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The Land Of Dreams Unfulfilled continued. "Ok, we arrived at the dance before Mel. Clara was so angry and filled with hatred that Raul was taking Mel and not her, so she made a plan. If Mel had enough nerve to show up with him, we would lure her outside, into the woods behind our school, and just scare her a little. So when Mel did arrive with him, Clara was beside herself. Plus your sister looked so beautiful Rianna, which didn't help. Clara acted real nice to her all night and told her that she wasn't mad at her, anymore. Mel was so happy to hear that. Clara then invited her for a friendly chat behind the school. Me, Sarah, Patricia and Julie were already there, waiting to jump her. I swear to you Rie, I wasn't happy about it, none of us were, but we couldn't cross Clara. She's not right in the head, you have to trust that. We had no choice but to go along with it. When Mel and Clara showed up, Clara immediately grabbed Mel and gagged her. The five us then took her into the woods -- and we beat her. She was unconscious when we stopped and she was bleeding everywhere. We all told Clara that it was finished and that we took it too far as it was, but she wouldn't stop. She took a brick that she found nearby and she beat her over the head with it, continuously. She wouldn't stop, and we were just frozen, watching her in horror. We were witnessing Clara murder an innocent girl. Finally, Patricia and Julie pulled her away. Mel's head was cut open and there was so much blood everywhere, so much blood. We dragged her body further into the woods and left her there." She finished, crying hysterically. I felt the lumps rise in my throat and my body go numb. The next series of events were a blur that went by in a haze. The four girls confessed to being accomplices, and Clara was sentenced to 25 years in prison, for first-degree murder. Her lawyer entered an insanity plea to get her sentence reduced, but she was denied it. Mel's body was found exactly where Joanna said it would be. The morticians had it preserved to accommodate my parents wish of taking her back home. We packed up our things and our life in America was over. The four of us were on a plane back to Slovenia, where funeral arrangements were already being made. "You're coming home Melie, where you belong," My mom would say. "We never should have left in the first place." My father would say, every single day. My brother Billy never really said much anymore and I had alienated myself entirely from my family. My sister, my best friend was gone, and I would never see her again. I went to her grave every single day, and I would talk to her. I told her about the things that went on, day in and day out. I liked to think that she could hear me, and that she enjoyed listening to me. I never missed a day to go and see her. How could I leave her in the cold grave, all alone? All we had left from our life in America was a lifetime of misery. My family was never the same again after Mel's murder. We had all distanced ourselves from each other more and more with each passing day. All I had left from my sister were those three Polaroid's that I took of her on that horrible night. She looked so happy in her new silver dress with her shiny, black hair covering her shoulders. I kept the pictures in frames, on my nightstand. My sister's smiling, happy face was the first thing that I saw when I woke up and the very last thing I saw before I fell asleep. In my dreams, Melanie and I still stayed up all night giggling and talking. These were the dreams in which we never left Slovenia to pursue a life in America and Mel was still in our lives but every dream ends and every morning I would wake up to a pillow soaked with tears. Looking out my window one morning, watching the Adriatic sparkle in the morning sun, I realized one thing. I knew then that Mel would never truly be dead, as long as we all kept her in our hearts. I headed out towards her grave with a rose in my hand. "Hey Melie, you'll never believe who asked me out yesterday ---" I began. THE END
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