You Bring Me Light

All her life, Melody had been forced to be patient. She was always told to wait: Wait when her dad died, when her sister left, when kids at school told her she couldn’t hang out with them because she didn’t wear fancy clothes. Her mother would tell her that things would get better, if only she waited a few more weeks. But those weeks blurred into months, and months blurred into years until she was absolutely sick of everything in her life occurring in slow motion. 

It was like her life was a stick, trying to move through thick, murky mud. She thought she would be stuck in her small town, hoping for a shred of happiness until her dying days. That all changed when she met Vienna. 

It all started when Melody was fourteen, on a rainy October day.  This day, in particular, wasn’t going well for Melody, as her mother had been pacing the kitchen for hours before Melody left for school. Her mother was worried about bills, as the rent for their small house had increased. Melody had asked if there was anything she could do to help, but her mother simply gave her a weary smile, saying, “Don’t worry about it dear, things will get better soon.” 

But how soon? The thought stuck in Melody’s head as she tried to concentrate on her third-period English class.  On her way to lunch, she bumped into some of the people in her homeroom, but they scolded her even after she apologized. As she slumped down at a lonely table in the cafeteria, their insults swam around her head. Freak. Loser. Ugly.  Pushing her head into her arms, she was about to get up and walk out of the building, as there was no point in trying to study if she couldn’t concentrate when she heard a bright voice say something from behind her.

“Hey!” A girl with long blonde hair and bright hazel eyes approached her. Her appearance gave her an innocent starlet demeanor, but something told Melody that this girl was pretty intelligent. 

Wait, Melody thought, Isn’t this the new student I overheard some classmates talking about? Melody doubted that was the case, because even though the girl was new, surely she could see that Melody was pretty unpopular. That didn’t seem to stop the girl though, as she swung her legs around the table bench, and turned to face Melody, 

At this point, Melody realized she was expected to say something, so she gave the girl a quiet hello. “I’m Vienna, the girl said, smiling at her, “Vienna Clairmont."  

“I’m Melody.”

“If you didn’t know, I’m new here. You looked kind of sad, so I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Melody just stared at her for a couple of seconds, blinking. This girl was a total stranger, yet Melody felt like it was safe to talk to her, like she had known her for years or something.

“Oh, I’ve just been having a hard time recently.”

“How so?” Vienna gave Melody another smile, before waiting to listen.

“I don’t know, I just feel like I’m always waiting for things in my life to get better, but they never do. People just tell me to be patient, but for how long? How long will it take for something positive to happen? “ Melody sort of regretted the words, this girl, Vienna, probably had no clue what she was talking about. That was probably way too much information. 

“Hmm….That sounds difficult. But you know, maybe instead of waiting for things to get better, you could take control of it yourself! Be optimistic!”

“Huh?”

“Like your name. Melody. If you are sick of things moving so slowly, then speed them up yourself. Come up with your own beat, your own rhythm! Heh,....t’s kind of funny, actually, you’re like my polar opposite. I always feel like I’m running late.”

What was this girl, a free therapist, or something? Melody was stunned.

Vienna seemed to take Melody’s lack of response as a negative sign and started to apologize

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. Was that too much? See, I do this a lot without really thinking about it, and most of the time it scares people away-”. 

“No, no, not at all. It made me feel a lot better, thank you!”

And so it began. For the next couple of years, Melody and Vienna grew a lot closer. They spent every minute after school together, and always made sure to sit next to each other during lunch, even if they had different classes. Melody had taken up some classes in business, and Melody started designing costumes for the drama club. This continued until after senior year when Vienna’s father got a business deal in their hometown, New York. 

Both of them were devastated at first, crying when Vienna boarded the plane, but they would want each other to be happy. Melody came to peace with her father’s death and took a trip to Europe before focusing on some business classes. In New York, Vienna continued designing clothing, and launched her own clothing brand. 

