 
~ Prologue. ~

"Do you really love me?" she asks, her heart pounding in her ears from the excitement of Adam's lips against her temple. He nestles his head against her shoulder, his raven colored hair brushes against the soft skin of Melody's neck.

His lips are a few inches from her ear; they slowly part as he speaks, "Yes."

Goosebumps prickle across the back of her neck while the room begins to spin, fading away into a haze of white, as the icy wind pulls her from the steam filled dream.

Chapter one

Melody's eyes slowly open as she sits up in her tangled sheets, arms shaking under her weight. The soft, white cotton sheets cling to her skin from the sweat dripping off of her. She blinks, the morning sun blinding her for a few short moments while she reflects on her sultry dream. Last night's dream was just one of the many frequent dreams about Adam that have been gracing her sleeping mind for the past four months; like clockwork Adam calls to her each time her head hits the pillow. At first, she considered these dreams just another hormone driven fantasy from being away from her boyfriend, Sam, for the span of the last four months, but once she realized that these dreams were taking control of her life, she forced herself to stop.

They are persistent little buggers, though, stealing her subconscious from her when she is at her weakest and has no other choice but to witness these hauntingly beautiful dreams. Melody drops her head back on the soft feather pillow, shutting her eyes briefly; Adam's face haunts the inside of her eyelids. Every striking detail of his tanned face is in front of her, his bright azure eyes ready to take her away when she asks. She grunts, trying to push the image away before it can take hold of her again. Melody's alarm screeches from the wooden night stand next to her bed, reminding her of her coffee date with Sam. She throws her feet over the side of her bed, her body mourning the loss of warm sheets which had been so lovingly wrapped around her, as her feet hit the floor before she makes her way across her brightly colored bedroom.

She plops herself down on the wire chair in front of her vanity, pushing the fluffy black pillow around under her butt, assessing her face in the mirror in front of her, before attacking her thick red hair. Her fingers grasp the wooden of hairbrush before she pulls it through her hair, trying to think of topics to speak of with Sam; it's been so long since she's last seen him.

Melody has been in deep, sappy love with Sam for two years now; she doesn't just say it, but believes it with all her might. She sits her brush down, picking up the silver frame from her vanity. She stares at it a moment, her flat iron warming on the table next to her. A sad, sweet folk song reverberates through her pink speakers as she looks over at the shiny silver frame that holds a photograph of her and Sam. She looks over the image of her standing next to Sam.

His index finger is gently playing with the ends of her thick, red hair. She comes up to Sam's shoulder, which is short, and isn't the skinniest, but Sam tells her she's perfect.

She smiles, Chester, Sam's long-time best friend, had taken this picture the night Sam played solo at a coffee shop across town that was having an open mike night for local artists.

Sam sat on the wooden barstool, his arms comfortably draped over his tan colored guitar while Melody sat awkwardly next to the stage, watching her new boyfriend as he sang his heart out in front of her.

She watched him delicately pluck away at his guitar strings, his fingers quietly move from one string to the next, as to not disrupt the sweet conversation that they were having with the audience.

She envied him. He was so calm, so comfortable, upon the stage.

He sang a slow love song to the coffee buzzed crowed, but the words had no real effect on them. Instead, the melody rang from the brass strings of the guitar and floated their way over to Melody like a soft, unexpected summer breeze.

His leafy green eyes met hers for a brief moment.

And suddenly the bustling coffee shop began to slow until it came to a complete stop. The sound of coffee being ground, people laughing, and the slow ticking of someone typing on their laptop in the far corner of the room, it all turned into a soft haze around the two of them.

Something inside of her sang back the soft, sweet melody to Sam.

Melody pushes her hair behind her ear, blushing at that tender yet simple memory from two years ago, when they had just started to date. Though Chester has never said it to her face, he approves of the relationship between Sam and her. Melody gently sets the picture frame down, picking up the now hot iron and running it through her hair.

Chapter Two

The bus tires bounce as they drive over a pothole. His fingers cling tightly to the chain attached to the ruby red heart pendant before it falls from his hands.

"Sam, Sam, Sam... never pictured you for a softy, I'm disappointed." Chester says.

Chester is the drummer, also known as a world class lady killer and Sam's best friend. Sam hurls his paperback mystery novel at Chester's face.

"Says the guy who girls throw eggs at." Sam retorts.

Chester shrugs, flopping down in the seat next to him. "Least I ain't whipped!"

Sam smiles, shaking his head; he's gotten surprisingly used to Chester's jabs along with the smell of socks and Doritos.

"So how much longer until we get back in town?" Sam asks, trying to hide the eagerness in his voice.

Chester's shoulders lazily rise and fall as he thumbs through the creased ink pages of the novel. "Tomorrow morning?"

Sam's skin tingles with pure excitement; he's missed her so much. He had felt so bad for even thinking about taking this trip because Melody had cried the moment before he jumped onto the bus. It broke his heart to see her cry, so much so that he almost pulled his bag from the bus and called the whole thing off, but she wouldn't let him. His lips twitch into a subtle smile, thinking about how she has always been there for him. When he and his parents had their fall out a few years back, she was the only one that could save him from falling into the dark abyss of self-loathing, and she continues to do it every day.

That's not to say that Melody doesn't have her own baggage; she's deathly afraid of women her own age. Sam is one of the only people that knows of this. She had explained her anxiety to him when they had only been going out for a month or so, after his first solo performance. That was the night Sam fell in love with her.

The icy air of the fall of Wisconsin had chilled Melody so cold that her bottom teeth were hitting her upper ones, and she was shaking so bad Sam couldn't tell if she was just cold or having a seizure. He draped his favorite leather jacket around her shoulders, his hands lingering on her shoulder for a few moments longer than he needed before he pulled them back and clung to his own arms. They walk past a group of party hopping girls, even though there wasn't anywhere to "party" other than coffee shops and lodges. Their glossy eyes stared down on Melody, glaring at her for no real reason as they passed. Melody's beautiful blue eyes stared at the frosted pavement as though it was the most interesting thing she has ever seen. Once the group had passed she looked up at Sam, her cheeks red from both the cold and embarrassment.

"I guess this is one way for me to tell you of my life long struggle with girls," she said, "They hate me. I don't know what I ever did to piss my own gender off, but they hate me."

The two of them stopped at an intersection, the little red hand across the street commanding them to stay off the road. Sam looked down at her, tugging on the sleeves of his shirt to warm himself, and to distract himself from how close she was standing.

"Their loss." he said, his voice turning into vapors in front of his face.

Melody's perfectly round eyes stared up at him; they bounced from his lips to his eyes as she threw her weight from one foot to the other.

To this day Sam doesn't know what got in to him at that moment; maybe it was the emotional high he gets when he sings or maybe the coffee, or maybe just Melody's presence. He took a step closer to her, gapping the distance between them, the smell of her perfume tickled his noise and reminded him of the earth after rain. Sam licked his lips, taking in the details of how her copper hair fell over his leather jacket like the strings of his guitar stretch across its neck.

"Sam..." Melody whispered as she nervously watched him get closer.

He gently held his lips a few centimeters away from hers, breathing in the smell of coffee that floated from her mouth like smoke, before he lightly kissed her, and to his surprise, she kissed him back.

Chester throws the paperback book back into Sam's lap, snapping him back to reality and away from the part of his brain that stores his favorite memories.

"So you got any big 'romantic' plans for you and Melody when you get back?" Chester teases.

Sam smirks and runs his callused finger tip around the grooves in the perimeter of the heart pendent, silently reading to himself the words, "I love you most. Sam&Melody." he had engraved in it. He looks up at Chester, knowing he doesn't care about Sam's love life, even in high school Sam was the emotional romantic while Chester was the heart breaking quarterback.

"No, I'm not going to give you something to tease me about." Sam says as he tucks the heart pendant back into its white box.

Chester rolls his eyes, scuffing Sam's hair before standing. "You're my brother! You know I wouldn't do that." He winks as he treks down to the bathroom.

Chester isn't Sam's real brother, but he might as well be with how much he knows about Sam. He has saved Sam from every piece of crap people have thrown at him since their junior year of high school; plucking Sam and his guitar out of dumpsters and closets has never been an uncommon situation. Sam rarely fights, especially when it comes to himself; it hadn't been until Melody came along that he had ever felt protective of anything.

Chapter Three

Melody's legs go wobbly with nerves as her feet pound down the cement staircase of her apartment. Even though she is the one that lives right next door to the pun-fully named café "Drink it Black", which is nestled in between her red brick apartment and a book store called The Book Mark, where she works, she's the one ten minutes late.

The cold Wisconsin air whips around her as she checks her thick red hair one last time before venturing into the vinyl record covered walls of the café. The smell of coffee and cupcakes fall on her like a warm blanket, making Melody de-thaw some, so she shrugs her light brown leather jacket off her shoulders as she makes her way to where Sam sits nestled in the far corner of the room with his nose in another one of his thick mystery novels.

She stops for a moment, standing behind a wooden bookshelf as she looks at Sam, who is still engrossed by his book. Her feet tingle inside her black and white Converse as she watches him, taking in his diamond shaped face and ash brown hair. He chews on his bottom lip, his finger already under the worn page, ready to turn it to see if the murderer really is the butler, and if so the book would be totally cliché and he would tell her not to read it. Melody leans away from the shelf for a moment, taking a few deep breaths before spinning on her heels and walking to Sam's table, some new indie band starting to pound through the speakers; she can feel the beat in her chest.

"You look like a truck hit you!" Sam jokes as Melody sits down across from him in one of the multicolored, oversized, arm chairs at the coffee shop.

The smell of strong coffee and ink float over the black and white checkered tiles of the round table to fill Melody's nose. Sam sits his book aside, leaning over the table to kiss her; nothing spectacular but safe and familiar. She forces a smile, the feeling that she's been dishonest to him rolls in her stomach, but she pushes it down just enough to keep it from showing on her face.

She hopes.

"I just didn't get much sleep last night." Melody says as she looks away from him, fiddling with the tattered hem of her favorite Beatles t-shirt; just the feeling of his eyes on her make her want to cry.

Sam's lush, green eyes chase her face; his smile vanishing away as he tenderly picks her chin up with his index finger. "Melody is there something wrong?"

She chews on her bottom lip, the words want to jump up from her lungs and climb its way through her trachea before making their escape through her larynx, letting everyone in this quaint coffee shop know that when it comes to this relationship, she's the one that can't stay faithful.

"No, just tired." She says, and it isn't really a lie considering she's been doing more dreaming than sleeping.

Sam smiles and locks his fingers with her from across the table, squeezing her hand tight, feeling that at any moment Melody could float away from him.

"It feels like it's been forever since I've talked with you, what's new?" his soft lips speak, but she can't hear him over her subconscious, which is screaming inside of her head.

"Tell him! Tell him now or else I'll make you feel like hell!" It screams.

Melody brushes her inner voice away, thinking that the best thing to do was to be quiet and not hurt Sam.

"Nothing really, just the same-o-same-o." she forces the words past her lips before flashing a quick nonchalant smile, building a thicker facade on the front of her face as her innards shake from guilt.

Sam smiles, the smile he has when something big happens. Melody's heart slows, bringing the blood in her veins back to its relaxed pace; Sam's completely oblivious to the way her eyes have suddenly become dilated and her skin twitches every time he asks her what she's been doing while he was gone.

He leans forward, looking in her sapphire blue eyes as his flicker back and forth with excitement. "Well, I got an audition with a record label this week."

Sam loves his guitar almost as much as he loves Melody; his dream of making it big has rubbed off on her after all these years. A wide, teeth-y, smile spreads across her face. "That's amazing! Oh my gosh, this could be it for you!" she exclaims.

His brown hair swishes back and forth as his head nods with exhilaration; his cheek muscles burning from his spacious smile. "That's what I hope." he takes her hand, hypnotically rubbing circles on it with his thumb, "I've missed you."

She blushes, watching his green eyes go from excitement to a calm yet joyful state as they bounce around her face. Sam holds up an index finger, Melody's eyes stare at the calluses on its tip, as he pulls a small box out of his coat pocket. He gently places it in her palm as he bites the inside of his cheek. It's a little white box with silky red ribbon wrapped around it into a bow. Melody looks up at Sam, her eyes in shock. "Oh Sam! You didn't have to get me anything..."

Sam's cheeks redden as he flashes a crooked smile. "It's my pleasure, Melody. Now open it!"

She pulls the ribbon, it makes a soft whooshing noise as it unties and falls at the sides of the box. She slides the finger nail of her thumb underneath the small crease in the back, the hinges making a creaking sound as it opens. Melody reaches into the soft grey fabric that lines the inside of the box, her thumb and index finger plucking out a golden heart with a music note cut into the center while the matching gold chain hangs from it. She pulls it out, the pendent catching the sun light, showing the silver words around the edges of the heart that reads: I love you most. S&C.

Melody looks up; Sam's face is white with angst, his eyes pulsating with questions. He squints, trying to read her expression.

"You don't like it do you? I should have listened to Chester about it being too corny." he utters, his tone disappointed.

"I love it." Melody announces, grinning from ear to ear, "Don't ever take romance advice from Chester." The gesture hit her right in guilt bone, hard.

She leans over the table, quietly kissing him, the taste of coffee and chocolate frosting rub off of Sam's lips on to hers. She pulls away, smiling as she squishes into the arm chair next to Sam, sitting half on him and half on the purple cushion while she sips the rest of his caramel latte.

Sam runs his fingers through her hair as she thinks to herself, "Who am I kidding? I love Sam! I need to stop these dreams tonight."

........................................

Sam and Melody spend the rest of the day together, talking about his music and how horrible a bus full of guys can smell after four months. So when Melody gets home she has no other choice but to flop down, fully dressed, on her unmade bed with exhaustion.

Her heart sinks as she watches the brightly colored walls of her bedroom spin into a white blur. Her stomach jolts as she watches the pictures on her walls get sucked into the white hole that pulls her into its dream world.

"Hey... you're early." Adam greets, peeking his head around the corner of the hall at her.

The white blur has faded away, her vision is clear enough to see the red walls and black and white tiles of Adam's kitchen.

Her skin prickles with goose bumps as she feels Adam's presence come closer and closer to her soul. Her heart pounds with ecstasy as the feeling comes back, not the guilty feeling of being unfaithful to Sam, but the throbbing hunger for Adam's undying attention and affection. The smell of aftershave and sports deodorant fall from Adam's flesh like leaves; leaving small traces of sweet decaying gold and red leaves in the air around him. Melody's heart plays a sad and sweet melody in her head as Adam walks behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist; her thoughts from earlier slip away into a low fog around them.

Sam who?

Adam nestles his chin on her shoulder, his minty breath tickles her ear. "I love you. I really do." Adam whispers before he kisses her; his lips burn as they brand her slender neck with his name.

Melody's eyes flicker shut, mistaking pain for pleasure, as she leans back into him. Her fingers go to reach for the back of Adam's head, but instead they come upon the gold chain around her neck.

Her skin twitches as something inside of her whispers, "Sam."

Adam's burning lips work their way up her cheek and to her temple; they have traveled such a path more times than Melody can fathom.

"Sam."

The name strikes a chord with her tongue as she tries the name out on her own lips, "Sam..."

Adam, lost in his rhythmic breaths and touches, doesn't seem to even account for what she says. But Melody hears herself, hears her voice repeat the name that cuts deep into her soul like a newly sharpened knife.

"Sam." She gasps; her heart plummets into her stomach, tearing out her insides as it drops.

She slips from Adams soft hands, her flesh crying out for one last touch from the tall young man who she has never said no to before. Adam's coal colored irises cautiously look her over, lingering on the slight V cut at the collar of her Beatles t-shirt before letting themselves lock into Melody's eyes.

"Is something wrong?" he asks as his sharp blue eyes twinkle.

Her fingers touch the spot on her neck where Adam had been kissing her, still warm and tingling, before letting her eyes fall down to the heart dangling heavily from the golden chain around her neck.

"I love Sam, but Adam's here and it feels so right." she thinks to herself, her skin pleading with her to get closer to Adam.

Her mind spins. For as long as she can remember she has never been able to tell people what she really thinks, in fear that she might hurt them.

"No." she finally answers.

The corner of Adam's lips curls into half a smile as he slinks his way back over to her, his arm wrap themselves around her waist before he tips her head up to his lips. Her heart quickens, life seems to stop as soon as their lips touch. Adam grips her hair in his fist, pulling her away just enough so he can look her directly in the eye.

"You love me?" he breaths.

Melody nods, her black painted fingernail outline his lips. "Yes, Adam, I love you."

He smirks, dropping his hand from her hair to her waist, playfully nudging her neck with his nose. She locks her fingers in his hair as the room starts to spin, sending her stomach into a whirlwind of emotion as the white blur comes to take her back home.

Melody wakes up in her own bed, shaking and her head throbbing.

"I can't do it, I can't tell either of them about this." she cries, rubs her eyes, shoving them in their sockets, pushing the stress away as she lies back down upon her bed.

