“Daddy, when are we having dinner?” My four year old daughter looked up at me.
“Any minute now, sweetheart.” Melody skipped back into her room and I finished cooking.
We sat down to eat dinner. My wife sat across from me with Melody between us. We ate our dinner and put our plates up.
“Dad, when’s dinner ready?” My 15 year old daughter yelled from her room.
“Pretty soon, Mel, ya hungry?”
“To say the least,” Mel groaned.
I was making her favorite meal to celebrate her 1st chemo treatment this morning. She had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma just two weeks prior. We sat down to eat dinner: my wife across from me and Mel between us, like always.
“You look gorgeous, Melly,” my wife said.
“Mom, you know I hate it when you call me that. And I don’t look gorgeous, I look like an old man with my head shaved like this.”
“Mel, it’s just a new look. You’ll get used to it eventually.” I tried to calm her down but to no avail. Mel had always had the prettiest curly, blonde hair. She took pride in it, always saying it was her favorite part of herself. I had to admit it was weird seeing her without it.
“I might as well cut it shorter at this point.”
My wife and I chuckled, and so did Mel. We ate our dinner and put our plates off. Mel walked slowly back to her room, and I couldn’t blame her. She was tired from treatment.
The next morning I drove her to school. She was holding a sketchbook, which was strange because she was never really the artsy type. I didn’t question it. Mel wouldn’t have answered anyway.
When she came home from school, she scurried into her room without saying a word to me or my wife. She only emerged a few hours later to grab the family computer and a snack. She stayed in her room until morning, but I didn’t feel like bothering her. I knew first hand how horrible chemo felt, so I left her alone.
The next morning as I drove her to school she wouldn’t stop touching her head. “Is my hair growing back? Is my hair growing back?” She said, but her expression was of pure fear as her eyes darted back and forth.
“Not yet, Mel. But I’m sure it will grow back more beautiful once all this is done.”
“I don’t want it to grow back. It’s too long, Dad. If it gets any longer, That was weird. She loved her hair. And the tone in her voice was not at all sarcastic.
I went out for coffee and then back home. I logged onto the computer to send an email. When I logged on, I saw over 100 tabs on hair cutting, hair scissors, how to shave your head, and how to make your hair shorter. The only problem was that Mel didn’t have hair.
I felt the need to look in her room. I found piles of long, blonde hair swept up in a corner along with multiple razors and scissors. I was scared. Where was this hair coming from? Mel had done chemo and had gotten her head shaved a week prior. I needed to know. So I installed a camera in her room and made the video automatically upload to the computer.
When Mel got home she ran into her room and slammed the door shut. I went into our basement and logged onto the computer. I watched my daughter as she opened her closet to reveal what looked like a malnourished, pale, thin, hunched over version of herself. She had shiny, black eyes and unkempt hair and nails. The thing chained Mel’s feet to the ground and handed her the scissors. I saw it talk to my daughter as my daughter carefully used her razors and scissors to chop of this thing’s hair. Mel cried the whole time. Then Mel gave the thing a sandwich.
I then saw a blank expression appear on Mel’s face, and she turned pale. Mel started talking to the thing, however the camera did not have audio so I could not hear their conversation. My daughter tried to leave the room but the door wouldn’t open.
I heard glass break upstairs. I heard a voice almost like my daughter’s screaming. “I’m still hungry, Melody!”
I wanted to go help my daughter but I couldn’t move. I was petrified and scared of the thing. I watched the video as Mel tried to throw the thing out the window. Mel tried to stab it with scissors and tried to leave the house, but nothing worked. The thing always got in the way.
Mel turned around and the thing started cutting my daughter’s flesh off of her head and the used the razor to slowly peel back my daughter’s skull. The thing then unhinged it’s jaw and became to envelope Mel’s head. She slumped over and went limp. Then, the thing saw the camera. It ran on all fours and lunged for the camera.
“Error,” said the robotic voice of the computer.
I ran upstairs as fast as I could. I ran to the door and tried to get in.
“Mel! MEL!!!” I tried to kick down the door with my feet. “Answer me, please! Mel!” I started to bawl. Just then the door opened and I heard a voice. It was almost like my daughter’s. As the door opened I saw the whole thing. Piles of hair, chains on the ground, blood everywhere, and my daughter dead on the floor. I bolted towards Mel.
“Melody! Melody! Wake up please, Mel. Melody!!!” She laid there, lifeless. I heard the door shut behind me and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I was too scared to turn around.
I heard the voice again. “Daddy, it’s time for dinner!”