They still never gave up on their relationship and called each other frequently, telling each other about the people the met, the places the traveled to, and the things they did. Even though they were miles apart, they still felt like they were part of each other’s lives. 

This all changed when Vienna got married. At first, Melody was happy for her. Vienna had told her all about the charming man she bumped into while running late for an interview. Melody was excited about the wedding, but something about it gave her an uneasy feeling. The wedding was very fancy. It turned out that Vienna’s fiance, Mr. Lambert, was exceedingly wealthy. 

After the wedding, Melody barely heard from Vienna. She would call or text every few days, but it was usually just something vague, like “how are you” or “I’m doing well.” Melody shrugged it off, thinking that Vienna was just busy with her new husband. Instead, she focused on opening her own clothing store, as the realtor had finally gotten back to her after keeping her waiting for several months. However, a week passed, and she had no word from Vienna. If Melody wasn’t worried before, she was definitely worried now.

Vienna was an extremely talkative person, so what if she had gotten into some sort of tragic accident?  She might be overreacting, but her friend’s safety was more important. The uneasy feeling in her stomach increased. Melody promptly flew New York and marched up to the door of their penthouse. After a moment, Vienna opened the door. Her eyes widened, and she slammed the door shut, but not before melody could glimpse the purple bruises stretching from her neck to her collarbone. Some of them looked old, but most of them looked pretty fresh. 

“Vienna!” Melody pushed open the door, revealing her best friend. Vienna looked so somber, like a shadow of the sunflower Melody remembered her to be. She couldn’t believe any of this was real. She couldn’t believe she had trusted Vienna’s husband. 

“Hey, you’re not staying here any longer, okay?”

“No….I can’t leave. I just can’t. I’m fine Vienna, everything will be fine soon.” 

There was no way in hell Melody was going to tolerate this. Vienna meant everything to her, and she wasn’t just going to stand idly by while Vienna’s life was collapsing. That was something Vienna herself had taught her.

“We’re getting out of here.” Melody took Vienna’s hand, already buying another plane ticket to San Francisco. A day later, they reached Melody’s house, and Vienna collapsed into tears. 

“I’m so sorry Mel, I-I should’ve realized that something was off about him. I just felt It was too late for me to address the bad feelings I had about him, so I ignored them.”

“You shouldn’t feel sorry Vienna, I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“Yeah, but I rushed into getting married and everything. I just felt like I was always late, and I didn’t want to be late for marriage too.” Melody put a hand on her friend’s shoulder, promising that she would be okay. Vienna never got this hysterical, and Melody wanted to be there for her when she did.

“But Melody, what about my career? If I file divorce papers, t-then he’ĺl put in a bad word about me to other corporations because of all of the stores he owns. I won’t be able to sell my clothes anywhere!”

“I know one store you will be able to sell to.”

The next couple of decades went by as life should, with Melody and Vienna living together, working side by side at Melody’s store. Vienna started putting her clothing there, and after a few flyers, they were making a good amount of money. Neither of them got married. They were done with marriage after dealing with Vienna’s ex-husband. 

Eventually, Melody decided she wanted to leave the country and travel the world for a bit. Vienna understood her decision but got pretty sad once Melody left. Eventually, Vienna got sick of missing Melody, so she flew to France to meet her and to travel together. They went to a total of seventeen different countries, before deciding that they would rather settle down as they got older. 

Now, as both women sat down on the wicker chairs on their front porch, sipping on some homemade lemonade, Melody wondered what her life would have been like without Vienna. 

Melody thought she might have spent her days miserable, waiting for something to happen that could change her life. And god knows what would have happened to Vienna and her husband with Melody out of the picture. They taught each other how to take time to relax, enjoy life at its fullest, and how to come out of the stickiest of situations. In the end, Melody never figured out whether their relationship was platonic, romantic, or something new altogether. Whatever it was, both women were glad for it. They were the light in each other’s lives.