The Girl Next Door

"My family is upset." I answered. "We are trying to deal with the trauma we are facing. Melanie now is a part of our family and we will work with her to try to heal her as best as we can."

My lawyer thought that it was a good time to call the press conference quits.

"That's all folks! Mr. Jeffries has to go back to his family. Please respect his privacy. I have also gotten a court order taken out that restricts non-family members from being within 100 yards from the Jeffries family, that includes little Melanie as well. We will have this strictly enforced for the mental wellbeing of Melanie."

Everyone walked on eggshells around Melanie for the next few days. We tried to stick with an ordinary schedule, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Everyone stayed inside to avoid any reporters that were lurking around.

Andrew and Ginny tried to engage with Melanie, but she seemed to respond to only me. She had a habit of sitting next to me, whether it was at the table or on the sofa. That first evening, I tucked her into bed, an eighteen year old girl, a woman, who was afraid of the dark. I sat with her for a while until she fell asleep, and then I went and joined Ginny in our bed.

"Brandon, are we going to be able to deal with this?" she asked me.

I was unsure. "I don't know honey, but we have to try."

She didn't see Melanie trussed up. That image was burned into my memory for all time. I just couldn't bear seeing the girl in pain again.

Ginny knew my pain. She tried to share it with me and we embraced and held each other as I turned off the lights and we went to sleep.

I don't know what time it was, it was still dark out and it seemed like I had just closed my eyes, when I was awakened by something. I tried to get my mind to work as my eyes adjusted in the dark. I saw a shape standing at the foot of the bed, looking at us. It was Melanie.

"Mel?" I whispered. My wife was still asleep. "What are you doing here?"

She just watched me. "I got scared," she finally said.

I untangled myself from Ginny and eased myself out of bed. Luckily I was wearing some pajamas! I took hold of her and walked her back to her room. I set her back in bed and sat on the bed with her. She held my hand.

"Oh god, Mr. Jeffries, how am I going to get over this? I panic when I'm alone. Nothing seems to help me except seeing you, being near you."

I squeezed her hand. "It will get better. I promise. You've had a nasty trauma, you have to heal." She sobbed. "What if I can't heal? What if I can never recover from this?"

She broke down and started crying. I hugged her.

"Calm down. You're safe now. We'll help you get better. I promise you that."

"But what if I don't?" She wailed. "What's going to happen to me?"

I stroked her back while she cried in my arms.

"You will have a home here always. Think of this as your safe harbor. If you don't get better then you don't have to worry about being left alone." Had I really just said that?

She pulled back to look my in my face. Her eyes were red with crying. There was a faint glimmer of hope. "You, you mean that?"

I nodded and smiled. She hugged me tighter.

Over the next few days, it became increasingly apparent that I had a little tag-along. Melanie would follow me wherever I went. Ginny was getting frustrated as she started to think that she had to share her husband's time and attention with the seventeen year old girl. What was even more frustrating was because of Melanie's fragile condition, if I had to choose between the two of them, Melanie would be my choice to pay attention to. She needed it right now, and both Ginny and I discussed that numerous times, when Ginny started bringing up the "unhealthiness" of Melanie's relationship with me.

There were a few times when Ginny had woken up in the middle of the night to find Melanie staring unnervingly at us in bed, in the dark. Ginny was getting creeped out, and started having misgivings on taking Melanie in.

"Brandon, I just don't think we are reaching her!" she told be.

"Be patient, Ginny. She's been through a lot."

Ginny stewed. I went back to work that Monday, leaving Ginny, Andrew and Melanie home.

I got a call around noon from Ginny.

"She's locked herself in the bedroom! I can't get her out!"

Ginny had agreed to take Melanie to the psychologist's office that afternoon. I had spoken to Melanie about it with Ginny the previous day and we all seemed to have agreed. Now it looked like Melanie had changed her mind. I begged my boss for more time off. He gave it to me. I was being called a hero around town; it wouldn't look good to fire the hero!

