To Keep Her Safe is All I Know

Chapter 13

When Melanie and Sadie returned home, Sadie went upstairs to put her things away. Melanie now had to think of a way to tell Sadie that John was dead. Fred could sense Melanie's distress and was clinging to her like a wet bathing suit. Melanie sat down on the couch with a sigh and pet the top of Fred's head. Sadie then walks downstairs up to Melanie.

"Can you tell me what happened to Daddy now?" She asks.

Melanie sighs, then nods, "Sit down, sweetie."

Sadie sits on the couch next to Melanie.

"Sadie, do you remember me telling you that your dad was taking special medicine to help him feel okay?"

"Yeah, he's b...uh..."

"Bipolar."

"Bipolar." Sadie repeats.

"Uh huh. His medicine really helped him, and if he didn't take it, he could be really happy or really sad or really angry in an instant and not be able to control it."

"Okay..."

Melanie pauses, pondering how truthful she wanted to be about this. 

"Well, the thing is..." Melanie trails, "When your dad and I got divorced, he was obviously really upset. So upset, that he stopped taking his medicine, and because he's bipolar, he got really sad when he stopped taking his medicine, and...Sometimes, when people get sad, they get really, really, really sad. Sometimes, they even get so sad, that...that it makes them want to die."

Sadie furrows her eyebrows in confusion, "What? Why would anyone want to die?"

"A lot of the time, no one really knows except for that person." Melanie says, "Sadie...your dad loved you very, very, very, very much. I don't want you to ever forget that, but..."

"But what?"

x

At The Strange and Unusual in Kingston, everyone in Motionless in White stood around the counter as an exhausted Chris sat and told them the events of the night before.

Ricky's eyes widen, "He...He hung himself?" He asks in disbelief.

Chris sat in a chair with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

"Uh huh." Chris states, bluntly.

"So, he's dead?" Balz asks.

"Very much so.

"And you guys found him." Ghost states.

"That's what I told you. We went to the house, broke down the door, I dislocated my shoulder, we found the body, Melanie went into shock, put my arm back, called 911, and then I got Sadie the Hell out of there."

"Sadie didn't see what happened, did she?!" Vinny asks.

"No, no, we told her to go in the back yard and play. She knows something happened, she just doesn't know what."

"How's Melanie?" Ryan asks.

"Still in shock. She hasn't really hit that place yet, where the death really becomes apparent and you just kind of shut down."

"Do you think she ever will? The guy did some pretty horrible things to her..." Ricky says.

"Yeah, but they were in love once upon a time, not to mention he's the father of their child. I think this time around, it's Melanie's maternal instincts kicking in. She's not going to let herself react to the situation until Sadie knows and has been comforted. Then Melanie's going to break down. It's different this time around. Even with the miscarriage, John was able to take care of Sadie while Melanie broke down. Now though...Now, Melanie's on her own."