A/N: Disclaimer: There is use of a foreign language toward the end of this chapter has been translated via Google Translate, and therefore may not be entirely correct. Said language has their own alphabet, but I know that on some softwares, other alphabets don't show up, so I will be using the English alphabet. Also, for reasons that will be made obvious as you read, I had to do some research and committed the ultimate research sin by using Wikipedia, so my information not be entirely correct...If any chapter in this book is gonna start a fight, it's this one.
On March 8th, Sadie turned 8.
Her birthday party was hilarious.
The reason being Melanie's backyard was filled with all of Sadie's friends who came dressed like princesses as well as several grown goth men who all of the kids were actually very intrigued by. Mostly because they were all wearing more makeup than any of the princesses there. The guys got some odd stares from some of the other parents there, but the kids were honestly fine. Sadie got lots of presents and had a lot of fun. One of Chris' big surprises for her was that he'd hired a guy to come to the party dressed up as Spiderman (Sadie's favorite superhero) to entertain the kids. Sadie was ecstatic.
All of this made Melanie very happy because she was worried that Sadie would be sad about this being her first birthday without her father present, but she was perfectly fine. Sadie got more dress-up costumes, some video games, Barbie dolls, monster trucks, and of course, her grandparents got her money.
Melanie's mother, Sandrine, walks up to Chris, "Oh, Chris, it was so great of you to get that Spiderman to come entertain the kids. Sadie is so happy!"
Chris smiles, "Well, that was my goal."
"You and your friends certainly stick out amongst all of these pink decorations."
Chris laughs, "Yeah, I guess we do."
"Well, I think it's great. Sadie needs a little variety in her life."
"Absolutely, I think so too."
"It's just such a shame that her father couldn't be here..."
"Yeah, she needs a good father figure in her life."
Sandrine smiles, "Well, I suppose that's what she's got you for."
Chris blinks, "What?"
Sandrine takes another sip of her drink and nods, "Oh, yes, Sadie's said many times how you're like another father to her."
Chris again just blinks, "Really." He states, "I was...not aware of this."
Sandrine laughs, "Oh, silly me, I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Something about Melanie thinking it would freak you out. We all know you're more mature than that though."
Chris pauses, then gives an awkward laugh before continuing, "Um, Sadie's always told me that I'm like an older brother or an uncle to her."
Sandrine shrugs, "You're an older, male figure in Sadie's life. Does it really matter what the label is?"
Before Chris could answer, Sandrine gasps, as if to be remembering something.
"Oooh, I remember what I came to tell you. You know a lot of people, and I think it's time that we find someone to set Melanie up with. She deserves to be with someone after all she's been through."
For some reason, Chris was really uncomfortable with the idea of setting Melanie up with someone.
"I don't know, maybe we should just let her find someone on her own. I-I'm sure she will when she's ready."
As if on cue, Melanie comes up and hugs Chris from behind.
"Boo."
Chris laughs, "Hey."
"Hey!" Melanie says, coming around to face him, "Thank you so much for taking care of the entertainment. Sadie will love you forever."
"How is she doing without her father here?" Sandrine asks.
"Weirdly okay. I think there's just so much going on that she's been too happy to realize that this is her first birthday without her dad. She's actually more sad about Chris leaving for tour than she is about her dad not being here." Melanie says.
Chris' heart drops to his gut.
"Really?" He asks.
"Mhm. Sometimes she gets as sad as she did when her dad first moved out."
Chris began to put some of the puzzle pieces and had to try really hard not to panic. No, no no, that couldn't be it. It was just a coincidence and the things that Sandrine had told him couldn't have been completely true because Sandrine was drunk out of her mind. Chris took a breath and let himself relax. There was no way Sadie could possibly really see him as a father figure. It was all probably a misunderstanding.
Balz then walks over with Sadie on his back, "I can see what you mean when you said this kid is clingly as hel-heck. Heck."
Chris laughs, then removes Sadie from Balz before putting her on his shoulders. Sadie's face lights up.
