<div class="floatleft">(http://www.iceposter.com/thumbs/G336336_b.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Melody Pitushka (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=250173.msg12369639#msg12369639)<br/><strong>City | Date | Time:</strong>Ann Arbor, MI | August 17, 2009 | 6:52pm CST<br/><strong>Tagging | Mentioning:</strong>Closed, Harmony<br/><strong>Content:</strong>Murder!<br/><hr/>“He...” Melody's voice cracked into the cellphone receiver. Words, let alone coherent thought, were totally beyond her. She stared down at the floor where the shattered casserole dish was – baked egg, potato and cheese littered the floor side by side the glass. Too shocked to look the extra three feet to the right at Mrs. Gardner's still body; blood, liquids unidentified, oozed from her natural orifices. So shaky that she couldn't properly hold onto the touch screen phone any more – it bounced off her shoulder and went plummeting towards the ground...<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>* * * * *</strong></div><br/>“Melody, dinner time!” Mr. Gardner called. Despite his age, the old military vet had a set of lungs on him even now. That's something you could expect from a retired drill sergeant though. He was careful with it though, it wasn't a talent – because in the real world, being able to strike the fear of god into people with your voice alone really was a talent – that he abused. When he wanted you to know it was serious, you knew. When he was just flexing those lungs and keeping them healthy, you knew. For a man that yelled for a living for thirty-some-odd years, he was actually pretty quiet most of the time. Very pleasant all in all.<br/><br/>Sixteen year old Melody looked up from the back yard bench beneath the big tree that she had been laying on. She'd been toying with her phone, texting with her best friend Claire, and watching dumb youtube videos. Thank god for unlimited data plans, which she was allowed to keep because she maintained stellar grades. The Gardners had been really good to her, as far as foster parents went, since she had gotten here. When she heard that she'd have a little brother – Jake, who was six years younger then her, and adopted – she hadn't been thrilled at all. It felt like a poor substitute for her sister who had once again been whisked off somewhere she couldn't get too. Pleasant surprise awaited her when she first got to the little suburban home though, as both the Gardner's and their boy were good to her. Still she was loathe to get up from her spot – only doing so because she knew that challenging Mr. Gardner was a mistake.<br/><br/>Off the bench into the house, just in time for Jake to dart past her like a little bat out of hell. Melody had already stuffed the phone in her pocket and reached out with seemingly lightning like reflexes to snatch little Jake up into her arms. The boy wriggled to get free and squealed as she carried him towards the kitchen. “No running in the house brat!” She teased while he flailed.<br/><br/>“Lemme go!” Jake protested. Only after they got into the kitchen did she oblige his request and set him down to continue his forward path of destruction to the family dinner table. Six forty-five was dinner time, family time. It was every night with almost no exceptions – Melody couldn't even recall the last time it had happened.<br/><br/>“Let me help,” She offered to Mrs. Gardner, entering and walking around where Mr. Gardner and the kid had already taken seat. The family was pretty old fashion in the sense that the girls did most of the house work, prepared dinner and the men got their stuff first. Melody did it because it was their way of things, never giving enough attention to it to question it. Melody went for the drinks while her would-be mom worked on the dinner itself. She was just pulling the casserole out of the oven – it smelled delightful, but so did most of the things that she cooked. Good enough the Melody had even spent a little bit of time learning from her, as a passive hobby. Mrs. Gardner did it as a living for a couple of decades, so she had tips to share with the up and coming woman to be.<br/><br/>Mrs. Gardner had just turned away from the stove, with the dinner dish in hand, headed for the table to set it down. Mr. Gardner was reaching across the table to grab an apple from the bowl in the center of the table. Jake had just put both utensils in his hand and pounded them on the table like some sort of monster child – like he became any time food was incoming, the boy could eat!<br/><br/>Melody's lips pursed together and out came the most lovely little sound. It was a part from a little tune that she had been working on, completely her own. The sound bounced around the room, a single note, dancing in her ears. It was a sound that was quickly replaced by a heavy thud.<br/><br/>Jake fell forward, his face crashing dead weight into his plate; his utensils dropped to the side, one fell from the table and rattled in what seemed slow motion against the ground. Melody could hear even chime, every distinct touch of metal to tile.<br/><br/>Mr. Gardner's head hit the table with a terrible crack, and he slipped from the chair. His whole body collapsed to the ground with a thud, and his movement pushed the extra chair out of the way – it screeched against the tile and sent a chilled shudder up Melody's spine.<br/><br/>Mrs. Gardner's body drop was almost – but only almost – drown out by the sound of the baking dish hitting the ground and shattering. So much noise all at once. The flesh cracking, splintering and then exploding into hundreds of little pieces; each of those hitting the ground and bouncing.<br/><br/>Melody's entire body wanted to freeze, but she couldn't help but turn around and look at what had happened. Truth be told she couldn't bring herself to look at any of them, only the food that now littered the kitchen floor – she didn't need to see to know exactly what had happened. She'd heard it. The squishing sound as her whistle penetrated each of the three here. The sound as their insides melted and their individual heartbeats stopped at almost exactly the same time. It hadn't been the same time though. Jake was first, she'd killed him because he was the closest. Then came Mr. Gardner, followed by his wife.<br/><br/>Trembling fingers reached for the phone in her pocket and tugged it to her ear; she clicked a number that she promised she'd only use in emergencies this time, so worst things didn't happen to them again. They promised if they didn't behave this time, they'd end up so far away there was no chance they'd ever find one another. So this time they had to be extra careful. Now seemed like an emergency though...<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>* * * * *</strong></div><br/>“...lp” Her little voice called distantly to the phone before it hit the ground with a loud, echoing thud. The phone clattered against the ground, slowly coming to a stand still upside down. For long moments there was only silence one Melody's side of the line.<br/><br/>That silence was shattered by a blood curdling shriek – so loud that the phone itself didn't survive. The windows blew out. The glasses in cupboards exploded. The picture frames throughout the house cracked and jumped from the walls.<br/><br/>And Melody fell to her knees, quivering in little more then a coma with her wide, lush green eyes glued to the food on the floor.