Part 3

When it came down to a contest of wills between Theresa Gantt and Melissa, Theresa had quickly recognized her own stubbornness in her daughter. So accordingly, she settled for a middle course that would still allow her some control of her daughter.

“I’ve arranged for you to meet with Dr. van Alten already on Monday.” Dr. van Alten was the way they had agreed to strike the compromise. Melissa knew it was probably for the best to keep in contact with a trained psychologist, Dr. Fearne at the rehabilitation center had recommended it, and her mother had quickly found someone that was in some way acquainted or dependent to her, someone she could ‘trust.’ Melissa suspected ‘trust’ in this instance meant someone her mother and stepfather had checked out thoroughly, maybe even someone depending on her stepfather.

Moon River had welcomed her in a fitting way; the rain had been pouring down outside the airplane. Melissa was sitting in the back of her cab staring out the window. She was thinking about her life. Her mother was controlling her, this van Alten guy was just another way of doing it, and however Melissa tried to come up with a good reason her mother was wrong she couldn’t. She never could nowadays, not since the overdose.

“Miss,” the driver said and glanced at her in the back of the mirror, “I need to know where you’re going...”

“Uh, sorry,” Melissa said. “How do you mean?”

“I need to know what part of the College you are going to.”

“Part?”

“Yes, the College covers several blocks ... in several parts of town, even though most of it is located in Riverside. We have the Technical Wing and Moon River North by Drummond Road ... The Liberty building is up there too. Then there is Leichmann Institute by Lake and Sixth Street and finally there is the Annex, but they’re mostly doing biology research over there ... digging up things from the river, the lakes. And they’re in Burville.”

Melissa stared at the driver dumbfounded. She had no clue what part of the college she was going to. She didn’t even know there were several parts. “I’m not sure,” she said.

“Okay, I’ll take you to Riverside, they have the main office there and it’s hopefully manned now.”

Hopefully? Melissa thought and swallowed. What would happen if the Main Office weren’t manned?

It turned out the Main Office was open, or at least a part of it, manned by a young man just a few years older than Melissa. He was sitting behind a counter, reading a book and it looked like he hadn’t done a thing to his dirty blonde hair since he woke up that morning. He was probably a student making extra time.

When Melissa approached he gave her an annoyed glance, as if she had interrupted him in the middle of something important. Melissa fought hard not to wince, but she suspected some of her thoughts just slipped over to him because he grunted and opened the small hatch.

“Yes?” he said with an impatient voice.