Melody

I spent the day on Carson's house, avoiding lunch, which proved to be much easier than I had thought. Harper ordered a pizza and told us to help ourselves before disappearing somewhere in the house. Carson grabbed his slices and brought it to the couch. I declined his offer and turned my attention to The Little Mermaid, so he let it drop.

As Ariel and Prince Eric's wedding began, my phone began to buzz furiously. I looked down to see Mia's name on the screen and I sighed as I picked it up quickly.

"Hello?"

"Melody, where are you? Our parents are freaking out."

"They are not our parents. They're your mother and my father," I snapped. There was a stunned moment of silence from both of us.

"Um... okay? Just get yourself home before my mom tears you a new one," Mia said mocking me a little before hanging up. I turned to Carson, who was watching me through concerned eyes.

"I have to go," I sighed. I dreaded having to go home. It had become my least favourite place on the planet.

"Is everything okay?" Carson asked and I shrugged in response. Probably not, but it didn't really matter. It wasn't a surprise and I was used to it. "I'll drive you."

***

When I got home, everyone was in the living room. They looked like the perfect family without me. I sighed and closed the front door behind me, capturing the attention of first Margot, and then everyone else.

"Where the hell have you been?" She demanded, standing up.

"Out," I said without looking at her. The thought of her made me sick, but she somehow also managed to knock the backbone out of me.

"Margot told me that you didn't come home last night. We were worried," my dad said. I raised an eyebrow at that, seeing his luggage still by the stairs.

"I got home when she was sleeping and left before she woke up," I explained.

"I don't believe that for a second," Margot snapped.

"And I don't care what you believe," I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Melody don't be rude to your stepmother," my father chided.

"She's not my anything," I sneered, turning on my heels. I stopped at his suitcases on my way up the stairs. "Welcome home," I added sarcastically, though it was so quiet I wasn't sure anyone but me heard it.

***

I locked myself in my room for the rest of the day, skipping dinner in the process. Despite Leslie's best efforts, and Mia's threats on behalf of her mother, I avoided family dinner. All I could handle was lying in my bed and glaring up at the ceiling. I dreaded going to school the next day and my mind spun out of control as it came up with possible scenarios of what my day might be like.

At around eleven o'clock that night, I finally dragged myself out of my bed and went downstairs to run. It was the only way I could think of getting my mind off of things. As I passed the kitchen, I saw Margot inside with two pills in her hand and a glass of water. She quickly glanced around to make sure no one was looking before tossing them into her mouth and washing them down with the water.

Hastily, I headed down to the basement, passing my father's office on the way. His eyes were glued to his computer as usual, so I didn't worry about him seeing me.

I stepped onto the treadmill, the familiar surface greeting my feet warmly. I felt more at ease already. I turned up the speed and ran until it felt like my head was floating away from my body. I could barely feel my legs and my lungs couldn't quite catch up to my body. While I didn't feel good, I felt nothing and that was just what I needed. I stopped the treadmill and got off it and laid down on the ground. My head found my body again and my lungs caught up to me. I then did sit-ups until my back felt bruised against the floor and push-ups until my arms could lift me no more.

I snuck back upstairs. My dad was still focused on his computer and probably would be until he fell asleep upright in the chair. I stopped in the hallway as I approached the living room, seeing Mia helping a half-asleep Margot off the couch. Helping is probably not the right word. Mia was really dragging her off the sofa and struggling to pull her towards the stairs.

I crept by them quietly and snuck up to my room. I locked the door behind me and stared at my bathroom, knowing that I would have to go in there. I could feel my sweat-drenched clothes sticking to my skin and I felt my heart pounding, as I knew I had to shower. I closed my eyes and took and a deep breath before taking out my phone.

"Hey," Carson answered. Hearing his voice calmed me down immediately.

"Hi," I answered quietly. "Can you stay on the phone with me?"

"Sure, is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just tell me a story or something," I said.

"Okay," Carson replied with a chuckle. I muted my end of the call and stepped into the bathroom. Quickly, I turned on the shower and let it get hot. "Hmm... okay. When I was younger... maybe around eight Chloe, Connor, and I were playing around." As he spoke, I peeled off my clothes as fast as I could.

"My mom was out, and my dad was very much paying for the sugary treats we ate after lunch. While we didn't rip a door off its hinges this time around, we managed to get every laundry basket we could find, and pretend we were sledding down the stairs."

Lather.

Rush.

Rinse.

"We put a large carpet down so it would be smooth sailing. So, Chloe went down, no problem." I jumped out of the shower so fast I almost slipped. "I went down no problems there either. But tiny Connor went down and he flies down the stairs and into the table in the hallway, knocking down the really nice clock my mom had sitting on it."

I dried myself quickly before pulling on my pajamas. I then reached for my toothbrush and put some toothpaste on it.

"We got in quite a bit of trouble for that. A week's worth of grounding for each of us, even though Chloe and I didn't break anything."

Brush.

Rush.

Rinse.

"But we didn't tell them who did. Can't break sibling solidarity. When one of us goes down, we all go down. How was that for story time?"

I threw the toothbrush back in its holder and dashed out of the bathroom.

"Melody?"

"Perfect," I replied after unmuting my phone. I laid down on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. "It sounds like you had the best times growing up."

There was a small pause before Carson spoke.

"Was everything okay... when you got home?"

"Yeah. Everyone was just over exaggerating about me not being home yet. I don't know why, it's not like they really care about what I do. They went back to ignoring me pretty quickly," I mumbled. "Thank you for, um, taking care of me today. I hope I wasn't–"

"I love spending time with you, and I am always here for you," Carson said cutting my sentence short, as if he knew what I was going to say. "You should try and get some sleep though."

"Okay," I said, though I knew I probably wouldn't get any. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night my love," Carson said before hanging up, leaving me with a stupid grin on my face. It was enough to help me fall asleep, thoughts of Carson in my mind. But it wasn't enough to keep the nightmares at bay.

________

Author's Note: Yay! Another chapter! Just wanted to say thank you so much for 650K reads!! It's actually WILD! So thankful for you all! <3 I hope you liked this chapter! Let me know what you think! I love reading your comments!

Shout outs this chapter go to:

lovekittu

emilyherbz

CyraWritez

Dreamer_Writes

rosehorlali

gingerxxcoffee

KaylynnPercy

RaevenRD

Have a wonderful week everyone! xo