"Wow, how do you not like being up high, Chris? It's so cool!"
"Well, good for you. You'll have a much easier time on airplanes."
"Ooh! We haven't played airplane in a while!"
Chris sighs, "I had that coming."
Chris removes Sadie from his shoulders, then holds her up so she's on her stomach, then he begins running around with her as she makes airplane noises. Melanie laughs and pulls out her phone to film it and put it on Instagram. One of the other moms then walks up to Melanie.
"Hey, who's the guy that's been running around with Sadie all day? He's really good with her. He a new boyfriend?"
Melanie's eyes widen, "No! No, no; God, no. No, he's just a friend of mine, Chris."
"That's Chris? Sadie talks about him all the time whenever she comes over to play with Natalie."
Melanie smiles, "Aww, does she really?"
"Yeah, she seems to really love him. He's really good with her. He's a cutie too; I'd hop on that train if I were you." She says before playfully elbowing Melanie and walking off.
Melanie just laughs and grabs a soda from the cooler, not taking any of that seriously.
x
Two weeks later.
Chris comes over to Melanie's house. Sadie was over at Jason and Michelle's house for the day because everyone knew that Melanie wouldn't be in the best shape today. It was a Saturday, so Melanie thankfully didn't have to work. Even if she did though, she'd have requested to take the day off. Chris walks up to the house with a bottle of the wine he knew Melanie liked.
Chris walks in without knocking. He sees Fred laying on the floor, as if to be waiting for Chris. Chris kicks his shoes off and puts his phone on silent.
"Alright, Fred, where is she?" Chris asks.
As if he were able to fully understand what Chris was laying, Fred leaps up at Chris, then dashes upstairs. Chris follows Fred up to Melanie's bedroom. Fred walks in and Chris follows. Melanie was slumped over the bed with an empty wine bottle on the floor. She looked like she was out cold. Chris decides to hide the wine bottle he'd brought on the top shelf of the closet where Melanie couldn't get to it because if she saw it, she'd likely drink the entire thing, and Chris didn't want her doing that when it looked like she'd already gotten a pretty good amount of wine in her system.
"Go get her, boy." Chris says.
Fred walks over to Melanie and begins to lick her face. After a couple seconds, Melanie groans and turns away, wiping her face with her sleeve. She then opens her eyes and looks to Fred.
"Well, hey there." She says to Fred before looking to Chris, "Hey."
"Hey."
"You couldn't have called? I don't even have pants on." Melanie says, tugging her blankets up.
"It's ten in the morning, how drunk are you?"
"Very. Toss me a pair of sweat pants, will ya?"
Chris goes over to the dresser, grabs a pair of sweat pants and tosses them to Melanie.
"Turn around." Melanie says.
"I know, I know." Chris says before turning around.
"Did you bring me any more alcohol?"
"Yes, but you're not getting any until you've sobered up a little. If I'd known you were gonna be shitfaced when I got here, I wouldn't have brought any."
"Sorry. You can turn around now."
Chris turns back around, "Do I need to get you a trash can?"
"Already got one."
"Did getting drunk make you any less sad?"
"It did for about five minutes."
"And were those five minutes worth it?"
"Don't give me a straight-edge speech today, I'm not in the mood." Melanie says before flopping down on the bed.
Chris sighs, then sits on the edge of the bed and starts rubbing Melanie's back. They sit in silence a moment.
"I miss her too, you know." Chris says.
"I know you do, but..."
"But she was your sister."
"Exactly." Melanie says, "She'd have been thirty-five today."
Chris shakes his head to himself, "God, we're getting old."
Melanie allows herself to laugh a moment, then she continues, "Man, in September it'll be sixteen years."
"Does Sadie ask about Tori very often?"
"Now and then; not often though. She's not really old enough to understand anyway."
"Why does she think she's with Jason and Michelle today?"
"She thinks I'm sick, which isn't technically a lie. I'm sure I'll be throwing up later on today, maybe tomorrow."
"And I'll be there to hold your hair."
"You're such a good friend."
