Recap : Melody opened the door ready to fight. She was confronted with something that shocked her so bad that her training was forgotten and she could have been defeated with a shove. It was a girl. A girl probably about thirteen years old with jet black hair held back with a pair of expensive looking sunglasses. The girl was dressed in black clothes underneath a black full length coat. Her features were at match for every other girl in the room. "Hiya, Melody Angel Nocturne. I’m your sister."

The silence that followed would have filled the room but for all the small noises that suddenly sounded loud in the ears of Melody Nocturne. The girl, this strange black clad girl, had known her name. Melody found herself listening to the faint noise of the air conditioning system with mild interest. The texture of the carpet on her bare feet was another interesting detail she became absorbed with a moment later. Forcefully, she brought her mind to the girl standing on the other side of the threshold. She narrowed her eyes and eased into a defensive stance.

“Who are you?”

The night haired girl chuckled a bit. ”I already told you. I’m your sister.”

Melody shook her head. ”No, you’re not.”

“Mel, look at her,” whispered Symphony peeking over Mel’s shoulder.

“A similar face proves nothing,” replied Melody. ”How do you know my name?”

The girl grinned insolently, “We need to talk. Why don’t we make ourselves comfortable?”

“Sure,” piped up Symphony quickly, “Come on in.” Symphony moved toward the strange girl to welcome her in and the girl began to enter.

“No!” Melody said the word with such command that both froze. She noticed that the black haired girl had tensed as though expecting an attack. ”Not here,” Melody continued.

“Why not?” asked Symphony. She looked at Melody with a hurt expression.

“Because I said so,” replied Melody.

Again there was silence for a moment or two. Melody stared into eyes that were identical to her own. The other girl revealed nothing.

“How about the Lounge?” Harmony suggested into the silence. It was the first she had spoken since the door opened. She was clutching her bathrobe close to her body.

The other girl cleared her throat. ”Yeah, sure.” She backed up as Melody exited the suit followed by Symphony. Harmony ran to the bedroom to slip into something more modest than just a robe. When the four girls, looking so very much alike, were all ready, they headed for the lounge. 

As they walked, none spoke.

~*~

The stars shimmered in a kaleidoscope of colours out of the Lounge’s large windows. The Nocturnes sat at a small round table, eyes downcast, drinks in front of them. Only the newest girl looked at ease, and she dipped her fingers in a jar of apricot jam, licking them eagerly.

“Cruise starships are the best when it’s down to food,” she commented.

“Y-yeah...” Symphony echoed, “unlike the Academy. Good thing we have a FoodMat.”

The girl made a ‘yum’ sound. “Academy? The EAFTY?”

Symph nodded, and looked at her sisters for backup. Melody looked away and out the window. Harmony took a deep breath and tried to join in.

“We all study there... Symph is in the Art Department, Mel is a pilot, and I’m in the Tech section.”

“That’s cool,” said the girl. “I sure don’t have such ‘academic’ abilities.”

“Aww I’m sure you have some,” said Symphony brightly.

“Oh yes, but not the kind they’d welcome at the Academy,” the girl winked. “Anyway, my name’s Rhapsody.”

This time Melody cast her a sideways glance, trying to scrutinize her enigmatic face. All she got in return was a smile, and she looked away again.

“Wow!” Harmony exclaimed, leaning forward on the table.

“That’s, like, so cool,” Symphony echoed, looking at Melody. “You hear? Another music name and all. You really are the fourth sister, sister.”

Rhapsody smiled and cleaned her jam-sticky finger on her black coat. “It’s not me you have to convince, babe...”

“For the record,” Melody cut in, for the first time looking straight at Rhapsody, “I *am* convinced you are in some way related to us. What I need to know now is how, and why. The face proves nothing, as I said. They can make you look like Margaret Thatcher in our Med department. How did you find us? How do you know our names? We didn’t say.”

Both Symph and Harm turned to look at their ‘big sister’, then back to Rhapsody. If the corvine-haired girl was feeling pressured by the stares and the questions, she didn’t show. She just shrugged and said:

“Well, that makes sense. It’s a long story... um, let’s see... you do know that everyone is registered at birth with birth certificates, right? Okay, that’s how I know your names. That’s also how I know we’re related. We’re born in the same hospital, same day and year. Your parents were my parents.”

The mention of their parents brought a dark cloud over the other three Nocturnes’ faces, but they didn’t interrupt Rhapsody – apart from Melody.

“If you’d grown with us, we’d remember, don’t you think?”

