melanie desrosier, district eight [finished]

She was born in a small two-story cottage that was located about a mile and a half away from one of District Eight's foul textile factories. The cottage was charming—compared to its run-down neighboring houses—with its blue shingle roof, thriving garden, and ivy vines that crawled up the limestone walls on the exterior of the cottage.

The house had belonged to the Desrosier family for several generations. It was very dear to them, so they kept it remarkably pristine and were careful not to damage the house or the beautiful, old (but not quite antique), hand-carved furniture inside. The family living in the house worked together in harmony to keep the cottage as beautiful as it was when it was first built.

The Desrosiers were happy for a long long time, especially when she was born. Her mother, Claire, named her Melanie Charlotte Desrosier, after her great-grandmother. Claire meant to name her Ramona Anne Desrosier, but when Claire saw the striking resemblance between her and Claire's late grandmother, Claire decided to name her Melanie Charlotte rather than Ramona Anne.

She didn't look much like her late great-grandmother when she was a baby. Claire had exaggerated, according to various family members. She had fair skin and dark copper eyes and chocolate-colored ringlets sprouting from her scalp, just like her great-grandmother. Other than those three traits, she shared nothing else with her late great-grandmother. It seemed that Claire named her Melanie Charlotte for nothing.

But when she grew older, she gradually showed more resemblance towards the late Melanie Charlotte Desrosier. Her nose's thin structure was similar to her great-grandmother's nose structure, but her nose was a little bigger. Her face became thinner and bared resemblance towards her great-grandmother's face, except her jaw had softer edges. It was the shape of her lips that was striking. No one else in the family but the two Melanies, the living one and the dead one, had slightly heart-shaped lips.

Even then, she couldn't quite be the late Melanie Charlotte's twin. There were far too many differences between the two women. They could be called slightly similar, but no one could look at a young picture of her great-grandmother and mistake the late Melanie for the living Melanie. Maybe if she didn't have those bangs that practically covered both of her thick eyebrows, she would look more like her great-grandmother.

A year after her birth, her brother, Damon, was born. After Damon came Cosette, her sister, who is three years younger than her. It took her time to adjust to having two younger children roaming her house and sleeping in her room. Even as a baby, she liked solitude and silence. She was always a quiet child and didn't take kindly to strangers, even new family members. She fought often with Damon and Cosette, especially when all three children reached their teen years.

The Desrosier couple continued on their merry way for three years, but their joy came to a sudden end when Claire had a heart attack and died after experiencing a severe panic attack (Claire had panic attacks since she was a little girl). Racked with despair and longing for Claire, her father, Johnathan, hung himself on the old oak tree that grew outside of the Desrosiers' cottage shortly after Claire's death.

And she was left alone.

After her father's death, her grandmother, Sofia Desrosiers, came to take care of she and her siblings. She loved her grandmother very much, and decided to call her “So,” after mishearing her grandmother's name. She often made up silly nicknames for members of her family, who had traditional, plain names. She called her sister “Pickle” because Cosette ate them all the time, but Damon never allowed her to make up a nickname for him.

So treated she and her two siblings like they were So's own children. Although So was a wonderful parent, there was still a whole in her heart that could only be filled by her parents. But they were dead, and the hole remained empty.

She met a fifteen-year-old boy named Felix Montgomery in school when she was fourteen. He was absolutely breathtaking, with his big blue eyes and waves of blonde hair and handsome face. Felix was the exact opposite of her. She was a calm, still lake; he was a hurricane. Felix was social, boisterous, and daring; she was a shy goody-two-shoes.

She fell in love with him—or at least she thought she did—shortly after meeting him. Her best friend, Hellen, was friends with Felix and introduced her to him. She and Felix were inseparable ever since they went on their first date, and they were seeing each other for three months. They had both rushed into the relationship, believing that they were in love. But it was all some kind of sick illusion.

The relationship ended with screaming and crying and bitter words after she confessed to Felix that she thought she was pregnant, but then denied it a day later. It was too late by then—Felix was done with her.

Her daughter came into her life like a shooting star, bright and blazing. Her daughter was a squall, bringing chaos to a calm sea. Being only fourteen when her daughter barged into her life, she saw her as a curse instead of a gift. Her world was turned upside down when she discovered that she was carrying a child.

She was in denial when the signs of pregnancy began to appear, but when she developed a baby bump, she could only face the truth: she was pregnant. When she finally faced the facts, she burst into tears. After several hours, she cried enough tears to fill her sink.

The nine months were torture. She was shunned by her peers at school and frowned upon by her family. Damon and So and Cosette never made any rude comments about her idiotic decision, but she could tell that they were not pleased with her. Girls would write “MELANIE DESROSIER IS PREGNANT” all over the walls of the girl's lavatory at school, and someone even wrote “WHAT WILL YOU NAME IT?” in big letters on the door of the Desrosier cottage. The words were carved into the door, so the Desrosiers could never remove it, and they didn't want to risk spending a lot of money replacing the door. (They were middle class and very frugal.)

Finally, the baby was born on her fifteenth birthday.

"Matilda," she said when her daughter was born, answering the question written on the door at last.