"I know."
There's a pause.
"You really are a good friend...You knew exactly what to do that day. You practically had to drag me through the hallways that day, but you just...knew."
"Are you kidding me? I didn't know anything. I was scared shitless."
"I know, but you were still extremely focused on making sure you could get me to safety and to a place where I could grieve properly."
There's another pause as they remember.
Melanie stood in the house that morning, waiting for the bus, talking on the phone.
"Yeah...Yeah...That's great, I'm really happy this is all going so well for you...Okay, I gotta go, the bus is here...Love you too, sis...Bye." Melanie said before hanging up and running outside to catch the bus.
Chris glances behind his shoulder at Melanie as she gets on behind him, "You almost missed it."
"I hung up on her as soon as I saw the bus pull up."
Melanie had been staying at Chris' house for a couple of days because both of her parents were out of town and didn't want Melanie to be at the house alone. Tori had called that morning and both Chris and Melanie had talked to her. It was time for them to get to school though, so Melanie had to hang up.
Chris and Melanie go to their usual spot on the back of the bus. They'd been tempted to ride their bikes to school, but it was cloudy that day and looked like it may rain later on. The fact that they ended up not riding their bikes would benefit them later on that day.
They chatted like usual on the bus until they got to school. It was a Tuesday. The bus arrived at the school at 7:09. Everyone got off of the bus and went to the school. Chris and Melanie parted for a moment to get their things from their lockers, then they met up again. They put their things on their desks of their first hour classes, then spent the rest of the morning walking around the school, just talking. They did this every morning. Once in a while they'd chat with some of their other friends too, but for the most part, it was just Chris and Melanie.
The ten minute bell rang at 7:25, which was when Chris and Melanie decided to at least head to the general vicinity of where their first hour classes were. Once the five minute bell rang at 7:30, Chris and Melanie parted and went to their classes. By the time the one minute bell rang at 7:34, Chris and Melanie were already in class. At 7:35, the final bell rang. Students said the pledge of allegiance, then the morning announcements began. This was all done by 7:38 and class officially began.
At 8:15, the bell rang and students were dismissed to their second hour class. Chris and Melanie passed each other in the hall way and high-fived just because, then they were off. The one minute bell rang at 8:19 as Melanie exited the girls' bathroom, then she headed to second hour. The final bell rang at 8:20, then class began. Normally, class would commence and students would head to third hour when the bell rang at 9:00. This is not quite what happened. 8:46. No one in the school was aware of what had just happened. At 8:49 though, they were. The classroom phone rang. Every classroom phone rang within a matter of minutes. Chris' teacher excused himself from the lesson to answer the phone.
"Hello?...Yes...Yes...What?...What do you mean?...Okay...Okay...Thank you." The teacher said before hanging up.
Teachers were told to keep a calm composition in order to keep students from panicking or over reacting. The teacher goes to the front of the room, clears her throat and resumes with the lesson. 9:00. The students head to third hour. 9:03. None of the students knew, but word was slowly spreading amongst faculty. At 9:04, the one minute bell rang. At 9:05, the final bell rang and students were in class. Mr. Hawkins stands and shuts the door, then goes to the front of the room.
"Alright, class, today we're going to - "
Mr. Hawkins was then cut off by the classroom phone ringing.
"One sec." Mr. Hawkins said before going to answer the phone.
"Hello?...Yes...Yes...What?...What do you -...So then what do we -...Yes, but -...Okay...Okay...Thank you." Mr. Hawkins says before hanging up. He then goes back up to the front of the room and takes a deep breath.
"Put everything under your desk. We're not doing a lesson today."
Everyone looks confused, but they then all begin to cheer with delight.
"No, no, you all need to listen to me. This is important!"
The classroom goes silent.
"So, according to that phone call I just got, about twenty minutes ago...An airplane crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center."
Chris' heart falls to his gut.
"Which tower?!" He blurts out.
Everyone looks to Chris. For most of them, this was the first time they'd ever heard him say a single word.
"The North Tower."