The tears break way of her eyelids before running down her freckled cheek and into her hair

Chapter Four

Adam runs his thumb down the strings of his black Yamaha acoustic guitar, thinking back to how his best friend had been the one that could actually play, not him. He sighs; when Melody isn't here things become a bit dull and depressing. Dropping the guitar on the tiled flooring next to the couch, he stands up. He doesn't really know why he has the guitar in the first place, or how he got it, he has always made sure to stay clear of anything that could trigger the memory of his once best friend whom he refuses to remember the name of. It's because of him that Adam is here.

Sure he may have over reacted to the news that his friend had been there the day Adam's mother died, and that he might have been the reason, but it was his friend's own fault for not stopping him.

Adam's socks make a soft patting noise as he walks through the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge for something to eat. He catches his reflection on the stainless steel door. He smiles at himself, he isn't too hard on the eyes with his dark brown hair that makes his already sun kissed skin look darker while it makes his blue eyes even more intense, so he has never been unpopular with girls. Even before the curse he had this magnet attached to his face that sucked in any woman with the slightest hint of flirtation lying under her skin. But Melody is different from all of them. Yes, she's fallen under the spell his gaze casts on her, but she truly enjoys her visits with him. He hopes he doesn't have to treat her the way he has with the rest of the women, but if she ever tries to leave him he will have no choice but to.

Chapter Five

"Is something wrong Melody? You seem... distant." Sam asks, looking at Melody's untouched plate of spaghetti.

She pulls herself from the safe shadows of her most recent dream of Adam. Sam. I'm with Sam, not Adam, she reminds herself.

"Nothing, I just have a lot on my mind lately," she replies, lazily pushing the long noodles across her plate.

Sam knows her well enough to know when not to press her for information and when she needs distraction. He sits up, taking the cold plate of noodles away from where it sits in front of Melody.

"You want to hear what I'm playing for my audition?" he asks

A smile flashes over her face, like sunshine on a flower. "Of course!"

He smiles and walks to the kitchen where the smell of tomatoes and garlic hang heavy in the air. Sam places the plates on the black painted counter top of his kitchen, studying the number of breadcrumbs that have accumulated on the smooth surface of the counter top in the two weeks he's been home. He makes a quick mental note to himself to clean the apartment as soon as possible before walking back into the living room, guitar neck in hand. The lights are still off, but there isn't really a need for them when the artificial light from the street lamps below stream in through the big bay window.

Sam pauses under the arch way that leads from the kitchen to the living room, watching Melody in the beautiful mix of moon and city light as she flips through his song book, occasionally glancing out the window at the small space of visible stars. His palms begin to sweat and he suddenly becomes aware of every movement she makes. He reaches for his camera on the stool next to him, bringing the lens to his eye before zooming up on Melody's face as she watches the rain dance down the windowsill. The camera makes a quick clicking noise as it captures Melody's off guard face. Sam smiles to himself, sitting the camera back on the stool before wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans.

"Nerves! We've been together for two years and I have nerves?" He thinks to himself.

He shakes his head in disbelief, as he slowly makes his way to the beat-in orange couch that she and he had found at some flea market a few months ago. Melody's head turns from the coffee stained notebook in her lap up towards him.

"Aren't you going to play me something?" she asks.

She drops his song book on his knee, the sound of abused paper echoing through the apartment as he lowers himself onto the couch, picking up the tanned guitar against the edge of the coffee table. Melody sprawls out on the opposite side of the couch from him, picking at the frayed stitching around the armrest; her skin tickles from the uninterrupted gaze from Sam.

She playfully shoves her heel into the side of his denim covered thigh. "Stop!"

His cheeks warm as he sits his guitar back down, pulling on her foot instead of playing with the taught strings of his guitar. "I love you." his voice practically sings.

The mischievous smile drops from Melody's face. She has heard him say that a million times before, but this time something inside of her wants to break, bleed and cry. Sam leans over the top of her, his arms on either side of her shoulders. Nothing about the way he looks at her is domineering or filled by fiery passion like it is with Adam, but instead it's over flowing with pure love and admiration. Melody pushes Sam's hair off his forehead, the woodsy scent of his shampoo falls upon her.

"I know... I know..." her voice cracks in time with the slight trembling of her hands against his cheek.

He dips down and kisses her, soft and uncertain, like the first time he had kissed her.
Chapter Six

The hairs on the back of Adam's neck stand on end, like they always do when she arrives. There's something about her today though, something about the way she pulls away at his touch that puts him under the impression that something is wrong.

"Melody," he breathes as he brushes her curly red hair off of her soft freckled cheek, "Why aren't you kissing me back?"

Melody's eyes bounce around his face as she nibbles nervously on her bottom lip. She pulls back, running her fingers from her scalp to tip of her hair.

"I-I can't do this anymore, Adam." she stammers.

He reaches for her chin, pulling her focus back to him. "You don't mean that."

She pulls away, shaking her head as she pulls the golden chain from the inside of her shirt. "Yes I do. These dreams they have to stop, you're just a figment of my imagination for crying out loud! But I feel like this is somehow me being unfaithful to Sam and..."

Adam's heart pounds as bile works its way up his throat, he looks over the heart pendant. "But I'm not just a figment of your imagination." he says.

Melody stands back, taking the heart from Adam's soft hands. "Yes you are. I was just lonely while he was gone, so I made you up to keep me from missing him so much."

Adam grabs the heart pendant again, tugging the chain against the back of Melody's neck; he resists the urge to break it free from her completely.

"S?" his voice croaks.

She nods, her fingers clawing for the heart. "Yes, Sam, my boyfriend whom I just happen to love very much," she blushes, "And he loves me too. Read what he had engraved in the heart."

Adam runs his fingers across the silver letters, the lump growing in his throat begins to block his air way. "No... this..." his eyes moisten as he yanks harder on the chain, his voice dropping to a whisper, "You don't know what you have done."

Melody squeezes her eye lids shut, willing the white tornado to suck her away from this nightmare. She hears Adam let out a heartbreaking scream before the icy wind grips her soul and pulls her back home.

"I'm crazy!" Melody yells as she runs her hand around the back of her neck after awaking from her dream "I mean come on! It was just a dream... but why does it feel like there's a piece missing from me now?"

Her fingers search for the golden chain, something for her to cling to that is real. Her fingers run across the indents of where the chain had been pressing against her skin, but nothing but a few stray hairs and skin are there; her heart pounds when she realizes that the chain is gone. She jumps off of the bed, flipping the lavender sheets back and forth; nothing.

"This is starting to creep me out. I must have left it there... but how is that possible? I mean it was a dream... right?" she asks aloud to herself.

Sam.

She has to talk to Sam about this, all of it, maybe he'll know if she's going crazy or not. She throws on her gray hoodie, shoving her feet into her purple and black running shoes. She doesn't care if she is in her PJs; she needs to talk to him... now.

She runs down the back stairs, not bothering to lock the door behind her, her arms shake as she heaves the barred door open before her feet hit the wet pavement. Icy wind and rain beat down on her as she runs, taking sharp turns, sliding to halts before she runs into lamp posts. Her lungs scream for the jagged air that she's breathing in, but she ignores it; her teeth clinking together each time her feet pound on the pavement. Tears are the only thing keeping her frozen face warm as she jogs up the stairs to his building. She jiggles the lock on the front of the building, bursting into the lobby. The ends of her plaid pajama bottoms slap against the concrete steps with their muddy ends as she jogs up the six flights of stairs to his floor; her shoes make squishing as they hit the carpet, leaving muddy tracks behind her as she runs down the hall way. Her leg muscles burn as she comes to a halt in front of his door, her cold fingers riffling through the pocket of her pajama bottoms where she had thrown her key chain, sighing with relief as she shoves the jagged toothed key into the gold painted handle. She must have made enough noise to wake Sam, because he was slowly coming down the hall from his bedroom when she swings the door open.

He walks, sluggishly, over to her in his boxers, massaging his eyes as they try to get used to the bright light that shines in from the big bay windows. Melody trembles, the adrenalin has left her and the realization of how stupid it was to run five blocks in the pouring rain is finally dawning on her. Sam stands within a few inches from her, stretching his arms above his head.

"Is this when you usually come to feed my fish?" he jokes, always welcome to her random time in visits, but once the light hits her face he stops smiling.

Her face is white except for the few blotches of red from the run, as Sam looks more he notices that the ends of her hair are dripping water all over his wood floor. He goes to pull her in for a hug when he notices the veins in her eyes are panicked and ready to release tears at any moment.

"Wait, why are you crying?" he asks, his voice is tinged with worry.

"I'm still crying?" she thinks to herself as she pushes the tears away.

Sam pulls her tight against his bare chest, running his hands up and down her arms to warm her. She sniffs, pulling away from him, not enough to cease contact but enough to look into his eyes.

"I need to tell you something." she announces, hoping her courage hasn't left her.

He wraps his strong right arm around her side, the floor creaking as he walks her over to the couch.

They sit down on the orange couch. She runs her hand back and forth on its worn-in fabric with the small black swirls embroidered on the arms.

"For starters, I love you," she says.

Sam gives a smile out of the crook of his mouth. She could be on the side of the road, lice running around her scalp and her skin red, cracked and bleeding and he would still look at her like she was the most beautiful thing he has ever seen.

She continues, her heart pounding like it was trying to cut loose of her chest before she can break it, "I don't know what's going on but...I have, um, been having these dreams and in them I'm in love with a guy that's not you." she says, waiting for him to get angry, but he keeps his face open and ready.

He pulls her closer to him, pushing her wet hair away from her face. "It's just a dream. We all have them." he assures her.

Melody shakes her head, pressing her hands against his chest as she pulls back. "But it felt so real, I really had feelings for him and tonight when I fell asleep I dreamt of him again... I showed him the necklace that you gave me then said that you loved me and I love you and..." she touches her neck, "He has the necklace."

Sam shakes his head, looking down at her neck as if maybe she missed it somehow. "That's crazy! Did you check your sheets?"

She nods, sitting back and feeling around every part of her face where Adam had touched her. Sam's face goes pale, even more pale than usual, as he stands up, putting his hands behind his head. "I-I don't know what to say. I'm just kina freaked out right now."

She reaches her hand out, touching the wrinkles in his elbow, trying to coax him back to her. "You don't understand how freaked out I am right now."

He sits back down beside her, running his fingers through his hair. "Did you ever...um... dream sleep with him?" he asks, uncomfortably.

She grabs his chin, pulling it so he's face to face with her. "No. I never let myself go that far," she lets go of his face, dropping her hands in her lap, "But we did, uh, make out? I'm sorry Sam; I don't know what got into me. Whenever he would kiss me I would forget about you and suddenly just want to be with him. I am so sorry."

He touches her cheek with his thumb, feeling the trail where the tears had rolled down her cheek. "You don't have to apologize; it's just some weird thing you know? Like why you? Not that there's a good reason not to pick you... it just confuses me."

She nods, dropping her head on his chest before he sees her cry again. Sam holds her tighter, his breath catching as he leans back against the couch.

"Stay here tonight. It's late and you're upset, so please stay." Sam offers, his face pressed against her shoulder.

Melody nods, pulling her legs up onto the couch, pressing her cheek against Sam's chest. It doesn't take long before both of them drift off to sleep.

Chapter Seven

Melody has gotten used to the spinning and pulling of the dream, but it takes Sam by surprise, making his stomach sick and his head pound. Melody opens her eyes to find herself in Adam's living room. She looks to her left, where Sam leans forward, holding his stomach in pain. She rushes to his side, running her hand up and down his spine.

"It makes you sick the first time. Give it a few seconds you'll be fine." she whispers.

He takes three big breaths of the minty air, his back shaking as he stands up straight. Melody holds a finger to her lips, motioning him to be quiet while she walks over to the kitchen, peeking down the hallway.

"Adam! Are you here?" she calls out.

Something crashes against the floor, making Sam and Melody jump.

"I'm in here!" Adam calls back.

She runs her hand down the blood red wall as she walks to Adam's bedroom, but he meets her in the hall, his back towards Sam. He holds the heart necklace in his left hand, holding it back just enough so she can't take it from him. He looks down at her with those intense blue eyes that are transparent enough to show the burning passion in his soul.

"Do you really love him?" Adam asks as he comes closer to Melody, studying her face as though he can read her mind.

She carefully nods, reaching her shaking hand out for the chain.

He takes his index finger and traces out her lips; he looks at her, staring deep into her indigo eyes until she can feel him taking control.

"Are you sure?" he asks one more time as he lets his finger slide down her neck as he comes in to kiss her.

She can still see Sam out of the corner of her eye, she can still see his eyes plead for her to step away from Adam, but for some reason she doesn't care; she kisses Adam; he pushes her up against the wall and kisses her harder. Sam's heart pounds against his chest, his eyes seeing spots of red before he runs over to them, fists balled at his side with his blood burning through his veins, cursing at himself for letting it get to this point.

He grabs a fist full of Adam's shirt and yanks him off of Melody, flipping Adam around and shoving him against the wall in one swift motion. Sam's fury is making his head pound even harder than when he first arrived here.

"That's my girlfriend! If you ever, ever touch her again, I will come after you!" He screams at Adam at the top of his lungs, shaking him against the wall.

Sam throws Adam to the floor, reaching for Melody's hand before stomping to the door with her. Adam rolls on the floor; a sick smirk on his face as he jumps to his feet. He comes up behind Sam, punching him in the middle of his back. A piercing pain shoots up his spine as Sam lets out a grunt before slumping to the floor. Melody yelps for him since Sam is more focused on swinging around and shoving Adam to the floor. The next thing she knows the two young men are rolling around on the floor, throwing angry punches back and forth at each other, falling into a zone of pure white rage.

Melody lunges forward, getting ready to scream and pull them apart, when suddenly she begins to get dizzy. The checkered tiles zoom up at her before blurring away as her body spreads out on the cool tiles.

"Melody!" shouts both Sam and Adam, the sound of her hitting the floor had pulled them from their fight.

They run over to her, pushing and shoving each other.

"Look what you did you bastard!" Adam yells at Sam.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't laid a hand on her in the first place!" Sam retorts. He picks her up, brushing her hair off of her face. "Melody? Melody can you hear me?"

Melody groans, struggling to open her eyes, pressing the heel of her palm to her head. Sam throws Adam one last pissed glance before walking out the door with her.
Chapter Eight

Melody wakes up, her head throbbing as she moves her feet across the soft dark green sheets of Sam's bed with an icepack pressed against her forehead. Sam saunters back into the room, the springs making a low creaking noise as he sits down next to her.

"How do you feel?" he asks as he switches the ice pack out with a new one; the touch of the ice makes goose bumps rise across the skin on her neck.

She sits up, rubbing her throbbing temples. "My head hurts a little but other than that I'm fine, I guess. How did we get back here?"

Sam takes her fingers from her temples, and massages them with his own. "I walked out of the front door and was back here." Melody looks over at a few of the cuts on his face from the brawl with Adam.

"You... walked out? Whenever I've been there there hasn't been a door..."

He shrugs and looks down at his lap. "Maybe you were too busy to notice it..."

Her stomach tosses around; that was a jab at her. She touches the one over his eye. "You really did get hurt."

He nods, massaging the back of her neck now. "The guy had a big punch on him! He was really pissed that I took you."

Melody drops her gaze from his. "Yeah... he's gotten kind of attached to me. You should have seen his face when I said that I loved someone else."

Sam pulls his hand from her neck, sprawling out next to her, resting his head on her knee. She plays with his hair, studying the mix of light brown and gold that isn't noticeable unless you look carefully for it. She gently kisses the bruise on his cheek.

"So, this is real?" she asks.

Sam licks his lips; his eyes flicker up at her. "I guess so."

She nods, awkwardly nibbling on her bottom lip as she tries to take in this new information. "I'm sorry."

He pulls her hands from his hair, lacing them with his own before kissing her knuckles. "I know you are, but you don't have to be." He smiles up at her, tired from the rush of adrenalin and proud that he had claimed what was his. Melody's hands stroke his forehead in such a soothing manner that his eyelids struggle and fight before finally closing. She smiles, a freeing feeling in her chest because she thinks this is all over, but sadly this is only the beginning.

The door clicks behind her as she begins to make her way home, rain still falling against the pavement as she walks back. The sleeves of Sam's jacket, which she had stolen from his closet when she realized that it was still raining, fall over her hands so she balls her fists inside of them as she walks slowly home. She pushes the door to her apartment open, staring down the hallway to her bed room.

Her apartment is dark and empty compared to Sam's, but its home. She drops her keys on the end table as she walks sluggishly over to her bed. The sheets are the same tangled mess she had left them in, and now that Sam had scared Adam off she should have nothing to worry about, but she doesn't feel comfortable in her own bed anymore. She slips into a pair of sweats, pulling a quilt from the closet and rolls up on the couch. She sighs in her sleep, dreaming of nothing other than Sam, relieved that Adam has no role in this dream.

...............................................

