Melody II

Elodie ripped open the door. All she could think about was that feeling... seeing her go... It triggered something in her. Even if she didn't know what. The feeling was strong enough, against all rationality, she ran after the weird girl, out onto the street.The first raindrops caught her.

"Lily." Elodie saw her petite back, metres away. She hurried, she had the feeling she would lose something important if she didn't. She didn't know why, why she was so obsessed with that girl. They weren't even friends, only knowing each other occasionally from work. But there was this feeling... hidden deep in her chest. When she had finally caught up with the girl, an old-timer turned around the corner, knocking her off her legs. Grey water poured down on her in a gush. It smelled nasty. She wrinkled her nose, looking at the sticky clothes on top of the body. A large dark spot ran from the collar to the hem of her white blouse. The black bra gleamed beneath the fabric. She avoided groaning, one way or another she would not be on service today. Her body felt leaden under the never-ending rain. Was this like a deluge? The road became blurred under thin rivers. Grey rivers, rubbish was floating above it.

"Mademoiselle...?" Within seconds, everything was quiet. As if time had stopped. That voice, every night it haunted her. Night after night, day after day, until the years passed. She could never have forgotten it. Never! She closed her eyes. Oh, God, she pleaded silently to escape this nightmare. "Mademoiselle, are you hurt?" She felt her heart would stop beating at any moment. It did not.

"I think she's hurt..." Elodie heard a door burst open, the screeching of brakes before the wheels slowly rolled backwards.

She wanted to say - I'm fine. Just so he would leave. But suddenly everything was spinning around Elodie. She didn't even feel the cold slowly seeping into her bones. All she could see was that damn car and the nightmare hiding inside. The shadows of that night immediately crawled out of its corners. Senseless, she looked at the silhouette of a man running towards her. She found it difficult to breathe, her pulse pounding in her ears. She didn't know why she was responding to him in such a way. It was only that one night... That hell of a night... He didn't even remember her. Not her agony... But every time her eyes fell into his deep black holes, she felt as if she had been thrown back in time. In the middle of that night... As her blood froze and his icy hand wrapped around her neck, he gradually squeezed the air out of her until she felt suffocated.

"Everything okay?", his voice was still the same, even after five years. Why couldn't she forget that voice. That warm baritone that reminded her of an Irish coffee, velvety sweet and smoky, warm in the aftertaste. His hands were cold.

It hurt. To see him. After all this time. Why had he got out of the car? Why hadn't he just kept driving?

"Did you hurt yourself?" Gently, his big hand lay on her back. It burned. She looked up at him, but her tongue stuck to her palate. She felt sick. All she wanted him to do was walk away, leave her alone, as usual. Why today? He was a regular at the club. Actually, the sight of him should have meant nothing but indifference. They had passed each other by so often in recent years. So why now?

She thought she was a strong woman. But appearances were deceptive... Elodie was an extraordinary liar, the one who lied to herself best. It was easier that way...

He leaned far over to her, his breath brushing her ear. "Are you hurt?" Barely noticeable, his pitch-black eyebrows contracted and lifted slightly. He looked at her in a mixture of irritation and concern as she still did not answer him.

How cruel, at that time he didn't care about her. Her head was as if wrapped in cotton wool, she noticed everything only delayed.

"Mademoiselle, hello can you hear me?" He shook her shoulder slightly. Cold sweat ran down her temples. "Hello, hello can you hear me!" Her body began to shake uncontrollably.

She had the feeling of losing her balance. "Heaven, please stay with me." He caught her while she was waiting for a way out of this ocean of cotton wool. But instead, she seemed to be drowning deeper and deeper inside. His face only millimetres away from hers, her stomach twisted. Rain drops trickled down his sharp edges. Again a wave of nausea crushed her. Never again, never again she wanted to feel those lips on hers, but she just couldn't turn away, staring at that cursed mouth.

"Can you help me? I think she's going to faint."

She heard an indefinable growling and another shadow fell upon her.

"N-no ...", her voice was barely more than a breath. Desperately she tried to push these hands away.

"Mademoiselle, I only want to help you," he pulled her gently onto her feet. She fell back. "Gently." He caught her, put his arm around her centre. Elodie only felt sicker. She just wanted to push him away.

"Lily-" She wanted to be saved, even if her voice wasn't enough to whisper that word. She longed for a hand to hold. "Lily..."

"Something's wrong with her!" She heard the words of the unknown companion. Something was wrong with her? From the moment she had met him, her life was a pile of shattered pieces. "Maybe she is on drugs. Come on, let her go. These bitches are nothing but trouble!"

The black paint glistened under the last rays of the sun. At any moment her shift would begin and night would fall. An uncontrollable shower of pure fear overtook her. Images. Memories that came with every night.

"No!"

He staggered, looking at her in surprise. She didn't even know where she had found strength to push him away. But finally she no longer felt his cruel touch.

And then she ran. Until her lungs burned.

She ran and ran, just wanted to get away from him, disappear.

She just...

"Lily, wait!"

She didn't know how long she'd just sat there. Paralysed. Elodie's clothes were soaked, she felt the cheap cotton shirt clinging to her skin and the skirt wrapping around her legs while her hair stuck on her skin.

Lily's slim back, wrapped in an oversized squeaky yellow coat, had receded further and further into the distance. But finally she had found her lifeline again.

"Lily!"

The rain drummed onto the street, she could only with difficulty keep herself on her feet. If, she wanted help, she had to grab her hand by force. No one would give her a hand voluntarily.

"Lily!" As her steps dashed through the water, she could hear it splashing, feel it all over her skin, only her voice couldn't reach the girl. She screamed as if she was screaming for her life. Over and over again she called her name. Was her situation so hopeless that not even her last straw would get her out of it. Elodie felt betrayed.

"Elodie?"