Stars hide your fears; let not light see my black and deep desires.
William Shakespeare.
Melissa felt a thick wall of tension between her and Derek on her way down to her parent's house in the car that night. She'd taken into consideration that he hadn't given her the cold shoulder; he'd been mostly polite towards her throughout the day.
Like when she needed help with bathing Holly and changing her, so she could run an errand for her father the other day, he had been quick to assist in helping her, while she was gone.
Or when she wanted to take a nap because she had a splitting migraine and had to rest it off, he'd done it no questions asked. But he had been far from his normal attentive self and had been snapping at her over the smallest of things.
She just hoped after this night was through, that Derek would at least warm up to the idea of opening up to her, instead of shutting her out like he had been since they moved there.
After they entered through Devil's creek, which was a little way out of Highbury Hills, they continued through the massive tangle of hardwoods and thick underbrush, past the fork that led to her father's house. The road snaked right into the clearing.
The second they pulled up to her father's driveway, a wave of dread hit Melissa when she scanned the driveway for Davids's car but instead she was met with an empty parking space as if no one were home.
"Well, it looks like nobody's home," Derek pointed out, rolling the window down. He popped his head out of the wide open space, so he could see if anyone had been lurking around the premises.
Melissa presumed her father and her stepmother could have stepped out to go shopping until she remembered the spare key her father had given her in case of an emergency.
"I have a spare key," Melissa reminded him, almost sensing Derek groan inwardly after she said that.
She felt relieved when she looked into the rearview mirror and caught sight of her father Edward walking from the garden to their car, with Sally, her father's border collie wagging its tail behind him. It had given her a sense of peace knowing someone was there.
As Melissa stepped out of the car to greet her father with a warm embrace and a kiss, a baying split the air, followed by a familiar screeching sound of a car pulling up to her father's driveway forcing them all to stop in their tracks. Sally was just about to jump up and rest her paws on her, but the sound of the car frightened her away.
She shot off in the opposite direction before Melissa could even stop her. She didn't have to strain her eyes in the dark to realise it was David who had just arrived.
So much for him not being here tonight, she thought catching a glimpse of David's black Ford Mustang parked outside her father's gate, revving the engine and honking his horn, wanting to come in. The sound of the heavy metal music he was playing, was switched off as soon as he drove in through the gates.
She was standing on the lawn, inches apart from, Derek and her father, observing the colour drain from her husband's cheeks, making him appear nauseous. With his head hung low, he walked ahead of her, the anger clear on his face, as David sped down the driveway like a bat out of hell.
"I'll be inside if anyone needs me, " Derek said with a frustrated groan. He brushed past her with Holly curled up in his arms, before greeting her father with a polite nod. Melissa felt a pain rip through her heart watching Derek storm off into the darkness. She just stood there, speechless; feeling drained all of sudden.
She knew she was in for it the second her father glared at her and shook his head in dissatisfaction. "That boy needs a serious attitude adjustment," he stated matter-of-factly. " Has no manners at all. No respect. Nothing. Gettin' real sick of it, to be honest."
" Well, look who just pitched up," Melissa reminded her father, wondering what David was even doing here anyway.
"Still gives him no right to behave that way," her father continued to argue."Derek knows David is staying with us for a while until he can get on his feet. It's not as if he doesn't know he's here. Why should everyone have to be forced to have their evening spoiled because of their insecurities? Victoria has worked hard on preparing this dinner for all of us tonight and I ain't gonna have that god-damm sour puss messing it up for us like he always does... so either you tell him to suck it in and bear it like a man or tell him to leave and you stay here with Holly."
Melissa fought the urge to retaliate back at her father. She wanted to come to her husband's defence and give him a piece of her mind, but she knew it wouldn't have gotten her far.
After her mother died and her father remarried this new woman, things just hadn't been the same when she visited her father. Melissa had been convinced Victoria was the worst thing to ever happen to this family and yet for some reason, her father wouldn't hear a single bad word being said about her in his presence.
