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          “ SORRY– ” MIKE APOLOGIZES, QUICKLY. TRYING to cause her the least amount of pain possible. after she seemed stable enough, mike moved over to grab his bike and start wheeling it back to his garage, mel in tow. he knew he shouldn’t have let her try that on her own so quickly. maybe if he had waited just a LITTLE BIT LONGER, that wouldn’t have happened. “ huh? ” mike’s torn out of his thoughts, looking back at her and meeting her gaze. “ oh… yeah… i just wish it didn’t. ”

          HE DOESN’T SAY ANYTHING ELSE until they’re back in the house and explaining the situation to his mother. first thing she does is suggest that they tell mel’s mother, but upon MUCH persistence, she doesn’t call her, and rather, agrees to take the two of them up to the clinic. mike didn’t know WHAT they were going to do. what if mel’s arm really was BROKEN and needed a cast or something? he tried not to think about that however, as he sat in the back of the car with her, twiddling his thumbs.

     she was nervous about telling mike’s mom and let him do all of the talking, simply stood behind him holding onto her BROKEN arm. the tears that had broke forth after the accident were now dried to her face. dirt and leaves, even a few twigs, clung to the jacket and her jeans- remnants of what happened. it seemed like something so simple, falling off a bike, but it was much more for a girl who had never touched a bike and who had just gone outside for the first time ever a month ago.

          MIKE’S TRYING HIS BEST NOT to panic. if her arm is broken then they needed to get help! even if not a word gets said to her mother, SOMETHING has to get done. he can’t just do NOTHING after all. so, with some hesitance, he looks around to see if anyone had been around to notice, but with no one in sight, he turns back to mel. “ i– i won’t say anything, but… we have to do SOMETHING– ” he’s looking her over, a pang of guilt shooting through him. he shouldn’t have asked her to do this. “ maybe… m-maybe my mom can do something—– ” even if HER mom didn’t learn of this, an adult NEEDED to be notified.           “ OKAY, LOOK, I’M GONNA HELP you up, okay? ” they couldn’t just SIT HERE forever. so, gently, he reaches over, mindful of her injured arm, grabbing onto her other one, and helping her to her feet. at least she could still walk. he didn’t really trust himself to try to cry her anyway. upper body strength had never really been something that he had. “ okay, let’s get back inside, ” he says, moving over to grab his bike and pick it up off the ground. maybe this had been a bad idea; mike wondered if he’d ever be able to try again. at this rate, he doubted it.

     god, she could only imagine what would happen if her mother found out about this. it took enough time and begging to convince her to allow melanie out into the world and just a couple weeks after she gets hurt? she’d be locked back in the house and NEVER let out again. but she trusted mike to not tell the woman. she trusted him more than anything. he could tell his mother or someone else and all would be fine. just not her own, please, no.

          MIKE BLINKS IN SURPRISE WHEN she insists on doing this on her own. he’s not sure that it’s such a good idea, but he lets her have a go. unfortunately, he realizes what a mistake THAT WAS as she begins to lose control. his eyes go WIDE and he’s immediately chasing after her. in a few last attempts to try to save her from crashing he calls, “ MEL! PEDAL! ” hands rise up to cup around his mouth. “ PEDAL—–!! ” but it’s too late, and she’s crashed. at least she landed in the grass.           MIKE’S BY HER SIDE IN an instant. crouching down next to her, he reaches out for her, but he doesn’t actually TOUCH her in fear of hurting her, seeing as how she already appears to be a lot of pain. “ is– is it broken? ” he asks, not bothering to ask her if she’s ‘okay’ when it’s obvious that she ISN’T. “ god, mel– i… i am SO SORRY—– ”

       The girl kicks the bike off of her as best as she can, scooting back slightly away from it in the grass. However one of her arms is wrapped around her body and she is hunched over as though protecting it...for she was. All the pain that she felt on her body was in her left arm and it even drove her to forming tears in her eyes. Now she’d gotten hurt in her life before, scrapes and bruises here and there, but NOTHING compared to this.

