MELODY (Book 1) ✓

chapter 7 (The Shelter)

It was getting dark when I left the café. The silver gray reflections on the asphalt were setting the mood of the long hike back to the shelter. The night was cold, the chilly air biting my skin underneath my knit sweater but I knew the long walk was going to warm me up enough and burn the calories of the dinner Asha had given me in advance.

Everything looked the same but somehow also different. The streets were always bustling with life and the city lights that never allowed the night stars to shine in the New York sky. The sea of people and cars and shops and billboards still existed but there was something different than what I felt in the morning. There was some sense of hope.

Sure I was going back to a place I mostly had no stomach for and the day started so badly but, in between, there were actually a few hours that I'd enjoyed. And people that made my day. Asha was one of them, a newly found friendship. And Lisa who lead me to that place. I would never forget her. And there was the mystery Clark Kent that I seemed not to be able to get out of my mind.

A smile started creeping up to the corners of my lips as I approached the seven story building. My temporary residence aka "Hope House Shelter". While turning around the corner to reach the main entrance, my smile fell and my heart sank to my stomach. There was a police car parked at the front gate. The red and blue lights screaming silently and casting colorful shadows across the facades of the buildings around the block. An ambulance was waiting behind it.

God, what's going on?!

Something really bad happened, I could feel it! My heart thudded violently as I hurried towards the glass front gate. The security guard was standing alert and two EMTs, holding a stretcher, were rushing inside.

My breath sped up as the usual anxiety came back and started to wash over me. This was bad! God, this was bad. I just wanted to make sure nobody died! That was the most horrific thing that I could think of.

My legs were shaky, tired of all the walking and the cold and the sudden dread that consumed my nerves. I limped towards the security guard who was rubbing his hands together anxiously or maybe just to feel warm.

"Sir, what happened?" I asked in a quaking voice, feeling the freezing sweat numbing my body.

"One of the residents apparently sliced her wrists."

Oh no!

"Is she dead?" I squealed, my hands flew to my mouth.

"No. I guess not. Well, I hope not. The paramedics are taking her to the hospital. "

"Do you know who she is?"

"Her name is Nina... Tina... Something!" He said, blowing inside his balled hands.

Oh God It's Tina! My roommate!

Poor Tina!

My eyes pooled with tears when I turned to see the EMT people holding the gurney and coming out of the building, this time with a small motionless body lying on it wrapped in a bloodstained blanket . They rushed past me and the guard as we stood in the gateway. I winced when I glanced at her blanched lifeless face.

Tina was pretty young! Only sixteen. She didn't have to do this to herself. Poor thing! She didn't have anyone to turn to after she'd run away from her horrible step dad and came into the shelter. She ended up being a slave to this ruthless witch, Velda Zimmer. Or Vivian as she liked people to call her. Sadly, the three of us shared a dorm room and this was why I wasn't looking forward to coming back. The daily drama and the incessant hounding from Vivian was what I tried to escape since I've come to this place but it seemed that no matter how much I tried to get away. Things kept coming back to me with a vengeance.

Tina reminded me of myself. A less fortunate version of myself. She was a reminder of what could have happened if I had nothing to lose any more. My heart broke for her but I still felt she was a personal life lesson to teach me what to avoid and to keep me strong. Although I've never really believed that I was.

Watching as the ambulance moved away and the sounds of the sirens began to disappear in the distance, I sensed, through the sadness and the gloomy atmosphere, a morbid flake of relief pacified my racing heart just a fragment, knowing that it could've been me in her place.

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A bit dramatic?? Well, I still hope you like it.

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