From: raenright@aol.com (RaEnright) Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: The Message--An Erin/Melissa Story Date: 1 Oct 1995 13:10:54 -0400 She's dead!!! Pardon my sniffling, but I was rather attached to Melissa. And I know a million of them will be out there, but I gotta add my two cents to the Melissa death thing. Before I go into total denial and wait for her to show up again, like Yoda or Obi-Wan-Kenobi or something. And yeah, this is an Erin story so beware. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are property of Chris Carter. Melissa Scully was, but now she's dead so I figure that gives her a certain copyright freedom. Maybe not. Erin and Michael Mulder belong to me, Copyright 1995 Ra Enright. If you don't know who they are, too bad. I'm tired of explaining. This predates 'Links' by a few weeks, occuring about two minutes after THE HUG, TAKE 2 in PaperClip. The Message A memorial to Melissa "DanadanadanadanaFoxdanadanadana..." Run, just don't think, run down the hall, slip, catch yourself, keep running...easier to run than to think about what happened--concentrate on moving muscles, not minds...concentrate on the bruise on your knee, not the horrible hurt inside... The brown-haired girl skidded past the nurse on duty and into the room, sneakers squeaking. The two people in the room looked up. Bed-empty. Fox and Dana-together. Fox alive? Melissa--she's not in the bed. Maybe she's better. Maybe she moved. Dana crying? Maybe she's happy. Maybe not. She burst into tears. "Oh, *Dana*..." Erin Mulder stared at the empty bed. "It's happened, hasn't it?" Mulder nodded. "Dana, I'm *sorry*..." Erin ran across the room, hair flying. "Are you okay? You're all right, right? Melissa......" Dana Scully looked up at the worried girl. "A few hours ago." "I know--I felt her go--oh, Fox, what's..." Erin grabbed him around the middle when he stood up. His arms went around her. "Sh." he mumbled. Her tears began to stain his shirt. "Fox? Dana?" another man appeared at the door. "Jesus, where have you guys been? What's going on?" "Melissa, Da..." Erin pulled back and swallowed. "She's gone." "Oh, god, I'm sorry." Michael reached out and put a hand on Dana's shoulder. "Dana, if we'd known--" "It's okay, s'okay." Dana murmured. "Come on, Erin, let's go get a soda." Mike pulled her away. "I think Dana needs some time..." his voice cracked. "Let's go." he repeated. "No, we'll come with you." Mulder helped her out of the chair. "We should get out of here." _____________________________ Dana stared into her coffee in shock. Just stared, at the little puffs of steam rising out of the cup..... "Dana, you sure you're okay?" Erin, overly sensitive for the moment, caught her lapse almost as soon as she did. She nodded numbly. "If you think you need to say that, yeah." Erin looked at her seriously. Mike and Mulder looked at her. Dana shrugged sadly. "It's what I feel." "Erin, now is just not the time to be prying--" Mike started. "No, it's allright. Don't worry about it." Dana stopped him. "It's just...it's a little new." "I...we knew she was hurt--Meg told us it was okay, though, she said it wasn't serious." Mike brushed his own tears off his cheek. Erin handed him a tissue. "She told us she was getting better..." "That's what the doctors said, too," Dana looked around. "Mom said they told her she was healing...the brain damage was more extensive than they thought. She just...left." "S'not fair. What did she do?" Erin blinked and swallowed again. "Who did it?" "We don't know." Fox answered her. "They're long gone, by now." "Fox--where have you been?" Mike looked as though he suddenly remembered something. "We thought you were dead." "I was." he answered. "I'll tell you more once I figure it out myself." Dana lapsed into silence. Suddenly, she looked up. "Erin...?" "Yeah?" "You said...you said you f-felt her..." Erin nodded slowly. "Heard her say g'bye. She just--I was doing homework, and I looked up, and she said goodbye...and she said--" Erin stopped for a minute. "She was just standing there, smiling...and she said goodbye...here." Erin reached for the chain around her neck, the crystal that Melissa had given her months earlier, frantically ripping it off. She fumbled for Dana's hand and shoved the crystal into it. "Shut your eyes." when she hesitated, Erin gripped her harder. "Shut them!!" Dana obeyed. Erin wrapped her own fingers around the chain and concentrated hard on Melissa's image. Missy? Dana pulled her hands away from the crystal. "Erin, it isn't real." "It's as real as you or I." Erin shoved the crystal at her. "Dana...just trust, this once, okay? Please?" She met Fox's eyes for a minute. "You believe me, right Fox?" Fox gulped. Erin dropped the red stone on the table. "Dana...Mel needs you one last time. All she wants is to say something." Four people sat at the table. A fifth hung behind them. Four people, each grieving in their own way. Anger, hate, loss, vengeance... Trust...friendship...love... Four people locked in private worlds, each wondering why or how or who... The girl's head snapped up, and Mel grinned from behind the two agents. Another man stood behind her--funny the way you could see through ghosts, Erin thought dully--he was tall, heavily built, with a uniform of some sort on. He looked nice, she noticed. Mel leaned back into his hug and they both faded out slowly. a deeper voice said. It must be the man in the uniform. Erin looked over at Dana again, resting against Fox's shoulder. END