I'm not sure the shrink was helping much. It had been three weeks that we had been taking Melanie to him and she didn't seem to be responding. Her relationship with Ginny was becoming more strained. Andrew avoided Melanie and because of that I didn't see him often. He had withdrawn and started hanging around with his mother a lot more.

Melanie always seemed to open up to me when we were alone, whether it was playing cards in the living room together, or watching television. Whenever Ginny or Andrew came in Melanie would become more reserved.

Ginny and I tried to be intimate in the evenings but she became concerned about Melanie barging in on us.

"I could lock the door," I motioned. It had been a while and I was feeling frisky.

"No," she told me. "That might upset her."

I was starting to get frustrated myself. "I miss my wife, damnit! I want you!"

Ginny just held me. "I want you too, but you are right, Brandon. Melanie needs your attention right now and locking her out could cause her more damage."

I grudgingly agreed. We went to sleep that night, holding each other yet I felt we had fallen farther apart. I knew then that we all needed to get some counseling. Melanie was putting a strain on everyone's relationship.

The summer was fast turning into autumn. School would be starting soon and the entire family was now going to counseling. It was slow going. Melanie still clung to me. My wife and I were understandably frustrated. Sex between us had disappeared, having been replaced by chaste kisses before going to sleep.

My work was suffering as well. I had to cut back to eighty percent time as I would be called to take Melanie to the shrink's office. The next hurdle was fast approaching. A trial date was set for September and we were all getting anxious. Andrew was to be called up onto the stand to testify for the prosecution. It had been decided that Melanie would be kept away from the trial as much as possible. Mentally, she couldn't face any of her family.

The reporters tried to honor our requests, but there was always someone who tried to get a scoop or exclusive. They hung out at the doctor's office and near my work. I was forced to push past them, normally holding Melanie protectively close to me as we traveled to and from my car. My wife just couldn't handle the pressure of the reporters so it fell to me to take Melanie to her appointments.

It turned out that Ginny accompanied my son Andrew to court while I stayed home and watched over Melanie. We had brought in a home school instructor who worked with Melanie on finishing up school work. She was very patient with Melanie, and to some extent, Melanie was able to engage with the instructor whether Ginny or myself was there in the house. That seemed to be a good sign.

When Ginny and Andrew came home, Andrew took one look at me, wiped his tear stained eyes and ran to his room.

"What happened?" I asked Ginny as she hung up her jacket. "The defense really did a number on Andy." She told me.

"They pretty much accused him of raping Melanie and wondered what lies he told the prosecutor to get himself out of jail."

"Those bastards!" I was angry. I was also sad that I wasn't there to give him support. He had needed it.

The following days Ginny took Andrew back to court as they continued to grill him on the stand. I had spoken with Andrew the first evening and each subsequent one, trying to cheer him up. I told him I was very proud of him and I wished that I could be there with him.

"Why can't you, Dad?" he asked me. There was a hint of an accusation in the way he said it.

"You know why, son." I sighed.

He just shrugged and then we stopped speaking for the night as he prepared for bed.

A few weeks later, the jury found all of Melanie's family guilty. They were sentenced to prison.

We had something to celebrate, but no one really felt like celebrating. Melanie at least felt a little better, knowing that her family could not harm her.

Life settled back into what we now thought of as "normal". Still without sex, Ginny and I started snapping at each other. We tried going away for an evening, but got called back when Melanie started freaking out.

We became roommates, my wife and I. What made matters worse was that Andrew, my son, cut himself off from me. I started noticing that he never would engage with me unless I made the first move. He never spoke to me unless I asked him something. He always went to his mother.

The other thing I noticed was that Andrew refused to be in the same room as Melanie. He would literally get up and leave the room when she entered. Since Melanie always stayed with me, it became a rare event when I would see my son. I missed him.

Ever so subtly my relationship with Melanie started to change. Not only was she close to me, she started touching me as well. At first it was just physical contact. The counselors thought that it was a good sign. But her lingering touches started to make me feel uncomfortable. I was hesitant to push her away, but with my frustration level high from the non-existent sex I was getting, her touches were, god forgive me, started to affect me.

