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The
Stricts were an old family that had always lived up to their last name,
and so Howard and Melisa had done their best to raise their daughter
as a modest, diligent and obedient girl. Unfortunately, Fortuna had
resisted all their attempts, and grown into a wilful teen, only interested
in idling, and, as it turned out, sex.
They were horrified when Howard retrieved her after the second time
she ran away - she was pregnant, and probably by one of these dark-skinned
no-good Reservation people where she had been hiding. Howard was sure
he'd been right to kill the bastard who'd dared to temp his daughter
into his bed. The only regret he has was that she was already too pregnant
to ... have anything done about it.
Fortuna gave birth only 3 weeks after she was dragged back home, and
she had spent those weeks, and the next 6 months in a fudge state -
sitting quietly, dressing, eating, bathing, moving only as directed.
But after that, she began to wake up out of her stupor - and Howard
and Melisa knew that she would certainly try to run away again.
And so they took steps to keep her from it - by locking her up in her
room, barring the windows from the outside, and only having Melisa bring
her groceries 2 times a week. Much as Fortuna hated it, she was now
trapped for good.
The story the Strict told their friends and acquaintances when Fortuna
disappeared was that she had been abducted by some ruffians who had
tried to blackmail the Stricts for money, but had not gone through with
it. So they even had a ready explanation for why they didn't let anyone
talk to poor, traumatized Fortuna, and why she had come back pregnant.
They were well-regarded members of their community, and no one thought
to question their story, or to question that they would later send their
daughter to a health resort far away, where experts would take care
of her and her fragile mental state.
With everything explained to the satisfaction of their peers, life returned
almost back to normal for them: Howard spending most of his free time
at the chessboard, and Melisa to her charitable work with the other
high-brow ladies of the community - although she was constantly plagued
with the worry that one day, someone would realize that Fortuna was
still locked in their house.
Well, there was the problem of the child Fortuna had born, and the horrible
suspicion Howard and Melisa had shared - that it had been fathered by
a no-good non-white vagabond - had come true. They considered giving
the child up to adoption, but after some consideration concluded that
of course, the charitable - the *proper* - thing would be to take care
of the child themselves, and raise it properly. They had the admiration
of their friends and acquaintances, and hired a competent Nanny to take
care of the actual work.
Thankfully, the child was quiet and friendly, content to entertain herself
with her toys. Although the Stricts insisted on calling her 'Melisa',
claiming she was named after her grandmother, the name on her birth
certificate was actually Melihet - Fortuna's last act of defiance.
Around the time Melihet was 3, the Stricts let it be known that they
had received news that Fortuna had killed herself over the shame of
having born a bastard child out of wedlock. The community grieved with
them, marvelling at their stoic acceptance, and granting their wishes
that the issue be kept mostly silent, to protect their privacy and to
let their grandchild grow up innocent of their mother's tragic fate.
And of course, their friends and acquaintances fell for it - what reason
did they have to suspect the awful truth?
Still, Melisa worried, and the worrying slowly started to unhinge her
- she became ever more mean, and during her twice-weekly deliveries
of groceries through a hidden door that connected the master bathroom
with the dingy one that her daughter now had to use, she often quarrelled
with Fortuna, and with increasing frequency these quarrels actually
turned to physical violence.
Old age had also unleashed hallucinations in Melisa - she became convinced
that she was being followed by a huge yellow bunny, and often engaged
in fighting it. However, before Howard could realize how deluded his
wife had become, Melisa's body gave out, and she died.
And while Howard still continued to pass Fortuna her groceries twice
a week, he refused to even talk to her. And so, Fortuna's mind, already
shattered once when she had to see her father kill her lover, twisted
again, and she started a romantic relationship with her mop. Melisa's
death also meant that her living conditions deteriorated - Howard didn't
think to deliver her any cleaning or personal hygiene products, and
besides, she was busy using her mop for decidedly non-standard purposes...
Despite the circumstances, Melihet grew into a well-adjusted little
girl. She wasn't brilliant at school, but she did well enough - better
than her mother had, certainly. Her early nannies had been loving enough,
Melisa had always focussed her ire and spite at Fortuna, and Howard
had grown much too distracted in his world of chess to take much notice
of her. She'd mostly raised herself, and was doing fine.
The only mystery in her life was the strange noises she sometimes could
hear from below her room on the 3rd floor - which was puzzling, as she
knew that there was only her grandparent's master bathroom there. She
often wondered what it was like, since it had to be huge, but she'd
never been allowed into her grandparent's suite of rooms.
Melisa remained spiteful beyond the grave - she came back nearly ever
night to haunt Fortuna, and eventually haunted her to death.
After Fortuna's death, Howard managed to redecorate the room during
the time Melihet was at school, and eventually had the room opened up
again, explaining to his now teenaged granddaughter that he and his
dear departed wife had been to horrified by her mother's death to talk
about her, and thus had her room walled up. He also told her the same
fabricated story about her mother's "abduction by would-be-blackmailers",
emphasizing how important it was that she always strive to be good,
since she was obviously fathered by some no-good lout.
Melihet was stunned to hear the story, and often wondered what her mother's
life might have been like, but no personal possessions were left, and
Howard refused to talk about her. All she heard from the few friends
of the family who were willing to talk to her was that her mother had
been ... wilful while young, but horribly changed by whatever happened
to her during her abduction.
Howard died shortly before Melihet turned 18, and since it was only
4 weeks until her birthday, she was allowed to remain at her home instead
of being forced to move in with a newly appointed guardian. She graduated
school, and was promised a quite nice job with one of Howard's old political
friends - a last favor to a model man of the community. And so she had
a last summer free of obligations before her adult life was to start.
At first, spent it mostly alone, wondering about her mother and her
possible parentage.
But then, one day, the son of a neighborhood family just couldn't stand
the sight of her sitting all depressed on the swing for often hours
at a time, and went over to talk to her and try to cheer her up. Melihet
was rather surprised - the Cheaters hadn't been people her grandparents
had associated with, they were too liberal - but Charles seemed very
nice.
At first, he just convinced her that she wasn't too old to use a swingset
even if she was nearly 18...
but soon Melihet found in him someone she could talk to. Soon, he was
coming over every afternoon, and they spend a lot of time just playing
games.
They also discovered that they had a lot of interests in common, and
that both dreamed of one day getting married and having a family.
And, as the summer drew to a close, they also discovered that they had
been falling in love the whole time.
Alas, eventually the summer was over: Charles went off to study - he
had dreams of becoming a doctor, and maybe even running a hospital one
day. Melihet entered the world of responsible adulthood and started
working. They knew that they'd not see each other while Charles was
studying, and so made no promises to each other.
Melihet found herself often lonely, and when she caught K'nat Alien's
eye one day, she found herself quite taken with him. He was charming
and she liked him, and even though he told her that he had no plans
of settling down with just one woman, she decided that yes, she would
like to learn what it was to be with a man.
He was even tolerant of her quick burst of nervousness, and waited patiently
until she was ready for him.
And then he made sure to teach her everything he know about mindblowingly
good sex, before eventually their affair ended and he left.
Sometime later, Melihet met Billy Everyman, who at first seemed like
such a nice friend and even possibly someone she could grow close to.
But then, to her horror, she found out that he was already married and
the father of 2 children. She immediately broke off all contact with
him, and decided that for now, she'd focus on her work.
She was sure the right partner for her was out there, and she was sure
she'd find him eventually.
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