Precious Young Thing

oh! you pretty things

Riding down the road on her pale blue bike, Melody sighed against the warm summer's evening. An amber sunset laid overhead, delicately peeking through holes in the soft clouds and washing over the streets; the neighbourhood was tranquil tonight. Every street she rode down she could hear the laughter of families congregating together in gardens, and the aromatic scent of grilling meats on barbecues intertwining with whiffs of chalky, wooden smoke. The infusion in the balmy air made her stomach groan.

Slumped on porches were couples residing to their swing seats, swaying gently in the breeze with a cold drink in hand. They attentively gazed upon their children, who were desperately reloading their water guns and shrieking with joy, diving behind play tents to avoid being a target. Dogs padding down the pavement with their roller skating owners now it was cooler, tails wagging eagerly as they observed enthusiasm of the children.

Music sung out from almost every house she passed; whether it be the crackling tunes from the radio, or smoother songs from record players, it uplifted the spirits of passers by immensely. Most of the windows in the houses were cracked open slightly, curtains drifting and pulled back to allow the serenity into their lively homes. Melody hummed to herself as she caught a lyric from one of her new favourite songs: "Layla" by Derek and the Dominos. The guitar rifts made her tap her fingers on her handle bars, amused.

As she pulled up to the curb of her house, Melody slipped off her bike and pulled it up towards the white gates of her family home. There was a pungent smell in the air of charcoal starting up on a grill in their back garden that excited her. She laid her bike to rest against the large apple tree that resided on the lawn, and picked herself one of the fruits greedily, stuffing it into her backpack to munch later.

"Mel!" Her elder brother, Steve, bellowed from the side gate. As he approached he grinned widely. "How was it?"

Melody cheerfully smiled up at him, and wrapped her arms around her brother: he was large in stature, a wrestler at school, and a good one at that. So much so that her spindly arms were unable to fully wrap themselves around him. As they pulled away from the embrace, Melody strummed her hair with her fingers.

"I'm officially out of there for good!" Melody beamed, clapping her hands excitedly. "No more waking up at 6'! No more god awful exams... I could cry."

Steve rolled his eyes. "I'm sure waking up was super hard for you."

"You've no idea," Melody sighed gleefully. "I feel like Frankenstein pulling myself from bed everyday. I nearly rode into a trash can this morning."

"Congratulations," Her brother quirked an eyebrow, but chose not to question her clumsy nature and instead began making for the stairs of the porch. "You'd best go get changed, people are coming over in a bit to celebrate the end of your school career."

"Whose coming?" She questioned, pursing his steps and pushing open the front door with one hand, head turned to look at her brother.

"Uh," Steven made a questionable face for a moment as he tried to mentally wrack up the numbers. Melody shook her head: to put it politely, it was a good thing he excelled in sports. "Tasha, Wanda and Gwen because you asked them... their parents as well, then there's Nanna and Gramps, I think Sharon is coming,"

Melody felt herself snort at her brother's girlfriend's name. Sharon was an arrogant asshole by all accounts: a spoilt girl who bathed in Daddy's money, and submerged herself in their high end lifestyle deeply. The girl was unbelievably vacant, stupid even. Luckily for her she had her inheritance to keep her.

He quickly carried on. "and so is Sam."

Melody huffed, lugging herself toward the staircase at the end of the hallway. She threw her jacket over the banister and rubbed her pale face in her hands roughly. "Lord have mercy."