“Yes... and in fact, I haven’t grown up with you. Your parents abandoned me when I was a few days old.” The shock on the girls’ faces was obvious to Rhapsody, who thought it better to correct herself quickly: “Well, according to other sources, I was kidnapped.”

The three girls looked at Rhapsody in shock. They said nothing so she decided to continue.

“I grew up on the streets of Poseidon City,” Rhapsody said and she pushed around her marmalade with a finger. “The earliest thing I can remember is this old woman coaching me to look pathetic to help with her begging career. he called me Rhapsody. But I didn’t stay with her long. I wandered from group to group never really staying with any of them. I  changed names each time to avoid being followed. I was a thief and a beggar when I was smaller. But I never was a very good thief, don’t have the light fingers and once I lost my cute baby face, I was no good at begging.”

Rhapsody paused to lick a dollop of sticky substance from her pinky. “After that, mostly I... acquired and sold tickets to sports arenas and other such... odd jobs.”

Symphony sniffled, her eyes filling with tears. “But, that’s horrible.”

Rhapsody raised an eyebrow similarly to the way Melody was known to do. “It’s not so bad when it’s all you know.

“But if we’d known we’d have come and got you,” Symphony continued. “It’s so sad to think of one of us out there...”

Rhapsody smiled a little. “I’ve no doubt of it.  But I’m here now.”

“Yeah,” said Harmony, “How’d you find us anyway? How’d you know to come to us?”

“Well, after seeing you, I decided to get my hands on some information.” Rhapsody reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a well worn sheaf of papers. “This details the kidnapping of a very young girl about thirteen years ago.”

She set the papers on the table and Melody picked them up, looking over them with guarded interest. “This is a police report,” she commented dryly after a few seconds.

Symphony’s eyes went large, and Harmony leaned forward to take a look, tilting her head as she did so.

“How did you get this?” Symph asked.

“It’s one of those, um, odd jobs. You know,” Rhapsody winked. “A friend owing me one, and so on.”

“You stole it?” Melody raised her voice a little.

Her sisters instinctively sat up straighter, but Rhapsody seemed unaffected but for the roll of her eyes.

“If that bothers your conscience,” she pointed at the Cadet badge on Melody’s skin-tight bodysuit, “no, I didn’t steal it. It’s a copy. The original document is in its place.”

She snatched it from Melody’s hand before she could reply, and the blonde girl fixed her a firm look – that Rhapsody returned. Stealing had always been one of Melody’s pet peeves: ever since the first days of military pre-training, at age 11, they’d instilled it loud and clear in them how theft, no matter how petty, was not tolerated. So the girl gripped her uniform and bit her tongue not to snap back.

Rhapsody noticed even that, and shook her head. “Well, that proves nothing anyway. This does,” and she tossed another document towards Melody. It was another official-looking paper... and one that the Nocturnes had already seen.

“Isn’t that...?” Harmony wondered.

“Yeah,” said Melody.

Symphony’s hands went to cover her mouth.

“I suppose it’s another copy?” Melody said grimly.

“Well, of course...” Rhapsody nodded slowly. “I take it you have this very document, yourselves?”

The girls’ birth certificate was kept in a box in a closet in the Nocturnes’ quarters at the Academy, along with a few of their parents’ items. Basically everything that hadn’t been destroyed in the accident.

“Yes,” Melody said, pushing the document towards Rhapsody, “only that ours states clearly that THREE children were born from our mother. Not four!”

She definitely raised her voice this time, causing a few of the other passengers to look in their direction. Rhapsody nodded, and for the first time her face showed... sadness? She simply took the document again and folded it.

“I suppose they must have had reasons to hide my existence at all.”

There were several seconds of shocked silence before Melody stood up. ”We need to talk about this... Rhapsody. Would you mind waiting here?”

Rhapsody signaled to the waiter. ”Sure, whatever, Mel.”

The three girls stood up and began walking back to their suite. Symphony looked over her shoulder at the girl in the long coat and the black clothes. She smiled and Rhapsody smiled back. The short walk and elevator ride was made in silence as each girl was wrapped in her own thoughts.

When finally back in their quarters, Symphony and Harmony sat on the couch and Melody stood in front of them.

“Well girls,” said Melody, “What do you think?”

“We’re taking her home with us,” Said Symphony immediately. She looked from Melody to Harmony. ”Aren’t we?”

“Symph, I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” said Melody. ”Even if we have the same parents, we don’t know this girl. You’ve heard her, she’s a criminal. Sharing genetics is not a substitute for having lived together for years.”

