The Gifts-Melodie

Melodie jumped down onto the brown Spanish earth. Espana, the last stop on her European trip. After all her travels, she could not believe how many people knew her native language. It must be more common than she thought.

The Spanish heat was definitely a change from her small grandparents' hut in the north of Sweeden. She had never known her parents. She had learned of her parent's death at a young age. An unusual tragic accident is what her grandparents called it, but that is all they would ever say. Still, Melodie yearned to discover more about her family and th world she had been forced to leave behind.

"Excuse me. Do you know where the bus stop is?" Melodie felt a light tap on the top of her left shoulder. She turned to find a father holding his little girl in his arms. She had deep blue eyes and little blonde curls that bounced whenever her father shifted position. The mother firmly clutched the tiny hand of her little boy as he continuously tried to escape in every direction possible. With his dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, he was the spitting image of his father. There was something about that little boy, something oddly familiar. Yet, Melodie could not place what it was that had convinced her she had seen that family before. As far as Melodie knew, she was an only child, a trait she had inherited from her parents. It was a trait she had greatly come to enjoy, and to this day could not envision herself sharing the life she had with her grandparents.

"Um, it's over there, on Alfonso," Melodie brought her focus once again to the question that had been asked. The family left almost as immediately as they had arrived, but Melodie could not help but follow their movements with her eyes. How did she know them?

"Sabes tus direciones. Estas de esta parte de Espana?" the street vendor startled her.

"No, soy de Suecia. Pero viajo mucho," Melodie continued on her way. Scary how many people understood her language.

"No...that's...not...what...I'm...saying," Melodie overheard a man talking rather loudly across the way.

"Lo siento, senor, pero no entiendo..."

"I don't speak..." the men stated in unison.

All of a sudden Melodie could not concentrate. Her head began to throb uncontrollably.

"Oww...Ahh...!" she screamed. She could no longer bear the pain.

When Melodie finally was able to open her eyes, her head was still throbbing and full of confusion. From what she could make out through her squinting, the walls surrounding Melodie's current position were completely bright white. The bed beneath her was a harder surface than she was used to, and the room smelled as though it had been cleaned with sanitizer one too many times. This was definitely a dream unlike any other Melodie had ever experienced.

"X-ray and MRI is clear," Melodie heard a man with a thick Spanish accent appear from the entryway. That was odd. Melodie had heard accents on television and movie programs, but never in real life before.

"What happened?" the light made it difficult for Melodie to keep her eyes open.

"Man call ambulance. Said girl fell to ground holding head and screaming. Doesn't look serious, but will keep you overnight," the doctor responded.

The events of the street slowly began to reappear in Melodie's mind. How did she go from listening to a conversation to lying in a hospital bed, and what languages were those men speaking? She had never had problems understanding people before. Exhaustion overcame Melodie as she laid her head back on the pillow to fall asleep.