She runs through a park with Sam, happy and laughing, when she notices that things are beginning to blur and the trees disappear. She stares down at her feet; the dirt ground turns into black and white boxes. Frightened, she looks up around her. Red paint smears around her where there once had been trees. Adam walks up to her, one arm wrapped in a sling, the other ready to reach for her. Melody stays her distance, watching his moves and his eyes as he veers closer to her. Adam holds his free hand out, letting the heart pendant dangle from the chain wrapped around his fingers. She smiles and reaches out for it, fingers nearly grasping the golden chain before he pulls it back, holding a finger to his lips. He slides behind her, brushing the hair off of her neck before draping the cold chain around her, locking it at the back of her neck. She watches the heart sway on her chest, almost not feeling the hot breath on the skin of her shoulders. She slides from him; getting ready to make a run for it. He gives her a hurt look, taking two steps towards her.

"What? Oh, this can't be about that 'Sam' dick, can it?" he sneers.

Melody stares him down, no one talks about Sam that way; she has defended him since the day she met him. "He is not a dick! At least he's real!"

Adam smiles, lopsided and off putting, as he lets his head fall to the side. His eyes bouncing around her, even though she is dressed in her sweat pants and Sam's too-big-for-her jacket, she feels naked.

"You don't think I'm real?" he asks once his eyes have made their way back to hers.

She swallows, nerves prickling the skin around her neck; the smooth, seductiveness of his voice has always done that to her.

"You're not. This is all just a dream." she says through gritted teeth.

He stretches his leg out, taking a wide leap forward until he is only inches from her face.
Chapter Nine

Adam nurses his bloody nose in the bathroom mirror, tossing the bloody tissue in the trash. He hadn't recognized the name until he had seen Sam for himself. That was him, he was the reason Adam had been cursed so many years ago. Adam coughs up more blood into the sink. Sam has gotten better at fighting since their last brawl.

"So he's going to ruin things for me again isn't he?" he says to his reflection. His lips curl up into a smirk, "I guess this means revenge will be an option for me."

Slipping back into his revenge seeking self isn't hard him, it's like an old, cotton t-shirt. He walks down the narrow hallway, following the beam of light shining out from under a black door at the end of the hall. Adam pushes the door open; his blood runs hot with pride as he looks across the room.

Polished glass spheres stand in rows from one side of the room to the other, each filled with a young woman, their ages ranging from seventeen to thirty. They stand at his presence, hoping that this is the day that he will finally let them go, but unfortunately for them he hasn't come with freedom. Adam walks through the rows of glass cases, looking at each heart-rate monitor next to their case, noticing the quickening pulses as he passes by. He lingers next to one case.

A tall, tanned young woman named Chloe sits on the floor, her legs pulled under herself as she brushes her long black hair with her fingers.

"Is there something you need, Adam?" her voice like a sweet, familiar song to his ears asks.

He scratches the back of his neck; Chloe was the first girl, the one he stupidly thought would cure him quickly. He can smell his skin oozing with the minty clean pheromones that have drawn in so many women, but it has always been stronger when he is around Chloe.

"I think she's the one that can fix this." his voice comes out almost as a whisper, which surprises him.

Chloe nods, standing to face him through the glass; she had truly loved Adam at one point in time, back when they were younger. "So you will have no need for us then?" she asks.

Adam shrugs, using his finger to scroll through her vitals on screen in front of him. "She might be a little bit harder to persuade than you guys. She has a boyfriend."

Chloe swallows back some sort of emotion that builds up in her throat whenever he's around. "That's never stopped you before."

His blue eyes burn holes into her, making her fidget back and forth. Chloe snorts; its funny how something she used to love about him is something she wishes she had never seen.

"No. But this boyfriend just happens to be an old friend of mine; he's the reason why I'm cursed in the first place." Adam says as he slowly walks out of the room, flicking a light switch next to the door that drops red drapes over the curtains.

He watches them slowly slip over the glass cases, keeping eye contact with Chloe's brown and gold eyes before the red silk obscures his view. He has always loved her, but the reason he was cursed was because he didn't know what love was. He and Chloe had been just fifteen at the time.

Adam sits down on his leather couch, nibbling on his swollen lip as he thinks more upon Chloe.

When the curse fell upon him her dreams were the first ones he lived in. She welcomed him with open arms, crying and saying that she was worried when she heard about the fight between Sam and him. He told her that he was a cursed man, and that he would be forever bound to dreams and heart break until he could figure out what love really was. Chloe had gripped his face, holding it a few inches from hers.

"Jet, I love you." she sobbed.

But nothing happened. No burden was lifted from his shoulders; no magic filled the room and made it all go away.

"You don't love me, or else this all would be over." he told her. Chloe ran off sobbing.

Adam dropped into depression, haunting Chloe's dreams, filling her with emptiness and pain.

One night, she refused to come to him. So he slipped into another one of her dreams, grabbing onto her subconscious and locking it away in his first glass sphere. He heard on the news that she had slipped into a coma, and has been that way for almost eight years now.

Ever since then whenever one of the girls try to leave him he traps them here, either grabbing them by their subconscious, or physically going out and hunting them down. They are all still under his spell, even after they realize who he really is, so it usually isn't much of a struggle to get them to come back with him.

Except for Chloe.

But then again, he never had to flicker his azure eyes to get her to be with him, she has always come to him, at least she did until he snapped.
Chapter Ten

Melody screams, waking herself up. Her heart beats violently inside of her chest as she looks up at her clock, her vision pulsating with her heart beat.

7:19 am.

She sighs, trying to calm her boiling blood.

"Sam should be up right now getting ready for his audition, I'll call him." she thinks to herself

She reaches her arm out to the coffee table, her fingers frantically scratching at the table until the cell phone slides to her.

"Hello?" croaks a very groggy Sam.

"Hey, it's me." Melody says.

Sam perks up at the sound of her voice, pressing his lips closer to the phone. "Hey, I was worried when I woke up and you weren't there. Is everything ok?"

"Oh, sorry I let myself out." She can just picture how saddened he must have looked when he noticed she was missing; something inside of her drops to her stomach.

"It's ok. Did you dream about him again?" he asks.

"Um, kind of..." Melody replies.

Sam gives a long pause before answering, "What happened?"

"Well he gave me my necklace back."

"Ok, that's good. Anything else?"

"Well, he tried to make out with me, but I got away before he could."

"The guy just won't give it up will he?" Sam laughs.

They awkwardly laugh, trying to fight off some of the tension that's hanging between them. A long, "ding-dong" noise rings throughout the small apartment, startling Melody and causing her to jump. She jogs to the front door, the phone pressed to her ear by her shoulder, listening to Sam tune his guitar on the other end as she pulls the door open.

"Hello, Melody." Adam greats.

She drops the phone; it makes a clattering noise as it hits the vinyl flooring. Adam stands in her door way, in flesh and blood with an excited grin smeared across his face.

"Hey! Melody! Are you there?" the phone yells from down by her feet.

Melody's mouth hangs on its hinges as her mind scrambles on what to do. "Adam? But how...?"

Sam shouts through the phone again, "Melody, stay where you are... I'm coming!" The phone makes a clicking noise as Sam hangs up.

"So... I'm real!" Adam announces, holding his arms out, his face beaming with excitement.

She steps away from the door frame, shaking her head in disbelief that he is standing on her door mat. "How did you find me?"

He smiles, coming in for a kiss like it's the appropriate time to send her in to another dizzying array of goose bumps. The minty smell of Adam's breath barely reaches her nose before Sam comes running down the hall to her apartment.

He grabs the back of Adam's shirt, flinging him out the door frame before he can come completely into Melody's apartment,

"What did I tell you? You touch her, I hurt you!" Sam shouts, his pulse racing and temples throbbing.

Adam puts his hands up, backing away from the apartment, winking at Melody one last time before spinning on his heels and walking towards the stairs, acting like it's just any other day. Sam slams the front door, knocking the picture that he had taken for her off its nail; it smashes against the floor into a pile of glass and wood. His hand trembles and sweats as he reaches out for her, but Melody has already made her way into his arms.

Sam breathes in; his nose nestled in her hair. "Stay with me, please. I don't think you would be safe here." he begs.

She nods, pulling him down the hall with her; she empties out her closet into a duffle bag. Sam throws it over his shoulder and walks her out to his orange Station Wagon as Melody fumbles for his fingers. "So are you just going to drop me off at your place?" She asks once she finds his fingers.

Sam looks at her, a look of shock painted across his face. "No! I can't leave you alone. You're coming with me." He leans down, tilting her chin up to kiss her before opening the orange passenger door for her.
Chapter Eleven

They walk through the big, tinted glass doors into a modern styled waiting room, sleek metals and marble tables and leather chairs that look anything but comfortable. The recording studio is beyond massive, with its floor to ceiling windows, marble fire place and numerous framed records hanging from the walls; everything screams rock star. Sunlight bounces off of the perfectly clean windows; dazzling both Sam and Melody to the core. The smell of pleather and nerves hangs in the room, hovering in a thick mist above tense rock star wanna-be's who glance up at Sam and Melody as they make their way to the receptionist's desk.

The young, blond woman behind the desk, barely looking up at Sam as she speaks to him, her French-tipped fingers click the keys of her computer with perfect precision. "Down the hall, second door on the left, they're waiting for you."

Melody studies Sam's profile as he stares down the hall towards the audition room, gripping the wooden neck of his guitar like it can save him from the nerves that are eating away at his stomach. He takes two steps forward before realizing Melody isn't following, he cranes his neck around to look at her.

"Do you really think I can do this without you?" He says, half laughing with nerves.

The receptionist snorts, making some snide remark under her breath as Melody jogs up to Sam's side. He hangs on to the neck of his guitar in his right hand, but it was Melody's hand that he held the as the most fragile object at the moment.

Sam sits down in the soundproof audition room with Melody to his right, smiling with the confidence that he needs so desperately. The young talent scout comes into the room, sipping his coffee. He extends his free hand to Melody. "Good morning, you must be Sam. What are you going to play for me?"

She laughs, pointing to Sam. "Trust me, me singing is the last thing you want to hear. I'm Melody, Sam's girlfriend."

The talent scout is a skinny, short man, maybe a few inches taller than Melody, which isn't tall, and couldn't be a day over twenty. His round face reddens from embarrassment as he looks over at Sam.

"I'm so sorry; I saw Sam on the file name and thought it was short for Samantha or something." It is blatantly obvious that he is new.

Sam smiles, pulling his guitar into his lap. "Can I play now?"

The talent agent nods and pulls out his recorder.

Sam strums his guitar softly, before letting his callused fingers pluck the D and G strings in a rocking motion as he begins to sing his slow, heartfelt words. After Sam lets his guitar ring out into a dull hum, he sits back. The young talent agent smiles ear to ear as he reaches for Sam's hand.

"That was beautiful! Let me talk with rest of the team and I'll get back to you!" he says.

Sam smiles, grateful for the talent scouts time, but the words have almost come to mean nothing to him. He thanks the nervous young man one more time before walking with Melody back to his car.

Sam sits in the driver's seat of his orange Station Wagon in silence, neither one of them know what to say. Melody stares down at her feet at a brown stain by her right shoe that still smells of espresso. Sam has never been the biggest fan of cleaning things, for all she knows that espresso stain has been there for the past month or so.

She tentatively looks him over; she thought the audition had gone well. She hasn't seen the crushed side of Sam in such a long time; she doesn't know what to do.

"That's exactly what the last label said." Sam whispers as he leans his forehead against the steering wheel, his hair hiding his face.

Melody runs her fingers up and down his spine, the way she used to when his parents would visit. Sam leans back into the headrest, his head falling over to look at Melody, his hand reaching out and tucking the few loose ends of her hair behind her ear. Sam's long fingers lingering on the soft patch of skin on the crook of her neck where her shoulder and collar connect.

"I love you." he whispers

She blushes; no matter how many times they say it or how much they show it, it still feels like the first time. Sam's lips lift into a smirk, his heart fluttering at the sight of her rose colored cheeks,

"Who knows, this could be it. He may have actually liked my music." He says in a breath, shrugging his broad shoulders.

Sam reluctantly slides his fingers from Melody's shoulder before riffling through his black leather jacket for his keys. He pops the key into the ignition, jiggling it a few times before the car coughs and starts up.

They drive down to his apartment, Sam's hand holding hers, brushing his fingers back and forth in her hand, his calluses tickling the inside of her palm.

Chapter Twelve

After hauling a good portion of Melody's belongings into Sam's apartment, he treats her to gooey, greasy, pepperoni goodness: pizza.

Melody slides into the sticky diner booth, the smell of grease floating around the air, as she pulls Sam down next to her.

"We need to talk about Adam." Melody says, a bit regretful.

Sam orders a pepperoni pizza and a pitcher of Coke before turning his attention to Melody. "Ok, well I think he's a dick and I would seriously like to bash his face in."

She shakes her head. Sam's never been one to harbor such anger towards a person.

"That won't solve anything, Sam." she admits.

His shoulders rise and fall as he delicately holds Melody's hand upon the crumb covered table. "No, but I might feel better...I have to go to work tomorrow."

Melody raises her eye brow; Sam loves to randomly state things that are obvious. "Yes, so do I. What's your point?"

He rubs the back of his neck with his free hand, glancing down at her. "Yeah, um whatever you do don't be alone. Ok? Stay where people can see you."

She nods, taking a quick sip of her Coke before diving into the pizza, the grease glistens on top of each pepperoni slice.

........................................

They arrive at Sam's place as the moon slides past the horizon, sending the sun to slumber. Melody flops herself down on his bed, flipping through the channels on the small TV that sits atop his thrift store dresser as Sam cleans out his cameras for work. For some reason, even though he can be a complete pig when it comes to keeping his apartment clean his room has always had a sort of woodsy smell to it, probably the polish that he religiously applies to his guitar.

Melody snatches up one of his auburn leather bound portfolios from the floor next to his bed, flipping through the glossy pages. Sam only gives her a quick glance before wiping off his zoom lens. Melody smiles at a high resolution picture of a little girl jumping on a trampoline in her yellow sundress.

Sam leans over her shoulder, bringing with him the smell of glass cleaner, shaking his head. "Not my best work."

"It's better than I could ever do!" Melody laughs, playfully nudging her elbow into his arm.

He gives an insecure smile as she turns the page. The next picture is of her, in black and white, she's looking away from him, smiling out the bay window as the rain rolls its way down the glass until it drops and disappears. She begins to flip the page when the bed squeaks as Sam crawls forward, his fingers reach out and touching the plastic covering the picture.

"Now that's my best work... ever." He proudly admits as he nestles his chin into her shoulder

Melody's cheeks tingle as he sits back, cleaning his cameras.

.................................

Melody is completely sprawled out across the forest green sheets of Sam's bed now, watching mind numbing late night talk shows as Sam leans over his laptop at the head of the bed, trying to finish his column for the news paper, just one of his many odd jobs. He grunts; his fingers slam against the keys on his laptop.

"I can't do this right now." he complains.

He pulls himself up next to her, loosely wrapping his arms around her waist. Melody runs her fingers through the soft mid-length layers of Sam's hair as he slowly falls asleep with his head slumped against her shoulder.

Once he begins to snore, Melody slips out from under his arms, fumbling around for the remote so she can silence the grey haired ex-standup comedian for good. She stands on the tips of her red painted toes, sneaking her way out of his room.

She pulls out a patchwork blanket from his hall closet, spreading it out on the orange couch. Sam and she have agreed to wait until marriage before they actually have sex, which is why she would rather not sleep with him.

She rolls up into a ball, the stress of all the current events are enough to drag her into a deep sleep.

........................................................

Melody doesn't dream of Adam tonight, she has a blood chilling nightmare.

"Adam stop!" she screams as he drags her across the tiled floor by her long red hair.

"You should have stayed with me when you had the chance, Melody." Adam sneers as he throws her up against the glass wall.

Melody's body aches as it sticks to the glass surface surrounding her. Her eyesight is pulsating as she tries to stand to her feet, but her knees buckle and she goes crashing to the glass floor. Her brain feels as though someone has wrapped their fingers around it and squeezed with all of their might.

"Please," she moans, "please don't do this."

Adam glares at her one last time before closing the glass case.

Melody awakens, sweating and shaking as her heart mercilessly throbs inside of her ears. She gets off of the couch, fists clinched and trembling by her sides as she walks down to Sam's room. He's sprawled out on his side, his bare back facing her, head and hair smashed against the green pillowcase as his feet dangle off the end of the bed. She slides into bed behind him, lying as stiff as she can so she won't wake him from his deep sleep.

His back muscles twitch when her shaky breathe glides across his skin. His lips part just slightly as he murmurs her name, softly grunting as he rolls over to face her. She trembles in fear of the nightmare that is still so fresh in her mind; the feeling of the glass as her dream-self pressed her hands against the case still tingles on the skin of her empty palm. Sam's shoulders flex as his neck stretches to kiss her forehead. He doesn't ask any questions, knowing her well enough to not need to ask, he just holds her.

She nestles her head against his chest, her heartbeat becoming less of a rapid pounding and more of a slow beat of a drum. Her eyes grow heavy as she slowly begins to fall asleep to the pattern of Sam's breaths that sweep across her cheek.

