Drowning

Plot
Trigger warning: Attempted Suicide, Mentions of Self Harm

Melinda returns to the castle at semester break, greets her adoptive parents with a extremely unexpected sight, and things go downhill from there. Until a certain someone stops her.

Story
"We get to go home!"

"Oh my fairy godmother, I can't wait to see my parents again!"

"I have so much to tell my family!"

"Blah Blah Blah." Melinda thought, hearing the joyous shouts from the students. They were overly excited to be able to go home and spend time with their family and in all honesty, if she was going to to see her real parents she'd feel the same way. But she wasn't.

She looked down at her outfit. She had spent her very generous allowance on it and many others her first day at the school. She was wearing dark colored clothes made entirely out of leather, with the exclusion of her shirt. That would be shocking. Very shocking. She had showed up at the school wearing pastels and linen.

That wouldn't be the most surprising thing, she thought, pulling a lock of her long hair in front of her eyes. She had come to the school with charcoal black hair, and she was leaving with blue. Very, very, very blue hair.

Blue was Melinda's favorite color but never had she ever thought of dying her hair that color. But she had an alternate motive for changing her look.

The carriage pulled up to the castle, interrupting her thoughts. She took a deep breath, and opened the door.

"Maria!" Her adopted mother, named Petra, called, running in. She stopped abruptly when she saw Melinda. Her mouth dropped open in horror, before she yelled out: "Arthur! Come see what your daughter did to herself!"

Her adopted father ran into the room. "Maria you would never do something like this!" He yelled.

"I am not Maria!" Melinda yelled out. Normally she wouldn't do this, but now she that she started she couldn't stop. "I'm sorry your daughter is dead, but I am not her! Stop trying to morph me into her!" Melinda had wanted to say this for four years.

Petra and Arthur's jaws were set. Then Petra took a deep breath, smiled in a patronizing way and turned over to Arthur. "A typical teenage rebellion phase. She'll outgrow it."

Melinda's face flushed and she felt tears burn her eyes. She ran back out the door, running as fast as she could. She didn't know where she was running, but she knew she wasn't stopping.

She found herself on the footbridge that overlooked the water. Her heart pounded in her chest, not just from running. The last time she was this close to the water, she had been informed of her parent's death and relocated.

She knew the footbridge was over the deepest part and she was getting desperate. She took a deep breath, climbed on the edge of the bridge, one thought playing over and over in her mind. "I'll get to be with my parents and get to be just plain Melinda again."

"Don't do that!" An unfamiliar voice yelled out, nearly making her lose her footing. She nearly fell, but was pulled back due to a hand grabbing her own and pulling her up with no show of effort.

"Whatever happened to you, whatever's hurting you, it will go away. It will get better." The voice soothed.

Melinda froze. The voice was deeper, unfamiliar, but she did recognize the words. "C-Charles?" She stammered out. Charles had been her friend at the orphanage and the first day he knew her he had told her those same exact words.

"Yeah I'm Charles, how did you..." He turned her to face him and her eyes were bright with tears, full of fear. "Meli?" He whispered.

She nodded. "I can't believe it!" He yelled, giving her a tight hug and picking her up, spinning her around. "I've missed you so much!" He yelled.

"Wait." He said struck by a thought as he placed her down. "Why did you almost commit suicide? What happened?" He demanded.

Melinda took a deep breath, burying her face in his shoulder, in order to not have to see the water. Charles took her in his arms and carefully led her off of the bridge, back to the village.

"Answers." he demanded, more gently, once they were away from the waters.

She explained, everything that had happened to her since she had seen him last. His grip tightened on her when she told him of how they were trying to pretend Maria wasn't dead and how she had even changed up her look in order to try and remind them who she was.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you." Charles got quiet, then was struck by a thought. "Meli, is this the first time you've tried to...you know..." He couldn't find the words, but she knew what he was asking.

Shaking her head, she mouthed a quick "no".

"Show me." Charles didn't sound commanding or harsh, he just sounded like he was begging.

Melinda rolled up her sleeves to reveal the ugly long thing scars that circled her wrists. She said nothing as Charles gently ran his fingers over each one.

"I promise you will never ever feel alone ever again." He whispered without looking up from them. "If you promise me that you will never do that again." He begged, his voice cracking as it got thick with emotion.

Melinda nodded. "I promise." She whispered, silent tears streaming down her face.

"Good." Charles looked up, and wiped her tears away. She smiled and did the same for him.

"Now come on, we've got a lot of catching up to do." He said in a lighter tone.