Defeated from a long and stressful day, as quickly as Melody charged into her sister’s apartment and into her room, her face quickly became familiar to the pillows on her bed. The only space she could truly be alone in the tiny two bedroom apartment, she wasn't going to take it for granted. She didnt even care that her bedroom door was open, or that she can hear her little niece and nephew causing terror in the next room, she wanted this little moment she had to be alone with her feelings.

And into her pillow carried the stress filled tears of the unknown, how she would allow herself to fail and that her grades depended on the wellbeing of a complete stranger? A stranger, she thought, she knew absolutely no one who would take a remedial class. She was smart enough to take the highest level of courses that her school provided, with other students who took their schooling seriously. The overachievers, the nerds with no real prospect in life than their mental capacity, even though Melody knew that that wasn't true. She knew some athletes that attended the same classes she did, although she never really cared enough about sports to see if they were actually good. Real life isn't like the movies, highschoolers are complex, and most cannot be put into just one social group. So maybe, she thought, it won’t be that bad?

“Aunt Mel’s home!” Aaron screamed from the hallway as he peered around Melody’s doorframe. His high pitched voice pierced Melody’s ears so bad it almost made her cry for help. She hated when he screamed like that, even though it was a lot better than the alternative. Melody drew up her head, her curly brown hair blocking her face for a moment. Long enough for her to carve a smile on her face for the sake of the kids. She wouldn't allow herself to be seen unhappy in front of them.

“Hi, you’ve been good today?” Melody said, turning to him to show her fixed face. Holding a washable marker in one hand and a blank piece of lined paper in the other, his smile gleaned from ear to ear. He had the puffiest marshmallow cheeks and always seemed to have perfectly groomed curly hair. He was the most cheery toddler that Melody knew, and almost never had a tantrum. Kimmi, Aaron’s younger sister, peered over the door frame until finally showing herself in full to Melody. And that’s when Melody’s eyes widened. From her face down her arms Kimmi was coated in markings of several colors of markers, all of which Melody knew she would be the one to clean up. Even though she had been her brother’s canvas, Kimmi still had a smile on her face, her tiny button nose and doe-eyes made her look like a doll. She always enjoyed having her hair in the same hair style, her long wavy hair put into pigtails with her bangs covering her forehead. Both children, as always, had gotten into some trouble.

“Yeah!” Aaron yelled, sprinting towards Melody after seeing her sitting up and seeing her face. Kimmi followed along, dragging a blanket behind her. “I’ve been good.”

“Then what’s that on Kimmi’s face,” Melody said looking at Kimmi's face.

“She wanted a tattoo,” Aaron boasted. “Like Daddy.”

“You don’t want to be like your dad, do you Kimmi?” Melody said, picking Kimmi up and walking with Aaron to the bathroom to clean up.

“Yeah,” Kimmi said softly, nodding her head in confirmation.

“Let me clean you up so that you can go back to playing. Where’s your mom?” Melody said while gently wiping the marker off and made quick work of it. 

“She’s sleeping!” Aaron said, pointing to the opened bedroom across from the bathroom. There, bundled up in the disheveled king-size mattress littered in childrens clothes was Hanna, hair tied up in a messy bun, curled up underneath the blankets. Hanna was eight years older than Melody, even though she still acted like she still went to highschool. There would be times where Melody would be left with the kids while her sister snuck off into the night to party with her friends. Or even learned that the ride home she was promised had ultimately been forgotten, and she would walk home alone from school late in the evening. Melody could only sigh at the fact that once again she would have to watch over the kids again. But it didn't really bother her, as she thought that she did a better job anyway.

Hours later, as Melody did her homework on the couch and watched her niece and nephew play on the living room floor, she felt a gust of wind sweep through the room before the front door slammed shut, shaking the couch and floor, alerting Melody and the children that he was finally home.

Aaron turned around to face his father approaching his way, the smile on his face quickly dissipating as soon as he noticed the mood he had when he came home. Melody straightened up from her slouched position to see Paul tossing his keys on the counter and stormed to the room where her sister was sleeping. She knew it just had to be one of those days. Melody could only listen on as the bedroom door slammed shut, no doubt waking up Hanna. She looked down at the kids, who’s gleeful cheers of playing was completely replaced by the look of impending doom. Like a boiling kettle, muffled roars escaped out of the room and into the living room in which Melody knew that it was indeed one of those days. But she didn't want the kids to be affected by the stupidity of their parents. No, she didn't want them to suffer the way she had.

“Hey,” Melody yelled over the muffled roars of her sister and her boyfriend Paul’s shouting match, making sure that the kids had complete focus on her. “Let's listen to music,” she said, connecting her phone to the tv and bringing up the volume as high as it could get. Putting on a random song, she starts bouncing in place, grabbing Kimmi’s hand so that she could bring her mind away from the sad situation she was placed in to just jam out.

