Melody's parents became diseased from a mysterious plague when she was young.
Her mother died first, when she was only 2 years old, and her father spent every penny and made every effort to cure her.
He ran ragged day in and day out from city to city, desperately trying to hire every doctor and magician who claimed that they could heal a sick patient.
To no avail.
They were all impostors.
They said that they couldn't heal it.
That the disease was new and unknown.
That it was beyond their expertise.
After the long nights by the side of his wife, the many tears, and fits of anger, he stood beside her as she took her final breaths.
"Take good care of our daughter.", she whispered to him. These were the last words she spoke.
The father took the hand of the mother, and held it up to his face while he continued to cry.
He kissed her hand, and she passed away with a smile on her face, and peaceful eyes.
Half a year later, that same man caught the disease. It had festered in him for the entire duration over the six months, but took a significant amount of time for symptoms to emerge.
At only 3 years old, Melody couldn't understand the doctor's defeated expression, as he held his hand to his head, shaking it in pain while sitting next to her bedridden father.
She couldn't understand why so many of the neighbors flooded into the home to wish him one last goodbye.
No external family appeared, and the only people who showed up were those who came out of obligation, due to the debts that they owed to this man.
However, after her father died, the doctor stormed out of the room after hearing the things that the people around were saying.
"I can't afford to take care of a random child. Someone else do it."
"You have two kids already. What's a third one?"
"Me? No no, I can't. It's difficult enough to keep enough food on the table for two."
"What about you? I can't do it because I am single, and I work all day."
"No, not me. I simply am too busy."
The doctor raged out of the room with fury.
'These people have no respect for the dead, to discuss such things right after this man dies, and to only look at the child left behind as a burden.... I need to go call the coroner.'
However, before the doctor left the room, one young man stood forward.
"I will take her."
"Listor..."
"I always thought you were just some creep who lives alone and never speaks up but.... my opinion of you has changed."
Listor merely brushed off the compliments that he received from the many who simply didn't want to take on the task.
"Somebody has to do it, and I happen to have the time. That's all."
"Thank you, Listor!"
"I'm sure he would be grateful that you are taking his daughter in!"
"You're a good man, Listor. If you ever need anything, let me know."
The doctor left the room relieved at hearing this.
'At least there is one decent person among this lot.'
Melody had no clue what was going on, as she was only 3 years old, however she was taken home to live with Listor that day.
He went out to work each day, and provided a living for her.
He raised her, however throughout her years of being raised, she didn't feel the love of the father.
Rather, it was more like a breeder who was raising livestock.
Melody did the chores, and cleaned the house as soon as she was old enough to do so.
Listor never neglected her, and always paid attention to her, despite the fact that he spent most of his days working.
Each day, he would study what she liked, and sometimes he would even purchase her gifts like a father would for his daughter.
But something was off.
It was all so.... calculated.
She didn't feel like he loved her, but rather that he was trying to get her to love him.
While she was grateful for being taken in, she could never see him as a father. He was more like an older brother, and given that he was only 16 at the time he adopted her, the age gap was only 13 years, which made him too young to be a father to her.
When Melody was 13, Listor was 26, and they both sat at the dinner table together eating after he came home from a long day at work.
"How was your day today, Melody?"
"I did the cleaning as usual, and did the cooking for tonight's meal. That was about it."
"Ah, that's great. You will make for a wonderful housewife soon enough."
"Thanks, I guess..."
"No, really. You're almost 15, the age at which you will become a legal adult. It would only be regular for you to get married then. You're so beautiful as well. I'm sure you will make the one you are with happy."
"You're being creepy, Listor."
"Ah, is that so? I'm sorry."
Listor looked down at the plate in front of him, which had a roasted chicken breast, and he quietly ate for the rest of the meal without speaking a word.
Melody cleaned up the table after they finished eating. It was already late at night, so she headed to bed.
However, as she lay in her bed that night, a bad dream hit her.
She couldn't move or walk, but she saw the faces of her mother and father. They were covered in blisters and boils, and they were desperately trying to speak.
"It was.... your fault...."
"You are the plague.... you are the one who killed us...."
"You are a carrier!!!! You are diseased!!!"
"You are a parasite!!!"
Melody woke up in a cold sweat, and looked around frantically.
The doctor told her something when she was younger, which he had only discovered much later after an in depth study on the disease her parents had died from.
Melody too had contracted the disease, and it lived within her.
This disease was not just a plague.... it was a living being, with a consciousness. It was a parasite.
It needed a host.
Her father and mother were not compatible hosts, and so it spread from person to person, killing them off one by one.
Until it landed on Melody, shortly before the death of her father.
The parasite crawled into her ear, and nibbled through her brain, until it found a place to reside.
"We don't know what's going on inside that head of yours.... but I believe that it is nesting there.... Melody, you must stay away from people. It seems that Listor is immune, however if you come into contact with any others, it will likely spread. I don't really know why it hasn't killed you yet, but it seems that you are able to survive, despite the fact that it has eaten away at your brain."