No one was allowed to point out her obvious flaws and shortcomings and the fact that she was nothing but a gold digger just after what she could get out of her father, whose heart had always been as big as his wallet when it came to beautiful money-hungry women. But then again, who was she to intervene in her father's personal affairs? Her father had been old enough to make his own decisions. It was up to him to bump his head and learn that the hard way.
"Victoria said to me, he was going out be out tonight," Melissa said, not even trying to conceal her disappointment." I guess it never happened."
Her father glanced away and nodded, shrugging his shoulders, while he kneaded his fingers through his hair for a moment as if he were deep in thought." No idea. What goes on in David's life has nothing to do with me," he said. "He comes and goes as he pleases around here. I can hardly keep up sometimes with the amount of times he's in and out all day."
Melissa had been annoyed with her stepmother for convincing her to come over with Derek when she knew damn well David would be there.
Prior to their dinner arrangement this evening, Victoria had sworn to her, that David wouldn't be in for supper this evening. She'd told him he'd planned on hitting the local pub tonight and would be out for most of the duration of the evening.
However, as soon as David hopped out of his car, with no intentions of going anywhere anytime soon, Melissa knew tonight was going to be the worst night of her life.
Melissa hurried into the house after Derek, while she observed, David, sauntering down the driveway now in the dark, talking on his cell phone to someone. She left her father alone before David had time to see her and tried to strike up a conversation with her.
When she opened the door, she expected to find Derek brooding in the corner with a long sullen face, waiting to interrogate her with questions about why David was there. But instead, she found him seated on her father's recliner with Holly snuggled up in his arms, in front of the television.
He had her propped up in his arms on his lap, her head pressed against his chest. Her big, pretty, blue eyes were coruscating in fascination at the brightly coloured images of the Teletubbies jumping around on the screen, every time she lifted her tiny head to look up at them.
Her husband's eyes softened as she soon as he caught a glimpse of Melissa walking in, while he eased back on the couch with their daughter.
His face had returned to his normal shade, but the strained expression made it crystal clear to her, that he wasn't happy David would be having dinner with them tonight.
"She just woke up," he said patting the empty space next to him as if it let her know he wasn't going to bite her head off if she decided to come sit down with him.
Melissa flinched when she could hear the footsteps of her father and what she presumed to be David walking towards the entrance of the door now, forcing Melissa to rise off her seat, worried this was going to set Derek off again.
She turned to Derek, tugging onto his shirt and tried to persuade him to get him to leave with her.
"Look Derek, why don't we just leave this tonight," Melissa suggested. " I can always just tell my father Holly's not feeling so good and we can make it for another night. We still have loads of unpacking to do, so let's just call this a night, shall we?"
"No," Derek stated firmly. "Your father has put a lot of effort into making this night possible for us. So the least we can do is just be here and make the best of it."
As soon as Melissa watched the door fly open and noticed her father and David entering the living room, she felt the climate in the room change, as though the temperature had dropped to thirty degrees.
Her father had somehow looked older in the fluorescent lighting of the room, his face more weather-worn, than she'd last remembered him. His hair that was once black like hers, was starting to go grey and silver in places, despite how much he had it neatly combed back.
David had been looking the part as always, pressed up against the wall, sharply dressed in a black shirt, and tight-fitting jeans, as if he had just come back from a night out on the town. Flicking his dirty blonde hair, from his face, he promptly ended the call, the second his attention flashed in their direction, brushing a hand along his chiselled jaw, his eyes refusing to leave their sight.
"Well, well," he said, arrogantly, his lips parting into a devilish smirk. "Look who decided to join the party; the goddamn Manson family."
Melissa could see Derek tightening his fists, keeping them at his sides. He was squeezing them so hard that his knuckles began to turn white underneath the table, struggling to control his temper at his uncalled-for remark. Melissa was fearing the worst now. Thankfully her father stepped in before things could escalate and intervened, pulling an incorrigible David in the corner pretending to want to discuss business with him in his office.
Melissa tucked away into the corner of the room the whole time at the sight of David standing there, faltering beneath his wavering stare, watching him speak to her father. She wondered if he was still mad at her for not sticking to the meeting they were supposed to have before Derek's accident. They hadn't spoken since then.
