Shadow (ONC Entry)

VII : Part One

++ Soon-to-be-edited ++

Chapter 7a / Unseen

"The unseen enemy is always the most fearsome.."
- George. R. R. Martin.

..........

"Rise and shine!" Rhoda's squeaky voice pierced through Melissa's exhausted ears.

Grumbling slightly, Melissa reluctantly opened her eyes to face the bubbly Rhoda who jerked her up with a pull of Melissa's hand. Seated upright, Melissa felt a terrible pain in her temples that caused her eyebrows to furrow slightly and a squint of her eyes.

As soon as her eyes were widely opened, the rays of the morning sun passing through the bars of the window immediately encompassed her view, she put her a hand over her face in protest of it. After noticing such reactions, Rhoda pulled the thick brown curtain down, thus preventing any glimmer of the sun from entering the room, making it - the room - darker than before. Melissa smiled in appreciation of that single nice gesture.

Looking around, Melissa wondered where she was and what had happened the previous day. The only thing she remembered was the stalker's smirk and just that one single memory kept on sending shivers down her spine.

Using all of her fingers to massage her temples, she decided to question Rhoda about everything.

But, before doing that, she proceeded to scan her environment, so she could find out where she laid in. She could obviously see that she was laying in a bed that was covered with a white bedspread. She also noticed that adjacent to the bed was a brown wooden wardrobe plastered to the pink-colored wall. Opposite the same bed, at the top of the wall was a medium-sized plasma TV. Beneath it, in the middle of a three-layer rack laid a DStv decoder device.

Something triggered her memory about that room. Seeing a barbie doll lying at the side of the same rack brought back sweet memories of her and Rhoda playing in the sand outside their houses as eight-year-olds. She finally concluded that since the Barbie doll was in that room, that must be Rhoda's room. She smiled at the realization and the cute memories that came along with their childhood.

"Your room, right?" Just to be sure, Melissa asked while grinning.

Rhoda replied, "Yes." Her eyebrows furrow slightly as she sounds a bit hurt, "Did you actually forget that this is my room?"

Noticing how hurt her friend was, Melissa said with an apologetic look, "No. I didn't. I could never ever forget such a place that held so much of our childhood memories. I just-I just didn't recognize it at first." Melissa truly hoped that what she said would end up convincing Rhoda - considering how dramatic Rhoda usually was.

"I understand." Not wanting to create an emotional showdown, Rhoda smiled while nodding.

That was a lie. It was so unlike Rhoda to actually ignore something so important.

Every part of that room was attached to their blissful childhood. So it was quite impossible for Rhoda not to get hurt or get so emotional at Melissa's forgetfulness. But, considering her best friend's state of health, she had to ignore it and pretend it didn't matter at all, though it was very hard for her.

You see, Rhoda was the exact opposite of Melissa - bold, outspoken, extroverted, loud and dramatic. Even their physical structure was very different; Rhoda was slim and petite while Melissa was chubby and big. In fact, their friendship turned sisterhood was still a surprise to all of their neighbors and the people who knew or met them.
No one would ever imagine that feisty Rhoda would end up becoming so close to quiet Melissa