Unfair | The beginning

 The old dusty, hot red, Corvette crunched in the gravel as it travels down the dry dusty road. After a lifetime of thoughts and half an hour the car pulls up to run down cabin. The cabin was tilted to one side a little but it still kept the rain out. Memories were on the fresh spring air, memories of a better time and a fairer life gone by. The man, the 22 year old man, slowly almost fell out of the car. He went around to the back and took a brown, fake leather back pack that had seen better days out from the trunk. Slinging it over his shoulder he thought more about times gone by. The wind tugged at his short brown hair as he walked deliberately into the musty smelling cabin. He un-slung his back pack and placed it on the floor. As Ricky unzipped the YKK zipper of the back pack, his massive forearms flexed under the while cotton shirt. There was too much to think about, but that didn't bother him, he had already made up his mind. Ricky un-holstered the Colt 118 semi-automatic. Taking out the clip and fumbling with it, he put a bullet into the top slot. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket, well worn from 6 years of use and took the picture out. The picture of Mel had faded from when she had first given it to him. Kiss the picture he told him self, he did, then put the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.

7 years earlier....

It was a rainy day, dark and dreary. The weather mimicked her mood. She was walking, with a umbrella in her hand, at a quick pace which was unusual for such a laid back person. She was just so confused at the moment. Nothing made sense. Nothing. Nothing had made sense since her mom had died of cancer. Mel slipped on the wet pavement. She hit her head on the ground and then all that registered on her senses was blackness.

It was the kind of day that was typical to the town of Boston, raining and oppressive. Ricky was riding his bike to meet some friends at the pizza joint. He had a rain jacket on over his normal apparel which was a T-shirt and jeans. Even so he smelled damp from riding half of the 5 blocks to the Bubba and Betty's House of Pizza, his normally spiked hair dripping and flat. Ricky, or Dodge as his friends called him, was riding along and looking forward to dinner. He had missed lunch, as he often did, on account of studding through the lunch period at school for an exam on physics. He already knew the textbook by heart but even at the age of 15, Dodge wasn't one to take chances. Top of his class sense second grade, he hadn't moved from there. His friends joked he was made out of glue, stuck at the top. But Ricky liked life at the top. He liked it a lot. That's why he was planning on going to MIT. He wanted to be the best. Ricky wanted to be what his father never was. He wanted better.

Ricky stopped day dreaming about his plans for his future as he saw a girl with an umbrella slip and fall on the wet concrete. He slowed his bike down making sure he wouldn't fall. As he got off his bike to help her, his body froze, his eyes taking in her face. She was beautiful. High cheek bones, shoulder length black hair and big almond shaped eyes. He noticed the last part when she flickered them open. Ricky knelt down next to her and put his hand gently behind her head.

"Are you OK?" He asked in as strong a voice as he could muster, he felt glad he was kneeing.

She blinked a couple of times, trying to get oriented with her surroundings. She looked up and saw the rain softly falling down on her, making her cold. As she turned her head to see who has spoken she heard a second "Are you OK?" And then their eyes met. Ricky smiled and so did Mel. "I'll be OK, thank you" said Mel in her soft voice. "Well let's get you out of the rain at least. Your sure your OK?" "Yes I will be, thank you again" Mel said, as she tried to stand up. Ricky put his hand softly on her back, helping her. Mel didn't know why but chills went out from where his hand touched, emanating in all directions. Ricky didn't move his hand from her back. Mel didn't want it to move either. He was handsome, short hair, broad shoulders, and big arms that looked like they were made out of steel cords. He was tall too, she had always liked tall men, but all the ones she had known were always shorter. He was a good 6'3" if not taller. It's hard to judge a persons height when you are 5'2" but she had got relatively good at it.

"I recognize your face from somewhere but I can't place it," Mel said looking up into his alert blue eyes. He smelled faintly like a good book, though damp at the moment.

"I don't know where you would have seen me," Ricky said, catching her eyes with his.

