Reunion - chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own the character nor am I making a profit from this story, however, if you wish to leave reviews I will be more than happy, unless their flames. They're not welcome.
CHAPTER 1 - 10.59pm Melissa's hands clamped down nervously on the wheel. It had been two years since she had last been in Bixby, two years since she had abandoned Rex. It had been hard leaving then; she had almost turned back a few times, but the thought of other midnighters waking up, defenceless against the spreading darklings, made her carry on.
It wasn't that she was particularly righteous or anything, it was more the fact that she didn't want anyone to have to go through what she and Rex had to go through.
Rex.
His name echoed in her mind and a small smile lifted up the corners of her mouth. It would be nice to see him again.
OOO
Rex stared out of his window, or at least in the general direction of his window. Bookshelves still covered the walls and the floor was littered with more piles of books and sheets of paper than ever.
Months ago he had transferred all of the lore from Madeleine's house to his in a bid to make sense of what had happened on that fateful Halloween night. So far he had had little progress but with the now regular letters from Angie, who was working in Spain at the moment, bits and pieces of the puzzle were starting to slowly group together.
It was still taking a long time but he just knew if he kept at it, someday it would all make sense, he might even be able to figure a way to bring Jessica back from midnight. Plus, all his work was keeping his mind too busy to think about a certain someone.
Melissa.
It had been okay those first couple of months, even though he hurt during the day, during the midnight hour he could still hear her, was still connected to her. As the months went on and she had travelled further and further away the link had grown weaker, until one night he hadn't been able to feel her mind at all. He could still remember the terrible feeling of loss from that night and all the nights since.
Every so often, during the blue time, as he worked away trying to understand the lore, he thought he could taste her. A coppery, sweet taste under the tongue, a strange mixture that set his mouth on edge.
Weird, yet unmistakably Melissa.
When it came, it was so faint Rex often believed that he had tricked himself. Each time his heart was wrenched in two and loneliness settled over him like a deadweight, dragging him down.
Nothing else had really changed in Bixby in the two years since they had left. The only major thing that had happened was the birth of another midnighter eighteen months ago, Brett Maine.
So far, Rex hadn't figured out what his ability was but Brett seemed thrilled with the blue time, happily giggling through the whole hour, delighted by what was happening to him.
Rex still felt a little suspicious about the birth. Dess had confirmed that the possibility of another midnighter being born naturally in Bixby was extremely low but with Madeleine, anything was possible.
The first few nights after Madeleine had mentioned to him there was a new midnighter, Rex had made his way to the Maine household to check up on him. It would be tragic if Brett had turned out to be another acrobat and had been bouncing around the ceiling when the hour ended. It wouldn't have been a nice sight for the parents to wake up to in the morning.
However, Brett had seemed firmly glued to the mattress and Madeleine had confirmed that a midnighters abilities appear straight away. So, if he wasn't bouncing joyfully around now, then he never would on his own.
Rex still visited Madeleine every week, though she still seemed slightly wary of his other half. His darkling half. Though, Rex had to admit, it had become easier and easier as time went on to control it. Television, though, was still off-limits to him but it wasn't like he actually had time to watch it anyway.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. Reminiscing like this wasn't helping his mood any.
Glancing down at the paper cover in ancient lore symbols, his finger absentmindedly rubbed the gash in the wood caused by his letter opener. He was never going to get this done tonight. He was trying to cross reference it with a site that Angie had found somewhere in Spain a few days ago but everything was blurring before his eyes.
He yawned and gave up completely pushing the piece of paper away dejectedly. Then he glanced at the wall clock. It read 11.30. He stretched and stood up. It was only half an hour until the blue time and he had planned to visit Madeleine again tonight, just to check that she was okay.
As his hand reached for the door handle, his mouth filled with the sweet, coppery taste that was Melissa. He froze. It was strong; she must be close and getting closer all the time.
His mind tried to find a logical reason why it couldn't be Melissa, trying to protect his frail hope, while his heart soared at the possibility that she was coming back to him.