"What?! But my friend works in the North Tower! She's an intern!"
Mr. Hawkins doesn't know how to respond, so he just continues, "We didn't think it was this extreme of a thing before. We thought it was just a plane that accidentally crashed which is of course horrible, but...a few minutes ago, another plane hit the South Tower."
A few gasps and confused murmurs spread about the room.
"So was it not an accident?" Someone asks.
"We don't know yet. Since we live so close to New York though, we understand the kind of impact this may have on some of you, so the teachers have been told to put the broadcast on the news and allow students to use classroom phones in the event they want or need to call someone they know that's in New York and that might be - "
Mr. Hawkins was then cut off by Chris standing and walking to the classroom phone and dialing. Cell phones weren't as common back then as they are now, but Tori had one. Chris dialed and listened to the dial tone. He tried to take a few breaths and relax. She was probably fine. She was probably just trying to get out of the building. She might have dropped or lost her phone in the chaos. Chris leaves a voice mail.
"Tori, it's Chris. I just heard what happened and I'm worried as Hell about you, I'm sure Melanie is too. We're at school right now but we're allowed to use the phones. Call us or your parents or someone so we can know you're okay." Chris said before hanging up.
The classroom was dead silent.
Chris took a few breaths to regain his composure, then he calmly returned to his desk, ignoring the stares being thrown his way.
Mr. Hawkins resumes, "If anyone else needs to do that, feel free to. In the mean time, I'll put the news on and - "
Mr. Hawkins cuts himself off at the sight of Chris raising his hand.
"What is it, Chris?"
"Are we allowed to leave the classroom?"
"Why would you want to leave?"
"The girl I just called, her sister is my best friend and she's here and her classroom is upstairs and she's probably a mess and I wanna make sure she's okay."
"Chris, I'm sorry, but I can't just let you leave. Everyone just stay calm, I'm sure everything will be fine." Mr. Hawkins said, doubting his own words as he turned on the classroom television and shut off the lights.
At first, there was a bit of chatter and not everyone paid attention, but within minutes and a few shots of the burning buildings in New York along with a few replays of the planes crashing, everyone was silent. The entire school was silent apart from the news reports on every television in every classroom. No one moved an inch. No one said a word. No one blinked. Melanie and Tori were the only people that Chris could think about. He couldn't think of anything else.
In the middle of giving a news report on the towers, the field reporter stops and listens to hear ear piece; her eyes widen, "I've just gotten word that another plane has just crashed into the Pentagon. We'll take you back to the news room for more coverage on that."
The two main news anchors reappear on the screen.
"Thank you, Sara. Yes, another plane has crashed, and this one crashed into the Pentagon. It appears as though - "
Chris didn't hear the rest of the report as he bolted out of his seat and went to Mr. Hawkins at his desk.
"Can I use the bathroom?"
"Are you really going to use the bathroom?"
Chris was practically shaking as tears brimmed his eyes. Mr. Hawkins softened at Chris' desperation.
"Please...Please."
Mr. Hawkins pauses, then sighs, "Go on. Get your things and put them in your locker; we likely won't be here a full school day."
Chris exhales, "Thank you."
Chris dashes to his desk, gets his things, then runs out of the classroom.
Chris ran down the hallway and got to his locker. He tried to do his combination, but his hands were shaking so much that he couldn't do it right to get the locker open. After three times, Chris slammed his fist into the locker, then dropped his things to the floor before bolting off, not caring if he'd get yelled at later for leaving his things in the hall.
Chris knew where Melanie was. He ran at full speed to the nearest stairway and headed up the stairs as fast as he can. He tripped once, but caught himself and continued up. Once he got to the stairs, he ran at full speed through the empty hallways to the other side of the school to the classroom where Melanie was. Once he got there, he took a minute to catch his breath and regain his composure. He had to be calm for Melanie. If she knew he was panicking, she would probably panic much more than she already was.