The white blur fills Melody's eyelids as the spinning sensation grips her stomach. She is standing in the middle of Adam's apartment. Fear runs down her spine, cutting nerves and paralyzing her.
Chapter Thirteen

"Melody?" Adam calls out, his voice soft and eager, "I thought that you weren't come back."

Melody looks at her surroundings; no doors, even though she could have sworn that there once had been. She clinches her jaw to show him, and herself, that she isn't afraid.

"Don't come near me." she hisses.

Adam holds his hands up, giving her that cocky grin of his. "I won't do anything you don't want me to."

She steps around him, keeping her eyes on him as she shoots quick glances down the hall, praying for a window or something that could let her escape from this possessed dream. Her eyes catch a small glimpse of light flickering in the hall, almost blending with the wall, but it is so quick she isn't certain that she had seen it in the first place. The crisp smell of glass cleaner tickles her nose as she drags her feet across the cold tiles, venturing towards the light. She knows that Adam is following here, not having to look back to know that crisp mint smell that seems to ooze off of his skin whenever he is near.

Her eyes watch the light flow from underneath a red drape hanging over something tall and spherical; her heart begs her to stop and run. Adam smiles, his eyes watch patiently as she grabs a fist full of the silky red fabric. It makes a soft whooshing sound as it slips around the cylinder to reveal a tall glass case, transparent and clean. Her voice stammers as she stagers backwards into Adam's chest, his arms forcefully grab her waist, while he presses his lips to her ear.

"Either you can get in there by yourself, or I can put you in there myself," he whispers, his breath tickling the inside of her ear.

His breath stabs at her skin, making every nerve in her body scream out in pain. She trembles, wiggling her hips and thrusting her arms out, praying to break free. His fingers dig into the skin around her waist, lifting her off of the cool tiles, trying to push her into the show case. She kicks and screams, but his fingers just dig deeper into her trembling flesh. She's weak, she realizes as he clicks shut the small door that fits seamlessly in with the rest of the glass.

She falls to the floor in defeat, screaming with her last ounce strength. The case jerks as Adam wheels it into the living room, setting it across from his couch. The skin of Melody's thighs stick to the glass floor from her sweat; it makes a squeaking sound against the glass as she spins around, looking up at the ceiling.

A small television is built into the top of the sphere's dome shines down on her. She watches in amazement as the screen shows an image of Sam. Melody sits back, her body and mind in such a state of shock she can't handle how crazy this all is. Sam, sweet Sam, who would go to hell and back just for her, face appears on the screen, reflecting the memories she shares with him. Her heart skips a beat as she watches him frantically search for her around his apartment.

Sam pulls on his hair, his eyes bouncing around his living room before he runs out into the hall. He pulls his phone out of his back pocket, checking for any sign of her; he lets out an agonizing cry as he chucks the phone against the concert steps, the phone landing in the pile of dead leave that have begun to decompose against the wet pavement.

Melody reaches her hand out to touch the screen above her, longing to comfort him. She can see Adam watching her, studying her, but she cries anyway. Once she has wiped the warm tears from her cheeks, she looks back up at Sam.

He's now rummaging through her apartment, screaming her name; her heart pangs for him. She watches him all night until Sam has tired himself out, lying down on her bed, looking at the black and white photo that he had taken of her.

Adam stands next to the case, drawing circles with his index finger on the glass. "Why are you crying?" he asks sheepishly.

She thrusts her arms against the glass around her, hoping that it will somehow break the thick glass. "Why wouldn't I cry? I'm being imprisoned!" she shouts at him.

He presses his hand on the glass, his sweaty palm leaving a steamy mark. "That's not why you're crying."

Adam's eyes flicker up at the screens image of Sam for a brief moment before letting his eyes fall back down at her, a lump building up in his throat, "Why him? He doesn't look so 'special'." Adam's voice is tinged with a hint of vinegar.

Melody stands up; the air that surrounds her has grown muggy from her sobs, bringing herself over to face him behind the thin glass, glaring at him. "Because he doesn't lock me in a freaking show case!" she shouts as she slams her palms against the glass, baring her teeth.

He looks over at a screen that shows her heart rate. "I'm sure there is something that I could do that would make you happy. Name it."

"The only person that could make me happy is Sam!" she yells, her nostrils flaring as she glares at him.

Adam shakes his head, his black hair falling across his face. "I'm sorry but I can't do that." He walks away as Melody lets out another scream, banging her fists against the glass, shaking the case. She rolls up on the floor, trembling with emotion as the lights flick off in the apartment and she begins to drift off into sleep.

....................................................

Cool, stale air blows up around Melody through the vents in the floor, waking her up. Adam is sitting in the couch across the room, staring at her as if he is waiting for something. She stands up, her legs wobbling because she's had them curled up against her stomach all night, glaring at him.

"If you think that I'm going to be your personal hooker or something, you're mistaken," she hisses through her teeth.

He walks up to the case, a cocky grin spread across his mouth. "I would never make you do anything you don't want."

He opens the door to let her out, just like you would a dog. Melody stands her ground, adrenalin pumping and readying her to defend herself as he comes in after her. The air around him smells of mint as he brushes against her, his hand worming its way around the back of her neck; she jumps as something pierces into her skin. His hand slides away as he turns around, locking the door behind him before walking down the hall.

She watches him leave, waiting until he is completely out of sight before grimacing in pain and rubbing the back of her neck, her fingers running over the round ball sticking out from the bottom of her skull. She doesn't think twice before sticking her nails between the pea sized ball and the top of her skin, yanking on it like it's a splinter The skin around the piercing begins to bleed, but doesn't give way. She wipes her bloody fingertips on her blue jeans as she crouches to the floor, her knees shaking before she curls herself up into a ball.

Her head begins to pound again; keeping beat with the pain in the back of her neck, as her mind runs to a comfortable place, somewhere safe and warm.

Sam.

"AHHHHH!" she screams, something burns and stings the back of her neck.

She feels around the small metal ball, electricity hums through it, making her fingers tingle. She tries to think of Sam again.

*zap*

She clinches her eyes shut in pain as she tries to regain her breath. He's training her to stop thinking of Sam, like you would train a dog to stop chewing on the sofa. But she doesn't stop. She won't stop. She loves Sam and Adam knows it, which pisses him the hell off.

...............................................

At the end of the day Melody's neck and heart scream with ferocious anguish. Adam walks up to the case, looking her over with pleasure.

"How is my love doing tonight?" he asks, a joyous smile spread across his lips.

The heart monitor next to the glass case beeps, showing her quickening heart beat. "I hate you," she sneers.

He smiles, letting his weight fall to the left. "No you don't, that's just what Sam was making you think. That's why I saved you."

She gawks at him in disbelief. "Saved me? If you wanted the best for me you would have left me with Sam! You don't get how much I love him..." She breaks into tears, curling her fingers into fists at her side as she looks up at him.

Adam's smile falls; there must be something inside of him that knows this is wrong. "But he doesn't love you like I do... All he sees is your face not what's underneath it." His bottom lip trembles as he opens the door to the case, walking away as it swings open.

Melody peeks her head out before letting her toes hit the cold floor. Her heart races as her eyes bounce around the room, red painted walls each place her eyes wonder; why hadn't she noticed the lack of windows and doors one of the many times she's been here? She spots the hall way where she had found the glass case, if she can remember right she had seen a door at the end of the hall.

She tiptoes her way down the hall, swerving down its curves, her feet softly tapping against the tiled floor. At the end of the hall stands a single black door, cracked open to let out just enough light to beckon her towards it; the door creaks as she pushes it open enough to slip through. Blood red curtains hang over tall spheres, just like the one she had spent the night in. Two stand against the wall closest to her, while the rest sit in perfect rows going down to the other side of the room. Melody turns on her heels to study the curtain closest to her, a small light flickers beneath it. Her fingers grasp the soft, red silk, pulling it up so she can see what kind of secrete is hidden under it. There's a glass case, like the one she was in all last night. The only difference between this case and hers is that there's a woman inside of it. She is tall, tanned and tired, with her eyes a sad shade of blue. She looks up from the floor to Melody, her black hair falling to the side of her face.

"So he's letting his new toy out to play?" Her voice is even, and smooth, almost like jazz to Melody's ears.

Melody gives a baffled look as the woman continues, "You don't know yet do you?" the woman sighs, like explaining this to her is eating into her time too much. "Adam likes to steal women and keep them for himself. He's a huge player,"

Melody slinks to the floor, crossing her legs as she gets ready for blackmail information to use against Adam someday. "That doesn't surprise me."

The woman locks her blue and gray eyes on Melody. "That's why we are all here. He sees what he wants, sweet talks you into falling in love with him and when you realize that you don't love him he locks you up in one of his many trophy cases. Then he trains you out of feeling love for the person you truly do love." A tear trickles down the woman's face, her eyes red around the rims, but she quickly brushes it away.

Melody looks around the room, standing to her feet as she studies the many red sheets hanging around the room. "There are more like us?" she asks.

The woman nods, running her fingers through her hair, hiding her crying face. "Most of these cases of are full of them, except for a few, he's still working on their hearts."

Melody runs over to the closest curtain and tugs it down: another girl. She zigzags back and forth between each case, yanking the sheets down; each woman gives a relieved look to find her on the other side of the glass and not Adam. Melody runs back to the woman in the first case.

"What's wrong with him?" she pants.

"He seems to have taken a liking to you more than the others, though. He's told us about you and how much he thinks that you're the one." The woman shrugs, a hint of bitterness at the edge of her voice.

Melody opens her mouth, ready to say she can't be "the one", when Adam bursts into the room; his eyes stare in wonder as the women inside their cases stand up, the air in the room hot with their hatred towards him.

"She's fine, Adam," the woman in front of Melody assures him as she pulls her hair up onto her head, refusing to look at him.

Melody walks over to where he stands in the door frame, her fists clinched at her side. "We need to talk."

Adam nods, motioning her to follow him back to the front of his apartment. Melody's eyes bounce around the living room, the glass case lets out a low hum next to the far corner of the room.

He sits down on the couch with that sad, charming, look painted across his face. "I don't want to keep you in a case, Melody. It hurts me to have you in there, but I'm scared that you would run if I didn't lock you up." Adam admits, his manner has substantially changed from yesterday.

"Why are you keeping them in there? Do you think that you're the only one who disserves love?" Melody asks as she leans forward, ready to slap him.

He looks away from her, being utterly over dramatic and emotional. "No one has ever loved me. They all just run away," he shakes his head, laughing at himself, "Ha, my first girlfriend's dad beat me up with a bat when I kept coming back to her house after she wouldn't return my calls. Then my second ex's new boyfriend came and beat me up with his friends on my date with my third girlfriend. Then I broke up with her; she got mad and came with a gun and shot me in the arm at my mom's funeral." He leans forward, resting his head in his hands.

"But how do we dream of you?" she asks, not wanting to dip too much into his past in fears of her feeling too connected to him.

He sits up, pushing his hair back. "I'm imprisoned here. I did something bad to someone I was close to so I was cursed to stay here until I could learn to love." He thinks about the one he had hurt, she can tell. He continues, "He was my best friend, the person I wronged, but he didn't tell me that he was the one who made my mom slam on the car breaks and--- I was so mad when he told me... all I remember is him screaming at me to stop punching him and I did, but we weren't friends anymore and all I have is hate toward any male." He clinches his jaw and begins to cry on her shoulder.

Somehow Melody finds herself kissing him the next minute; crying, emotional boys have always done that to her.

Adam pulls away, pressing his forehead against hers. "I do love you. I have never lied to you about that and never will," he whispers, his voice slow and emotional.

Melody wraps her arms around his neck, gently resting her head on his shoulder. "I love you," she whispers.

They sit there for hours, just holding each other in their arms and being so nauseatingly cute.

...................................................

The next day Melody leans across the kitchen counter, breathing in the sweet and spicy sauce that is simmering on the stove, Adam gingerly stirs it.

"Can you let them go?" Melody asks.

Adam takes the sauce pan off of the stove and walks around the counter to her, wrapping his arms around Melody. "Yeah, I don't need them."

Adam and Melody spend the rest of the day de-chipping the women so they could leave, well all except Chloe, Adam kept her hidden away from Melody.

Adam numbs the skin on the back of Melody's neck, using a pair of pliers to pull out the metal ball and the electric needle from her flesh.

She winces as the needle slides from her skin; Adam kisses the little hole that remains at the bottom of her skull. Melody had explained to Adam that she won't leave, that she loves him.

"Sam doesn't need me. He probably already has a new girlfriend by now anyways." she thinks to herself. But she is so wrong.
Chapter Fourteen

Sam got called back to sing for the talent agency again, but he just can't bring himself to tap into the emotions he needs. It isn't that he doesn't have enough songs to sing, he has folders full of scribbled papers with his chicken scratch hand writing, it's that all of them are about Melody. His voice croaks and his fingers slip on the string.

"I can't do this; I should be out there looking for her. Thank you for your time," Sam says as he pushes the sound proofed door open, walking out of the audition room.

The strings of his guitar ring out as he throws it in the back of the Station Wagon, smashing up against the seat. He drops himself into the driver's seat, slamming his hands against the steering wheel and shouting at the window in front of him until his vision becomes blurred.

Sam is all too familiar with these feelings of emptiness and bitterness; the world has no meaning, as do his songs now. But he hasn't felt this way since before he met Melody. The inside of his palms throb as the slip down the leather curves of his steering wheel. He leans his head on the wheel, the skin on his forehead wrinkles against it as he stares at the handle of the black glove box.

The glove box is stuffed full of maps, fast food napkins, and extra straws, preventing the door from closing properly. Sam's lips twitch into a smile, Melody used to chew him out for his lack of organization skills. His fingers reach out for the plastic handle, pulling open the glove box, its contents spill out on the passenger seat, including the little velvet box.

Sam stares at the box, the car around him slips out of view, the only things he is aware of is his deep, heavy, breaths, and the two by three inch dark blue velvet box. His breath catches in his sore throat as he delicately grips the box in his fist, bringing it up to his face before flipping it open with his thumb nail. His index finger runs across the top of the diamond that is being held tight to the silver band, small intercut vines cling around the base of the diamond.

His eyes mist over; he was going to give this to her soon, really soon, but now he fears he will never see her again.

........................................

Sam's friends become worried about him. They have finally realized that he was never being "corny", he really, truly, loved her. Sam refuses to eat, so his friends have to force feed him. After Chester gets Sam to eat a tortilla chip with a dab of salsa on the tip, he decides to do his duties as his best friend, and tell Sam that it is time to get over her.

"Sam, I've known you since our junior year of high school. I've seen the girls just come and go and eat up all that romantic crap you shovel their way, Melody's just another one of your long list of heartbroken girls. Trust me, you'll get over it," Chester says.

Sam rubs his hands across his stubbled cheek before fumbling around in his pocket, pulling the little blue velvet box out. "Not one that I'll love like this," Sam says, his voice almost a whisper as his fingers shake around the box.

Chester gawks down at the box, snatching it from Sam's hand, shaking his head. "You can't be serious Sam..."

Sam laughs, seizing the box back from Chester. "Yes. I am very serious. Now just leave me alone. I need to figure out how to get her back."

Chester shakes his head, grabbing Sam's song book off the coffee table. "Obviously this is gonna take a lot of good music and crappy Sci-Fi movies to pull you out of this one. I'm staying here, I'm going to make sure you don't commit suicide or start writing some weird emo crap about how much pain you're in."

Sam rolls his eyes and pulls his guitar back into his lap.

...............................................

*Crash* Goes something inside of Sam's room, followed by screams of pain. Chester goes running down the hall to Sam's room in the dead of night to find Sam convulsing in his sleep.

"Dude! You were screaming in your sleep!" Chester shouts as he pins Sam's arms to his bed.

Sam sits up, acknowledging the broken frame on the floor next to his bed while fighting back tears. He focuses on the shards of glass that scatter across a black and white photo of Melody and him.

"What is he doing to her?" he asks, his voice low and angry as he speaks.

Chester slams his hand against the light switch, turning it on. "Who is doing what to her?"

Sam swallows back his tears, clinching his fists around the soft army green sheets of his bed, his knuckles going white. "Adam. The guy that took Melody... I want to know what he's doing with her!" He springs from the bed, letting his tears fall out of his eyes as he throws on his jacket, snatching his keys form the dresser and shoving them into his pocket.

Chester chases him down the hall. "Sam! Calm down!" Chester shouts.

Sam ignores him as he throws the front door open, stomping down the hallway before he makes his way down the stairs to the parking garage.

Rain drips onto the concrete floor from the crack on the level above this one, making a steady drip, drip noise throughout the garage. He thrusts the key into the lock of his car, throwing himself into the driver's seat, locking the doors right as Chester reaches the passenger door.

"Sam! Nothing good ever happens when you're upset like this! You know that!" Chester shouts as he bangs on the passenger window and jiggles the door handle.

