Plum Blossom | Completed

Chapter Fourteen

Mellisa stilled long enough for the owner of the voice to catch up with her.

"Hey, you were the nurse who answered my pleas for help the other night, weren't you?" the voice from her past addressed her.

"It was last night," she reminded him.

"It was, wasn't it? It really feels like an eternity ago," the man laughed. Mellisa quietly nodded, showing no indication of recognizing the person in front of her.

"I feel like I know you," doubt laced his voice. "Wait! Mellisa?" A look of shock quickly overtook his face.

"Hello Trey."

"Where the hell have you been all these years? You just disappeared on your sixteen birthday. We looked everywhere for you. Beth and I were fraught with worry."

"Yeah, you look really broken up about it. How long have you and Bethany been together, again?"

Trey sighed, "Together for seven, married for three."

"Well, congratulations. Now, if you'll excuse me", she moved to walk away.

"Wait! That's it? We don't see you for over a decade and you just brush us off without an explanation?"

"What do you want me to say Trey?" Mellisa sighed.

"How about telling me why you disappeared."

"My parents died."

"So, you went to live with relatives. You didn't think to tell any of your friends? You just upped and left!"

"What did you want me to say, Trey? Hey guys, thanks for making a fool out of me?"

Trey looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I did come find you that day, you know?"

"I didn't know."

"It was right after I got the news. I came to your house, and I heard you. All of you!"

"What exactly did you hear, Mel?"

"Everything!"

Flashback: Mellisa's sixteenth birthday

Mellisa opened the front door, expecting it to be her parents. Instead, she was greeted by two detectives.

"Mellisa Adams?" one of them had asked. Mellisa felt a boulder in her stomach as she nodded.

The detectives had sat her down and gently broken the news to her. By the time they were done, she felt like her insides were screaming to explode. Life as she knew it had ended. She wanted to scream.

"We are really sorry to be the bearers of bad news, Ms. Adams. We also know that you have two younger brothers. Is there anyone whom you three could stay with?" one of the detectives had asked.

There wasn't, but she wasn't about to tell them that.

"I'll make the call. It might take them a few hours to get here," she'd said.

"We could wait with you, if you'd like?" they had offered. She quickly rejected the help before letting them leave.

"We'll have someone come back and check up on you in a few days." She'd quietly nodded.

As soon as they had left, Mellisa started panicking about what she would do. She called Trey and then Beth. Neither of them had answered. She didn't expect them to. Trey would still be at practice, and Beth had said something about a doctor's appointment.