"You are a carrier."
Melody was isolated from others as a result of this.
Only the doctor and Listor were aware of her condition, and she was kept away from many others in an effort to contain the threat.
The door slowly opened, as Melody lay in her bed.
"Is something wrong, Melody?"
It was Listor. He must have heard her.
"No, sorry.... just another dream...."
"Ah.... I see...."
Listor walked into the room and approached her bed, before taking a seat on the foot of the bed.
"You know Melody.... do you know the reason why I took you in?"
Listor smiled.
"Please just leave me alone, Listor. I had a nightmare, that's all. I don't need you to comfort me."
"I took you in because I saw an opportunity."
Listor put his hand over his face so that it covered one of his eyes.
"An opportunity to finally raise a wife for myself."
Melody looked at Listor with confusion and horror.
"Listor, what are you talking about?"
"Ah.... I've held myself back for so long.... it's been 10 years since I made this investment.... and I am just 2 off.... but looking at you like this right now.... I just can't control these desires that are pushing me forward."
"L-Listor.... what are you...."
Listor lunged forward on the bed, grabbing the shoulders of Melody and holding her down so that she couldn't escape from underneath him.
"It's been so lonely all this life... and I finally found you.... you infected woman, who cannot come into contact with anyone but myself because I am immune!!! Nobody will be able to know that you even exist, but I will be here to comfort you!!! And you will be here to comfort me!!!"
Listor was staring at Melody now with eyes of lust, and Melody was terrified.
She began to struggle, frantically trying to escape his clutches, however he was physically stronger and held her down firmly.
"Stop!!! Get off me!!!!"
"No.... no no, my wife.... my wife that I have bred and raised on my own.... through my own efforts.... you have no purpose aside from being with me all your life.... we were made for each other, don't you see? You can't go near anyone else!! Just give in...."
Melody couldn't move her upper body, so instead she used her legs.
She swiftly kicked Listor, who was on top of her, right into the nuts.
"Ugh!!!"
Listor fell off the bed, releasing his grasp on her, and losing his breath while grabbing his nuts in pain.
Melody dashed out of her bed in her nightgown, to the kitchen.
Her breathing was ragged, and she trembled with fear, however she was pushed onward by this fear to keep running.
She looked around, and quickly ran into the pantry, shutting the door and locking it.
Melody grabbed her knees, bringing them to her chest, and sat in the room filled with vegetables and ingredients crying.
'Why.... why.... why.... why..... why.....'
Her lips quivered with fear and her eyes were twitching with horror as she sat in this room, alone and terrified.
She then heard a banging on the door.
"My sweet Melody!!!! Open up!!!! Come on back to bed with me!!!!"
The banging became louder and louder, and Melody looked around in terror.
'What do I do.... what do I do!?!?!?!?!?!?!'
She looked over to see the kitchen sets.
'I.... I need to protect myself....'
Melody ran over to grab the knife, holding it in her unsteady arm.
She was breathing to the point of almost hyperventilating, however she slid her own arm, with the knife, into her nightgown sleeve. She held it near her skin, in such a way that it wouldn't be noticed if one were to ignore the fact that she had pulled her arm into her sleeve.
"Alright Listor.... I'm coming...."
"Yes, that's good! Open up, and we will go back to the bed together.", he whispered.
Melody unlocked the door after wiping her tears with her free hand, and opened it in such a way that her right side, which had the hidden arm, was blocked by the door.
"Come here, my sweet Melody... nobody but me will ever love you...."
Listor tried to put his arm around her, however when he did this, she thrusted the knife forward, through her own nightgown and into the chest of Listor.
Blood slowly leaked from Listor's chest, onto his own clothing, which was in contact with the pure white nightgown which Melody wore. It too became stained with his blood.
He looked at her with a face that was not angry, but rather blissful.
"Ah, you look so beautiful while you struggle.... cough... blerg... even when you are angry, you are truly.... blegh.... an angel..."
Listor fell dead on the floor, with a satisfied look on his face. Even in death, he remained filled with a disturbing lust.
Melody had just killed her own caretaker. The man who had spent years to raise her, and the only person who she was able to come into contact with.
However, she felt nothing at this.
Her emotions died that day.
'Ah.... this disease... this parasite... it doesn't matter if I kill anyone else.... it doesn't matter if it jumps from person to person, slaughtering all who come near me.... because they were all worthless anyways. They're all... they're all just like this one, trying to use me...'
Melody pulled the knife from the chest of Listor.
The thunder bellowed from outside.
It was a downpour.
But she didn't care.
It was time to get out of this place.
She threw on one of his jackets, and slid the knife in the inner pocket without cleaning the blood off of herself.
She opened the door.
'It doesn't matter anymore. You hear this, you parasite? I don't care anymore. If you infect everyone... if you go around killing everyone....that's fine. It's not like there is anyone worth saving anyways.'
----
Melody ran through the mud on that rainy night, her feet bare and her eyes covered in tears and rainwater.
