This chapter is dedicated to my good friend Chanson becuz she's commented and voted on basically every chapter :)  (she's a great writer btw!!!! u guys should check out her stuff! :D)

*vote, comment, fan, tweet, like*

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             Two months. It’s been two whole months since the day of my sister’s death. It doesn’t feel that long though. It feels like it’s only been a few days since we buried her lifeless body deep in the ground.

             I don’t think about her too often anymore either. I just don’t really see the use in thinking about someone who’s never going to come home anymore. Not even my parents talk about her very often anymore.

             It’s like she never existed... like I never had a sister in the first place. But since that day that I had spent with Matt, I haven’t seen anything. It’s like all of that disappeared, too.

             Even Veronica, she moved back to Kentucky. I really do miss her, but I’ve been begging my parents to go visit Kentucky for a long, long time. It was a month ago that she left and even though she came back over to say her goodbyes, I feel as though she took a piece of me with her, as weird as that may sound.

              My parents said that they’d think about it though. So I might have a chance of going to visit her. I really hope so; I miss her a lot, even though sometimes she got on my nerves or scared me a little bit on the inside.

             “Melody,” said a voice. My head shot up. Had I fallen asleep during class? I looked around at my peers who were now staring at me.

             “Melody,” repeated my teacher, sounding annoyed that I had taken a nap during her class. I looked towards the front of the class at my annoyed teacher and mumbled an apology.

            Suddenly she looked sympathetic, “just don’t do it again.”

            I rolled my eyes when I realized she was only showing sympathy because of my sister. She must still think I'm upset about my sister... oh well, a lot of people still think I'm upset about losing my sister.

             I know it sounds horrible that I’m not sad about it anymore, but I'm over it. it’s not like I'm going to waste away my entire life just because one person died. It’s not like I don’t miss her, it’s just that I don’t feel like sulking about it for the rest of forever. It just doesn’t seem very appealing to me.

              It wasn’t very long before the bell rang and everyone got up to leave. I slowly stuffed my things in my knapsack before getting up to leave. I hadn’t thought that class would end so soon. I thought I’d at least be able to get all of my belongings put away before then.

              I felt a delicate hand touch my shoulder. I looked up at the person touching me. It was Mrs. Demetrio.

              “Hello, Melody,” she smiled.

              “Hi,” I greeted her coldly.

              “I was wondering if we could have this chance to talk,” she said, stating her business.

              “About?” I asked uninterested, trying to close my zipper; which seemed to be stuck by the way.

              “Well, I’ve noticed how you’ve been acting lately and it’s been worrying me, along with all of your other teachers who have noticed your behaviour as well.”

             “And how exactly have I been acting?” I asked, curious as to how I could have possibly worried several teachers at once.

             “Cold towards other students, inattentive during class, your marks have gone down, you snap at teachers, and some people say they seen you talk to yourself?” she frowned, “I don’t know about you but I think that’s not exactly normal for a smart young girl like yourself.”

             “I don’t really see where you’re going with this,” I replied, rolling my eyes.

             “I think that it’s because of your sister’s death,” she started, but stopped when I glared at her.

             “I think it’s starting to really bother you, even though you may not be the one noticing it,” she continued, ignoring the death stares that I was sending her way, “I think you should go see a therapist,” she finally finished.

             I gawped at her; I cannot believe she just said that. No way do I need to go see a shrink, I'm perfectly fine!

             “Are you crazy?” I asked, “You don’t know me. I'm perfectly fine,” I hissed, “I think you’re the one who needs to see the looney doctor.”

            She stared at me in awe, like she hadn’t expected that from me. Of course she wouldn’t... I'm the quiet one, remember? Nobody expects that from me out of all people.

             “Excuse me?” she asked. She looked flabbergasted, still unsure how to respond to my small outburst.

             “You heard me,” I said coldly, “I don’t need to go see some guy who thinks he can solve all of my problems by going to the root of the problem. That sounds stupid.”

             Mrs. Demetrio stayed silent, still unsure of what to say to me right now. I was just praying that she’d leave me alone soon, so that I could get on with the day. I was probably going to miss my next class if she didn’t let me go.

              “Would you at least try to see the school shrink?” she asked as I was picking up my knapsack.

