Everybody else stood still with mouth agape while Melanie ran her mouth defending who she thought she knew. She was even oblivious to the fear she had just pulled. She kept on blabbering until she realized that no one was even paying attention to her.
With anger she growled herself away from their presence. Everyone was surprised. No, petrified or rather a mixture of both. She ran off, looking for the perfect place to let her tears flow free and eventually, she found it. It was in the buttress roots of an old tree where she found solace and thought about Pete.
Melanie fell asleep as she couldn't hold on to her tears but she woke startled at the sound of rustling leaves, breaking twigs and thumping hooves. It was only natural the Melanie, even as a soldier would be afraid. She cornered herself in high hopes of escaping the field of vision of whatever beast was heading her way. The beast came closer and closer that Melanie's heart beat in sync with it.
The beast found itself in front of Melanie and her heart stopped. Her brain froze and she was left motionless. The beast, it was...., it was Afia .A. and .B. that had come looking for her.
Melanie sighed uncontrollably before saying, "I thought it was.....", then she stopped, remembering that she had a bone to pick with the rest of her team. She managed to find a straight face and questioned, "How did you find me?".
"Well, for starters, you know soldiers are trained to track and you, you're very clumsy. Secondly, you sniffle very loudly. I bet every animal in your proximity heard you. You know what, you make tracking look like child's play.", Afia .A. released her bombshell.
"Very funny", Melanie attempted a sarcastic smirk.
"Don't make my work harder for me, .A.", .B. stepped in.
Apart from soldier training, .A. and .B. were actually university students. They were both in their final year before the war messed everything up. A. was a biology student and .B. took a psychology major. That explains why they were always asleep early.
"Are you angry?", .B. started.
"Why, were you expecting me to be all rainbows and sunshine. After all that!"
Whoever taught Melanie the art of sarcasm was doing a great job.
"That is not unheard of", .B. came in calmly and .A. laughed hysterically in the background, "Do tell me about it."
Like any other normal person, Melanie thought the questions absurd and pointless but that is the point of psychology. Finding the switch within the darkness and putting on the light. Unfortunately, Melanie didn't want to talk and that was where Afia .A. felt she needed to undo her damage.
"See, Melanie. Be a girl's girl. Tell us what is bothering you and we might just be able to help with that. Like justifying Pete."
The rat had been forced out with smoke. Melanie's mouth was itching and she couldn't resist.
"My life in the barracks has been really, really hard. Everybody looks down on me, even the Commander! The only ones who stood up for me and made me feel at home were Lucy and Pete. But now, Pete is missing and Lucy just wants to beat me up. It's like I don't know her anymore and Pete, he is a gentleman. He would never betray us."
.B. had gotten what she needed for her analysis but .A., all she could figure was how bad of a talkative Melanie was.
"If you'd ask me, I think you and Lucy should patch things up. She seems like your only close friend. Not saying the rest of us aren't there for you but still. You need to talk to her."
Melanie hated being lonely and she wasn't proud either so she gave it a thought.