"So, tell me about Melanie as a child, what was she like?"
Karen Irres was seated on the couch that was in the room Leah was given to perform her therapeutic duties at the mental home. Seeing as she wasn't technically employed there, and was only there to help Melanie, and thus her family by extension, she didn't consider it her "office". Karen sighed and leaned back against the couch, slowly shaking her head. "What's there to tell?" she asked, "I mean, life's been fucked ever since her father died. There's no big mystery. She lost herself in a delusion and now she's here trying to get better." "You are happy she's here getting help, right?" Leah asked, and Karen nodded almost eagerly. "Of course, absolutely yes," she replied, "I've been pushing her to do it for years but she never would. I think maybe she needed things to get their absolute worst before she would even begin to entertain the idea. Though...didn't she start seeing you alone a while back?" "She did, at a friends request, yes," Leah said, "but I'm just one woman, there's only so much I can do, and I'm not entirely equipped to help her with the exact things she needed." "That's why she has to see a second doctor, right? Because she only wanted you to treat her but-" "Yes, and she now recognizes how improbable that actually is. I still see her regularly, though, and I'm going to help her until she's better. Karen, can I ask you a question? I know she has a brother, Shane, as she's mentioned him now and again. With all this focus on Melanie, did you ever think about what having to look after her might've done to him?" Karen looked at her shoes and, after a moment, she shook her head. "He was always stronger than all of us. I guess I just sort of took that strength for granted," she said quietly, "I've tried to talk to him about his father, but he doesn't want to discuss it so I stopped broaching the topic. And when it comes to the topic of Melanie...well...he doesn't wanna relive any of that childhood whatsoever and frankly I can't say I blame him, but...but perhaps I did rely on him too much. But after Chris's death I was a single mother, and I had to work much more, and I couldn't be there all the time. I needed help. I needed Shane." Leah nodded, writing all this down in her notepad. Karen ran her hands down her dress and then, sniffling, looked up at Leah. "...am I a bad mother?" she asked softly. "Oh honey, of course not," Leah said, "You did what you could the best you could at the time. You were all in shock. If you made mistakes, they certainly weren't intentional. In hindsight, yes, perhaps they weren't the best choices, but you'd lost your husband and were floundering yourself. You did what you thought you could for your children, and I'm sure in the moment, and even today, they appreciate the effort." Karen smiled a little, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve. She had to hand it to her daughters friend, she had a hell of a therapist. *** "How's your week been?" Shane asked, sipping his coffee as he relaxed into the booth. Emma stirred cream into her mug and sighed, brushing her bangs from her face with her free hand. She lifted her mug to her lips and took a long sip, then looked around the restaurant and then looked back across the table at Shane. "Actually, it's been surprisingly okay," she said, "Though I am getting a little tired of shopping for napkins." "Hey, don't knock the napkins. Fancy napkins are how people know you're rich," Shane said, making her giggle. "We're not though!" she said, "Anyway, I've been talking to my mom a lot about a wedding dress, about bridesmaids, all that kind of stuff. I mean the wedding is still so far away, but it's important to hash all this stuff out beforehand, obviously. Especially when you want as nice a ceremony as we do. How about you? How's your week been?" Shane picked at his teeth and then slid his jacket off himself, letting it fall next to him in the booth. "I don't know," he said, "I guess it's okay. Mom went to therapy with Melanie this week, so that was weird. She came home and she started asking me if I was alright, if I blamed her for a crappy upbringing or whatever. I told her I was fine and I don't blame her or Mel for anything." "But you do?" "Actually no," Shane said, picking up his mug again and sipping it, "I blame dad. If he hadn't died, none of this would've happened." Emma had to admit...she didn't see that admittance coming. *** Darren was making dinner that night, cutting up some meat on the counter when Emma came in through the side door of the kitchen. He stopped, turned towards her and she leaned up to kiss him. Then she made her way to the kitchen table, pulled her heels off and let her hair down. Darren, meanwhile, continued chopping up his fish. "Long day?" he asked. "Extremely," she said, "...can I ask you a question?" "Yeah, shoot," he said. "What would you say if I suddenly told you I...I might be open to the possibility of having kids?" Emma asked, and Darren stopped midchop. He slowly put the knife down on the counter, then turned around and looked at her, grinning widely; she laughed and said, "Well gee, you don't seem all that happy about it." "What brought this on?" Darren asked, approaching the table and sitting down with her. "I don't know, I guess...I guess just dealing with my mom, talking about Melanie's mother - she went to therapy