Sam starts up his car, which surprisingly starts on the first try considering it's a rusted orange bucket on wheels to most people. His tires squeal as he speeds out of the garage and on to the main road. He drives down to his office at the newspaper. The sky is a moody grey and blue, the blackened clouds bleed with the clear rain drops that tap against Sam's windshield. The wheels of his car squeak as he makes a sharp turn into the parking lot, flashing his employ ID when he gets to the gate, before pulling into his rarely used parking space. He doesn't bother to lock his car as he stomps into the building, deciding the elevator is too slow, and jogs up the back stairs.

Sam takes a deep, long breath, jiggling the lock of his infrequently used office before dropping himself down in front of the desktop computer, looking for information on Adam. Something urges him to look at the obituaries from a few years ago.

"I know I've seen his face before," Sam says as he scrolls through the pictures of happy dead people.

Then he sees it: a black and white photo of a little, tan, teenage boy and his dad looking down at a casket. Sam zooms up on the picture, gasping at the depressed face that looks back at him.

"Jet!" he shouts at the computer screen.

Sam reads the article below the picture, memories flooding back, one after the other like someone had opened a box of nostalgia and is randomly show him familiar objects. "We were best friends... but what happened?" Sam says aloud to himself.

He rubs the skin below his neck; his callused finger tips running across the little silver scars that are etched across his skin like someone had clawed at him. Goosebumps make themselves known across his arms, a lump grows in his throat. His eyes begin to tear as he remembers the reason these scars are there:

"You killed my mom!" Jet shouted, his face red.

"I didn't!" a fifteen year old Sam yelped as he struggled to push Jet off of his chest.

Jet's bright blue eyes are a sad grey color as his fists pound away at Sam's jaw. "I thought you were my brother! I trusted you! How could you do this to me?" Jet cried, holding his fist back, assessing the blood that was dripping from Sam's nose and lips.

Sam stared up at him, the nerves in his face screamed and his mouth tasted of copper as his tongue moved reluctantly. "Jet, please. Please stop."

Jet sat back and shook his head. "No, I hate you. Burn in hell for all I care."

Sam struggled to get up as Jet shoved him back down, wrapping his hand around his neck.

"No, no please!" Sam squeaked as Jet dug his nails in to the skin around Sam's collar. Sam gasped for breath, swinging his weak arms around, trying to throw Jet off before he pressed down on his neck. The next thing Sam knew, everything was black.

Sam runs his fingers across his neck. How had he not remembered something like that? He hardly remembers waking up in the hospital, only vaguely remembers his parents' telling him that they were pressing charges on Jet, but he couldn't remember who Jet was. Sam runs his fingers through his hair. "I must have repressed him, something so horrible."

He remembers how they have recently fought, the surprised look on Jet's face when he noticed that he can no longer beat Sam up. His heart swells and contracts as he worries for Melody now that he knows what Jet is capable of. He runs his fingers across his keys, getting ready to hunt Jet down, but holds himself back. How is he going to stop him if he didn't even know where he is? Sam types in both his name and Jet's, after deciding that his address wouldn't come up. An article of the near death fight opens up across Sam's screen:

Revengeful fight almost kills fifteen year old boy

Late Tuesday night Samuel Winters and Jet Kits got in a fight at Ripple Park. We are told that fifteen year old Samuel was involved in the death of young Jet's mother, though he did not kill Mrs. Kits in the pedestrian, car accident. She was already dying before the crash, but it was enough trauma to kill her faint heart. When Samuel came to his friend to confess that he was involved, young Jet became over whelmed with rage, giving Samuel numerous blows to the head and burses all over his body. Samuel passed out from the pain and lack of oxygen due to Jet almost strangling him to death. Jet left Samuel at the top of Ripple Hill until a grounds keeper found him and took him to Trinity Hospital.

"If he had been left up there a little longer we would have completely lost him," Doctor Jackson said.

He says that Samuel will live a normal teenage boy's life, just with a few extra scars. No one knows were Jet is; a search is currently undergoing for him. Samuel remembers nothing of the fight.

Sam lets out a low whisper as he leans back against the grey office chair, "That was over eight years ago." He searches for information on whether or not they ever found him; nothing comes up.

Chapter Fifteen

"I love you," Adam whispers as he holds Melody's hand in his.

Melody blushes, angling her face down in embarrassment. "I love you too." But deep down, she's empty.

Adam showers her with kisses and gifts, but all she feels is empty. He kisses her so sweet and delicate, whispers that he loves her, softly and true, but something isn't right. All Melody wants to do is kiss him and not stop, and sometimes she does, but is usually followed by them fighting at least twice a day. They fight about nothing, yell at the top of their lungs for no reason, but no matter how bad they argue he won't leave her alone. He follows her everywhere; she can't look over her shoulder without seeing him watching her. Sometimes she feels like she is being held captive, and other times she feels like she is the one holding him captive, in her heart.

She still wears the gold chain necklace with the heart on it, because it reminds her of how Adam saved her from Sam's lies. He was protecting her from getting hurt... right? Yes he's protective, but that's what was wrong with Sam, he didn't protect her... he didn't even come here to rescue her! Yes, Adam is way better toward her than Sam ever was.

..........................................................

Sleep refuses to grace Melody with its glorious presence, leaving her to toss and turn in the thin grey sheets while her mind eats away at her.

The door creaks open, letting a beam of light cast a long shadow as Adam comes in the room, deep in the black night like he usually does. He slides into bed next to her, wrapping his arms around her waist as he kisses the back of her neck. Melody rolls over to face him, tears glistening against her cheek.

"Oh what's wrong, beautiful?" Adam asks, brushing the tears off of her cheek.

She pushes his hands away, sitting back so she can face him. "I'm so torn... I know you love me but I keep finding myself thinking about Sam..."

He shakes his head, leaning in to kiss her. "You're just scared and trying to find holes in something that is perfectly wonderful," he says, brushing away her words like they're nothing more than smoke

Melody presses her hands against his chest, keeping him at arm's length. "I know how you feel but I don't know how I feel."

He smirks, dipping his head to kiss her arm. "You hate Sam and you love me."

She rolls her eyes, yanking her arms away from him. "You're doing it again! You're telling me how to feel!"

He brings her hands back to his mouth, disregarding the weight of the conversation they are having. "This is how you feel. You're just confused right now."

She gives a curt "Ha!" before climbing out of bed, tears starting to sting her cheeks again. "Could you just leave me alone for awhile?" she tells him more than asks him.

Adam stands to face her, only an inch or so between the two of them, his perfect eyes flashing. "No."

He flashes his unruly smile. She steps back, something is wrong; she can feel a thick veil being lifted from over her eyes.

"Please! I just need to be alone!" she shouts.

He rubs his thumb across her cheek. "No." his voice remains low and seductive.

Melody's stomach knots up as she pushes his hand from her face. "Just leave. Me. Alone."

The sparkle in Adam's eyes vanish, replaced by something cold as stone, right before he throws a punch to the side of her cheek, sending Melody to the cold tile floor. She lays there, her cheek throbbing as the room spins into a mix of colors around her. He leans over the top of her, dropping his lips onto hers, giving her the most amazing kiss he's ever given.

"I love you," he whispers, dragging his lips over to her ear as he speaks.

The room blackens as the trauma of being struck finally takes hold of her.

............................................................

Sam wakes himself up from another heart wrenching nightmare about Melody, his heart pounding hard in his ears; he can still hear her screaming. His pulse calms as he stairs up at the lightless ceiling of his bedroom, suddenly hearing the extra breaths accompanying his own. Sam rolls his head to his right, his sweaty hair sticking to his cheek. There's something lying next to him, something breathing heavy and trembling. It only takes a few seconds for his eyes to adjust and recognize her.

Sam's breath catches as he looks her over before quickly wrapping Melody in his arms; she does the same to him. A fountain of tears pour from Sam's eyes on to her hair.

"I thought that I-I lost you," he stammers.

Sam gently places kisses on her face, softly brushing Melody's hair from her forehead while his thumb rubs across her other cheek. He pulls his hand away from her face, the sickening feeling of warm blood running down from the cut smears off onto his thumb.

"Did he hit you?" Sam asks, his stomach turning in disbelief.

Melody drops eye contact with him, nodding as she runs her fingers across her bruised cheek. "But he didn't mean to," she smiles as her heart flutters, "he loves me."

Sam sits up, rubbing his face against his palms, Is she blind to what he did to her? I love her... and he hurt her... I'll KILL him. He looks down at where Melody still lays, playing with her lips, her eyes glossed over in some dreamy haze. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

Sam's body feels heavy as he guides Melody down the hall to the bathroom, his skin prickling with a nervous anger that scares him.

Once the florescent lights of the small bathroom are flicked on, Melody stares at her bruised cheek in the mirror.

"He does love me, you know," Melody says, as she gently touches the bruise on her cheek.

Sam gently grips her by the waist, lifting her up on the counter. He pulls a rag from the rack next to the shower, remaining silent while he looks at the cut, occasionally dabbing it with the wet rag. He gently wipes the blood off her cheek, his throat starting to close up as he tries to get the words out.

"Do-do you love him?" he asks.

Melody's eyes stare down at the mess of towels on the bathroom floor, thinking to herself, "Do I? Adam did hit me and left me on the floor, he didn't even care. But he said that he loves me. And those eyes..."

Sam grabs her face, placing both of his trembling hands on either side of her face, his eyes franticly looking her over, almost pleading. "I love you, Melody. Please don't do this. Please," he pleads.

Melody's eyes hold his for the briefest of moments before watching Sam's hand slide from her right cheek, dropping down to lace fingers with her, holding her shaking hands in his. She moves her mouth, trying to say his name but she just croaks, her voice wavering with emotion.

Sam leans forward and kisses her un-bruised cheek, the minty smell of Adam/ Jet still lingers on her skin. Something inside of her breaks as she falls forward on him, her lips trembling as she presses her face against his chest, tears are rolling down her cheeks.

"I know..." she whispers.

Sam's neck bends down so his lips can kiss her forehead, a mixed pool of muddy emotion sticks to his throat. "I need to tell you something about Adam," Sam wraps his arm around her shoulder as he lifts himself up on the counter next to her. "Adam... well that's not his real name. It's..." he starts to say but something bangs on the front door, loud, angry. Sam holds a finger up as he goes to answer it.

He leaves Melody sitting upon the counter, holding a wash cloth to her cheek. His lips are set to sad smile, so grateful to have Melody back to himself but beyond heartbroken that she's hurt. He grabs the door knob, not bothering to check the peephole before opening the door.

His blood chills as he recognizes the face on the other side of the door. Adam, well technically "Jet" to Sam. Sam staggers backwards, ready to run and get to Melody before Adam does. He turns to run for her, to protect her, but she's already jogging down the hall way but before he can make his way back to her. She runs past him, jumping into Adam's open arms. Sam's hands fold into fists at his side as Adam holds Melody tight.

He touches the bump on Melody's face, making an apologetic face before kissing her intensely. Sam stands there, wanting to scream until his lungs explode into a bloody mess as Adam slides his hands up the back of Melody's shirt.

"I... Love... You..." Adam pants in-between kisses.

Sam's temples pulsate, ready to take Adam to the floor; if Melody wasn't in his way, Adam would be sorry he ever came here. Adam presses his lips against Melody's, pulling her out of the door frame and down the hall, away from Sam.

Pounding, wild and erratic pounding, in Sam's chest keeps him grounded to the floor in front of his door. He took her. Adam just took her and she went willingly. How can she do that? Sam runs down the long, carpeted hallway after them, but they are already gone. Sam's legs give way as he catches a glimpse of something red on the floor next to his feet. He drops to his knees, plucking the golden chain from the carpet, running his finger across the engravings, praying, "God please don't let anything happen to her! Bring her back to me, God, please!"

Chapter Sixteen

Adam and Melody lay wrapped in each other's arms on the sticky leather couch, eyes clinched shut, and lips moist. That night Adam did the worst thing he could do to Melody or even Sam. And she didn't even tell Adam to stop.

The next morning, Melody's skin stinks with guilt. She sits up, holding the sheets to the bed they had moved to last night close to her chest.

"What have I done? What have I done to me... and Sam... oh Sam..." she thinks to herself as Adam moans and wakes up beside her.

He snakes his arms around her waist, kissing her bare back as Melody's eyes begin to tear. She slides away from him, her skin squirming at his touch. "You were wrong. I hate you and me," she says, dryly.

His lips leave a hot trail on her neck. "No you don't. You love you and me."

Melody becomes over whelmed with rage; the blood coursing through her veins fuels the burning fire in her stomach. "This is all you wanted from me, isn't it?"

Adam works his way around to the front of her face, his lips slowly making bitter contact with hers; she feels nothing. She stares at the pile of clothing that was thrown upon the floor last night, lifeless and empty.

Adam grabs her chin, bringing her face to face with him. "What is it?" he asks, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.

Melody slides out from under the black sheets, tears sliding down her cheek. "You didn't answer my question so I guess this is all you wanted, right?"

He remains silent, his eyes roaming around her, making her skin tingle and crawl. Melody shoves her feet into her jeans, yanking her t-shirt over her head, refusing to make eye contact with Adam as she stomps out of the room and to the front door.

He runs after her, grabbing her wrist, yanking on her arm. "You can't leave."

She pulls her hand away from him, her fingers reaching out to grasp the silver door knob. "Yes, I can."

Adam's fingers dig into her shoulders as he pulls her back, spinning her around to face him. He raises his fist, his eyes the same cold stone color they had been that one night not so long ago, but tonight there's a crack in the stone, something within him trying to hold him back. He shakes his head, clenching his jaw before sending his fist smashing into her jaw. Melody's feet slip on the tiles, almost crashing to the floor before Adam grabs a fist full of hair, pulling her across floor and over to the glass case, throwing her in it.

"Feel free to watch Sam," Adam sneers.

The door of the glass case makes a horrible screeching sound as he slams it shut. Her mind floats easily off to the subject of Sam.

...................................................

Sam sits over his bible in his bedroom, resting his head in his hands as his shoulders shake. Melody's arms ach to hold him close and tell him how very sorry she is and that he should find someone else that could love him the way that he needs to be loved, with the respect he disserves.

Sam's head jerks up as he jumps from his bed, walking to the front door.

Melody stands up in the glass case; something wrong is going to happen.

"No. Sam!" she screams, even though she knows he can't hear her.

Adam pushes his way into Sam's flat, wringing his hands around Sam's neck.

"SAM!" Melody's voice screeches as her heart picks up pace.

Adam throws Sam up against the wall, yelling something at him that she can't hear.

Melody prays aloud, crying, "Dear God, please, please! Don't let Adam do anything to Sam! PLEASE! I love Sam! I do. Please!"

She paces into the glass floor, her fists tremble at her side. "Adam keeps taking stuff from Sam and me. I do not love Adam. I love Sam. I just hope that he can forgive me," She thinks to herself.

Melody stares at the glass incasing her, becoming more and more enraged with the fact someone is trying to injure Sam. Tears burn down her cheeks as she rams her side into the glass, barely scratching it. Her voice shakes as she screams and prays all in the same breath while she runs into the glass again; this time it shatters into a million broken pieces across the tiled floor. Melody's adrenalin pumps as she lifts herself from the pile of glass, her feet and arms bleed as she bounces on her toes, reaching out for the door handles, pulling it open. A gust of wind, cold and hard, whips around her, tugging at her soul as it takes her back to Sam.

Once her feet come back into view she recognizes the warm carpeting of Sam's living room, her muscles relax just the slightest. Someone is shouting down the hall, breaking her relaxation. She runs through his apartment, pushing each door open as she runs past them, yelling for Sam. Her feet skid to a halt in front of the bathroom door, listening to the shouting voices on the other side.

"I didn't mean to!" Adam shouts.

"Why did you take her from me? You didn't need to bring her into this! Just because you lost someone you loved doesn't mean you have to take someone I love to even the score," Sam cries.

"Yes I do!" *thud*

Melody counts out three thuds before pushing the bathroom door open. The two young men are throwing wild punches at each other, ignoring her presence. Adam pins Sam to the floor, his fist rising and falling as he pounds it against Sam's jaw. Melody grabs a dark green hair brush from the counter, a few of Sam's shaggy hairs are tangled around the teeth and fall out of the brush as she smashes it across the back of Adam's head. His hand goes to his head, nursing the throbbing pain, as Sam pushes himself from the floor, grabbing Melody's arm as he runs out of the apartment.

His feet pound down the cement stairs to the parking garage, pulling Melody along behind him. Sam riffles through the left pocket of his jeans for his keys as the run up to the side of his car. He jiggles the key into the lock; it makes a popping sound right before he and Melody jump in. He locks the doors as Melody slides into the seat.

Sam stares across the dashboard at the grey concrete slab in front of them, refusing to look at Melody; his knuckles go white as he squeezes the steering wheel. He refuses to look at Melody, making her wonder if Adam told him about last night. Sam takes a deep breath and turns the key in the ignition, the car makes a few coughing noises before starting. Melody stares out the passenger window, watching the street names "Times street" and "Rose road" fly by them. Sam pulls the station wagon into the parking lot of a rundown park; its swing set and jungle gym are rusting under the wet piles of red and yellow leaves.