* “ I’LL TAKE IT . Just make sure Sonia doesn’t scatter my ashes anywhere weird . ”

* “ JUST OKAY ? Gee , thanks . ”

     “ you got this, ” he tries to reassure her, offering a light smile. “ i believe      in you. ” of course, the only way to know for sure if she could do it was to      TRY IT. so, there’s a small pause before he’s reaching over to help steady      the bike; one hand gripping one of the handlebars, the other holding onto      the back of the seat. he glances up at her, meeting her gaze as he asks,      “ ready? ” another pause and he’s slowly beginning to move her forward,      doing his best to minimize the wobbling.      “ you just have to find your balance and pedal, ” he instructs as they      move along. a small part of him almost humors the thought of letting her      try with TRAINING WHEELS first. it’s a bit too late for that now, anyway.      he speeds up a little bit, making it easier for the bike to balance as well.      “ see? ” he asks, glancing between her and the road in front of them.      “ s’not so bad, huh? ”

     with mike holding tightly to the bike, she actually didn’t feel that BAD. it was fun to feel the slight wind hit her in the face and the bumpiness of the ground beneath. hell, there was even a slight smile that was rising onto the girl’s lips. it was rare for her to ever make some sort of sign of joy after being forced to do something. but this was different. this was fun and she was doing it here with one of her friends.

* “ I HOPE YOU LIKED KNOWING ME WHILE I WAS ALIVE . Because my mom’s gonna kill me when I get home . ” // open .

eddie  was  there  to  pick  up  his  medication  –  it  was  the  only  time  his  mother  had  let  him  out  of  the  house  since  he  had  broken  his  arm.  swinging  open  the  pharmacy  door,  his  eyes  widened,  startled.  ❛  oh,  sorry,  ❜  he  murmured,  stepping  back  from  the  threshold  to  allow  the  girl  to  go  through.  he  had  seen  her  before,  he  thought,  but  the  two  had  never  actually  SPOKEN.  he  figured,  though,  that  this  wasn’t  necessarily  the  time  to  change  that.  besides,  it  was  a  little  awkward  to  strike  up  a  conversation  in  the  pharmacy.  so  he  simply  held  the  door  open  for  her  (  with  his  BROKEN  arm  ),  and  averted  his  focus  to  the  ground.  ❛  here.  ❜ 

     she was moving through the halls of the school, backpack tight on her back and feet moving quickly down the halls. all melanie wanted to do was get to her classroom and sit down before she lost everything in her bag. but, of course, fate wasn’t going to let that happen. one of the straps on her backpack snapped in half, since it was hanging on by a mere thread. her bag slides off of her back and to the ground, the open pocket causing her supplies to fall all over the ground.

     mike’s not above using PUPPY-DOG EYES, if he has to, and he’s      DANGEROUSLY CLOSE to resorting to it, but thankfully, she caves,      resulting in a grin from mike. “ one try’s all we need, ” he nods,      already heading for the stairs. “ c’mon! ” he calls behind him as she      ascends the steps, moving through the house and out to the garage      to grab his bike.      pushing it out into his driveway, he glances up at the sky. a little      cloudy, but if it ever decides to rain, he’s sure they’ll be done before      it starts pouring down. glancing back at mel when she finally joins      him, he smiles and pats the seat of his bike.      “ you ready? ” he asks, though he already suspects what her      response to that will be. “ it’s not so hard. and i’ll hold on as long      as you need me to. ”

She wasn’t sure WHY she agreed to do this, why she would put herself in such a predicament that could easily lead to injury. Maybe it was because Melanie really did trust Mike with her LIFE at this point. Now, that might be a drastic statement for someone so young but it was true. He’d been nothing but helpful and kind to her, pushing her just slightly out of her comfort zone but not to the point where she would panic. Just enough push.

As she steps outside, the girl stops a short distance from the bike with eyes boring down on the two-wheeled devil’s trap.   “ Mike, I... ”   She wants to back out and run away, to go back into her little blanket cave in the basement but she didn’t want to let him down.