“Mama and Daddy are fighting?” Aaron said, pointing at the bedroom door. Melody didn't even take a second to grab his hand and bounced around with Kimmi, neither affirming nor denying the truth. Hanna didn't fall too far from the generational trauma that was the Miller women. Through the loud, obnoxious music that muffled the screaming, Melody remembers being in a similar situation. Laying in bed, late at night sleeping soundly, only to wake up to her parents screaming at each other. It would get so loud, and she would cry when she noticed the strain in their voices from yelling the entire time. She had wished that she could have just gotten up and raced to their room, demanding that whatever they were arguing about wasn't as important as they thought. Maybe she wouldn't go down the steps to find her mother with a black eye, or a broken nose that she would shamefully cover up crudely with her hand. Maybe her mother would still be here. But no, the Miller women all have a type, and all relationships they end up with always end in tragedy. Paul never hit Hanna as far as Melody knew, but she knew they both threw things when they fought, which Melody thought wasn't any better.

It didn't take long for Melody to hear the rustling of the furnisher, followed by screaming from the other room. Even with the music blaring, it was never enough to block the noise coming from the bedroom. In a moment of silence while the next song switched over, a loud bang thudded against the wall to the living room, rattling and eventually causing a small pitcher frame to drop and shatter on the ground, causing everyone to jump and rush away from the scene. The yelling would continue, much clearer now. Kimmi began to wail. Not giving up on the kids innocence, Melody thought of another idea.

“Let's go to the park, shall we,” Melody said, rushing to put their shoes and coats on before putting one on herself. All the while, the kids sat motionless, only looking on as Melody got them ready. When they were all prepared, Melody scooped Kimmi up in one hand and held Alex’s with the other, and raced out and away from the messy, loud apartment. The playground was just around the corner, they could stay there a little while until things calmed down.

“Is Mama going to be okay?” Aaron said, with the look of sadness on his face as he looked at Melody. She smiled at him, before quickly nodding. She knew she couldn't protect him forever, but at least at this moment, he had a time of peaceful ignorance.

Melody slouched back on the park bench and watched as Aaron and Kimmi climbed the jungle gym, she couldn't help but fight her weighing eyelids from slamming shut, taking her into dreamland. But no, she stayed awake, glimpsing up into falling warm colored leaves and feeling the sharp cold wind snap her face into a state of alertness. And there she found, though the dormant trees and the blinding sun, a small snowflake, no bigger than a pencil eraser, escaped from the faint clouds that littered the sky. Then she realized that it was officially winter.

That first snowfall didn't stick the way that Melody thought it would, but the sequential week was much more promising, they had gained just five inches. And since school was officially out, Melody had plenty of time to spend with her family. Every afternoon that she could, she would coat the kids and herself with as many layers as she could and race the kids out for snowball fights that she always dominated, bringing in the defeated team back in to drink hot cocoa in celebration of her victory. She would sit with them to watch their brainwashing children shows, all the while her sister would either be gone doing whatever or watch on with a cigarette in her mouth. Melody didn't really like it when her sister smoked, especially around the kids, so oftentimes she felt stuck. Especially at times where the snow would just pour on, making it nearly impossible for her and the kids to escape the smell. And it almost always smelled in that cramped apartment of cigarettes. And she knew that like most smokers, Hanna never noticed the smell. 

When she and the kids couldn't escape to the outdoors, she would confide them into the safety of her own room. She would have most outlets plugged in with some sort of air freshener, making sure that she could at least have her room be safe from the smoke. It always smelled wonderful in her room as a result, hints of coconut and pineapple sweetness floated around, Melody always enjoyed being in her room the most. She didn’t have a TV in there though, mostly because she never really watched TV without Aaron and Kimmi. Plus, she figured if what was on for an older audience was a bunch of drama and trash reality TV that her sister always had on when she was stuck at home, Melody didn't want anything to do with it. 

Melody’s bedroom was also a sanctuary for her and the kids or nights where Hanna and Paul would inevitably get into a fight. She would quickly drag the kids into her room and shut the door on the mear feeling that another fight was brewing. Often times she would notice Paul glaring at Hanna, it was like a picture frame, capturing one of those moments before a disaster. She knew that look, the look her father had given her mother, it took half a second for her to recognize trouble. So she would faithfully bring Aaron and Kimmi in her room to hang out as the madness ensues outside her door, distracting them with picture books. It wasn't a lot, but there was only so much she could do in the middle of a blizzard. Hearing the wind constantly whip at Melody’s small window and hearing its roars through it, she knew that they were in a rock and a hard place.