“She’s not a criminal,” Symphony protested. ”And if we turn her away, where will she go?”

Melody shook her head. ”I don’t know. And I don’t want to just turn her away. All I’m saying is that this could be some kind of a scam and we need to be careful.”

Symphony looked to Harmony for support.

Harmony shrugged and wouldn’t meet Symphony’s gaze. ”I have to agree with Mel. We have to be real careful about how we deal with this, Symph.” Harmony looked up at Melody. ”Perhaps when we get home, we can have a DNA test done? Then... then we see if she can be our sister in more than just genetics.”

Melody nodded. ”That’s not a bad idea. If she agrees.”

“So, we can keep her?” Symphony asked with utter sincerity.

Melody laughed gently.  “That’s up to her.” 

~*~

Rhapsody was looking out the lounge window, her dark eyes lost in the blackness of space. Her pinkie still idly lingered in the jam, without much, if any, devotion. Sugar was a hard habit to get rid of. When Melody, Harmony, and Symphony re-entered the large, crowded room, somehow she noticed and turned around before they reached the table.

“So, we’ve got a deal,” Melody started as she sat down. Her sisters quietly took their seats too.

Rhapsody raised an eyebrow. “We you or we us?”

“Not sure...” said Harmony with sarcasm, which earned her a ‘oh come on’ look from Symphony.

The purple-haired Nocturne looked at Rhapsody with a sweet smile and said. “We us. If you accept, at least... please accept?”

“Symphony, perhaps we should tell her *what*, first,” Melody suggested.

“That is one good idea,” Rhapsody nodded. That suspicious look was back on her face, but Melody was unaffected and she cleared her throat before continuing.

“Alright... you look like us, you know stuff, and you’ve got... proof, shall we say.” Rhapsody nodded. “But. We all know what the only real proof is, and...”

“If you’re talking about a DNA test, I accept.”

Melody stopped mid-sentence, her jaw still half-dropped. She exchanged looks with her sisters, and got a firm nod from Harmony – who had suggested the idea in the first place – and a shy smile from Symph, who turned to Rhapsody a second later.

“Yay, you accept.”

Rhapsody smiled. “I have nothing to hide. And lots to demonstrate, actually.”

“Agreed on both counts,” said Melody with a small smile, that Rhapsody returned.

It wasn’t exactly a mutual compliment, but at least they agreed on something. Both girls avoided looking at each other though. A few more silent moments passed before the ice was broken. Rhapsody finally cleaned her fingers and set the jam apart before sitting up straight on the chair and placing her elbows on the table, her chin resting in her cupped hands.

“So, you were talking of this... Academy,” she said. “I’ve heard of it. There’s something similar on Neptune, though it’s quite shabby.”

“Well it’s big and very, um, high,” Symphony said before her sisters could, and got a smile out of Rhapsody. “I mean, I hope you don’t feel sick from heights because... whoa.”

“That isn’t a problem,” Rhapsody shook her head. “I play HoverHoops ^TM .”

“Ohhh wowwww!” Symphony gasped.

Melody brightened up considerably too: that was one of her favourite sports to watch, and she had been a fairly good player in the Academy’s pre-teen team. “That’s cool. Which role?”

“Defender.”

“Wow, that’s tough. I’m Flyer.”

“Great. Maybe we can train together some time.”

“Sure... but...”

Harmony giggled. “My sister is about to warn you that I’ll try to apply my calculus templates to the game tactics. And it *does* work.”

“Um...” Rhapsody frowned a little. “I’m, err, sure. So you’re a math wiz huh?”

“Prodigal child, thank you,” said Harmony with a proud smile.

“Hehe... alright. And you’re in the Art department,” she pointed at Symphony, then at Melody, “and you’re a soldier. Sounds nice.”

“Ohh and maybe we could enter you at the Academy! They’ve got a Sports sub-section... not really like a major or anything, but still.”

“I think that’s a bit premature.”

That came from both Rhapsody and Melody, who once again looked at each other in surprise.

Symphony pouted a little. “Okay, okay, was just wondering...”

~*~

From the physician’s office in the Academy building, Rhapsody sat on the cold examining chair and stared out the large window. Her bare legs swung idly over the edge of the chair, her pale green eyes staring speculatively over the city. She sat in a medical gown of plain white. The Chief Doctor of the Academy had insisted on a full physical in addition to the DNA analysis. There had been tests too, Academic and physical both. Apparently these academy people were taking the possible appearance of another Nocturne, another potential prodigy, quite seriously. They had saved the DNA test for last though. Rhapsody wasn’t certain why they had done that.