Chris took a breath, then opened the door and headed in the classroom door, hoping the teacher wouldn't kick him out. All eyes went to Chris, including Melanie's. She jumped out of her seat and ran over to him before hugging him, crying into his chest. Chris hugged her closely and rubs her back.
"Ssshhh, it's okay." Chris soothed, "I'm sure she's fine."
They make their way to the back of the classroom where Chris explains to the teacher that his third hour teacher had given him the okay to be here. Melanie's teacher seemed pretty okay with Chris being there, seeing as he was able to calm down Melanie who had been absolutely hysterical earlier.
At 9:42, all airplanes in flight were told to land, and ground flights were canceled. So Melanie knew that even if her parents had heard about this and had been trying to get home, they wouldn't be any time soon. Melanie had tried to call her mom, her dad, and Tori earlier. None of them had answered. At 9:50, the school intercom turned on and an announcement was made to the school. Classes were canceled. Buses would be there soon. If students didn't feel safe at home or had no way to get home, they could stay at school until they could get home. In the mean time, the news reports would stay on the televisions and food would be served in the cafeteria. Once the buses got there, students would be dismissed if they wished to leave. If they wished to stay, that was fine too.
This was when students really started to use the classroom phones to call their parents to see if they could be picked up. After about five minutes of this, the classroom was silent again apart from Melanie once in a while sniffling or whimpering.
Then, at 9:59, it happened.
The South Tower fell.
"The South Tower is collapsing! It's falling!" The news reporters shouted.
The camera then moved to show the South Tower, and it was indeed collapsing, falling from the heavens to the ground below. Every eye was glued to the television set. The classroom was completely silent until the tower hit the ground...then chaos. Everyone started talking at once, questioning what was happening, some of them were becoming scared, others were asking Melanie if her sister had been interning in the south tower.
"No, no, she's in the North Tower." Chris said.
"I've gotta try calling her again." Melanie said before going to the phone and dialing again.
No answer.
"Tori, it's me again. Call my school or call mom and dad, do something so I can know you're okay." Melanie said before hanging up and going back to Chris again, still sobbing.
Chris put his arms around her and she cried into his chest. Just then, at 10:03, the news reporter gets word that another plane had crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. This was about three and a half hours away from Scranton. At hearing this, Melanie went back to looking up at the television. She listened to the report a minute, then looked to Chris.
"What the Hell is going on?" She whispered.
"I have no idea..." Chris whispered, not taking his eyes off of the television.
So much had happened in such a short amount of time, after fifteen minutes, everyone thought it might be over. At 10:19, the buses arrived as did some of the parents of some students. Not everyone left though. Some stayed, including Chris and Melanie. Chris had tried calling his parents earlier, but neither of them had answered. He called again a few moments later and got an answer from his mother. She told him the reason why she hadn't answered before was because she had been picking up Chris' younger siblings from school. She was going to take them home and stay home with them. Chris' dad was getting off of work early and would come to pick Chris and Melanie up around 10:35. In the mean time, all Chris and Melanie could do was watch.
Then, at 10:28, after 102 minutes of burning...the North tower, the tower that Tori had been talking to Melanie inside of just a couple of hours earlier, collapsed to the ground.
Melanie gasped and brought herself out of Chris' arms. In a pile of rubble, glass, smoke, and fire, the tower in the sky made its way to Earth. All eyes were glued to the television as the world watch hundreds of more people die on live television.
After everyone had a moment to process the tragedy that had just unfolded, all eyes began to shit towards the back of the classroom towards Melanie. Melanie stares at the TV screen for a moment longer...then takes a huge breath, and screams at the top of her lungs as tears fill her eyes that were still looking at the TV screen. Everyone jumped. The scream was blood curdling. Melanie took a breath and continued to scream and sob, collapsing to her knees. Chris gets down next to her as she continues to loudly cry and wale hysterically. It was so loud that a teacher from another classroom came in to make sure no one was hurt.
Chris spoke to her, "Mel, we gotta go. We gotta go, my dad's gonna be here any minute."
