Saintwood: College Chaos ✔️ (Wattpad version)

Its beginning to look like Christmas, part 2

After the tree excursion, we got the tree home and decorated it. Mel helped us, and we did an excellent job. Next came the tree topper, which Dad always put on it to finish it up. He took it out of the package, and we stood there waiting.

He walked over to Mel and said, "I think this year, someone special should place the angel on top of the tree."

She looked at him. "Oh, I couldn't. It's tradition, and I don't want to break tradition." She gripped my arm firmly.

He looked at her. "Well, sometimes it's a wonderful thing to start a recent tradition. Melinda, if anyone deserves to place the angel, that person is you."

She looked up at me, and I nodded as she released my arm. She reached for the angel, taking it in her hands carefully. She stepped on the step stool and placed the angel on the top, but it wasn't secure and fell to the ground, shattering. She quickly got down and ran over to it. She picked it up with her bare hands, cutting them as she said, "What have I done? I'm so sorry, Mr. Shaw! Please forgive me! I didn't mean too!"

She stood in front of Dad sobbing, holding the broken angel as her hands bled.

"I'm so, so sorry. I ruin everything," Mel choked out as she cried. Dad looked at her with concern, and she continued, "I ruined the dance for Liam, and now I broke your beautiful angel. Everything is my fault. I don't deserve to be here. I don't deserve your kindness. I deserve nothing. I deserve punished." She sobbed, and we looked at her as she spouted those words.

"Who says you deserve nothing? Who told you that?" Dad asked in a calm tone.

"That's what they said, and they were right. I deserve nothing," Mel said as she fell to her knees, still holding the angel.

I walked over and knelt in front of her and took her hands carefully. "That's not true. You deserve everything."

"I broke your dad's angel." She looked at me with tear streak cheeks.

"It's okay. We can replace it. Mel, you didn't deserve what they did to you that night, and they were wrong. What they said was wrong. You deserve love and kindness because that's what you are. Your loving and kind," I said to her. "Why don't we throw this away and get your hands cleaned up, okay?"

She nodded, and I helped her up. We went into the kitchen.

"Dad, is she going to be okay?" Elijah asked.

"Eventually," Dad reasoned.

"What causes her to react like that?" JJ asked.

"When the angel fell and broke, it must have triggered her memory of that night," he said.

I pulled out a trash can and helped her empty the broken angel into it. Then I grabbed a hand towel and placed her hands under the running water as I washed her hands off, making sure all I removed the broken glass.

"I'm sorry, Liam," she whispered.

I looked at her. "Mel, it's okay. What happened in there?"

"I don't know. The minute the angel hit the ground and heard the crash, it was like reliving that night repeatedly," Mel answered.

I thought a minute, then asked, "Were you near any glass that night?"

She thought a minute, then said, "They dragged me behind a dumpster. They knocked two glass containers over, breaking them. Then everything happened so fast."

I sighed as I pulled her to me.

"You're not mad at me, are you?" Mel asked me.

"Mel, I could never be mad at you. What happened that night was not your fault," I said as I held her in my arms.