" I asked, surprised of my composed tone.

" Now we're talking. Believe me, you'll change your mind about everything. " Vivian smirked and lounged on her bed, facing me with a smug expression on her face.

" That's not going to happen," I retorted, my back welded to the door, hoping deep inside that someone would hear us and do something.

" Hmm! Maybe your boyfriend will. I know where he gets his cuppa joe, " Vivian winked.

" You wouldn't dare!" I spat. She couldn't be serious after she mugged him.

" Good that I've got your attention. You wouldn't want him to know everything now, would ya?" She tilted her head, her elbow propped up on the pillows as her long hair splayed behind her head.

I glowered, my boggled mind unable to process what she was suggesting.

" I have a little story to tell, hun. Ya know. Just in case. "

" What story? What are you talking about?" My voice trembled a little.

" Well," she cleared her throat in an exaggerated manner. " Once upon a time, in a shelter far far away, there was a foster kid who liked to lie. She was homeless and broke. She wanted Prince charming to fall for her so she could steal his money. She dated the prince to cover up her wicked plan. She convinced her innocent roomate," she tapped her chest lightly making a fake innocent face, " to lure the prince and rob him, while she watched silently from afar, pretending not to know her." She sighed and pursed her lips.

Choked up, my muscles were petrified as I gaped at her in bewilderment, hands contracted into tight balls across my chest.

Was she seriously threatening to point a finger at me?!

" Any way. The foster kid threatened her innocent roomate to turn her in if she talked. But when the brave roomate was questioned by the cops, she regretted her mistake and wanted to clear her conscience. She admitted that the foster kid forced her to do everything." Vivian twirled a lock of her blonde hair. " And when the police called for Prince Charming, he confirmed the story. Poor guy was in shock. His girl broke his heart. But he thanked the brave roommate for showing him the truth. And so the bad girl went to jail and the good girl was free. The end."

" You're bluffing! You can't just lie about this! You psychotic piece of...!" I trailed off, my face drained. I was so tense I couldn't blink or even move a toe.

" Yeah? Am I the only liar in this room then?" She smirked, bending up one knee and shaking it back and forth as if to taunt me. " By the way, bluffing is for cowards."

Her words hurt, but she was right. I was a liar. I was silent when I shouldn't be, but...

" I didn't steal. I didn't drag Tina to her death. You can't get away with this, you stinky worm!" I yelled in frustration, my voice getting surprisingly loud and shrill.

" Oh! But I will. I have a little wormhole." She Giggled, wiggling her index finger. " You have nothing. If anything went wrong, you're going down. "

" Don't be so sure," I retorted, making my words sound more confident than I was.

" Why not? This bull you coughed up to the cops means nothing. You're a suspect, hon. And guess what? You're the last one who saw the dead girl. With my magic touch, this can turn into a murder case."

I flinched, feeling a mild stab in my back when it hit the door handle behind me.

What did I get myself into? She's not a monster! She's the devil!

" You can't do this," I whispered to myself, shaking my head in denial.

" Believe me, I can. I'm a good actor and I have a good lawyer." She scratched her smooth neck casually with blood-red nails. " Wake up and smell the coffee, kid. You're not in the clear and it's all your fault. If only you listened to me."

My breath quickened and I felt a sudden bang shaking my heart. I wanted to get out of here! Now! I couldn't take the suffocating feeling that squeezed my chest, as if something sucked the air out of the room.

Vivian relaxed on her bed, drawing circles with her fingers across her long neck, her stone gray eyes scrutinizing my reaction in confident amusement.

My hands rose to hold the sides of my whirling head, then I turned around and I began to pound wildly on the door with all my strength.

" ANYBODY!... LET ME OUT!"

I struck the door with my fists, desperately thrashing and kicking and screaming for help.

Vivian giggled in the background.

I was losing my bearings, my energy and my mind!

For what? This life is not worth it!

" LET ME OUT!... SOMEONE LET ME OUT!"

My, arms, shoulders and legs throbbed but I had to get out at any price.

" SOMEBODY OPEN THE DOOR!"

I was losing my voice too and the pathetic tears, that I resisted for too long, streamed helplessly down my face.

A nasal voice rang from the other side of the door. " Viv? Is that you? What's happenin' girl?"

Viv? Oh, flap! Is this her minion again?

The door handle clanked a few times.

" Krissy! help!" Vivian shouted before she jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. The smirk on her face didn't match her strained, almost heartbreaking voice.

" Wass wrong, Viv! You Ok, girl?" Kris asked, turning the doorknob again.

While I was too drained to react, Vivian crossed the distance to the door in a quick pace. Her facial expression shifted to a brand new mask in a matter of seconds. Her lips quivered, turned down, eyes drooped in sadness and filled with ready-made tears.

" She just... hit me, Kris! God, she's crazy!" Vivian shrieked.

Damn the devil to hell!

I staggered in shock as Vivan unlocked the door with a newly created charade. She pulled the door open and threw herself in Kris's arms, weeping on her thick shoulder.

" She hit me in the face, Kris! I swear I'll report this to Ms. Johnson," she sobbed hysterically, her shoulders shaking while Kris comforted her.

Tongue-tied, I knew I was guilty. I did hit her in the face. My finger-marks were still on her cheeks.

But... but she also choked me with her bare hands! She threatened to put me to jail! She hurt Akram! God, she hurt Akram, and Tina, and so many others, I'm sure, whom I didn't know!

The thing that I knew for sure, she'd get away with it. Ms. Johnson would believe her tears. She'd play the victim so well that I'd be the only one to blame. It'd be my second flub as I was warned before and there was nothing I could say to defend myself.

Now, there was only one logical conclusion that crept up into my mind and filled my thoughts.

I can't live like this any more. I have to leave this place.

*****

Hello there lovelies

RAMADAN MUBARAK ;D

sorry for being soooo late to update. It's kinda hard to write in Ramadan so this chapter is actually short but it took me a long time to focus on putting it together. It's not much but I hope you like it.

* so what to you think of the turn of events? Did you expect Melody to snap this way?

* what do you think of Melody's behavior when she slapped Viv on the face?

* do you think Vivian is serious or her threat is just a false claim?

* do you think Melody can leave the shelter easily?

* what do you think will happen next?

Thank you for everyone who made it here so far and helped me with their amazing support. You guys are AWESOME!! I can't even mention a specific person because I appreciate every single one who even thought of reading this story.

LOVE YOU ♥