Melanie sobbed, "I can't! I can't, I can't, I have to see what's happening. Tori, she's - she could be - she's - "
"I know, Mel, I know, but we've gotta go."
They stand and Chris takes Melanie out into the hallway.
"No, no, I can't, I can't, I have to see what happens! W-What if...w-what if..."
Melanie then falls to her knees in the middle of the hallway, just crying because she didn't know what else there was that she could do.
Chris started to tear up as well and his voice cracked as he spoke, "M-Mel...Mel, come on, we...we gotta go."
He gets her to stand and puts one of her arms around his shoulders. He then put an arm around her torso and he practically has to drag her through the halls. They got to the doors and out to the front where sure enough, Chris' dad was waiting for them. Melanie regained her composure and let go of Chris. She wiped her tears. They got into the car.
"Are you guys okay?" Chris' dad asked.
"We're fine."
"Have you heard anything from Tori?"
"No..."
Melanie just stares straight ahead and buckles herself in. Chris' eyes widen. She was going into shock. Chris meets eyes with his dad and his dad nods. They drive off. When they got back to Chris' house, Melanie was the first to unbuckle and the first to get out of the car. She went right up to the house and Chris ran in after her. Chris' siblings weren't in sight; they were likely up in their rooms, as both of them were still a little too young to understand what was happening. Chris' mother, however, was sitting in the living room with tears in her eyes and the news on TV. Melanie's eyes immediately go to the TV as they show replays of the North tower falling. Melanie slowly gets down on her knees right in front of the TV and watches intently. Tears form in her eyes.
"Oh, Melanie..." Chris' mother sighed.
Melanie started to cry again. Chris got on his knees next to her and she cried into his chest. And there they sat while Chris rocked Melanie and Melanie cried. For two straight hours they stayed like that until Melanie fell asleep. It was then when Melanie's parents finally got a hold of Chris' parents to tell them they wouldn't be able to get home any time soon. When Melanie woke up about an hour later, she ate a little bit, but not much. She watched the news more, she talked to her parents, she cried.
Six thousand injured.
Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six people dead.
They didn't know it yet, but Tori was one of those dead.
x
Present day.
A couple of days after getting over her hangover, Melanie was back to work as usual.
A woman in a hijab stands in the morgue of the hospital, trembling, murmuring something in Arabic. Melanie stands next to the woman, a cadaver under a sheet on a table in front of them. Melanie removes the sheet over the cadaver. The woman gasps, then puts both of her hands over her mouth in shock, taking a step back. Tears roll down her face and she starts to cry.
"Ma'am, is this your husband?" Melanie asks with a straight face and her "business voice".
The woman nods, beginning to sob. She clutches a necklace around her neck. Melanie takes a step back and gives the woman a moment.
"Madha sa'afel? Madha sa'afel?" The woman asks herself. (A/N: Arabic: What am I going to do? What am I going to do?)
The woman sobs, looking devastated, "I'm all alone..."
The woman looks over at Melanie, looking completely helpless. It wasn't often that Melanie did this, but she hugged the woman. Melanie felt the woman needed it. The woman hugged her back, still sobbing.
"'ana asif." Melanie says to her, "ealayk 'an takun bakhayra, la taqlaq." (A/N: Arabic: I'm sorry. You'll be alright, don't worry.)
Melanie had studied Arabic in college. She didn't remember much of it, but she remembered enough. Melanie felt terrible for this woman...but she still got to help people with her job position, despite how hard it was. Tori had always believed in her...Melanie knew that Tori would be proud of her, even in moments like this, and that was what mattered to her most.
A/N: I AM NOT TRYING TO ROMANTICIZE ANYTHING 9/11 RELATED. ROMANTICIZING THAT SHIT IS TOTALLY SOMETHING FANFICTION WRITERS DO BUT I REFUSE TO.
So this whooooooole thing was to break down a mini barrier by showing that even though she LOST HER SISTER IN 9/11, Melanie is not one of those disgusting people that blames the entire Muslim population for it.
Put that in your juice box and suck it.
Let me know what you think.
xoxo, Scissorhands