The physical examination had taken a couple of hours. She had arrived at nine in the morning with Mel and Harm and Symph. They had all had classes to attend but had promised to be there when the results of the DNA test were announced. Symph had given her a tight hug and a smile.

It was so strange. Melody had been the only one of the three who had acted appropriately by Rhapsody’s way of thinking. Cautiously. That’s how Rhapsody would have behaved had the roles been reversed. Perhaps that was why Mel was the unspoken leader of the trio. Despite the practicality of it, and despite her own approval, Melody’s hesitation in accepting her was some what... hurtful.

Rhapsody sighed and shook her head in exasperation. She hopped down from the chair and approached the window, resting her head against the cool glass. It was silly for her to worry about what Mel thought. She barely knew the girl. She’d never had a family before, or needed one, and she didn’t need one now. But then why had she sought out the girls?

Simple curiosity at glimpsing a face so like her own in the crowd. That’s what it had been. At first anyway. But once she had found Harmony Nocturne and her sisters, why did she continue to pursue information about them? To know the truth. Yes, she had wanted to know the truth. But then why approach them?

Far below her the streets of the city moved with motor and pedestrian traffic. Transportation tubes zoomed people from place to place. Electronic billboards hawked the wares of corporations and family owned businesses. This city was much like her home on Neptune, only larger and brighter. Not that the streets of Poseidon City there had been anything like a real home. She had wandered from group to group not even having a set of people which could act as a surrogate family, just a few loyal connections. Had it never bothered her before, or had she simply buried the pain?

It didn’t matter. Rhapsody pushed away from the glass. She hated introspection. The physical had gone well, she knew she was in good shape, if a bit skinny from a homeless kid’s diet. Then the doctor had taken a blood sample for various tests including the DNA test. She rubbed absently at the place where the blood had been drawn.

“Rhapsody?”

The black haired girl jumped. She hadn’t even heard the doctor open the door. That wasn’t a good sign. If she was so nervous as to miss such a thing, she might miss other, more important details. Normally she would be certain to note anything that might be a threat.

“Yes?” she croaked. Again Rhapsody berated herself for this show of weakness.

The doctor smiled in what as probably supposed to be a reassuring manner. ”The Nocturne girls are here to see you. You can get dressed and meet them in the room next door.” Then the doctor was gone again.

Her hands shook as she dressed herself in her worn black clothes. She took a look in the mirror, brushing a lock of black hair from her face. Her blonde hair had drawn too much attraction as a kid on the streets and she had gotten it genetically altered as soon as she could afford the process. She swallowed and took a deep breath.

“Time to know,” she whispered.

The room next door had thick brown carpet and a large comfortable couch. A painting of a ocean view adorned one wall and a large window overlooking the city dominated another. When Rhapsody entered, Mel was pacing in front of the window, her hands clasped behind her back, clad in her tight military uniform. Symph was inspecting the picture and a had a bit of black paint in her hair. Harm was lounging on the couch, apparently staring off into space.

They all looked at her and she stood in the doorway, uncertain. Symphony glanced at Melody.

“Well don’t just stand there,” said Melody. ”Come in, sit down.”

Rhapsody felt a wave of relief. Symphony took her by the arm and drug her to the couch, planting her between Harmony and herself. Just as Rhapsody was about to let herself relax, a knock at the door made them all jump. The doctor entered and smiled.

“Well girls, I’ve got good news. Rhapsody Eve Nocturne is indeed who she says she is. She is your sister.”

Symphony smothered Rhapsody in a hug.

“I knew it!” crowed the artist. ”I just knew it.”

As soon as Symph let go, Harmony gave Rhapsody a less enthusiastic, but no less sincere hug. For a few more frenzied seconds, the girl was the center of a kind of attention she had never really experienced before. It was strange and frightening and exciting all at once.

Melody cleared her throat. Harm and Symph parted to allow Rhapsody to see the eldest of the sisters. Melody smiled her small smile and held out her hand. Rhapsody took it and shook it firmly.

“So,” said Symphony, “Now that we know for sure you’re one of us, you can move in.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Melody and Rhapsody at the same time. It was the second time the two girls had voiced the same opinion at the same time. This time they barely gave each other a glance, but Symph and Harm looked from one girl to the other.

“Why not?” asked Harmony.

“It’s a bit... premature,” replied Rhapsody.

“Yeah,” agreed Melody, “We need to take this a step at a time, allow for things to settle down a bit.”

