Chapter 10: Dressed for the Night

Spirit City. The starting of fire blades from the fire village, and home to a religious house with a certain religious family. This was the house of Melody Freeman. On the walls of the great city, she stood, peering down the open landscape to West City. She felt the wind in her hair as a smile shown across her face. She thought of what it was like to be free from these walls. Not like a bird in a cage, but actual freedom. The wind in her hair and endless adventure at every turn. This made her the happiest. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Mel!," A voice called to her.

She scrunched her face in disgust and let out a sigh. She rolled her eyes and jumped down off the wall.

She walked the streets with an annoyed look on her face.

"Jeez, she has to call me now? Of all times!" Melody verbally grunted as she turned the corner.

She finally got to her house. It was an old house. (Since she did live in the area where the old fire village was.) It was only a one-story house and it had a barn in the backyard. She found her sister, Mily out front. Mily had blonde hair, unlike Melody's which was black. Mily had her mother's hair, long and golden and curly too. Melody, though, had her father's straight black hair. Melody always hated the shade of her hair and the fact that it was so straight. She especially did not like the sight of her father cutting his own hair so short.

Melody scowled at Mily when she approached.

"Father is going to be angry, Mel. He asked you to tend to the chickens and they werent even fed today. You were up on the wall again, weren't you?," Mily scolded Melody.

"Oh, piss off!" Melody shouted rolling her eyes and walking to the back to grab the chicken feed. She was followed by Mily close behind.

"Hey, I can't cover for you anymore. If Dad ever notices that you are gone, he will kill both of us...," Mily said.

"No, he will just kill me for running off again," Melody said.

"And kill me for not stopping you," Mily added.

Melody grunted and rolled her eyes.

"Look, we have a farm. I have no idea why our dad doesn't just sell crops. He has to become a leader of the Order as well," Melody said angrily.

Melody opened the gate entrance to the chicken coup with the bucket of feed in her hand. She stepped inside and closed the gate behind her. The spread the seed over the ground as she saw the chickens coming from their coup. They surrounded her as she scooped each handful and spread it to cover the ground. Melody then stared back at her sister on the other side of the fence. She made her way toward her after throwing all of the feed to the ground.

"Look, our father worked his whole life to be a holy Noe," Mily said as Melody opened the gate up to leave.

Once Melody stepped out and closed the gate, she put her hand on Mily's shoulder.

"To be honest, my sister. It's all a bunch of bull shit," Melody said as she started storming back to the house with Mily following behind.

"How can you call it bull shit?" Mily asked.

"Cause it is," Melody responded.

"What happened to you? Why are you saying this all of a sudden?," Mily asked.

Melody stopped and stomped the ground in anger and rage. She turned to her sister and walked up to her. Mily knows this look well. Melody has always been passionate about being right. Melody absolutely knew that nothing was wrong with her. Melody approached her sister and glared at her.

"There is nothing wrong with me, Mily," Melody said firm and unmoving.

"That's kind of hard to believe when you are never ready for anything. Do you even have a dress for tonight's party? Our dad expected that too," Mily replied.

Melody grunted angrily and stormed off into the house, leaving the bucket back where she found it. She stomped upstairs and sat on her bed angrily. She gazed at her nightstand, which had a mirror. She gazed into it and seen the person staring back. She knew that who she was would get her dad angry, furious. The daughter of one of the most important religious people in the city, and she doesn't want to follow it. She gazed at herself and gazed at her long, black hair. She stood there and wished to cut it. Oh, how much she wanted to. There were so many times where she was here; thinking these thoughts of running, escaping, cutting her hair. She sighed as she calmed herself. This atmosphere made her uncomfortable. This family made her uncomfortable. She wanted to escape. It was intoxicating. Day in, day out, the same old same old.

She stood and removed her filthy shirt from the dirt outside and tossed it to the bed. She stopped and waited. Lost in thought, she stood by her window and looked out. At the same time, every single day, a girl walked by the gates of their farm. She was the same age as Melody, fourteen. Melody gazed at her. Dazed and lost in her beauty. Her hair seemed to dance in the wind as she passed. Melody's heart was pound as she gazed. Her chest was ringing as she could not control herself. She was frozen in awe. She never wanted this feeling to leave, but it did. The girl walked on. As the girl disappeared from view, so did this feeling. She sat on her bed and thought about her.

"Nikki," Melody said her name to herself as her heart melted in her chest.

She held her hands to her heart as she felt it pounding. Melody seen her at school but never had talked to her. Nikki was the daughter of a congressman for spirit city. Her second name was Rose and the city knew her well. Every day at the same time, she passed the same spot and sent Melody's heart racing. Tonight was the night.

Melody's father got home and called for his daughter, Melody, at the bottom of the stairs. Melody came bolting out in a big dress. She was ecstatic. She could not wait. She came down the stairs and greeted her father. Her father gave her a stern look and said: "now, you must behave yourself, understand? I need to have everyone's attention."

Melody nodded in agreement.

"I'll make sure I will stay quiet, Dad. It's an important event," Melody said merrily.

"Well thank you, Melody. That is showing responsibility, something your mother would have loved to see from you," her father said as Melody rolled her eyes. Her father always compared her to her mother. Her mother was kind and caring, or so she was told. She died after having Melody. Melody didn't know her, but her father did talk about her many times. He seemed to really miss her more than anything. Sometimes, she was all her father talked about.

The dress Melody had on was big and blue. It draped over the floor elegantly as she walked. She walked past her father as he gracefully stood aside. She walked out the door and to the awaiting car.