              I shrugged, motioning that I would think about it. I don’t think I need a shrink, but if that’s what people want then I guess I could try it for their sake. Maybe if that’s what it takes to get them to stop pestering me, then I’ll do it.

              I left the room and walked down the hall, leaving my teacher a little bit flabbergasted at my response.

              I know, it seems like I’ve indeed changed since my sister’s death, but it’s not her death that’s changed me. It’s all those weird sightings that I use to have at night, and seeing Harmony haunt me in my dreams has really caused me to become paranoid that she’ll appear to me again one of these days.

              My life has been completely flipped upside down since then. Even between Matt and me... ever since that night at my house when he first told me he liked me, it’s been different. I'm always avoiding him now because of how awkward it’s become between the two of us. It’s not the same.

              I know he still likes me though, he always stares at me during biology class, and as soon as I look at him he looks away.

               I quickly realized that I wasn’t paying attention as I was walking because I had bumped into something hard, causing me to fall backwards.

               My face went red when I looked up to see who it was... Matthew. I looked away from his hard eyes. He held out his hand, motioning for me to grab it so that he could pull me back onto my feet.

               I reluctantly grabbed it and allowed him to pull me up. I muttered a quick thank you as I walked passed him, brushing against him as I did so. He grabbed my wrist before I could manage to get very far unfortunately.

               “I'm going to be late,” I lied, knowing very well I still had five minutes before class started. He looked at me coldly, as if he knew I was lying.

               “Mel, we have the same class this period, we won’t be late,” he stated.

               “Then what do you want?” I asked harshly, but regretting it when I noticed him wince.

               “I want to know why you keep running off every time you see me,” he finally said.

                I was speechless for just a moment. What do you say when somebody asks you that, that you’re scared, that you’re not ready for anything other than friends? But I knew that was a lie. Haven’t I wanted to be more than friends for years already? I was finally getting what I wanted! I didn’t need to run away... but that’s just it I suppose, I was scared...

                I watched him until I realized that I still hadn’t answered his question. I just wish I knew what to say...

                “I- I don’t know, ok?” I finally stuttered. His face softened, but then grew sad a second later, as if he had just realized something important.

                “Is it because you don’t feel the same?”  He wondered.

                “No, it’s not that, I-”   but I stopped, I couldn’t tell him that I felt the same, could I? I wasn’t that bold... but seeing the way he was looking at me, I just couldn’t leave it like this...

                “I like you too...” I finally managed to mutter. That’s when his emotions became hard to read. Feeling my face turn red I quickly walked past him and headed off towards class.

                I managed to reach my seat just as the bell rang. It wasn’t too long before matt walked in either, making my face turn a deeper shade of red as he glanced at me when he walked by.

               The rest of the class went by without a hitch though, and instead of thinking of what I had just said to Matthew I was thinking of whether or not it was really necessary to go see a shrink.

               I think that I should at least try it, maybe it’ll help in some way or another? Ive heard from different people that shrinks only make it worse... yet other times I hear that they really do work...

                I stared at the clock as it ticked by slowly. I knew that it would go by much slower if I just stared at it... but I didn’t really care to be honest. I was just really bored and had nothing better to do.

                “Melody?” whispered a voice. I turned to look at Bethany; she had a worried look on her face, “are you okay?”

                “Yeah,” I muttered quietly, “just tired, that’s all.”

                “No talking!” spat Mr. Belanger. We winced when he spat on us. He just can’t seem to realize that it’s not normal to spit when you talk. I mean, who does that... besides Daffy duck anyways.

***

                The rest of the day went by slowly as usual and as I sat on the bus on my way home from school, I found myself thinking about my sister, Harmony.

                I really did miss her, even though sometimes it doesn’t show. I find that people tend to think you’re heartless whenever you ignore the fact that you’re sister’s dead. But then again, I just don’t like being reminded of what used to be, that’s all.

                I got up as the bus pulled up to my house. My parent’s vehicle wasn’t in the driveway and all of the lights were out. I'm betting they just went to the store to pick up some supper or something of the sort.

                I walked in to the kitchen and turned on the lights. The kitchen was a mess... the dishes weren’t done, the floor hadn’t been swept yet, and the counter was filled with things left over from lunch.