Symphony stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

Rhapsody chuckled. ”Don’t worry, sis. We’ll see each other every day.”

~*~

And see each other they did.

Every day of the week that followed found the sisters meeting for a snack or dinner. When Melody, Harmony and Symphony were in class, Rhapsody had time to herself and she tried to make the best of it.

She had always been a free sprit, or even a rogue. She had rarely left Neptune, but was used to life on the streets of Poseidon City so it didn’t take her long to get used to Terra. It was only bigger and noisier. Unbeknownst to her sisters, she still did have a few people back ‘home’ she hadn’t been in contact with lately, so she spent a few hours trying to reach them and inform them of the latest news.

“That means there’s three more like YOU?” a black market dealer, old-time friend of hers, had said. “God help us!” That made her laugh.

The girl lived in a rundown hotel on the street level, in a room that Melody had rated “something between uncomfortable and plain revolting”. But Rhapsody had been living in such raw places all her life and just couldn’t get used to Earth’s higher standards in the blink of an eye.

She did have several opportunities to see the kind of life her sisters led, and frankly, it was quite boring. Studying, studying, and some more studying. Not that they didn’t have fun sometimes, but still, most of their life seemed to focus on application on a long-term project... something that Rhapsody had never even considered for herself.

But one afternoon they’d taken her to watch a game of HyperHoops at the closest arena, then out for junk food and a walk in the park. That had been the finest time of Rhapsody’s life. She wasn’t ready to admit it to her steely independent self yet, but it felt warm to have a family.

Soon she found herself browsing through the Academy’s brochures and reading all of their informative pamphlets, which had titles such as “You Are The Future!”. They made her laugh but she still read them and figured she would fit pretty well in some departments.

“I think you’d be a perfect computer whiz,” Harmony said one evening. “You were able to crack the Neptune Police system, after all...”

“Nah, join the Military,” said Melody, who was proudly sporting the Junior Pilot badge she had just earned: youngest in the Academy history. “They’ll shape you up nicely.”

Symphony had little else to suggest, so she shrugged and, in a tiny voice, said: “Well if you’re good with sports, then join a team or something... you don’t *have* to be in the Academy, you know.”

Melody had wrinkled her nose a little to that: she wasn’t ready to see a Nocturne not enrolling in the Academy, but Rhapsody still welcomed the suggestion and promised she would think about it.

~*~

A couple of days later, after a long labour and several changes of mind, she had finally reached a decision. She was resolute now, and was heading to her sisters’ quarters at the Academy to inform them.

She unlocked the door with the pass card Melody had given her, and the door swished open... and right before her eyes Rhapsody saw something she would have never expected to see.

SMACK!

Melody’s hand connected loudly with Symphony’s bare backside, and a yelp and a kick followed. Melody sat in a chair and had the slender girl upended across her lap, her purple hair messy and her face wet with tears. Her pert little bottom was pinked and criss-crossed with handprints. Rhapsody’s jaw dropped and Melody gasped upon seeing her come in, stopping with her hand in mid-air. Only then did Rhapsody see Harmony: she was lying on the living room couch on her tummy, her chubby bare bottom much redder than Symphony, and being vigorously massaged with both hands. She was naked from head to toe as per habit, while Symphony had her pants and panties down to just below the base of her bottom. That, combined with the sniffles and cries and that one sound slap of Melody’s hand, made it something that Rhapsody didn’t understand -- and that infuriated her.

Before anyone could say anything, she hurried to where Melody sat and grabbed Symphony’s arm, standing her to her feet and ushering her away. The girl hadn’t even noticed Rhapsody’s presence, so she shrieked with surprise upon finding herself back on the floor.

Melody was caught unprepared too and a moment later Rhapsody easily wrestled her to the ground. “Rhap wait...” But she was cut off by a sound jab to her mandible.  The taste of blood in her mouth and the pain made Melody react. She remembered her fight training, rolled over and wrestled Rhapsody back, while a startled Harmony and a still crying Symphony yelled for them to stop.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Rhapsody bellowed, trying to grab Melody’s hair. “You think you can hit them just like that? I’ll show you!”

The girl was strong but undisciplined, and Melody saw she could contain her easily. She didn’t return the jabs but soon had the other girl pinned to the ground. Willing or not, Rhapsody couldn’t move and had to listen.

“It’s not like you think it is,” Melody said, breathing hard. “If you stop being G.I. Jane for a second, we’ll explain... I’m letting you up but try and hit me again and you’ll wish you hadn’t... you get it?” she said in her most commanding voice, making even Symph and Harm wince.