"This is where it happened," Sam says as he kills the engine, staring down the slope of a hill that sits in front of us.

Melody notices a few patches of grass that have managed to break free of the multicolored blanket of fall, along with a rusted bench that sits between the leafless oak trees. She rests her head against the window, cold under her cheek, moving her eyes just enough to look at him.

"Where what happened?" she asks, though she isn't fully paying attention.

Sam runs a hand across his face, his eyes not wanting to look at Melody just yet, but she's the only one that he can tell. "Where Jet and I stopped being friends... well I guess you call him Adam now. This is where he almost killed me," he forces his eyes to flick over to Melody, her body curled against the window only a few feet away from him, though it feels like she is just a small speck in the distance. "I had just told him that I was there the day his mom died; I was what she ran into. I was fine, just a few scrapes and bruises. I didn't kill her, she had a bad heart and the impact killed her. I told him about it right there," he points over at the small pergola, "and that's when he first tried to kill me."

Melody looks at him as if the words he is saying are in some other langue. "Sam, what are you talking about?"

He takes in a quivering breath as he pulls the neck of his white t-shirt down far enough to show the silver scars. They stretch down the side of his neck, like someone had drug needles down his skin. Melody has seen them before, but she hasn't had the nerve to ask where he got them.

Sam laughs, fixing his collar. "We were best friends. I didn't even remember the fight until a couple days ago," he licks his lips, making strenuous eye contact with her, "That's when I realized that he was using you to get back at me."

Melody sits foreword, sprawling her fingers across the dashboard. "I... I don't know what to say..."

Sam nods, looking down at his lap. "He told me about last night. I didn't know if he was just trying to piss me off or if it really did happen last night. Did it?"

Melody squeezes her eyes shut, trying to keep the tears in as she nods.

Sam looks out the window to his left, trying to let it sink in. "And you didn't say no?" he asks, his voice shaking.

Her lips quiver as she nods again. A tear, hot and full of heartbreak, rolls down Sam's cheek; he knows he should be furious, he knows he should be throwing in the towel and walking away with his dignity, but he can't. He knows this isn't like her, and that she is just as scared and confused as he is.

Melody reaches out a hand to comfort him but slowly brings it back, knowing that he doesn't want to be touched by her ever again. Her fingers fumble for the small metal knob that shows that the door is locked, clawing at it to unlock the door. She lets out a frustrated grunt and shakes the door, crying.

Sam's hand grabs her arm, pulling her into a trembling hug. His heart pounds rapidly against his chest as he kisses her forehead. Melody lays her head on his chest, which rises and falls rapidly under her.

"I still love you," Sam whispers.

The words pierce through Melody like a knife, cutting her open until she is bleeding out everything that Jet has ever done to her; completely removing him from her DNA.

She sits up, cupping Sam's face in her hands and kissing him, with pure love, not infatuation.

His cheeks become soaked with tears; Melody's fingers shake as they brush his hair away from his forehead. "I love you, Sam. I never want to leave you again. I can't even begin to say how sorry I am and... I love you... love you..." Melody whispers before pressing her lips against his; she can feel his smile slowly spreading across his mouth.
Chapter Seventeen

A long, black shadow is cast over the two of them. Sam looks up to see Jet leaning against the car window, a metal bat swinging in his right hand. Sam grips Melody, pressing her face into his shirt as he turns the key in the ignition. The car thankfully starts on the first try, with the gas pedal to the floor board it jerks to thirty mile per hour, and then stops. Sam turns the engine over, making a sad clicking noise, but doesn't start.

"No gas," Sam says, his tone apologetic.

He runs his fingers through his hair, grabbing a fistful and giving it a quick tug as he looks in the rearview mirror, Jet is fast approaching, base ball bat ready.

"Run," he says, pushing Melody towards the door.

Melody looks at him like he's gone crazy, digging her nails into his soft cotton shirt. "No!" she cries.

He pushes her away from him, his body already aching from the slight distance. "He just wants his revenge on me. Go, I don't want you to get any more involved in this then Jet has already put you in."

He kisses her upper lip before reaching over and opening the passenger door for her. "Please," he begs, "Go."

Soon as her feet hit the mulched grass she breaks out into a run, away from Jet, away from Sam, while Sam slowly climbs out of the car, casually walking to Jet.

He stops a few yards away from him. "Why did you bring her into this, Jet?" Sam shouts.

Jet makes his way over to Sam, panting as he leans over his knees. "Don't call me that. I'm Adam. And I didn't try to, I loved her before I even knew that she was yours," Jet pants.

"But when you found out about us...." Sam says, his fists at his side.

Adam smirks. "That was just the icing on the cake. I got a girl and revenge, all in one swoop."

Memories of he and Jet, the real Jet, fill Sam's mind; all the times they had snuck out for a concert their parents didn't approve of, playing guitar together. Sam pushes them away, coming back to the current conflict they are having, who Jet really is: Adam.

"Would you die for her?" Sam asks.

Adam's eyebrow rises in an arch. "What? Um...well..."

Sam clinches his fist, his nails digging into his palm. "Would you die for her?" he demands.

A branch snaps under someone's foot by the car, drawing Adam and Sam's attention away from each other. Adam stomps over to where Melody is crouched beside Sam's car, grabbing her by the crook of her arm and dragging her to where Sam stands. Sam thinks through a plan, trying to figure out how to get Adam to stop touching her.

Adam pulls out his pocketknife and puts it to her neck. "Would you die for her, Sam?" he asks.

Sam's eyes stare at the way the little light shining through the clouds bounce off of the sharp, wooden handled, knife and onto the skin of Melody's neck.

Sam steps forward, puffing his chest out. "Yes, because I truly love her," he says confidently.

Jet's eyes become panicked as his mind tries to grasp onto something that would get him out of the situation, scotch free, while still pissing off Sam. He thrusts the end of the bat into Sam's side, right below his ribcage, while sliding his tongue down Melody's throat.

Her skin feels like it's being peeled from her shaking bones as she claws at his chest, screaming and grunting until she slips free of his arms.

Sam straightens up, grunting at the pain that throbs in his stomach and steals his breath. He lets his fist fly through the air before it smashes into the side of Adam's face. He grabs a fist full of Melody's t-shirt and he pulls her against his chest; she thuds against his chest as Adam takes off down the hill, tripping over his feet before turning the corner.

Sam wraps an arm tightly around Melody's waist and places his other hand on the back of her head, hugging her as close as he can. She sobs against his white cotton t-shirt, wiping her eyes against the shirt before looking up at him.

"You would die for me?" she asks sheepishly.

He rests his chin on top of her head, feeling like he is breathing for the first time in months. "Any day."

Melody's heart leaps, trying to break through the thin barrier that is keeping it from Sam's.

......................................

Melody and Sam fall asleep on the beat up orange couch in Sam's apartment.

Something heavy and hot burns its way into Melody's lungs, awakening her from her comfortable sleep next to Sam. Her eyes burn against the heavy smoke that is blowing its way through Sam flat; Sam moans in his sleep, not being jerked awake by the heat of the yellow-orange glow. Melody's eyes find the source of the smoke: a small note slid under the door. She jumps from the couch- her heart pounding with panic due to her lungs filling up with smoke- running to the smoking paper as she screams at Sam to wake up.

Sam jerks awake, suddenly alert, as he takes in the smoke and fire that are climbing its way through his apartment. Melody stomps out the paper, coughing and eyes burning, but the fire has worked its way across the apartment from randomly tossed papers on the floor. She throws wet towels on some of the flames while Sam runs down the hall and pulls the fire alarm; bells ring throughout the building as water rains down from the ceiling. Sam runs back in the room watching Melody throw water and wet blankets on just about everything in the apartment that is near the flames.

"Melody!" Sam coughs, rubbing his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt, "I'll do that; pack some of our stuff up!"

She throws a few of his cloths in to a bag, and then grabs his guitar, cameras and portfolios, their cell phones and a few of her cloths. She runs back out to him, the flames still fighting against the water as Sam stands coughing before he pulls her out the apartment. A note, about the size of a playing card, is pinned over the peep hole.

"This guy is a psycho!" Sam croaks, his throat swollen shut, as he pulls it from the door.

She takes the note from him, reading it in almost disbelief.

Adam WAs HeRe.

Sam pulls on Melody's arm as the fire department runs down the hall into Sam flat.

........................................................

They arrive at Melody's apartment around six in the morning, tossing their bags at the door and sluggishly walk down hall to the bathroom. They scrub each other's faces free of soot, splashing cool water on their skin before making their way to her living room. Sam laces his fingers with Melody's pulling her to the couch.

"Maybe we should make it out to your parents' house tomorrow; far away from here. Does he know where that is?" Sam asks.

Melody shakes her head, playing with the hem of her shirt. "No, but... are you sure you're up to the drive? I mean it's like a two day drive and last time you whined the whole way there."

He leans forward, that boyish grin smeared across his face. "I'll survive."

He kisses her, soft and sweet, right as the room goes black. Sam looks around the darkened room; something is just off putting about the lights being shut off suddenly.

"How about we leave right now?" Sam proposes.

Melody smiles, standing to her feet. "Sounds good."

She packs the rest of her clothes, throwing her bags in the back seat of the station wagon.

Melody sits in the passenger seat, talking with Sam about random things like the weather and how she's disappointed that it's physically impossible to lick her elbow, so he won't fall asleep. The sun intermingles itself in the brown/ gold hairs of Sam's head. She smiles as she reaches her fingers out, running them across the top of his head.

Sam's eyes flicker over to her, if this was a month ago, before all of this, the slightest touch from her would make his heart flutter, but right now all he can think about is: did she do this to him too? He leans his elbow against the window. "Um, I'm wide awake so you can go to sleep if you want."

Melody nods, rolling up against the passenger window.

So Sam sits there, hands loosely holding the steering wheel, all alone except for his thoughts. Melody shivers in her sleep, moaning a little as she wraps her arms around herself. He wonders if this is what Adam got to see every day, and if he felt the same way he feels for Melody now; maybe Adam had loved her to some degree.

Sam reaches in the back seat for his jacket, gripping the soft leather as he delicately lays it on top of Melody. He swallows; he is so uncertain if taking her back so fast was wrong. His right hand slowly runs up and down her back sending her into a deeper sleep.

Chapter Eighteen

Sam pulls off of the freeway, driving down a dusty dirt road until he comes upon a small gas station. The bright red paint is peeling free from the rusting gas pumps, along with the small mini-mart's matching red paint is. Sam parks next to the unhinged door that leads into the mini-mart, getting out and stretching.

He squints up at the sky, the bright orange sun at its highest point; it's noon and is beating mercilessly down on the un-air-conditioned town. Sam strolls through the small isles, feeling the beady eyes of the gas clerk on the back of his neck as he grabs a bag of potato chips.

Melody wakes up to the tapping sound of a crow dropping seeds on the orange hood of Sam's car. She stretches her neck around, taking in her surroundings, trying to remember how she got here. She moves her arms, stretching them above her head, before looking down at Sam's jacket.

Her heart slows, for a moment the world slips away as she runs her fingers across the frayed edges where the jacket shows the most age. Her lips slide into a smile as she remembers the first time she'd worn this jacket: after their first date.

They were exiting the wooden doors of a small café where Sam was playing his first solo performance, walking around the building to the side walked. They walked in uncomfortable silence; Melody's apartment was another three blocks and she was trembling so hard from the late night fall air that her teeth were hitting each other. Melody had jumped when she felt something heavy and warm being draped across her shoulders. She felt up her arm, her fingers finding the frayed ends of the sleeves before she slid her arms into them.

Sam had stood next to her, staring down at his feet, seemingly unfazed by the slight ice wind slapping against his sleeveless arms like knives. Melody had smiled, stopping at the intersection; the little red hand across the street was holding its hand up at her to stop.

She looked Sam over. "Thank you. I'm not used to Wisconsin falls yet."

He smiled back at her, only a few inches between them, their breaths turned into vapors as it hit the night air and intermingled with each other.

To this day she doesn't know what had made her kiss him that night. Maybe it was the caffeine surging through her veins or maybe it was the air that settles itself around Sam, so safe and warm.

He smelled like ink and musky deodorant as he veered closer to her. Her heart pounded beneath his leather jacket, it had never beat like that before, and it scared her.

"Sam..." It almost sounded sad when it made it past her lips, which was odd because sad wasn't even close to the cornucopia of feelings brewing within her stomach.

He kissed her, he was actually kissing her. Something inside of her sang with joy. She had never been kissed like that before.

Melody unlocks the car door, blushing as she stretches in front of the car.

Sam walks over to her, leaning against the hood of the car, Slurpies in each of his hands, one blue and one red. Melody reaches out and takes the red one, thinking that the lid is fastened. She squeezes the cup too tight, sending the syrupy ice sloshing over the rim of the cup and onto Sam's white shirt.

She slaps her hand against her mouth. "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry."

He smiles, holding the stained part of his shirt away from his chest. "There are some napkins in the glove box, can you go get some?"

She leans her shoulder on the passenger seat, shaking her head at the napkins and paper bulging out of the cracks of the glove box before pulling the plastic handle. A pile of take out menus, paper, straws and eating utensils fall out onto the seat beside her. She rifles through the mound, searching for a napkin, but instead finds a box, small with black felt stretched around it. Melody glances up at Sam, who is still holding his shirt away from his skin and taking a quick gander around the gravel parking lot. She sticks her thumb nail into the seam of the box, a creaking noise sounds as it flips open.

Melody's breath catches as the diamond ring stares up at her, catching the sun light and showing all of its intricate details of vines and leafs around the band of the ring.

She stares at it for what seems like forever, when Sam leans into the car behind her.

"Hey, what's...?" his gaze falls on the ring, dropping the stained shirt against his chest. "Um...I was going to... ha you don't know how long that's been in there..."

This isn't how he wanted this to happen. He was going to plan this big dinner and do something corny like hide the ring in her drink or something, not stand in this crappy gas station parking lot with a Slurpee stained shirt. His head pounds with how wrong this was.

Melody stands up, holding the box out at him, sending him staggering backwards a few steps. "Sam, were you going to propose to me?" she asks.

He looks down at his shoes; the dust from the parking lot is making them a dull shade of blue. His gaze meets hers. He knows that this is what he wants, to be with Melody for the rest of his life, he knows she loves him, that Jet just took advantage of the fact that Sam had been gone for a long time and she was lonely.

Melody's lips twitch with emotion before they shape themselves into words. "You want to marry me, Sam? Spend the rest of your life with me?"

He grins, sitting his Slurpee on the roof of his car as he walks up to her, gently taking the engagement ring from her fingers. He slowly gets down on his right knee, the gravel poking through his jeans.

"Yes. There's no other way I'd rather spend it. I love you Melody," his cheeks warm, "Will you marry me?"

Melody holds a hand to her mouth; her finger tips tremble against her smiling lips. She nods, pulling him up to his feet. "Yes."

His cheeks spread into a wide smile as he takes her left hand in his, placing the ring on her finger before sweetly, gently, kissing her.

................................................

Adam sits across the road in his black pickup, watching them, his anger overflowing. Sam and Melody jump back in the car, it hiccups before pulling out of the gas station parking lot. Sam holds tight to Melody's hand as he presses his foot against the gas pedal, coming up to speed on the freeway.

.................................................

They make it through Wisconsin in one day; night creeps up on them, trying to drag them down into sleep. Sam parks the station wagon outside of a Holiday Inn.

"Come on, you can sleep when we get in." Sam says as he shakes Melody's arm.

He throws their back packs over his shoulder, wrapping his free arm around Melody's shoulder. The lady at the front desk jumps at the sound of the doors as they ding open. She plasters on a corporate smile.

"Welcome. How may I help you?" she asks in the chipper voice that she is paid to speak in.

Sam smiles as he sets their bags down on the polished white tiles. "Two rooms please, just for the night."

The hotel clerk taps her perfectly red painted finger nails against the keys of the computer. "I'm sorry but there's only one room left..." her eyes bounce between Melody and Sam, "Would you like it?"

Sam looks down at Melody leaning against his side, wondering if she's ok with sharing a room with him. She shrugs, too tired to do much of anything else. "Sure."

Sam pays for the night and slides the room key into his back pocket. "Are you going to be ok with this?" Sam asks as he hits the up button for the elevator.

Melody leans against the wall, yawning as she nods. A dinging noise sounds and the doors slide open, revealing a green and blue carpeted hall way. He slides the card into the slot, unlocking the door and pushing it open for her.

Melody grabs a few cloths out of her backpack and retreats to the bathroom. Sam sits on the end of the bed, looking around at the contents of the room with its weird swirly colors in the carpet, two beds with the matching green bed sheets and two identical mounted lamps.

When Melody emerges from the bathroom, now in baggy sweat pants and an old t-shirt, stretching her arms above her head as she says, "It's so nice to get in comfy close."

She furors her brow, her eyes searching the small hotel room for Sam but he can't be found. "Sam?" she calls out before grabbing the extra room key card and wonders down the hall.

