Chapter Four: Back and Fourth

At first, Mel was glad that Monique left, it was quite a relief. Mel felt like he was coming down from a very bad trip of spousal abuse, including the ufo's that Monique hurled at Mel in anger. Unfortunately, Mercedes, then six received one such delivery as she stepped in front of her father. The plate opened up a two inch section on her forehead. Mel feared that if they took Mercedes to the hospital it would result in the children being taken into protective custody by social services. So instead he took 3M suture tape and held the skin together for the next twelve hours. This really minimised the scar but people still wanted to know how it happened. Somehow the truth just didn't seem like a good idea at this point, and Mercedes was taught to lie about her wound. This is of course something that Mel bitterly regrets to this day. Teaching a child to lie should never come up. Mercedes obediently told everyone that the scare was the result of her falling and bumping her head.

Now that Monique had gone, Mel had only the children to worry about and somehow that felt managable to him. After wo months, Monique showed up with a girlfriend to collect the children. In trying to dislodge Madeleine from her father, Monique was pulling Madeleine's little arm so hard that he was forced to let her go to prevent injury. Monique took the children to her new home in Victoria where she lived with her new boyfriend Jason.