The Beautiful Monster

"We'll have to explain the situation to him. You were nearly killed on our grounds," President Kavon explained.

Melina sighed and nodded, understanding where he was coming from. She expected a phone call from her dad soon, but she needed to get another phone first.

She let a few members of security lead her to the infirmary, her eyes darting around. She wondered if the voice she heard in her dreams belonged to a real person.

Was he the one who started the fire? She knew that it wasn't Tyler's voice.

"Ma'am," one of the security guards said as he gestured to the door to the infirmary.

Melina walked past him and into the infirmary, immediately being whisked to a bed by Mrs. Holland. Thankfully, she was given new clothes to change into since the other ones were covered with soot and smelled like smoke.

Despite being in one of the safest areas of the school, Melina still felt too on edge to immediately fall asleep. She thought that she was safe in her room, and she had been proven completely wrong.

As far as she knew, she wasn't safe anywhere, and she had no idea who to trust. Everyone told her conflicting things, and it was hard to know what to believe when everything was so confusing.

Hopefully, she could at least get through the night without losing her life. Things hadn't started off too promising.

*******

Melina placed her hands on her hips as she gazed around her new dorm room. It was on another hall from her old one, but at least she got to settle into a new place.

She felt better about being somewhere else. Maybe she wouldn't be tracked down by whoever tried to kill her anytime soon. She at least wanted some time to decorate her new place first.

After everything that had been happening lately, Melina had never felt so tired in her life. She felt weighed down mentally, dragging herself through her classes and through her day.

She was tired of almost dying, but she didn't see an end to this craziness. It wasn't like whoever set the fire was caught yet.

Her dad had been completely distraught. He even sounded angry for some reason. She tried to get him to calm down, but he didn't even stay on the phone with her for long.

He said that he had to make another call. She decided to let him cool down before calling him again. He was just worried.

"Love the new place."

Melina looked behind her as Blair stood at her doorway. She usually kept her door shut and locked, but she opened it for Blair, having invited her to come by.

They hadn't talked in a few days since Melina had been so busy trying to get her life together after all of her things and her place to sleep burned up.

"Yeah, I like it. I get a nice view of the courtyard from this room," she said as she tidied up her desk a little more. She tried to focus on the silver linings, but it was hard when so much darkness and confusion surrounded her.

It was nearly impossible to ignore. As Blair walked into the room, Melina turned to her. "Can you lock the door?"

Blair nodded, shutting and locking the door behind her. She strode up to Melina and hugged her tightly, petting her hair in a comforting manner.

"How are you doing? I can't believe someone lit a fire in your room," she sighed.

Melina hugged Blair back, sinking into her hold. Honestly, she really needed a hug. Any sort of comfort was welcomed.

"I'm okay. Just shaken and confused," she admitted. She still didn't have any answers. She just had worries and theories. None of those put her at ease in any way. She was honestly nervous to find out the actual answer. What if it was worse than she expected it to be?

"I bet you are. I would be terrified," Blair said before letting go of Melina. She placed her hands on Melina's shoulders. "Do you know of anyone who might do this to you?"

Melina looked away from Blair, staring down at her feet as she shrugged. She was nervous to mention anything, but she knew that she could talk about this to Blair. Maybe she needed another voice of reason to help her sort through her thoughts.

"Tyler saved me from the fire," she told Blair, who narrowed her eyes slightly. "He said he was near my room because he was worried about me."

"Why was he worried about you? That's just weird," Blair replied, wrinkling her nose up out of distaste.

Melina moved away from Blair, opting to sit on her bed. She gripped her bedsheets, trying to figure out how to word everything properly.

She didn't want Blair to think that she was placing any blame on her, but she was curious if Tyler was lying or not about Blair sneaking around in her room.

"He said that he saw you in my room. You looked suspicious, so he got worried that you were up to something," Melina explained.

Blair's eyes widened as she stared at Melina in disbelief.

"Do you believe him? Do you really think I did something to start that fire?" she asked Melina as she stepped closer to her.

Melina looked down and shook her head.

"No, I don't think you did. I'm just trying to make sense of everything. I did find him rummaging around in my room the night of the fire," she sighed.

Maybe she was being naïve, but part of her really wanted to believe that Tyler set the fire and another part of her didn't believe that he was behind it. She didn't know which part of herself to listen to. When it came to Tyler, things were so clouded.

"Look, I did go in your room, but remember you told me I could borrow some ingredients the other day?" Blair asked her.

Melina nodded, remembering that conversation in the cafeteria.

"I was just bringing some leftover ingredients back. I didn't need as much as I borrowed, and I didn't feel right keeping them," Blair explained.. "I didn't touch anything else, though."

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