Act III

“Okay. You guys ready?”

Mary-Ann and Rocko looked at each other. Rocko’s face was creased with nervousness, while Mary-Ann looked almost excited. They looked back.

“Ready,” they said in unison.

Melanie sighed. She looked down at the faux-wood gum-lined conference table in front of her, took a few breaths in and out, then looked back up.

“Mom, Dad…” she began. “There’s… something I want to tell you.”

“What is it, sweetheart?” Mary-Ann replied.

“You… might remember that guy I was going out with, last semester.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Well, I’m okay now, but… back during winter, he assaulted me. And I feel like you have the right to know what happened.”

Rocko suddenly shot up from his chair. “He… he WHAT?! Did the campus authorities do anything about it? Did he get justice? I’ll end up finding that bastard myself if I have to!”

Melanie felt a sudden urge of nervousness, her hands rubbing together in her lap as she looked down. But she snapped out of it, and looked back up, this time more with curiosity.

“I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you yell, Rocko.”

Rocko suddenly snapped out of it as well. He stuttered a bit, dropping right back down to his chair and turning as red as a beet.

“S-s-sorry, I didn’t, um… I didn’t mean to…”

Mary-Ann, who sat next to him, began to grow a great smile on her face. At some point she was no longer able to hold it in, and began to burst out laughing. Melanie quickly followed with a smile of her own.

“Oh, don’t worry. I think you got your Mr. Shanahan down pat.”

While Rocko’s embarrassment lingered for a few more minutes, the three quickly went back to talking with each other casually, before heading off to lunch.

…

This whole roleplay was part of a wider initiative by Melanie to get her life back on track. That moment with Calvin, now two weeks ago, gave her the confidence that she needed to push forward to make it to spring break and tell Mrs. and Mr. Shanahan all they needed to know.

That very night was a Monday, and as was now tradition Calvin took Melanie to that old shopping complex at Cactus Plaza. In the past few sessions Melanie began to feel more and more comfortable talking about her life and her experience to those at the sessions. When she came in this time around, a few faces looked up and smiled at her in recognition. As Cassidy turned her head, she saw the girl enter.

“Hey Mel. How’d the test go?”

Melanie shrugged. “Who knows, honestly. It’s all in God’s hands now.”

Cassidy, in her notably deadpan fashion, took a sip from the water bottle she kept next to her chair. “Ah, screw’em. There’s more important things to life than calculus.”

The young brunette girl smiled, then took her usual seat next to an Indian girl she had gotten to know named Priyanka. A few minutes later, Cassidy started the session.

“Alright, today I want to focus on something special,” the older woman began, surveying those sitting in the chairs circling her. “I want you to think back to a lesson your parents gave you, at some point in your life. It can be about anything really. I know some of you have rather complicated relationships with your parents, but I think there’s something unique about parental lessons that triumphs over all others. It’s a bit of aged wisdom that sometimes the person who’s giving it doesn’t even know the value of. So, let’s take five minutes to think, then we’ll start going ‘round the horn.”

As the others began to murmur among themselves, Melanie closed her eyes and went far back into the recesses of her memory. There was a particular moment she had in mind, spurred on by Cassidy’s last comment: a bit of aged wisdom that sometimes the person giving it doesn’t even know the value of. She tried to remember all the details she could, and once she was satisfied she opened her eyes again.

The stories started, and eventually it landed on Melanie. She looked around the circle, first at Priyanka, then at Cassidy, then at all the others.

“My dad told me this story once… though honestly, I think he told it more for himself than for me,” she began.

“I remember it was right after I graduated elementary school, going into middle school. Maybe a week or two after graduation. He told me this story about a baby bird and a papa bird, sitting high up in a tree. The papa bird took care of the baby bird ever since she was an egg, but one day the baby bird began to develop her wings and asked the papa bird if she could try them out and fly. The papa bird, remembering the scary dog he saw the day before, forbid the baby bird from leaving its nest. The next day, the baby bird asked again – the papa bird remembered the pigeon he saw get zapped by an electrical line, and once again forbid the baby bird from leaving its nest. Finally, one more day passed, and the baby bird – quite pissed this time, from what I remember – asks papa if she can fly. The papa bird remembers the hunters, who always try to shoot them down, and again says no. This time the baby bird also asks, ‘Why won’t you let me fly?’. The papa bird responds, ‘Because, my little baby bird, the world is a dangerous place’. The baby bird looks at her papa, and says, ‘Will it ever stop being a dangerous place?’”

Melanie took a quick pause here to catch her breath. The others focused their eyes on her.

“I think the moral of that story is… the world will always be a dangerous place, and at some point you need to just leave the nest and realize how dangerous the world really is. And yeah, it’s true, there’s a lot of really bad things in this world. But there’s also a lot of really good things. And honestly, I’d be willing to bet that there’s more good things in this world than there are bad things. But you have to see it in order to understand that.”