Rhapsody, still breathing hard, allowed herself to be pushed gently onto the couch by Symphony and Harmony. They sat on either side of her, a hand on her arm. Melody returned to her chair, checking her teeth with her tongue. She still tasted blood in her mouth and had to take a deep breath to calm herself before speaking.

“I realize that most people don’t agree with this form of discipline, but we do. There are times when... when we need help keeping focus.”

Rhapsody sneered. ”Focus? And who gets to decided who needs this ‘focus’? You?”

Melody glared back. ”Yes. For the most part it is up to me to keep Symph and Harm in line.”

Rhapsody looked from one girl to the other on each side of her. ”You two buy this? You really let her smack you like that whenever she wants?”

“It’s not like that,” Symphony protested.

Harmony nodded in agreement. ”It’s something we all agree on.”

Rhapsody shook her head. ”I... I don’t get it.”

“We all get spanked,” said Melody, bringing Rhapsody’s attention back to her. ”Usually it’s me spanking Harm or Symph, but not always. It’s how we support each other.”

“Support each other,” Rhapsody repeated. She looked at Melody and found that her initial anger had drained.

Melody shook her head. ”Look, I don’t expect you to agree with out way of doing things, but it’s our decision. I only hope that one day you’ll understand.”

~*~

Rhapsody had left her sisters’ quarters almost in a trance. She’d mumbled her decision to enroll in the Earth Academy for Talented Youth and to take courses in Computer Science, and Symphony had given her a large smile and thrown her arms around her neck before realising her pants were still hugging her knees.

In all honesty Rhapsody’s mind couldn’t have been farther from the Academy at that moment. She struggled to understand how those girls could accept such prehistoric means of self-discipline... which actually lacked the ‘self’ part a lot, if it was true that Melody was in charge. They could say all they wanted that they all got spanked: the group dynamics were still clear. She’d seen her sister over the lap getting her botty smacked like a little girl, and her mind was still trying to come to terms with it.

The odd fact was that not ten minutes after being spanked – and rather soundly, as far as she could tell – Symphony was hugging her and looking cheerful... though with a tear-streaked face. Were they really that used to spankings? And if not, what had they done so horrible to deserve one?

As she walked down the dark, steamy streets of Terra, Rhapsody realised that with all the commotion she hadn’t even bothered to ask what was the matter at hand. She’d been so concerned with ‘coming to the rescue’ of her newfound sisters that she hadn’t actually focused on why what was happening was happening.

Shaking her head, she took a Sugar Sucker out of her pocket and sucked on it. It would raise her blood pressure, she knew, but it was addictive. A hard habit to break. Maybe that would change with time, along with many other things.

~*~

It was late. Long past midnight. After the tussle with Rhapsody there had still been homework to attend to and so Melody had spent the evening studying for her Art Appreciation exam with Symph. The class was part of her general requirements and of course Symph was the perfect person to tutor her on the subject. Later, after Harm and Symph had gone to sleep, Melody had found that she was unable to. She sat on the couch in the living room, staring out the window.

It was Rhapsody. Not that Mel was particularly worried about her opinion of their self disciplining techniques. No, that wasn’t true. Mel was concerned about that, but that wasn’t what had kept her awake. It was that she existed at all and they had never known.

Why had Rhapsody been kept from growing up with the rest of them?

Had someone wanted to separate the sisters? To upset her parents? For no significant reason at all? The more Melody thought on it, the more she suspected something truly sinister. Someone had taken Rhapsody away from them and now that they had her back, Mel was afraid that this person would come back. Perhaps this same person was responsible for their parents’ accident.

The more she thought about it, the more Melody was certain that someone had broken up their family. That they had done it on purpose.

The city lights out the window glowed the reassuring glow of civilization, but for the first time in her life, Melody Nocturne thought that maybe they hid something menacing. The dark room was lit only by those lights.

Still, she could not sleep.

– The End –

This story does not necessarily represent the authors’ point of view about anything. It is simply a work of fiction . The characters herein portrayed are invented and do not resemble reality to the best of the authors’ knowledge. This account is entirely fictitious . Any similarities to other persons, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.

This story is written for the sane amusement of adult readers. It does not intend harm and does not promote violence of any kind, including spanking. No offence is meant to any group, ethnicity or individuals.

The authors do not necessarily endorse the non-consensual disciplinary spanking of actual children and / or teenagers.

Copyright © 2004 Haley Brimley , Lawrence Kinden . Contact for information and / or feedback.