Sweet as Sugar

Melly continued to much on her pastry, trying to think of what she should do. She liked Mu, but she didn't love him. But obviously he loved her. And she hadn't even taken any of his heart yet, which sometimes produced that effect in others if she took too much.

Mu continued to work on his painting. He knew Melly was his one. Imps could tell. That's how Gao knew with Summer.

Melly sighed, leaning against the wall. Was it worth it? Mu was kind. Even after the love faded, which it would, Mu was kind. That was what she really needed to consider: what he would be like after love.

Her parents loved each other. Then that ended, and they were unhappy with everything. She wanted to avoid that. She didn't want to be like them.

Mu finished his mural. He sat back against the wall next to the door and closed his eyes with a sigh. He felt tired all of a sudden. Never feeling comfortable on the ground, he climbed up to the roof and curled up by the edge, his tail hanging off.

Melly vaguely wondered what was taking Mu so long. Maybe he had gone to get something to eat? She mindlessly fiddled with one of the brushes she had found lying on the floor.

Mu yawned as he laid on the roof. Melly had seemed like she wanted to be alone, so he wasn't sure if he should go back in or not. He didn't want to upset her again. He wanted her to be happy.

Melly went into a light doze herself, still leaning against the wall.

Mu yawned deeply, letting his arm and tail hang off the edge of the roof as he dozed off. Even if he did fall, he was used to it.

Eventually Melly laid down and went into a deeper sleep.

----

Melly ran after her new puppy gleefully as her parents watched with smiles. All the wild grasses and wild flowers were so pretty in the sun. She was happy, they were happy, everybody was happy.

Times were tough. It was a bad winter. But it was okay, because she was with her parents and her parents said everything would be okay. And she was such a good artist. They loved her art. So they were still happy, because they could get through this. They were strong. And they did. Times got better, and then everyone was even more happy.

Her parents seemed unhappy. They fussed over little things about each other. That was odd. Melly cuddled her dog. But it would be okay. Times were a little rough right now, but they had been rougher before. No big deal.

Her parents began to say things were ugly. That the wilderness outside was ugly, that their house was ugly, that they were ugly. Melly didn't think so. It wasn't like times were bad right now. She made some art for them to cheer them up. They didn't seem impressed.

They began yelling at the dog, beating it. That scared Melly. They never did that. They loved animals and nature. Why were they doing that? They didn't want to see her art anymore. They didn't want to listen to any cheerful encouragement. They just stayed sad all the time. Did she do something wrong?

The dog was barking. The dog wouldn't stop barking. Melly wished the dog would stop barking. It would get beat if it didn't stop barking. It had to stop. It had to stop. It would get...It would get...

-----

Melly woke with a start, sitting up. Then she shrank miserably into ball, trying not to cry.

Some where in the semi-dusk darkness, a rooster crowed, startling Mu awake. He fell off the roof with a loud yelp and a louder thud.

Melly looked up at the muffled thud. What was that?

Outside, Mu sat up and rubbed his neck. That had almost been bad. If he had landed any more on his neck, he could have broken it. He groaned as he popped the vertebrae back into place.

That couldn't have been Mu, could it? she suddenly thought with alarm. She knew it wasn't likely, given the red panda's gracefulness at heights. Still it began to gnaw at her. She got up and decided to go check outside.

"Hate roosters." Mu grumbled as he stood and dusted himself off. "Always have always will."

Melly went outside only to nearly run into Mu. "Ah! Um, hi."

"Hi" Mu stated, his face blank. "Are you okay?" He asked

"Uh, yeah, you just startled me," replied Melly, looking away in embarrassment.

"I just fell. Sorry" Mu replied. He stretched, popping his back.

"You just fell?" asked Melly, alarmed. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah. The rooster woke me up and I fell off" Mu stated. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

Melly looked him over. He seemed to be okay, but she was still worried.

"It's okay. I dozed off too."

"Did you get enough sleep?" Mu asked.

"Yeah," Melly lied. She was still tired, but didn't want another nightmare.

"Are you sure?" Mu asked, pulling her into his arms. "You sound like you're still tired"

Melly rested her head against his chest, not saying anything else.