As Melanie finished, there was a polite applause around the room which made her a bit embarrassed. But another part of her was glad that she told the story. She felt that, maybe like her father before her, she told the story more because she needed to hear it for herself.

After the stories finished and the session ended, Cassidy stopped Melanie at the door. “Thank you for putting in the work this week,” the adult woman spoke.

“Yeah, it’s no problem. Sorry for being kind of a shitass the first few sessions.”

The comment gave Cassidy a very rare smile. “Everybody’s a shitass for their first few. Sometimes they even stay that way. But the only thing that’s important to me is that it’s making a positive impact in your life.”

Melanie took a look at the woman, who she now considered something of a teacher. She smiled back.

“I think it has.”

Cassidy patted her softly on the shoulder. “See you after the break.”

Melanie began to walk to the door again, but Cassidy stopped her one last time.

“Oh, and Mel…”

Melanie turned around.

“…good luck with your parents.”

Melanie, now with a strong sense of confidence, gave the woman a smirk. She nodded, then walked out the door.

…

“Shit… this hunk o’ junk’s been acting up again…” Fifi muttered under her breath as she ineffectively banged her hand against her car’s radio.

“Could be worse. Calv’s car doesn’t even have A/C anymore.”

Fifi took a quick look at Melanie, before bringing her attention back to the road. “God, that’s right. That thing’s pure black, too. You could die in there during the summer.”

Melanie broke out in a fit of laughter. “Maybe if this was Arizona. I don’t think Washington ever gets hot enough for that.”

It was the first day of spring break, and Fifi was on her way to drop Melanie back at her parent’s house. It was only a few minutes later when the car pulled up to the driveway.

“You sure you gonna be good, girl?” Fifi asked once she reached the destination, a hint of concern in her voice.

Melanie thought about it for a moment. “No, I’m not sure. But I think this is the best chance I’m ever going to get.”

Fifi understood. She nodded, then mimicked a phone with her hand, putting it up to her head. “You call me as soon as it’s done, okay?”

“I will.”

Melanie’s roommate smiled, and hugged the girl in the car. Melanie got out, took a few steps, to the front door, and took a deep breath. She heard the sound of Fifi’s car pulling out behind her.

Melanie rang the doorbell. It took a bit longer this time – maybe four minutes or so – and she almost prepared to ring it again when finally it opened and she saw her father on the other side of the door.

“So, finally you’re home, kiddo!”

As Mr. Shanahan went in for the hug, Melanie felt her body reflexively begin to shudder. But she followed what she had been practicing: taking control of her mind, closing her eyes, taking a deep breath, and accepting the hug. It worked — her father’s hugs were a little bit tighter than anyone else’s, and it did make her a tad uncomfortable, but the moment went on without a hitch.

Melanie walked inside the front door, noticing a few pieces of furniture rearranged from when she last saw them. This time, her mother was right in the front, and greeted her with a big smile.

“Welcome back, Melanie!” Mrs. Shanahan hugged the girl as well, to which Melanie accepted with ease. “Are you hungry? You came just in time for dinner, you know. Your father’s favorite: roasted chicken and mashed potatoes.”

Melanie smiled. “Sounds amazing, mom. Is it okay if I put my stuff upstairs first?”

“Of course! I’ll have everything plated by the time you come back down.”

Melanie went upstairs with her bag and brought it into her room. It was the same as she had left it: Mean Girls, plushies, trophies, high school friends. She put the bag on her bed and then took a deep breath, gave one last repeat of all she had memorized, then walked back down to where the dinner table was.

Her father, as always, was the first to speak – this time scarcely a moment after they had started eating.

“So, how have things been, over at Hill Valley?”

“Well, it’s been good recently. Still hanging out with Fifi, Rocko, Mary-Ann, all them…” Melanie paused briefly. “But, there is something I’ve been meaning to tell you guys.”

“Is it about Nathaniel?”

Melanie looked up at his father. He had a smile on his face, likely expecting it to be good news.

“Been awhile since you’ve told us anything about him. I was wondering why I’ve been kept in the dark.”

“It, um… it is, but… it’s different.”

The expressions on her parent’s faces changed. Melanie kept her eyes focused on the meal in front of her, so that she wouldn’t be distracted while she told them what was now the most important thing to ever happen to her in her life.

“A while ago… back before winter break… Nathaniel assaulted me. Now, I’m okay – my friends have helped, I met this new friend named Calvin who helped, too… I’ve been going to group therapy, which has worked really well, and the college helped me through the process also. But I never told you two, and I felt you deserved to know, so I’m telling you now. I’m sorry for waiting so long.”

Melanie kept looking down. There was silence on the other side of the table, for what seemed like forever. Finally, she heard her mother – her voice trembling with grave sadness.