                I took the broom and started to sweep; I might as well finish cleaning while my parents are out. I'm sure they’d be pleased to find a clean kitchen when they get home, especially my mom.

                As soon as I reached the garbage pail, I realized that something didn’t smell right... in fact, it smelled really strange. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything like this before in my entire life.

                I looked around, trying to figure out what could have possibly created such a stench. It smelled awful... if only I knew what was creating it.

                I eyed the garbage and finally decided to look inside. Using an already dirty spatula, I lifted up the lid of the garbage bin and gasped at what I saw. It was the most disgusting sight I have ever seen.

              I backed away, completely terrified at what lay there. It was the cat... it was rotting terribly and I could see larva squirming in and out of its eyes, mouth, and ears.

              I felt like I needed to puke. I unwillingly held it down knowing that I had just swept and didn’t want the room to smell like dead cat and puke. Now that would be horrible.

              Unsure of what to do, I ran towards the door, still completely horrified at what I had seen. I just wanted to get out of here. After all, t had been two months since I had seen any strange apparitions and I didn’t want to jinx that by staying here.

                I could already see the storm clouds forming as I ran outside. I quickly dialled a number in my phone, so that I wouldn’t be alone if anything happened.

               “Hello?” asked a voice on the other end.

               “Matthew?  It’s Mel. I was wondering if you could pick me up,” I replied, “it’s kind of an emergency.”

                There was a pause before he spoke again, “I’ll be right there.” And then he hung up.

                To be honest, I'm not too sure why I had called him out of all people. I knew that as soon as he picked me up that we would feel awkward and that he would want to talk about what happened earlier. But I was willing to risk that... he was the only person who really made me feel safe whenever something was happening.

                 I stood in the driveway as the rain began to pour down in heavy droplets.  I'm pretty sure that I felt hail somewhere in there, too, but I ignored it.

                  I stood there as I began to become soaked, but I didn’t want to go back inside, even if it was just until Matt got here. I just didn’t want to risk seeing anything out of the ordinary happening. And I'm sure something would happen if I decided to go inside to wait. Something always happens when there’s a storm like this.

                  The sky was becoming eerily dark and I couldn’t wait until Matt was here. I was starting to get scared and I was silently hoping that Matt wouldn’t mind that I was drenched from my head to my toes when I would finally get into the car.

                  Finally, I could see Matt’s car driving around the corner and I sighed in relief when he pulled into to the driveway.

                  I climbed in quickly and he stared at me with confusion as water dripped down my face. I blushed as I mumbled, “don’t ask...”

                   “Um... are you alright?” he asked, still looking at my strangely.

                   “Y-yeah,” I stuttered, “why do you ask?”

                   “Well, you kind of called me out of nowhere after you’ve been avoiding me all day...” he stated, “and you sounded really scared, or something.”

                   “Oh, yeah,” I muttered, realizing how logical that was, “um... could we start driving now? And get away from my house?”

                   “Sure,” he agreed, probably thinking that I was a lunatic or something by the way he seemed to have hesitated.

                  “Where to?” he finally asked after a while.

                  “Anywhere but home,” I answered.

                  We drove silently for a while. I knew this probably felt strange to poor Matthew, mostly because I had been ignoring him and then suddenly called him and asked him to pick me up, but I needed his company, I just didn’t feel safe whenever I was alone.

                  I stared out at the dark sky; it was just a reminder of the night my sister died. So dark and stormy... it’s a shame this keeps happening. I'm starting to hate storms with a huge passion.

                  I pulled down the sun visor and looked into the mirror. I was a mess... the rain completely ruined my hair and my skin looked awful as well.

                  Just great, the one chance I have with Matt again and I look like something the cat brought in... And then I shuttered, remembering the bloodied cat sitting in my garbage pail at home. It was still covered in dirt from when my parents buried it. And it was buried so that no one would ever have to see it ever again... so much for that.

                  When I realized that we had stopped, I looked around and noticed that we had parked in the parking lot of a restaurant.

                  “You hungry for anything?” he asked. I shook my head, but suddenly realized how much I needed to eat something when my stomach growled. He smiled at me and turned off the ignition.

                   “Come on, let’s go inside,” he smiled as he opened the door.