Stuck on Replay

Chapter 14

February had melt into March. It felt like the fight had been ages ago, but I was still hurt by the names everyone had called me.

    After Dad was arrested, I stayed home for a week. I didn't feel like going to school. Neither did Adam. We both stayed home and cried together. I couldn't speak at all.

    I wasn't mad about the fight. Rather, I was upset that I thought they were my friends, that they would never call me those types of things. I was also upset because of what had happened with my father, mother, and siblings while the band had the fight.

    Dad had come home extremely drunk, and started hurting Mom really badly, and attempted to get the gun from the basement. Adam and Rachel stopped him, and the kids, had pulled out everything from their sleeve that was pranks. Balloons filled with rotten blue cheese, white paint, NERF and BB toy guns. But it didn't work, and they got hurt with a few bruises here and there. The neighbors noticed the noise, screaming and yelling, and called the police.

    Mom moved us to another, bigger house, so that the bad memories weren't stored in the house I grew up in. She started dating the police officer that had comforted her after Dad's abuse was finally put to a stop. His name was Robert and he was quite nice, nice enough to check up on Mom each day, even if Dad is locked up. She was happier now, and we were too. She filed a divorce from Dad and filed a lawsuit against him, too. The lawsuit is set for April.

   

    I still managed to be a wreck after the fight. I stopped talking, and hardly ate the food Mom cooked, which I almost never do. At first Mom thought it was post-traumatic stress, but after a little while, she knew it wasn't.

    As for Stuck On Replay, well, we stopped doing the gigs at Under 21. It was Harmony's decision. We hadn't touched our instruments in weeks. We avoided each other as best as we can at school.

    One Friday night, when I was up late, staring up at the stars from my new bedroom window, Mom walked in. It started with a quiet knock on the door, and when I didn't answer, she opened the door quietly so I couldn't hear it creak as opposed to when the twins slammed open the door, as they had done many times before.

    "Melody?" She asked quietly.

    I turned to face her and waved a hand.

    "What's wrong, why aren't you talking?" Mom rushed over to me and held me tightly with tears in her eyes.

    I opened my mouth to explain everything - The fight, the names - and I burst out crying, throwing myself in her arms.

    "Oh sweetie..." She shook her head, held me tightly, and rubbed my back gently.

    Once I had finished with the crying session, she asked me again. "What happened before you came home that day?"

    "I... I had this band. It was called Stuck On Replay, I was the lead singer. We had gigs every Friday and Saturday at Under 21." I stammered out. "We had a fight, and I said things I wasn't supposed to say... And they called me names and they're the only friends I've ever had and I thought I could trust them but I couldn't and-" Mom cut me off.

    "Melody. I know they didn't mean to say those names, and that they were all worked up about something. Do you know what that something was?" She asked calmly.

    "Y-Yeah... We got a letter and it said that we caught the attention of City Star Records, and that they would be sending a representative in June and Harmony got worked up over it and Michael made a mistake and she started yelling at Michael and the fight began and I didn't know what to do and then Harmony yelled at me saying that I was the snotty one with a good life and she doesn't even know half of it and Mom I don't know what to do anymore!" I blabbered out.

    "Shh... Shh." She whispered softly in my ear. "I'm so sorry. I know the change has been hard with the move and Dad and everything."

    "It's not that..." I cried. "I'm so mad at them but I want them to be my friends again. I don't know how to fix it."

    "Well, you could tell them how you feel." She suggested and I shook my head. "No? Everyone's a secret keeper these days?"

    I nodded. "Yeah, sharing feelings isn't exactly what most teenagers do."

    "Let's see." She pursed her lips, as she usually did whenever she was thinking hard about something.

    "Well, do something. Find a way to get in touch with them, and make an effort to try and talk to each other." She suggested again. "And then talk about your feelings and see if they felt the same way after the fight. That's all that I really know what to do. I was a therapist for a little while, and I've been in this situation before."

    "You really think it will work?" I stared into Mom's brown-green hazel eyes, the ones that reminded me so much of home.

    "I know it will." She stared back into mine, dark brown pigment with light blue underneath. "However, it's your decision to keep things as they are, or change things for the better. In the end I know you'll choose what's right." She got up and kissed my forehead. I sat on the edge of my bed, still looking into her eyes that I always thought were the most beautiful part of her.

    "Mom?"

    "Yes Melody?"

    "Your eyes are really pretty." I blurted out.

    "Thank you, but in retrospect, your voice is absolutely beautiful. Why do you think I called you Melody the minute I first heard your cries? Even your wailing sounded... Melodic. Best off to sleep now."

    "Mom?"

    "Hmm?"

    "Thanks." I smiled. As she was about to close the door, her face popped out from behind.

    "And I almost forgot... It's amazing to listen to your voice again. The house was too quiet." She smiled with her teeth, then closed the door.

    That night, I knew what I had to do to get the band back together.