with her this week you know - and just the wedding and stuff," Emma said, "now I'm not saying I'm gonna be all gung ho suddenly or whatever. I'm not saying let's make a baby tonight right now. I'm just...I'm just saying that perhaps I'm not as against the idea as I once was." Darren knew why Emma didn't want kids. She'd always felt like she'd failed her own little sister who'd killed herself, and after her parents didn't openly grieve for her, Emma had felt like they didn't care. She didn't want to go through with that. She didn't think she could be good enough. Darren had stopped pushing the issue a while ago, and instead just accepted that he loved Emma and wanted to be with her, children or not, but he couldn't deny that this news made him ecstatic. Darren reached out and took Emma's hands and kissed them. "Whatever you decide is fine," he said, "I love you either way." Emma blushed as Darren stood back up, kissed her forehead and then went back to preparing dinner. Emma stayed seated, watching him, and smiling like an idiot. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. But...if she loved him so much, if she was so lucky...why did she feel so much more comfortable with Shane? *** Melanie was sitting in the entertainment area of the home, reading a magazine from a nearby rack. She heard the doors open, and she glanced up to see her mother entering the room. Melanie smiled, put the magazine down and sat upright in the chair as her mother seated herself across from her. "Hi sweetheart," she said, "You look nice." "I'm only allowed one outfit except on Fridays," Mel replied. "Well, you really make it work," Karen said, making them both chortle a little; Karen crossed her legs and cleared her throat, then asked, "do you mind if I ask you a question about your brother?" "Um, I guess not," Mel said, "Not sure I can be much help, but you can ask." "Did Shane ever come off as...angry? Regretful? For, you know, having to help? Did he ever make it seem like he was manipulated or used? Has he ever said anything to you that might indicate that he feels like he had to grow up too soon or-" "Shane is angry, yeah," Mel said, interrupting her mother before adding, "But...but it's not at you. If anyone, he's angry at me, I think. I think he feels like maybe if I wasn't around, he could've had a normal adolescence, a normal life, without having to always clean up his crazy little sisters mess." "That's what family does though," Karen said. "Sure, but to an extent. Not to the point where it hampers their respective mental health," Mel said, "That isn't fair. And he's not wrong, either. He shouldn't have had to look after me, to help me, he should've been able to just been a teenager and an adult without worrying about me. But dad...dad left us all so broken and confused, and now it's too late for him to do anything with his life other than feel like he needs to be there for others. An admirable trait, certainly, but...not something one should dedicate ones entire life to." Karen was impressed. She hadn't heard Melanie speak this coherently maybe in forever. Whatever she was doing with Leah, medication and various doctors here seemed to be working. Karen sat back in her seat, a little more relaxed now, and uncrossed her legs. She looked down at her hands in her lap, her chipped nail polish, and she let out a very long breath. "I think we should bring Shane into therapy too," Karen said. "Right, like he'd ever agree to that." "That's why you're going to ask him. He won't say yes if I do it, but if you did..." Melanie looked at her mother, then after a long moment she nodded, agreeing to do it. *** Gus, Bea and Leaf were going through a nearby park, with Leaf rollerblading while Gus and Bea walked. Bea squeezed Gus's hand, making him blush as he lifted her hand to his face and kissed it. Leaf whizzed by them, doing little loops, trying to get their attention, to which they both acknowledged and praised her efforts. "I can't rollerblade so I don't know where she picked it up from," Gus said. "Does her mom?" "Not particularly no, neither of us were very athletic," Gus said. "She is a peculiar specimen then," Bea said as Gus raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "Did you just call my daughter a specimen?" he asked, the both of them chuckling. As they continued walking, a bike rolled up beside them, with Jeremy on it. "What're you two doing here?" Gus asked, continuing to walk. "Just out for a bike ride," Jeremy said, "Chi's got work today, and I didn't have anything to do so I thought I'd get a little exercise." "Oh, so maybe you're to blame for my daughter suddenly becoming interest in athleticism," Gus said, making Bea snort, and Jeremy smirk. "Well, someone has to set a good example, right? It's good for kids to get outdoors and do things," Jeremy said. Ahead of them a bit, Leaf stumbled and fell on her butt. Bea excused herself and raced to help her up, leaving Gus and Jeremy alone now. Jeremy brought his bike to a full stop and leaned one leg against the sidewalk. "You don't have to assert your dominance on your day off," Gus said, "I'm sure there's plenty of chances for you to do that elsewhere, right? I know I'm not super manly, there's no need to bring it up on the day I get to see my kid." "I'm sorry," Jeremy said, laughing a little, "I'm not trying to assert anything. I'm just saying it's good