"Oh OK" she shrugged, "well what might your name be then?" He smiled and said "Ricky, what's yours?" He felt conformable in her company. "Melinda, but everyone calls me Mel." She smiled back. She had a very nice smile and even whiter teeth. They walked a little while in the rain with her umbrella over the both of them. They talked some, mostly small talk. Asking each other where they lived and so forth. Ricky, it turned out, lived right near there. While Mel lived on the other side of town and was walking from the Boston public library to her fathers work. Her dad had always picked her up in the past but today he was really busy on an important case and couldn't break away. Ricky asked her if she wanted to go to his house and get all dried out before she walked the rest of the way to her dad's work. He had asked really innocently and Mel felt safe. She didn't know why. She didn't even know him, but she felt safe.

That was only the start of what was to become not only a great friendship but an even better romance. Their first date was at Lender's movie theater and they saw the first Terminator. Though neither of them spent much time watching the movie. The day Ricky turned 20 he asked the 21 year old Mel if she would marry him. That day at that Massachusetts beach was perfect, the sun was setting as they shuffled along in the still warm sand. Ricky said he had a surprise for her. He asked Mel to close her eyes. She did and he got down on his left knee and said she could open her eyes now. After asking her to be his wife, she cried and he almost did. She had accepted there on that evening that was saturated with the royal purples and deep oranges of a fall sunset. They had spend the whole night there on that beach talking and talking. Conversing about their future and what they wanted out of life. It was strange to see how things, ideas and people all flux through the passing of time. Ricky had just started his 3rd year at Harvard Law School due do the influence of Mel's father. Mel had gone to University of Massachusetts at Boston to be close to Ricky. This day had seemed so far away when they were 15. They had waited and now the day was a memory as they slowly walked back along the beach holding hands watching the sun rise.

The wedding date was set for April 9th. With anticipation and longing they waited for that day, occupying them selves with guest lists, honeymoon arrangements and plans for their future. They liked the sound of that, their future. They had all sorts of things planed to make it a great one. Mel and Ricky owned a enchanting little 2 bedroom cottage on the cape where they planed on living until they both finished school.

Every weekend the two of them would get together and go see a movie or go to a restaurant, every weekend they fell more in love. Finally the night before the wedding, April 8th, the cakes were ordered, the dressed freshly pressed, the tux's ironed and smelling new. Everything had to be just right. Ricky's mother and Mel's father had been waiting for this day for long time. Ricky's mom had been hovering around all week making sure everything was in order, that everything and everyone had its place.

The wedding was going to be huge. The gala event was to be held at the second biggest church in all of Boston. All Ricky's friends, all Ricky's professors, and all his teachers from as far back as second grade came to town for the wedding. All Mel's friends showed up, all her teachers and professors, all her father's high class friends were there, not to mention the assortment of relatives that showed up. The church was packed. Not a empty seat in the whole place. The brides maids processed in arm in arm with the grooms posse as they were calling it. After they were through processing, two small adorable flower girls walked in showering the place with the sweet aroma of roses. The 12 piece orchestra struck up "Here comes the Bride" and everyone rose to their feet. Then Melinda, in a breath taking dress, form fitting with a high neck and no sleeves, walked slowly down the isle. She was beautiful. Her hair was swept back over her shoulders and held there by a single piece of white silk ribbon. The ceremony proceeded nicely, with only slight interruptions of crying from the first pew. The words "I now pronounce you man and wife" echoed through out the whole building. They kissed. A little awkward looking for the height difference but they were used to that. Mel took Ricky's hand. Their fingers were a little heavier now, their hearts a lot lighter. The pranced down the isle with the cheering, teary eyed crowd on both sides, rice flying everywhere. They hopped quickly and carefully into the waiting limousine and sped off to the airport.

You might be wondering about why this story began the way it did. Well it turned out in the middle of their honeymoon Melinda started having cramps. She thought nothing of it but after a while of being back home and the cramps increased every day. So she reluctantly went to the doctors. Mel had cancer. Tumors on her stomach, liver, kidneys and lung. She died 3 weeks after the her wedding date. Is life unfair? To them it was. Ricky was expelled from Harvard after the 3rd week of not showing up. He didn't think he had a reason to live. Ricky Steven Montinaro ended his life on April 9th, a year to the day of their wedding. Things change. Life changes. Roll with the punches? He tried. Don't waist your life by ending it. Its school time again, memories are in the air. Memories of a better time and of two lives gone by.