The Riverman: Din

Melanie Richardson watched as carousel spun around, those figures of gaily painted horses locked and frozen-- skewered upon mammoth poles through their spines and suspended above the planked floor-way below which the mechanisms and gears caused their motion within those seemingly Satanic circles. It was only as she continued to watch that they seemed to return to the life, that the carved figures seemed to possess a personality that such inanimate things never could.

She had called one Victoria, for she had a very regal appearance.

She could remember Annabelle reading to her about Grace Kelly and The Prince Ranier of Monaco. It all seemed very storybook to Mel, though she knew that it was real. That they both had been born in the same place had seemed to be portentous,though Mel never suspected that she might ever meet and marry a prince. She had already believed that she was in love.

It was Jimmy Potter that had taken her away from the orphanage. He had never really told her that he loved her, yet they remained together through every waking hour and slept together in that crazy little tent that he had made from an old Army blanket. Jimmy was not a prince, but he was quite handsome. And he had figured out ways to take care of them, while they lived out on the road. He had made her feel safe, for a time...

Jimmy had taken the Midway job, working for Quinlan's Carnival. Adrian Quinlan was a bit of an asshole, but everyone else there was very nice to her. Especially Annabelle. Every so once in a while, Quinlan would hire on someone that Mel had wished he would not. Her near idyllic little life had began to unravel when he had hired Vince Tellman. What had made it all worse was that Jimmy seemed to admire Vince, that he had done time and that he knew how to do crime. Jimmy had had to be thief sometimes, especially when they were out on their own. He did take work, when work was offered. But sometimes, it became almost like a matter of life and death.

The idea that Jimmy might like stealing had never really entered her mind before Vince came along. That he wanted to become some hotshot gangster, and do harm to other people. Jimmy had started staying out with Vince all night, after the midway had shut down. He had started riding with Vince in the truck, and drinking with Vince a lot. He had only ever hit her a few times before, mostly because he was upset, and she just kept nagging at him. He was always pretty sorry for it afterwards, in the beginning...

The first time that Jimmy had asked her to have sex with Vinnie, as he called him by then, she had thought that he was only kidding. He had to know how she felt about him, aside from that was just not how things were supposed to be. He had told her that he was kidding, the first time. The second time, Vinnie was there with them. He had told her that it was a favor, and she had told him that she was not a hunk of meat that he could toss to him for  his stew. The third time, Jimmy never asked at all.

And so, she had stood there at the carousel, wondering what she should do. She didn't really have any other place to go, even if she was ready to leave Jimmy. She wasn't certain if it was the calliope music, or the horses that she knew by a name that she had given to them.

She had started drinking with them, and then came the heroine. She had started doing favors for Jimmy that involved them getting money for smack, or to buy him a new outfit so that he could become some hotshot gangster with Vinnie. Their days with the carnival ended when Jimmy got arrested in Chicago. Vinnie didn't get arrested with him, though they had done the robbery together. Jimmy had told her to do whatever Vinnie told her to when he went in, which was where her own private hell had truly started. She had endured it for longer than... Well, if it ever really made any kind of sense at all, Vinnie was an asshole from the first day and he only continued to get worse. The first night that he had beat her was the final straw. When Jimmy hit her, he was sorry. When Vinnie did it, it meant that he wanted to fuck.

Mr. G, in St. Louis, had told her that she could make some real money, working for him. She never really did, as she would end up just giving it back to buy more smack. It wasn't as if she really cared anymore, not even the day that Jimmy got out and came back for her. She was kind of Donnie's favorite girl then, and Donnie was a big time gangster. She didn't always have to pay for her heroine, and Donnie was alright. He mostly treated her nice, and he didn't just keep her around to fuck all the time. He bought her some nice things, and took her out on the town. He was tall, and kind of good looking. He liked to do different sorts of things with her, that he didn't want to do with his wife. Mel didn't really mind, not anymore. They were actually kind of simple, by comparison. And any night that she was out with Donnie was a night that she didn't have to work, taking on whatever came next. She didn't have to work for that weirdo Kenny, and she didn't have to worry about how to manage her next score. Donnie took pretty good care of her, and he had even bought them a place. Without Donnie Curtoni, she would have probably been dead long ago. And what was worse was that she probably would not have even cared...

Which was some of why it seemed weird that she was here again, at the carnival. It was after all of that had fallen into place that she recognized that she must be dreaming. It wasn't a very nice dream, how the painted horses that she remembered by name, had suddenly come to life and were trying to get away from the pole-- their hooves beating and stomping in agony, and their eyes wild and frightened.

It was only then that she remembered the "distinguished gentleman." It was not the first one, the one from her childhood. She had remembered him through all of those years at the orphanage. Of how her mother was a whore and drunk, and how sometimes, for certain people, like the Distinguished Gentleman-- he would want to see her. Not for sex. Not really. Her mother would inevitably handle that. She was not even sure that those memories were even real anymore. Or if she had just made him up in her head to cope.