she gets out of the house for a bit, gets some fresh air. She spends all her time holed up in her bedroom, drawing up designs and drafts for stuff, it gets stuffy and whatnot. It's good for kids to run around." "Well, if she gets hurt I'll be blaming you," Gus said. "That's understandable," Jeremy said, "but let's hope nobody gets hurt," he added quietly. Gus grimaced. He couldn't stand Jeremy, and he was beginning to get the feeling he was far more monstrous than he could've imagined before. Something about him rubbed Gus the wrong way. Bea brought Leaf - who was perfectly fine - back to the guys and they stopped at a bench. "You okay kiddo?" Gus asked. "Yeah, I just turned my ankle," Leaf said, "...hi Jeremy." "Hey kid," Jeremy said, the interaction between the two making Gus feel uneasy for a reason he couldn't place. After a moment, Leaf fixed her rollerblade and got back up, zooming away once more, leaving the adults there. Bea looked at the guys and stared them down for a moment. "So," she said, "Everything alright?" "Couldn't be better, good seeing you Bea," Jeremy said as he adjusted the strap on his helmet as Gus walked away to join his daughter. Bea approached the bike, grabbed the strap on Jeremy's helmet and yanked his head towards her as she lowered her voice and narrowed her piercing green eyes. "You listen to me you oversized bag of unrestricted testosterone," she said through her teeth, "if you ever harass or threaten Gus, or his family by extension, I will personally end you. I am trained in combat, I can lift 200 pounds with ease and I will not hesitate to shove my sword in your stone, you got it?" Jeremy's eyes widened, a bit surprised by Bea's attitude, but he nodded slowly. "Yeah, you got it girl," he said, putting his feet on the pedals and taking off on his bike as Gus approached again, standing back by Bea. "Where's he going?" he asked. "Nowhere hunny," Bea said, kissing his cheek. *** "I don't really have anything to add," Shane said, sitting on the couch between his mother and his sister, his arms folded. "You don't have anything you'd like to say about your role in the family growing up after your fathers death?" Leah asked, "Nothing at all? Cause it seems like it'd been rather stressful." "It was, sure, but someone had to do it. There had to be a man of the house, right? So it was up to me," Shane said. "There didn't need to be a 'man of the house', Shane, that's certainly not how your father saw things. He saw the house as a team effort. The family was one group. There was no leader or anything," Karen said, "What makes you think that-" "You were so busy trying to make enough money to stay in the house, to help Melanie with her problems when I couldn't, it just seemed like the right thing to do. Learn how to fix things. Learn how to fix pipes and doors and windows so we never had to pay someone for repairs. To follow Mel around when I could to make sure nobody screwed with her. Someone had to keep everything together." Karen looked at her lap and sighed. "I'm...I'm so sorry if I led you to believe that was necessary, that wasn't fair to you," she said softly. "Not your fault, and not Mel's fault, it's dads fault," Shane said coldly, surprising everyone in the room as he added, "I mean, if dad hadn't died, if he hadn't made it seem like someone had to watch over everyone...I don't know. I hate him. I hate him for leaving us like that. That wasn't fair. I know it wasn't on purpose, I know he didn't have a choice, but...but I'm still mad at him." "...I was mad too, for a while," Karen said, reaching over and taking Shane's hand in her own, squeezing it gently, "but after a while I realized that being mad wouldn't be what he'd want me to be. He'd just want me to keep going. To keep you kids safe and happy." Shane stood up, excused himself and left the room. Nobody said anything for a moment, then Melanie stood up and joined him. She found him in the hall, leaning against the wall, crying into his hands. She approached cautiously. "Shane?" she asked, "It...it wasn't fair, but...for what it's worth, you did good and-" Shane threw himself against her, putting his arms around his little sister. "After losing dad, I couldn't lose you too," he said, surprising her, "that's why I tried so hard to keep you safe. It got so difficult and I said some mean things but you're my little sister and I'll always love you. I couldn't lose you too." Melanie stood there, momentarily dumbfounded by this display of emotion from her usually stoic brother, but then she smiled and put her arms around him too and hugged him. She shut her eyes and patted him on the back. "It's okay," she said, "You didn't. I'm here." As it turned out, Melanie was learning, she wasn't the only one affected by her fathers death. A kingdom is only as strong as its citizens, and it was her job, as princess, to make sure they were okay. She promised herself she would be there for her brother and mother a lot more often now. She was visibly ill, sure, but they were in just as much pain. What a better family activity, she thought, than to get well together? Talk about your quality bonding time.
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Royally Screwed follows 24 year old Melanie Irres, an average young woman...who legitimately believes she's a princess. Archives
July 2023
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