She pops her head around the corner into the lobby. "Um, have you seen the guy I was with when I came in?" she asks.

The woman at the counter, her chipper facade now gone and boredom is pushing her face down into a sad droop, lazily pointes down the hall at the fitness room.

Melody thanks her and saunters down the hall, her slippers making soft patting noises against the forest green colored carpet. Her feet halt in front of a glass door, a key pad mounted on to the wall next to it. She presses herself against the glass, checking the weights and treadmill for Sam, but the room is practically empty except for one bulky man in the running shorts sitting on the work out bench, hunched over and watching a late night talk show. With a sigh she turns to her left, peaking through the rectangular window that leads to the pool before pushing the metal door open; chlorine burns her nose as she watches Sam swim laps. She rolls up her pant legs, sitting down on the tiles at the edge of the pool, gently swinging her feet in the water.

She smirks as she pushes on his back with her feet, playfully pushing him deeper into the water.

Sam's head pops up out of the water, taking a gulp of air before realizing it is Melody sitting next to the pool. His lips twitch into a mischievous smile before grabbing Melody's feet with his wet hands and pulling her into the pool, splashing and laughing. Her head breaks through the surface of the water.

"Sam!" she shouts with more surprise than anger.

Her sweatpants weigh her down in the water, clinging to her legs, as Sam wraps his arm around her waist pulling her against his chest. Melody pushes away a drop of water dangling from his nose with her index finger as he gently drops his lips upon hers. She pulls herself away, laughing as she playfully splashes him.

"Come on, it's getting late," Sam says, smiling. He grips her waist and lifts her up onto the side of the pool before he pulls himself up next to her. Melody quickly wrings her cloths out, walking, quickly, beside Sam.

......................................................

Adam angrily watches from a distance as Sam wraps Melody into a towel in his arms. Flames of hatred dash through his perfect eyes.

Sam pads down the hall towards the elevator with Melody, dripping with water, and snuggling underneath his arm.

Adam climbs the stares to their floor, hiding in the shadows as he follows them down the hall to their room. He curses himself as the door clicks open, Sam and Melody blocking him out as the door shuts behind them.

"I'm gonna change, since you took it upon on yourself to give me an unnecessary bath," Melody says before she grabs Sam's pajama bottoms and her tank top, retreating to the bathroom.

Sam smiles to himself, plopping down on the foot of the bed. He counts the amount of cash left in his wallet; just enough to buy a medium sized pizza. He rifles through the phone book, finding a pizza chain that can deliver. He flips his phone open, carefully punching in each number to make sure not to call the wrong one. A post pubescent young man takes his order and guarantees the pizza will arrive to Sam hot and under thirty minutes.

Melody slips from the bathroom, rolling the waist of the plaid bottoms down so they fit. Sam grins, his arm reaching out for her, gently guiding her down to him. Melody happily nestles her head into his shoulder; she has forgotten the soft mix of coffee and ink that has always seemed to roll off of him in waves.

Sam's fingers run through Melody's hair. "Um... can you tell me about it? What Jet did?" Sam asks, sheepishly.

Her skin boils with regret and shame, her palms sweat, but she has to tell Sam, she owes him that much. She nods, pulling away just enough to make eye contact with him. "Yes. What do you want to know?" she tentatively asks.

Sam's Adams apple bobs; he wants to know but how can he even ask for the information when he can't get the words out? "Wha-what did you feel when you um, kissed him and, um, stuff?" Sam asks.

Melody nervously plays with the ends of her hair, her eyes flickering from Sam's eyes to his lips. "I don't know... I mean obviously I felt something, but that wasn't what kept me coming back... I don't know I guess I felt needed. At times I felt dangerous, or lonely, but most of the time I was just there to... fix him."

Sam nods, scratching the back of his neck, his stomach twisting itself into knots; he didn't know that she didn't feel needed. "Did you think that I don't need you?"

The air around Melody's skin grows more and more uncomfortable with each second that drags by. "I-I don't know... sometimes I get this space inside of me that needs to be needed by someone that needs to be saved. I've been like this my whole life, Sam, sacrificing my happiness and relationships because I try to save someone that is just so broken..." Melody meets Sam's green eyes, her own fog over with tears, "I can't tell you how sorry I am for this, Sam. I don't know why I am like this! I wish I could hold myself back, keep myself from giving them my happiness because they have none," she breaks into a sob, slurring "I'm so sorry" in between sharp intakes of breathe.

Sam has always known how caring she is with people, dedicated to make them happy; it's why he first fell in love with about her. The muscles in his arm twitch as they reach out for her, looping around her back before bringing her against his chest.

"Melody... I've always known about your compassion, it's one of the many reasons I love you. Some people are just so low that they take advantage of your kindness, I wish they wouldn't, but they do," he pulls away, holding the sides of her face in his hands, "I will always need you to push me in the right direction and pick me up when I've fallen. And I promise you I will always give back to you what you have given to me."

Now Sam is the one beginning to cry, his fingers trembling as he uses them to cradle her head in his palms. Melody lets out a breathy laugh and leans in, kissing him sweetly, brushing the tears of his cheek with her thumb. They both jump at the loud knocking coming from the door. Sam smiles down at her, his face and eyes red with emotion.

"I forgot, I ordered pizza," Sam laughs.

He clears his throat, trying to break apart the last few sobs, as he jogs down the little hallway to the door. The pimpled faced delivery boy hands him the greasy box of cheesy goodness before taking Sam's cash and wishing him a good night. The door makes a soft click as Sam shuts it, sauntering back to the bed where he sets it down, flipping the lid open to reveal the greasy gooiness that is pizza.

When Sam is satisfied with eating half of the pizza, all on his own, he lays down next to Melody. Her greasy fingers are beating the buttons of the remote mercilessly as she searches for something on the TV that would suite her mood. She ends up settling for an old black and white romance movie from the mid nineteen-forties. Sam slowly creeps closer to Melody as she sinks more and more into the melodramatic plot.

When the two lovers kiss under the soft Paris moonlight, two doves fly across the screen caring a banner that reads The End. Melody's insides flutter around with pure joy for the lovers' happy ending.

"Aw that was so cute... Sam?" Melody gushes.

A soft snore comes from her lap, sending her eyes down at the sleeping figure of Sam, fast asleep on her legs. She scoots out from under him, pulling the comforter down so that it's lying on top of him, and tip toes over to her own bed.
Chapter Nineteen

Melody wakes up in the heart of the night, lying next to Sam, his arm wrapped around her. She furrows her brow, looking over at the twin bed across from her. She must have sleepwalked or something. She rolls over on to her side, kissing Sam's forehead.

Sam moans, draping his arms around her waist. "I love you, but you're seriously messing up my sleep pattern," he whines.

She smiles, kissing his cheek before nestling her head against his chest. "I'm sorry I'm such a burden," Melody whispers.

...............................................

A soft rustling noise awakens Melody in the early morning light. Her skin prickles with goose bumps due to the lack of body heat next to her.

"Sam?" she whispers.

He pokes his head out of the bathroom, a red tooth brush handing from the side of his mouth.

"Did I wake you?" Sam asks through his toothpaste filled mouth.

She sits up, her head spinning as her eyes try to focus on the clock. "A little, but it's ok."

He nods, slipping back into the bathroom to rinse the tooth paste out of his mouth before making his way towards her. He grabs his wallet from the night stand. "I'm going to get breakfast then we should probably get going," Sam says before giving her a minty morning kiss and making exiting the room.

Melody slips out of bed, stretching as she walks into the bathroom, blindly groping the wall for the switch. She grimaces at her reflection. Eyes sagged from lack of sleep and her hair sticking up every which way from being dragged into the pool last night. She forces herself in the shower, using the musky smelling soap that came with room, scrubbing away all the dirt and grime that has built up on her skin and hair.

By the time she gets dressed and packed Sam walks through the door, a brown fast food bag of food.

"This was all I could find," Sam announces.

He sets out the foam boxes on the table by the TV, along with forks and napkins. Melody pushes her fork around in the runny eggs, smothering them with syrup so that it will go down smoother.

He throws their belongings in the back of the Station Wagon, sipping on coffee while Melody finishes eating in the passenger seat.

................................................

Sam drives nearly the whole way there; his eyelids try to drop shut on him.

"Sam!" Melody screams as she reaches across the seat for the wheel, pulling them back onto the road. She lets out a breath. "Sam, pull over. I'm driving."

He reluctantly pulls to the side of the road, sliding across the seat while she walks around the front of the car to the driver's side. She pulls the seat forward, fixing the mirrors before pulling back onto the highway. Sam curls himself up against the window, his hair falling over his eyes; Melody smiles at how his facial muscles relax and he drifts slept.

...........................................

Melody yawns, wishing that Sam would wake up since it has been almost ten hours since she took over driving for him. She looks at the exit sign, realizing she'll reach her parents house around nine at night, and decides just to wake Sam up once they get there.

She smiles to herself as she drives down the familiar streets, remembering learning how to drive on them so many years before. She pulls into the driveway, turning the car off before running her fingers through Sam's hair, whiffs of the generic hotel soap still lingering on its strands.

"Sam, we're here," Melody gently whispers.

He moans, slowly rolling his head over to look at her. "How long have I been a sleep?" he asks, his voice groggy from sleep.

She opens the car door, reaching in the back seat for her bag. "A good ten hours, come on."

Sam slides out of the car, dragging his feet behind him as the two of them make their way up the steps to the front door. Melody's dad comes to answer the door, his peppered hair pointing every which way.

"Melody? Sam? What are you two doing here?" Melody's dad asks.

"Just a friendly visit, sir," Sam explains as he shakes Mr. Vernon's hand.

Her father nods, letting the two of them in. Her mother jumps up from the couch where she has been reading a self help book about losing weight.

"Oh! What a nice surprise," Mrs. Vernon practically sings as she brings the both of the in for a hug, sending Melody's father down stairs to set up a cot in the basement for Sam and fix up Melody's old room for her.

"What brings you two doing this far west?" Mrs. Vernon asks, grinning ear to ear as she guides Melody into the kitchen with her.

Sam sits down at the kitchen table, stretching and trying to wake himself up some more. "Oh we just figured it's been awhile since we're seen you guys," Sam lies.

"Well I'm glad for this wonderful surprise!" Mrs. Vernon exclaims.

Melody helps her mother make a late dinner; Sam and she have an unspoken agreement not to say anything about Jet, or his split personality Adam, to them. So she sprinkles spices over buttered bread in complete silence.

Later, the four of them sit around the table, passing bowls of noodles and pasta sauce to one another. Melody sits strait up, pushing noodles around her plate, the house thick with the smell of garlic and tomatoes. Sam sits next to her; the hairs at the back of his head are sticking up in random places, but it's only noticeable because of the bright dining room light above them. He takes her hand under the table, drawing small circles in her palm with his thumb.

"Mr. Vernon, um, I've thought about this for such a long time that it just feels right and well..." he glances at Melody, reassuring himself of what he is about to ask, "I would like to ask you for Melody's hand in marriage, if you'll allow me."

Mr. Vernon's eyes widen as they bounce in-between Sam and Melody, not taken by too much of a surprise. "Have you two talked about this or something?" Mr. Vernon asks.

Sam's face lifts in to a smile. "Yes, sir, we have."

Mr. Vernon sits back, crossing his arms. "So, what you're saying is that you really love her?"

Sam's smile widens as he holds Melody's hand tighter, his palms sweating. "Yes Sir, with all my heart."

Mr. Vernon smirks, glancing over at Melody's mom for a brief moment. "Then I guess I won't stand in between you two."

Sam laughs in relief, bringing Melody's hand up to his lips to kiss it.

....................................................

The rest of the night is spent around the table, talking about the plans Melody and Sam have made with each other and their hopes for the future. When their voices finally grow horse and get tired of speaking, Melody walks down to her room after saying a goodnight to her parents.

She flicks the light on, old memories flooding back as she looks at all the paintings and pictures that she had hung on the walls during her youth. She shivers, noticing the open window on the other side of the room, blowing her curtains around. She pulls the window shut, locking it.

"You look so beautiful," a sickeningly familiar voice whispers.

Melody freezes, her heart pounding, as Adam comes up behind her, wrapping his arms around her, kissing her seductively on the cheek; she becomes liquefied by his touch. He sways with her in his arms, spinning her around as though she is a delicate porcelain doll. He clasps her hand in his, the air around them growing cold and minty.

"I love you. I want to make you mine forever," he whispers.

She stares up at his flawless mouth, the words falling from his soft lips like rain falls from big, puffy clouds. His intense sapphire eyes holds her gaze on him, she can't look at anything but his beauty. He traces her thin lips with his soft index finger as he says, "Marry me."

She bites her lip, her eyes gloss over before slowly flicking shut. She leans in, her breathe rolling across his skin.

"I would do anything for you," she says, breathily, before kissing him intensely, her mind fogs over until she loses all sense of what she is doing.

Sam walks up to her bedroom door, originally planning on saying good night to Melody, but instead finds her and Adam sucking at each other's faces. He storms into the room; his blood burns as it moves through his veins. He grips the back of Adam's shirt with one arm while the other one yanks his hands off of Melody,

"Get away from her!" Sam shouts.

Melody falls from Adam's grasp to the floor, shaking. She looks up at the two of them; her eyes struggle to focus on who's hitting who while her ears pound with her heart beat. Her gaze drifts over to her bedroom door as her parents rush into the room, her dad franticly trying to pull Sam and Adam apart while her mom leans over her, saying something that Melody can't discern over her heartbeat. She looks up just in time to see Adam run out of the room.

Sam drops down to his knees next to her as she curls herself into a ball, slowly passing out.

"What was that? Why is Melody on the floor?" Mr. Vernon yells, his eyes burning holes into Sam.

Sam pulls Melody into his arms, his cheek throbs at where Jet had assaulted him.

"His name is Jet, but goes by Adam. He's been trying to take Melody away from me. He thinks I'm the reason his mother died so many years ago, but I'm not. And now he's dragging Melody through all of this..." Sam looks up at Mr. Vernon, the bottom of his eyes turn red, "I promise I'm giving my all to protect her, Sir."

Mrs. Vernon pulls Sam into a hug. "Sam, we've known you for almost three years now, and I've seen how you care for her, we have always trusted that if something horrible happened, you would risk everything for her."

She kisses the top of his head before standing up. They leave Sam alone with Melody, so that when she wakes up he'll know if she's alright.

He looks down at her apprehensively, her eyelids sliding up, her bright blue eyes looking up at him for a concise moment before closing her eyes again.

"I can't control myself around him," Melody says.

Images of Adam's perfect eyes, smooth lips, soft cheeks, and icy breathe paint themselves on the inside of her eyelids. Her skin jumps and the pictures fade away as Sam kisses her throbbing forehead. She lets her eyelids flick back open as she grabs his face, bringing it as close to her as she can.

"Don't leave me alone. Whenever you're gone he comes to me, I can't trust myself to stay away," Melody confesses.

She breaks into a sob as Sam cradles her head in his arms, whispering, "I will never leave you."

...........................................

Now, dear reader, this would be a perfect time to end the story, but doing that wouldn't be good enough for my satisfaction, knowing that you would add to the story in your own mind and not stick to the path I want your subconscious to travel down. Also, it would not be fitting for Adam to leave Sam and Melody alone to live "haply ever after".

Chapter Twenty

Sam and Melody leave her parents house at the break of dawn after agreeing that staying in one place for too long isn't safe with Adam on their tail. Sam turns down the radio as the tires of the little station wagon hit the freeway.

"I want to stop by the police station before we head back... just in case," Sam suggests.

Melody nods; she can't get passed what happened last night; she's never felt so scared of herself in years.

.........................................................

Sam speaks with the police officer, a short stubby man.

"But we have no current records of a Jet Kit," the officer says.

Sam pulls a manila folder out of his back pack, handing it over to the officer behind the coffee colored table. Thick fingers grab the folder.

"Do you have a description of this man?" the officer asks.

Sam looks over at Melody, urging her to say something. She takes a deep breath; the image of Adam is always close enough to her eyes that if she isn't paying attention to where her mind drifts off to she can swear that he's standing in front of her.

"He has dark black hair, mid length, is about six three with lightly tanned skin, a narrow nose, large lips and bright sapphire eyes," Melody describes.

The officer's tope flops back and forth just slightly as he nods. "And he sometimes goes by the name Adam, you say?" the round officer asks.

Sam nods, rubbing his chin. "Yeah, that's what he called himself when Melody met him," he answers.

The officer has a receptionist make a copy of the news documents and information Sam had given him. "We'll do a search for him and let you know," the officer says as he hands Sam his card, "Call me if you two run into any trouble."

They thank him and make their way back to the car. Melody's legs stick to the hot leather of the car, but she doesn't notice or even care, she's far off in her mind. Sam slides across the bench seat, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"They'll find him. They'll keep him from you, and if they won't I will," Sam assures her.

He presses his lips against her cheek, before he slides across the seat to the steering wheel.

.................................................

