Melissa

memories.

Melissa.

She twirled in one of her pretty dresses.

She was waiting for Maxwell to get here with the rest of her family.

Her mother was been mean again so she was not in any way eager to meet the woman again. She didn't know any place where children rejected their parents.

"Maxwell!" She exclaimed with a smile when she saw him enter the house and nearly lost it to a frown when she saw who followed him right after.

Karen. A very big meanie.

Karen was just a few years older than her and few years older than Maxwell. But she loved to pick on them.

Like her mother, Auntie Tessy, she was a very big meanie. She ignored the adults yelling and pulled Maxwell away.

"Where are you people going?" Karen's mean voice came.

"None of your business!" She answered dragging Maxwell by his hands.

"It's so!" Karen argued.

"It's not!" She retorted, stomping very loudly but still dragging Maxwell alongside her.

She sighed and looked at Maxwell who looked very amused.

"What?" She mouthed to him so Karen won't hear. Maxwell raised an eyebrow at her

It was then she remembered- she'd agreed with Maxwell to ignore Karen and her nasty behaviour especially when she turned whiny.

He said she'd walk off if they pretended not go see, or near her.

So she just nodded inconspicuously before turning her gaze to where she walked. She came to an abrupt halt when Karen stood in front of her.

She held back a sigh and just closed her eyes and sat on the very floor she'd stood.

She ignored Karen's voice till her eyes hurt. When she finally opened it, Karen was walking off.

She turned beaming at Maxwell who was looking at her weirdly.

"I did it!" She exclaimed in excitement. Maxwell laughed a bit

"Let's play hide and seek here- your great-grandmother and great-grandfather would come back- I'd count and you hide" Maxwell said.

She nodded eagerly at the game to take off her mind from the yelling that was resounding in the whole room.

She could fit in her Papa Arni's shelf in his office. She was quite happy that her father and mother and all the other grown ups weren't in the office.

It was grandma Ebube that showed her the hiding spot. She'd been living in this place for almost nine months now. And in a month's time she'd be eight years old.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her to her father's office and tucked herself in the shelf.

It wasn't up to ten seconds she'd been hiding when she heard the door to her father's office open and close.

She held her breath because she knew that it wasn't Maxwell who entered the room but another person.

She peeped from a small hole in the shelf to see her great-grandfather remove some files and opened a photo of his and his wife, great-grandmother, Agnes.

After he'd placed it, he put the picture back where it's sat on his desk just a second later, the door burst open and in walked Clarisse screeching.