Melissa noticed as he talked to her father that he had been exchanging glances at her every now, his sultry dark brown eyes, straying in her direction every few seconds, his attention mainly focused on her in the room and nothing else. Melissa had never felt so out of place; and at a loss for words.
Her mind was so disoriented at this point that she could hardly think straight. She expected after David had finished speaking with her father that he would more than likely pass some snide, condescending remark under his breath like he always did. But for once, he had been surprisingly pleasant throughout the evening they were there and kept his distance from her and Derek.
Before supper, Melissa decided to make the most of her time there and sat outside, chatting to her father on the screen porch, while they looked up at the stars together catching up like the good old times.
Her father had grabbed a bottle of merlot from his wine cellar, put Queen on repeat in the living room and asked her if she wanted to share a few glasses before supper.
Thankfully, she hadn't seen much of her stepmother, because she had spent most of her time occupying herself in the kitchen, since she'd returned home, experimenting on some new Spanish dish she'd been dying to try out. She assumed David had wandered off somewhere or passed out drunk in the house, as he had been nowhere to be seen.
Despite everything, she could honestly say that this night had turned out better than she expected. She cherished moments like this with her father. She wished they could have spent more time together. Instead, she'd often felt like a stranger whenever she'd come over to visit with Derek.
After breast cancer had claimed her mother's life, she found herself growing distant from her father. She still remembered her last conversation with her mother, before she died. "Your dad is as soft as a teddy bear underneath it all. He loves you and just wants the best for you."
She never doubted her father's love for her, but she hated the dissension in this family and wished everyone would get just along. She hated coming here with Derek only to have to be forced to walk on eggshells all day long because Derek and her father never got along.
She longed for her husband and the father of her child to become friends, not just in-laws. She also hated how Derek was always so convinced that something was going on between her and David. She just wished Derek would trust her instead of shutting her out like he did.
"So, how's things going with the new house?" her father spoke up, before pouring himself another glass of wine. "You settling in good?"
Melissa could tell by her father's tone that he wanted her to stay here in Highbury Hills. As much as Melissa loved her father and wanted to be closer to him, she knew that she could never move back here indefinitely. She wanted more out of life than going back to the way things were before, despite how much Derek wanted her to stay and make things work there.
"It's great," she lied, holding her breath as if she were fearing her father's response. "Derek seems to be enjoying the new house."
Melissa knew that was an understatement. Derek had become enamoured with the place since they'd moved in there. She was beginning to wonder if Derek would stick to their agreement when he swore to her on top of the scenic view overlooking New York that they would be out of there in a month.
"I know you said your hubby inherited this house from some distant relation, but do you know what would have compelled him to leave his entire estate to a man he doesn't know?" her father asked her, the curiosity in his voice resembling the look he was giving her now. "Something doesn't add up. Are you sure this isn't some kind of scam of some sort?"
"I thought so too," Melissa said." But we went over the papers and the deeds to the house several times. Everything seems to check out."
"Where about's did you move again?" her father inquired, kneeling so he could pat Sally gently over the head as she passed through to walk over to the kitchen.
"Right Near Witcher's Peak," Melissa replied, already knowing where this conversation was heading.
Her father held a strained expression, as he eased back into a chair, his face almost turning as white as a sheet now.
" You got guts stepping foot in there," he told her, motioning Sally to be seated." The folks in this town wouldn't go near that place if you paid 'em to. They say there's a woman there that haunts those parts. If you ask me, I don't believe it. Half of them people in this town are all nuts anyway."
Melissa had to agree with her father; the house had been downright terrifying. Melissa hated it, the moment they moved in there. Every room was cold and constantly shrouded in darkness, with creepy hollowed-out walls, to the noises she would hear every night, constantly waking her up in a cold sweat at the thought of someone standing over her, watching her while she was sleeping. No matter how hard she tried to tell herself that The Conjuring was just a movie, she sometimes wondered if things like that did exist.
Of course, she could have been just blowing this completely out of proportion. After all, there had been no such things as ghosts, right?
Rewritten✔ Partly edited.
Total word count:3194k
********************************