Ginny noticed as well. In the evenings when Ginny would try to spend time with me in the living room, she would sit opposite me on the other couch, while Melanie, sat next to me, holding and caressing me. My wife had been separated from me by this girl. I could see the hurt in her eyes as she tried to ignore it.

It wasn't much longer when I came home to find that Ginny and Andrew had left. Ginny wanted a divorce, and since I had no relationship with Andrew my son anymore, he went with her. That left Melanie and I alone in the house.

In October, Melanie turned nineteen.

I treated this as a gateway to adulthood. When I told her this after she had just blown the birthday cake candles out, her face turned to fear.

"You're kicking me out?" she sobbed.

Ummmm...

"No!" I quickly said.

She just looked at me with big wet eyes.

"I am not kicking you out. You are always welcome here, and by now I hope that you think of this as home. I'm just... Melanie, I'm just telling you that you are old enough and mentally well enough to make your own decisions now. If you want my help, I will always be happy to help you."

She took my words in and snuggled up into me. She shivered and I held her and rubbed her arms to warm her up. We sat there together in silence. Finally I turned to her and asked her if she wanted to go out. There was a movie that she had seemed keen to see.

"Really?" she asked me.

"Yeah, I figured you've been cooped up in this house long enough. Besides, it's your birthday!"

She smiled.

"Okay," she said. "It's a date! Lemme go get changed!"

I smiled and released her from the couch. It would be nice to be around other people for a change. I certainly wasn't interested in the movie, but up until now, Melanie had shown no interest in going out of the house except for her appointments. This was encouraging!

"Promise me you won't laugh?" she asked me from behind her bedroom door. She was waiting to come out. I was confused at first so dumbly nodded then added, "Yes, I promise."

She opened the door and stepped out. She was wearing one of my wife's dresses and she looked...mature. She looked stunning. She looked so unsure of herself -- looking at me with pleading eyes, looking for acceptance, looking at me for approval.

I smiled. She smiled coyly back. I took her hand and we left for the movie theater.

The movie was some Disney dribble where the teen girl was in love with two different boys. I didn't really follow it, as I was not interested and was more on the lookout for anyone that might recognize us and perhaps want to intrude. I wanted to show Melanie that she could be just another person that no one noticed.

We got home that evening and I turned on the lights and made some coffee in the kitchen. Melanie was giggling about the movie and how childish the boys seemed to her. We sat down after the coffee was made and both had a cup.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" I asked her.

"Yes, thank you Brandon," she replied. At some point I don't remember when, but she had taken to calling me by my first name.

"You've done so much for me, that I just don't know how to thank you."

I waved her off. "Don't worry about it. It's my pleasure."

She was a little sad then.

"No, I mean it, Brandon. What happened to me has affected you. You've lost your family because of me --" She started to cry.

I got up and went over to her.

"Sometimes things change in life, Melanie." I said. "You needed someone and I became the one to help you and be there for you. It hasn't been easy, but I just couldn't turn my back on you."

She stared up into my eyes and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"You've suffered as well." She said.

I shrugged. It was the truth.

She reached tentatively upward with her hand and softly stroked my cheek.

Uh, where was this going?

"Let me heal some of your pain, Brandon. You have healed me, let me heal you." She pulled my face down to hers and kissed me!

I pulled back in shock.

"What are you doing?" I exclaimed.

"I love you, Brandon. I want to be with you."

I pulled away.

"Brandon, please! You've done everything for me; let me do something for you. Be with me. Love me like I love you!"

I stammered and took another step back. She was looking at me with big eyes and a love and devotion that even my wife had never shown me. It had been four months without sex. My cock had decided what he thought of the proposition, but my mind just went back to the image of her tied up in the cellar room, with writing and carvings on her body.

"No!" I choked out. "I can't, Melanie. I can't do anything like that to you."

She just looked at me and then got up and came towards me.

"You're an innocent girl. I'm a married man."

"Divorced," she reminded me. "Your wife left you. She couldn't stand that I loved you more than she did."

That hurt.

"Melanie," I gasped. "How can you say something like that?"

