Saving Melanie Deen

Chapter 20

Suddenly, all background noise was blocked out and the only thing I could see were her eyes. Did I die from alcohol poisoning? Am I finally in hell? I hope so."My little Melanie" She cooed. Her emotionless eyes were twinkling and her pupils were dilated. She was high on something. Honestly, I wasn't surprised. Not so long ago she was almost dying because she got herself in a car accident. Which she probably caused due to her drug addiction. And now she's using again? You know what, I don't even care.

I flinched as she reached out for my cheek but she stroked it with her cold fingers anyways."Why did you betray your poor mommy? I was so hurt...you left me all alone. You took Nick away from me...and now I'm all alone again. Come home, please" Her eyes filled up tears, but they still held no real emotion. Mommy. Hearing her say that word, made me sick to my stomach.

I took a shaky breath of air, trying to find the words to say. The truth was that I didn't know what to say to her because anything I said, held no meaning to her. She was a goner. And she had been long gone. There was nothing left of her and I never got to witness the person she was before she started using.

"I didn't take Nick away, you know that. I would never tell the cops what he did, you know that. You were the first one to warn me about what would happen if I ever did tell anyone. I know from the very start, that exposing family issues to the world will attract unwanted attention" I spoke calmly, trying my best not to show much emotion to her. Unfortunately, I was never good at controlling myself. Especially when flashbacks invaded my mind.

She looked down at her feet, shaking her head sadly."You're just like him. Just like that criminal father of yours! You both never wanted me to be happy. You only cared about yourselves. And I had to deal with everything on my own!" She cried out. Her will to make me pity her was overwhelming. She really thinks she's a victim? She really thinks that my dad and I are the bad guys? My throat clogged up and I refrained from breaking down right there and then. I couldn't allow myself to do that. Not in front of her.

"We did? Really?! What about you, huh? What about all of those boyfriends of yours? What about all the times your daughter was sprawled out on the floor, barely breathing!? You say we only cared about ourselves...We never wanted you to be happy? I think you're the happiest out of the three of us!" I growled, anger finally taking over. Words from Meg's father's letter flooded my mind and I couldn't think straight anymore.

She stared into my eyes, shaking her head again. This cheap 'disappointed mother' act was getting on my nerves."What?! Got nothing to say? You never had anything to say! All you did was fuck your boyfriends left and right! While I was rotting in the room next to yours, coughing up blood and struggling to get out of bed!" I spat, rage shaking me to the core.

An arm wrapped around my waist from behind. I knew who it was. He pulled me to his chest, his sudden embrace sending a wave of comfort through my body.  That's how I knew it was Ethan.

He stared at my mom, eyebrows furrowed and jaw clenched. I squeezed his arm, trying to show him that it was okay. His jaw ticked almost as if silently telling me that it wasn't okay.

"Oh really?" My mom laughed in her famous evil manner. Finally dropping the 'caring mother' act, huh? "I see you're heading in my footsteps. Already found a fucker for the role...and you're even dressed for the job! All dolled-up and ready for sale! Just you wait, he'll ditch you just like your father ditched us, and you'll come running back to me"

Before Ethan had the time to react, I launched at her.

Right as I was ready to claw her face off, Ethan's arm pulled me away from her."Let me go" I hissed, kicking around in his grip of steel.

"She's not worth it. Security will be here any minute. You'll look like the bad guy" He whispered so that only I could hear him. He was still holding me back, waiting for me to calm down. My chest rose up and down as I panted.

"Oh come on, don't embarrass yourself! Attacking your own mother in public...that's low, even for you" She raised her eyebrows, pretending to be a disappointed mother again."I see you have a great example to look up to..." She gave Ethan a pointed look. My heart ached at the words. Ethan was anything but a bad example. He did everything in his power to put me in safety when he hardly even knew me. While my mother lived through every year of my abuse, not giving a single fuck about me. 

"Are you fucking serious?!" I exclaimed, my body and voice shaking with anger and hurt."No, Victoria. You're the only bad example in my life. Even dad was better than you! I rather be a criminal than a heartless bitch" I spat, putting as much hatred as I could into every single word. And I really hoped she felt it.

She came up closer to me and before Ethan or I could react, she punched the side of my head as hard as she could. Tears raced to my eyes from the force of it and my head turned numb. Ethan hid me behind his back and from the vibration of his back, I could tell he was roaring at her in an animalistic way.

I cried out at the sudden ringing in my ear and the unbearable pain took over. Quinn ran up to me, panic written all over her face. I could see Trent race up to Ethan too, pulling him away from my mother. Quinn was trying to ask me something but I couldn't hear a single word. So I shook my head, trying to tell her that I couldn't hear her. Her face turned pale and tears streamed down my face.

Ethan spun around at the sound of Quinn's panicking. I tried to focus on their shouting, but all I could hear was the ringing in my ears. Ethan kneeled down, placing both hands on my shoulders. He too started shouting something in my face desperately. I watched his lips move but I couldn't focus hard enough to understand.

Quinn hit his back, trying to get him to stop shouting. She said something to him and his expression changed momentarily. He went from stressed out to scared, in a split second. I had never seen Ethan scared before, and that thought had me scared.

The ringing in my ears intensified and I put both hands on ears. I shut my eyes, trying to calm myself. It's okay, it's fine. I just got hit really hard and most likely have a ruptured eardrum. It's okay, we've been here before. No need to panic.

I opened my eyes, taking in the scene in front of me. My mother was nowhere to be found. Ethan and Quinn were trying to talk to me, occasionally looking at my ear with horror written all over their faces. Trent was talking to the grocery store's security, probably trying to explain what the fuck was going on. Seeing what I saw, I couldn't not panic. Both Ethan and Quinn were panicking, which meant that it was serious.

I grimaced at the sudden intensification of the ringing in my ear and Ethan ran a shaky hand through his hair, pacing back and forth. Quinn seemed to be saying something calming, looking back and forth between Ethan and I. But the look in her eye was telling me just how worried she actually was.

I felt something trickle down my neck, so I put my finger up to feel what it was. Quinn tried to stop me, but she was too slow. I stared at the red liquid on my fingertip. Blood. Blood was coming out of my ear. Okay, maybe everything was not as fine as I thought. Last time I had a ruptured eardrum, my ear didn't bleed.

I looked into Quinn's eyes, trying to say 'what the fuck?!' but I'm not even sure if I said it right. Ethan swept me up off my feet and brought out of the grocery store. I spotted an ambulance in the near distance and my head started to spin. Next thing I knew, everything turned dark.