She didn't know what to do.
She didn't know what she was.
Was she a monster?
Was that alright?
Should she just die in order to save everyone else from this disease?
No.
She would survive.
Running through the darkness, with rain pouring down on her, she came across a burly man in a back alleyway. He had a rough dark brown beard that covered his entire face, and his skin was ripe with grime and dirt, along with the rain which slide down him. He wore a cloak to cover himself from the rain, and seemed to be making his way somewhere in the shadows.
The man turned on hearing her slosh through the mud, and looked over to her.
"Oi, what are you doing here at this time on such a rainy night, little girl? You should get back to your parents."
The man held up a lantern which was protected from the rain by a glass cover, to see the face of the girl.
She was covered in blood from head to toe. There was a large tear in her nightgown in her stomach area, and an entire pool blood all around the rip.
"OI!!! Are you ok!?!? Have you been stabbed!?!?"
"No, I didn't get stabbed. Someone attempted to rape me.", she said coldly, dead of emotion.
"My goodness! Come with me! We'll get you a doctor as soon as possible!!"
"A doctor? I don't need a doctor."
"Anyways, come with me for now!"
The man grabbed Melody by the hand and brought her through the alleyways to what looked like the hideout of a group of criminals. They entered the building, and passed by a number of rough looking men drinking in a bar, and then entered a long hallway in the back with many doors that had vibrant signs advertising all sorts off illegal businesses before entering a back room where he set out a mattress for her to lie on.
Gambling, Drinking, Prostitution, Assassination, Organ sales,
"Stay right here. I will get someone to take a look at your wounds. I know a kid like you shouldn't be in a place like this, but just bear with me."
"Where is this?"
"This is the black market. Anyways.... I will get one of the doctors nearby... they won't have any form of medical license, but in your state you need to take what you can get, and I can assure you that they know what they are doing."
The man rushed out of the room, leaving Melody alone.
'You haven't exited my ear yet, you parasite. Is the rain effecting your ability to breed or something? It can't be that everyone here is immune to you.'
Melody could hear the parasite squirming inside her head, as if it were a part of her.
When it had entered her, it exited through the ear of her father, and entered her own brain. After multiplying within its host, it's 'children' could then infect a new host, provided they were not immune, and were able to kill it off before it infected them completely.
The man entered the room once more, with a man who had a scar all the way across his face, from ear to ear, going through his nose.
He wore a pair of glasses, and had short cut black hair. He carried a kit, which likely had a number of medical tools in it.
'You'll reimburse me for the costs, Oliver? I will simply take your word for that. If you can't do it on time, I will simply remove one of your testicles and sell it. They fetch quite the price. But seriously, to risk so much over some girl you found in the streets... I knew you were the soft type, but I never expected something like this to happen."
The man walked into the room and slammed his kit down, opening it up to reveal all sorts of saws, scalpels, scissors, bandages, and other medical tools.
"Ooh.... lets take a look here... well well.... Oliver, you said she was stabbed, but there is no wound.... as a matter of fact...."
The man quickly grabbed a sewing needle, and pricked the finger of Melody with it, before using a small scrape to sample a drop of her blood.
He then took a sample of the blood on her stomach and licked the two fingers, one at a time, smacking his lips loudly.
"The blood on her is not her own. How interesting... she killed the owner of this blood...."
"You mean she isn't wounded!?!"
"You should take a closer look at these things before you go and call me. However, it was a good thing you did so. Take a look at her ear."
Oliver, the burly man, came over and took a look at Melody's left ear.
It was completely infected.
"This.... I know what this is.... I once before had a patient with this disease.... no, it wouldn't be right to call it a disease.... it's a parasite that eats away at you. She needs surgery to have it removed and eliminated."
The doctor turned to Melody, and pulled out a syringe before stabbing it into her forehead and squeezing it, injecting her with its contents.
"This will sting just a bit. Ah, whoops. I suppose I should tell you that before I inject you. Now then...."
The doctor then sliced open the side of Melody's head, behind her ear, and sawed a piece of her scull out. He then continued digging deeper and deeper into her brain flesh with some tools until he saw something.
It was green and disgusting, and it seemed to be pulsating with life.
"Oh, you little bugger.... what the assassins would pay for something like you.... come to daddy...."
He grabbed his tweezers, and removed the parasite, while it violently squirmed as bile and blood flowed all over.
He placed it into a bag, and after cleaning up the leftover liquids, started to sew up Melody's head using an adhesive to replace the piece of her skull to where it was before.
She now had stitches in the back of her head, behind her ear that formed a rectangular shape.
"Now then... the payment for this surgery is quite high... I might have to charge you both of your testicles for that...."
The doctor closed his kit after replacing all his tools, without cleaning any of them off, and stood up.
Oliver stood shocked, and the doctor patted him on the shoulder as he walked by, with the parasite squirming in the plastic bag he held in the same hand as his medical kit.
"But.... since I obtained this out of it, I suppose I can cut it back down to one."