"It's true! You are my everything! You saved my life. You own me. I owe everything to you. I want to give everything I have to you. Forever. I love you. I am in love with you. Love me!"

She was upon me. One of her hands was stroking my cock through my pants. The other hand had locked onto my neck. She was kissing me.

My emotions were in turmoil. This was all very sudden. I pulled her arms off me and stepped back.

"Listen, Melanie, this is so sudden. I can't think right now."

She just looked at me confused. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Brandon, you have been there for me, you have sacrificed so much for me. You are my hero, my protector. I would be dead if it wasn't for you. I love you."

I nodded.

"I know you think you do, Melanie. It's just that you have shown me how you feel, but I don't know how I feel. Please. Give me some time to think about this. You are so much younger than I."

She nodded. I think she was unable to speak at that moment. She turned on her heel and ran up to her room, slamming the door.

I stood there for a long time in my empty house. It was too quiet as I thought about Melanie. My mind and heart were in conflict. I was alone now. I had lost Ginny and my son. It was because of my taking care of Melanie that I lost them. A part of me felt like a total failure. Often I thought about my failed marriage and losing my son. What kind of a man could let that happen? But at the very least I could take solace in the fact that I was there for someone who was in need. Someone who had nowhere else to turn. It had cost me everything, but I did feel like I had saved a life. But at what cost?

I loved Melanie, but like a daughter. She had fallen in love with me. Looking back I realized that everyone could see her falling in love with me, everyone but me. I was blind to the fact. Now I realized why it was so hard for my wife to stay here. Daily she saw this young girl come between her and her husband and there was nothing she could do. It must have broken her heart to be in a situation where another woman was slowly taking her partner, her love away from her and I wasn't aware of any of it.

Had Melanie done this on purpose? Had she manipulated me and my family? I was confused and my feelings were raw. I kept visualizing that poor girl in the basement room. She was so innocent, wasn't she? Her Aunt didn't seem to think so. No, I must put those thoughts out of my head. Her Aunt was sick. Sick!

Melanie avoided me the next few days. She gave me my space as I tried looking into my feelings. One thing was certain. I hated being alone. With my family gone, and now Melanie avoiding me, life in my house was dark, quiet and lonely.

On the third day I knocked on Melanie's door. She called me in and looked up at me with her big eyes.

"Hi," I said.

She just nodded quietly, waiting for me to speak.

I sat down on the bed next to her.

"I've been thinking about us, Melanie," I said. "I've missed you."

"I missed you too," she said quietly.

I took her hand and hesitated for a moment before I brought it to my lips and kissed it. I looked at her for approval. Our eyes met and after I pulled her to me and our lips met. She showered me with kisses. I returned them all. I was surprised at how excited I was feeling.

"Oh I love you, I love you, I love you," she whispered between kisses.

I swallowed hard and then told her that I loved her as well.

We didn't make love that night. We fell asleep on her bed with our clothes still on. It was an epic make out session, something out of high school rather than, well what adults do.

I wasn't too sure if sex would be alright for her. Melanie had gone through a lot and sex might just affect her with a bad flashback.

The next morning I saw a distinct improvement with her attitude and personality. She was bubbly and although she hovered near me, there was an intimacy between us that she seemed thrilled with.

I was still conflicted with my feelings. I had grown fond of her and cared deeply for her, but I was having trouble looking at this young girl, make that young woman, as a sexual creature.

She had curves in all the right places and she was on the petite side which was something that I missed when I had fallen in love with my wife who was a taller, larger woman. But I still had the images of her in that basement room all battered and bruised in my mind whenever I tried to have sexual feelings for her.

The rest of the week we continued to cuddle and kiss but I was adamant that we not rush things. I tried to convince her that I was having trouble adjusting to our new relationship. Slowly I became aroused around her. It had been a long time since I had been intimate with anyone, the last being my wife long before she left me.

I came home from work Friday night to be greeted by Melanie, who had arranged a candlelight dinner. Soft music was playing in the background and I knew that tonight was the night that we would consummate our relationship. I was eager to get this over with as once and for all we could put the past behind us. I would either be able to perform or I wouldn't, and then we could go from there.