In her head, the Distinguished Gentleman had become like her prince. That he might one day take her away to his castle, or to stay with him on some huge estate. He didn't not come to their crappy little apartment in Philly to see her Mother. He never really laid a hand on her, not like that. Sometimes, her mother would sit her on his lap, and he would just hold her, kind of like a baby. That she could not really remember his face was some of what made her wonder.

Her mother and her had to move, so that the State of Pennsylvania would not take her away. She remembered being heartbroken, as the Gentleman would never be able to find her after they had moved.

And he never came back again. A few years later, the state of Illinois had taken her away from her mother.

No, this one was someone that Phyllis had told her was some fat charlie from somewhere out in po-dunk ville. The guy was not connected, but he seemed to have quite a bit of money to toss around, and he had asked for her specifically. He had a nice car, and decent clothes. He kind of acted like he was some kind of movie star, and he had paid a premium for this date. Donnie was gone, off doing something for Sal. She wasn't even sure that she should have went off with him, as she was still kind of Donnie's best girl.

Phil had assured her that it would be what Donnie wanted her to do. This guy was paying high-dollar for nothing more than a night, which was only a small part of what he really wanted. She had thought he had lost his mind when he hit her the first time, and then she had started trying to fight back. They were out in middle of nowhere, and there was no where to run to, so Mel had tried to calm him down-- but he wouldn't do it. She was certain that she was going to die when he started stabbing her down there, and in her chest. It was all crazy, but what made it seem craziest of all was that she wasn't dead. Was she? She still felt pain, which didn't seem right... mostly in her chest. It was dark and damp, and she really wanted to move, but found that she could not. Not well, and definitely not much, and it all hurt very badly to even try.

Which didn't seem dead, though she had no idea what Hell might be really be like. Her head hurt too, and there was this sound that kept booming inside of there that was kind of like a heartbeat, only much louder. Once it sped up and got louder, it made her want to try to move... and she did.

Her hand thrust out through the burial among the fallen leaves and branches. It still hurt like hell, but she could do it at least. And if she could still move, she could maybe get somewhere. Where was pretty much moot, as the only place that she really knew about out here in the sticks was the roadhouse. She knew that he had hurt her really badly, but she was half convinced that she wasn't going to die. Not yet anyways.

She thought that Donnie was going to murder that fucker, and it was really only that thought that kept her moving. She imagined all of the heinous shit that Donnie was going to do to that sick bastard once he caught up with him. She was still his best girl, which maybe she couldn't be that anymore. It made her stop, as the pounding in her head seemed to slow down, and she could hear the flow of something like a river nearby. Maybe Donnie would not want her anymore, if the guy had really messed her up that badly. Maybe she would be like some kind of ugly freak, though aside from an ache in her cheek and the front of her mouth, she didn't remember him doing anything to her face but punching her. She didn't even want to think about her breasts. She knew that he had stabbed her there multiple times, and that he had cut her throat. That didn't make any kind of sense for her to still be alive, but she recalled it vividly as she had come out of the haze in a panic as she felt the blade against her throat, and an almost pinching sort of pain there that followed the trail of the blade as it cut across her neck.

"Port! We've got a live one here," Mel nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of man's voice nearby. She had thought that it might be him at first, come back to finish her off.

"Get me a blanket," she heard another man's voice much closer, and winced against the pain as Sheriff Kiernan tried to carefully turn her over onto her back.

"Sweet Jesus," Port said, as Melanie Richardson began to choke on her own blood. Port quickly raised her up and leaned her back against his chest as Nathaniel Better brought her a blanket. Melanie began to cough and fresh air sputter through, down into her lungs. "Now go and get Doc Jessup," Port said, as he wrapped the blanket in around Melanie's shivering body.

It was another one that he really didn't know, which a part of him may have been grateful. Still, he was going to do everything that he could to keep this one alive. There were already three girls that were not quite so fortunate as this gal was, and Port was surely hoping that she might know who it was that had done this to her.

"I've got her Sheriff," Dr. Jessup said as he came in from the other side. "It's okay now li'l girl, just let me take a look. and see what we've got going on here."

Melanie tried to speak as soon as she saw his face, It didn't make any kind sense for him to be here now. Every time that she tried, she would start to choke again.

"Whoa, hey. It's alright now," Dr. Jessup grabbed her arm as Melanie reached up towards his face. "We need to get one of those  litters over here Port," Dr. Jessup said, as he nodded over his shoulder and then turned his attention back to Melanie. "You shouldn't be alive in the here and now li'l girl," Dr. Jessup said as he grabbed a couple fingers-ful of mud, and jammed them down into her open wind-pipe.

Uley