Chapter Thrity-five

Melanie banged as hard as she could again and again on the thick glass window. She knew someone was out there or had been out there. There was a scream. She had fallen into another fitful sleep. Her body was feeling the pain of hunger. Her eyes had shot open to a woman’s scream.

She’d run to the bathroom window and held her ear against the glass. If only she had something she could use to break the stupid glass. She had checked all corners of the room for anything sharp. Melanie had even tried digging around the seal with her fingernails to loosen the window frame, which was pretty useless. One day as she was digging, Mister—that was what she called him—had come in the room. She had stood still for a split second, had flushed the toilet, and then had ventured out into the bedroom.

Their eyes had connected. For the first time, she’d seen his face. He was an older man, and she felt like she’d seen him before. Not saying one word, he’d pulled out the usual food items from a bag.

“How long are you going to keep me here? What are you planning to do?” she had asked.

“That’s up to your father,” he had answered and then had left.

Her father. This was all about her father. The man didn’t care anything about her. She didn’t even know where he was, only that he’d shown up at the American Voices show. At least someone had told her he was there. He must have thought he could get something from her being on the show. She had refused to acknowledge his presence.

What had he done to get her in this mess?

Her dad was fun when she was a little girl. Later he always smelled like alcohol and could never keep a job. Mom had grown sick of him, and then, finally, she was really sick. Even as her mother was in and out of the hospital, Melanie couldn’t depend on her father to be there for her.

She still couldn’t figure out why Gladys had married her dad, but she was grateful that Gladys had tried to look after her when her dad went to prison. There was no one else. Her father’s family was certainly not going to help. One of them had been killed when she was in high school, and the other was in prison. Both grandparents were gone. Her mother’s sister had offered to help, but she wanted Melanie to move to Oklahoma. There was no way Melanie was going to leave her friends.

Melanie waited at the window a while longer. She knew what she’d heard. Someone was out there. She listened and heard another noise. It came from inside this place. He was back! She walked out into the bedroom and sat on the bed.

Maybe he did something to the woman, and that was why she screamed.

Melanie waited for the door to open. What was he going to do to her?