Sam's eyes squint as he stares out the out the window at the blackening night sky, watching for exit signs. In the distance there's a flickering motel vacancy light comes into view.

"Melody, wake up," Sam says as he grabs her foot that's stretched out next to him.

"Mmmm, are we there?" she moans.

Sam pulls up to the run down motel, checking the surroundings to make sure they wouldn't get killed in their sleep by some hillbilly with a chain saw.

"No, I'm taking the scenic route. I don't want to leave a trail for Jet," Sam answers.

She nods, stretching her arms out in front of herself; her fingers sprawl out across the dashboard. Taking this alternative route will make their drive to Melody's apartment a half a day longer.

Sam double checks for suspicion vans that could house serial killers one last time before getting out of the car, throwing their belongings over his shoulder and holding Melody tight against his side as they walk up to motel office. A bell above the door rings when they walk in to the cramped room that consists of wall to wall faded orange carpet accompanied by walls yellowed from years of cigarette smoke, along with a ringed brown vinyl desk across from the door.

A middle aged woman sits behind the desk, filing her nails, which are yellowed from years of smoking; her voice proves it.

"What can I do for you two love birds?" her raspy voice croaks.

Melody is taken aback by the hoarse voice that comes out of the thin woman. Sam stands a few inches away from the counter that she sits behind, noticing the little bit of orange lipstick that has rubbed off on to her crooked front teeth from her thin, chapped lips.

"Um, we'd like a room for the night," Sam says as he looks at the laminated badge on the woman's black knit t-shirt that reads "Maude".

She winks at Sam, making his skin crawl, as she reaches a flabby arm up to pull a pen out of her bleached perm. "Now," Maude says as she takes down their names on a yellow note pad, "I hope you two don't trash my room up too much in one night."

She pulls a key off of the wall behind her, holding it by the brown leather strap that has their room number on it. Sam takes it from her liver spotted hand.

"We only intend on catching some sleep before having to drive some more." Sam assures her. He pays for the night before pulling Melody out of the room.

"Did she freak you too?" Melody asks, strangling the life out of Sam's arm.

He laughs, even though he was somewhat uncomfortable with Maude. He jiggles the rusted door knob a few times before it finally unlocks. Melody reaches through the door for the light on the side of the wall, flicking it on.

The dim florescent lighting shows the orange carpeting, drapes and tub, along with one king sized bed. Sam laughs, dropping their bags on the floral bedding.

"Don't get me wrong, I love orange and all, but this is just wrong," Sam laughs.

Melody lifts up the comforter, searching for any critters that might be living in between the sheets.

"There could be clowns and glass dolls in here for all I care. The only thing I'm worried about is getting eaten alive by a cockroach or something," she says.

Sam helps her shake the sheets out, just in case, before making his way to the bathroom to change.

"The toilet's orange too!" he shouts in amazement.

Melody rolls her eyes, throwing Sam's sweats on under her tank top. She slips under the sheets, confident that if anything had been in these sheets she had gotten it off, and tugs on the beaded cord next to the bed to turn the lights off.

Sam creeps into the darkened room, taking in the small sleeping figure on the bed, wondering if this is what Adam looked at every night before bed. He teeter-totters back and forth on his heels before silently sliding under the sheets next to her, holding his breath so there isn't a sound that can wake her.

She rolls over, nestling her head against his chest, her legs curling up to her chest, turning her into a little ball next to Sam. He drapes his arm on her side, kissing the top of her head as she sighs, falling back into sleep.

..................................................................

An hour ticks by with Sam still awake, thinking and obsessing over how Adam could have been holding Melody the way he is now. She moans in her sleep, flipping over so she can stretch her legs out from under the sheets, the oversized pant leg over Sam's sweat pants roll up to her knee, showing her goose-bumped leg.

He sneaks out from under the sheets, tiptoeing his way to the door until he is standing outside on the other side of the door. While pacing back and forth in front of the door, opening and closing his phone as muggy air sticks to his skin, pondering on making this awkward phone call.

"Tomorrow I should be in the area any way, there's no real harm in stopping by to say hi," he thinks to himself.

It's been a year since he's talked to his parents, let alone seen them. But the reasons for their falling out are understandable.

"I'm twenty-two years old! I don't need my parents 'loaning' me money all the time!" Sam shouted at his parents through the phone.

It was yet another one of their money arguments. Sam's father, Keith Winters, is a very profitable owner of the Last Stand, a steakhouse chain. Mr. Winters has over three hundred steak houses spread throughout the country, so he has some extra cash floating around. Mrs. Winters spoiled Sam, who is their only child, and had trouble with coming to terms that he is no longer a child.

"Oh, but Sammy you can't pay off bills with your writing and photography, not yet anyway. Please let us help you," Mrs. Winters said.

Sam's head pounded. His mother has never believed in his writing or photography.

"No. I am not accepting handouts from you. I'm living fine over here by myself, I just got a job at the newspaper and I have an anniversary this weekend that I am supposed to be taking pictures for. So thanks, but no thanks."

He could hear his mother sob on the phone right before he pushed end.

He finally flips through his contacts, reluctantly pushing the call button. The phone rings.

Ring.

Ring.

Then stops.

"Hello?" a woman croaks, who is obviously unhappy with being woken up at this hour.

"Hey mom, it's Sam," he says as he nervously runs his fingers through his hair.

"Oh! Sammy! Why are you calling so late? Is something wrong? Are you in trouble?" she asks, her voice mixed with joy and worry.

"Well, um, in a way, but it's nothing for you to worry about. Would you mind if Melody and I stop by tomorrow? We're kind of in the neighborhood."

"Of course, come on over! We haven't seen your pretty little girlfriend in awhile!"

"Thanks mom, I have to get back to bed. Good night, see you tomorrow probably around noon. Tell dad and Reese I said hi."

"Ok, Sammy. Good night!"

His phone makes a clicking noise as she hangs up. He sighs, slipping his cell phone into his sweat pant pockets. Sam sneaks back into bed next to Melody, pulling her by the waist back to him, before falling to sleep.

Chapter Twenty- One

The next morning Sam awakes to find Melody sprawled out on top of him; her head lay under his chin while her leg is flopped across his. He rubs her back, slowly trying to ease her from her slumber. She moans lifting herself up just enough to look at him.

"Morning," she yawns.

He smirks, looking up at how her bright red hair falls over her face like soft autumn drapes. "Have a rough night?" he asks, tempted to play with her hair.

She sighs dramatically as she flops down on her back beside him, pressing the heels of her palms into her eye sockets. "I dreamed all night."

Sam's stomach goes queasy as he props himself up on his elbow, peering over her. "About... him?" he asks.

Melody nibbles on her lip, nodding. "Yes and no, yes he was in them but they were just your run of the mill night mares, nothing like when Jet is actually there."

He nods, hoping now since Adam is in the real world maybe he won't be able to steal Melody away in her dreams. She rolls her head over to look at him, her hair flopping over her face.

"Sam, are you ok? You look like your minds somewhere else," she asks.

He shrugs, trying not to think too hard about what she could have been dreaming about and if Jet was in them. "Um, I told my parents that we were in town, if that's alright."

Melody tilts her head, her brow furrowing. "Are you sure you're going to be ok? I mean the last time you saw them..."

"I know, I know. But they're my parents; I can't let one fight cut them off from my life forever."

Melody pulls his face close to hers, kissing his nose before standing up. "Just remember that if things get too stressful for you, we can leave," she reminds him.

She grabs Sam's hands, pulling him to his feet. He rests his hand on the small of her back, leaning down to help Melody pack the few belongings that they have been lugging around for the past few days.

..............................................................

They leave the bright orange motel room around seven in the morning, glad to be rid it.

Sam insists on driving the whole way there, even with Melody bribing for the steering wheel. She climbs out of the car at one of the many rest stops lining the interstate, only to come back and find Sam dead asleep in the driver's seat. She leans in the driver's side door, pushing his hair off his forehead.

"Sam, just let me drive, you're obviously tired," she commands.

He moans, crossing his arms at his chest. "I just need a little nap, I'll be fine."

She rolls her eyes, walking across the graveled parking lot to the vending machines that are conveniently nestled in-between the men and women's bathrooms. She riffles through her pockets, finding a crinkled ten dollar bill in her right pocket, buying three humongous bottles of caffeine filled soda, taking the change from that and buying a few big boxes of some off brand hot candy in the vending machine next to her.

She balances the bottles in-between her index and middle fingers in each hand, holding them by their plastic necks, while she grips the boxes of spicy candy under her arms. She places one of the black-brown bottles on the roof of the Station Wagon, which has become covered in dirt and dust due to their days of travel. She taps her index finger on the window closest to Sam. He jerks awake, rolling the window down.

"What are you doing...?" he begins to ask.

She hands him one of the pop bottles and a few of red, spicy jelly beans. Sam raises his eye brow, scratching the side of his face as she drops the bottle on to his lap then holds her palm out with the little red bean shaped candy resting onto of her skin.

"I don't want you falling asleep while you're driving," she explains.

He rolls his eyes, twisting the top of the soda bottle, letting the fizz ring out before he unscrews it the rest of the way, taking a quick slurp before, unknowingly, taking the red beans. His eyes water as he steals the box from Melody's hands.

"Seriously? Gawww! Melody!" Sam shouts as he scrapes his tongue with a napkin.

Melody skips to the other side of the car, plopping down in the passenger seat. "Well, you'll stay awake now!" she laughs and kisses Sam's burning lips.

He starts up the car and they drive for another six hours with Melody handing Sam spicy jelly beans and pop.

.........................................................

Sam pulls into the looped driveway that sits in front of the brown brick house that his parents had moved to when he started high school. He stretches his neck to check his reflection in the review mirror, making sure his mother won't complain about how tired or mangy he looks. He walks around to the passenger door; the smell of barbeque hangs in the air, as he opens the door for Melody. She steps out, linking arms with him.

"You ready for this, Sam?" she asks.

He kisses her cheek. "Yes."

They venture up the stone walk way, daises line the outside of its dark pavement surface. Sam has never really liked the fact that everything has been handed to him, so even though his parents are the ones paying for his aristocratic apartment, he still works hard and pays for everything else, or if he doesn't need anything he gives it away.

"Oh Sammy, you're looking so grown up!" Sam's mother, a short blond woman with curly hair that rests at her shoulders and the same leafy green eyes that Sam has, greats.

She attacks Sam's unguarded face with kisses, her soft pink lip stick marking his cheek. He slips away from her grasp, wrapping his arm around Melody's waist.

"And you remember Melody, right?" he asks.

His mother nods, flashing a forced smile, full of perfectly straight white teeth, at Melody. "Yes your girlfriend! How are you doing Melody?" his mother chirps.

Sam walks his mom to a white suede chair, not wanting to put off what he needs to say. "Mom, Melody and I need to tell you something," Sam begins to say.

His dad walks in the room, with their old yellow lab Reese on his heels, and sits down next to his mom in a matching white arm chair.

"What's going on?" he asks as he eyes the space in-between Sam and Melody.

"Sammy was getting ready to tell me something," Sam's mom says.

Mr. Winters rolls his eyes, letting out a huff, "Helen, the boy's twenty-three years old! Stop calling him Sammy."

Sam looks at his embarrassed mother with sympathetic eyes. "I don't mind being called Sammy, mom."

She pats his cheek. "Now, go on, what were you going to tell me?"

He smiles, lacing fingers with Melody. "Melody and I are in love, and we plan to get married soon."

Unfortunately Sam's mother gives him the reaction he was praying he wouldn't get.

She jumps up, her chair falling to the floor behind her, as she points a purple finger nail at Melody. "What have you done to my Sammy! You've brainwashed him or something?" she shouts before she starts to charge at Melody, her fists clinched and ready to attack.

Sam puts his arm around Melody, pulling her close. "Mom! I love her; just as much as you love dad."

His mother unclenches her fists, eyeing Melody with rage as she pleads with Sam, "Are you sure you're making the right choice? I mean you're young and..."

Sam's dad cuts her off, "Helen! Stop that! He's not a child anymore! Can't you see that?"

His mother tightens her jaw as she storms off into the kitchen, pushing the wooden swinging door open as she motions his dad to follow.

Shouting booms from the kitchen, right before Mrs. Winters goes running up the stairs to her bedroom. His dad slowly walks back over to Melody and Sam, shaking his head which causes his short, light brown hair to stick up in random ways.

"Don't let your love end. Your mother and I loved each other like you two do, when we were your age. Then one day I came home from work and she looked at me in a new way, almost disgusted. I never asked her why she looked at me like that, so we just tumbled right out of our happiness together. Never let something slide like that, even if it's just a little thing. Always ask how the other ones feeling, I don't want you to end up like us."

.................................................

There is no dinner that night. Sam and Melody would have left hours ago if his dad hadn't begged them to stay the night. So Sam carries their belongings to the basement, noticing that his mother had set up his old room for him, but nowhere for Melody.

"I'm sorry she yelled at you like that. She's always kind of babied me," Sam apologizes as he drops their back packs next to his old dresser.

Melody just nods, not really knowing what to say; she's never been able to handle being yelled at very well. He grabs blankets from his old closet, arranging them on the floor next to the bed.

"You can have the bed," he says as he lowers himself to the floor.

She pulls the black and white covers back, crawling underneath them as Sam hits the light switch.

She lays on her back, staring up at the pitch black ceiling. Her heart stretches and snaps remembering what Sam's mom had said to her, and how true it was. A tear rolls down her cheek, she doesn't deserve him; even his mother doesn't think so. She begins to sob uncontrollably; each time she goes to wipe her tears away more come.

"Melody?" Sam calls out as he sits up, reaching his arm onto the bed, searching for her, "Melody, are you ok?"

She shakes her head, even though he can't see her in the darkness. "I don't deserve you. I've hurt you so much and you're still so perfect and..." her voice breaks off into another set of sobs.

Sam climbs up on to the bed next to her, pushing back the soft white sheets that reek of his mother's favorite lavender laundry soap, holding her tight against his chest.

"Don't say that," he whispers, "I don't want anyone else but you. I don't care if we have moments where things don't make sense or aren't perfect, because at the end of the day I know that I love you."

He kisses her hair, squeezing her tight, repeating over and over that he loves her until she stops shaking.

Melody holds him back. "I've done you so wrong though..."

Sam shakes his head, gripping her arms. "I've seen what happens to you when he's around, and that's not you. This is you," he brushes her hair off of her face, rocking her until they both fall asleep.
Chapter Twenty-Two

Sam wakes up before Melody, the morning sunlight filling the room from the small circular window that sits above the head board as the smell of lavender and coffee swirl around the room. He smiles, looking up at the guitar cord poster that he pinned to his ceiling back when he was in high school so he could play lying on his back.

Melody sighs in her sleep as she rolls closer to him, tugging the white sheets around her shoulders. He smiles down at her, resting his chin on top of her head as the warmth of her skin puts him back to sleep.

Something pushes the bedroom door open, casting a beam of light across the floor as his mother's figure casts a shadow over the two of them.

"You little tramp! You persuaded my son to sleep with you...whore!" his mother yells more but it is just a bunch of random curse words all strung together.

Melody curls herself up in Sam's arms, skittish from the rude awakening. His mother comes to the side of the bed, raising her hand ready to slap Melody, her lavender silk blouse rising with her arm. Sam leans over Melody, protecting her.

"Stop!" Sam shouts.

His mother puts her hands on her hips, huffing. "Excuse me? I'm your mother, young man, you listen to me! I know what's best for you!"

Her long fingers interlace inside of Melody's long red hair, balling into fists at her scalp, pulling her out from under Sam. Melody screams as she tries to pull her hair free from the middle-aged woman's grasp while Sam fights his mother off. He shoves his mother to the floor, feeling horrible for doing such a thing, but she wasn't listening, she never does.

"I am a grown man! I know what's best for me now," Sam shouts, holding Melody tight against his chest, blood boiling beneath his skin, "Don't lay a hand on Melody EVER again!" He slides Melody off of the bed, keeping her at his side as he shoves the rest of their belongings into their back packs. He stands in the door frame, looking back over at his mother lying on the floor in shock. He bites his lip, he has never been so angry with his mother so this feeling is hard to deal with.

"Don't ever call her something like that again. You hurt me by hurting her," he starts to take a step forward, still worked up enough to add a little bit of hostility at the end of his words, "Oh and we're getting married, whether you like it or not."

Sam pulls Melody up the white carpeted stairs, his feet stomping against them, as he reaches the tan tiled landing next to the front door.

Mr. Winters sits in the dining room, a few dissected newspapers spread across the stained oak table.

"Sam, are you ok?" Mr. Winters asks, looking over the rim of his newspaper at him.

Sam shakes his head as his father stands from the table, walking over and pulling him into his arms. He leads him to the door.

"Come on you can leave after we go out and have breakfast," his father says while Sam and Melody slide into the Station Wagon, following his father's pickup.

Melody lays her hand on Sam's stiff cheeks. "I love you, Sam."

His face softens, a boyish smile spreading across his face. That smile could stop time if he let it, but right now it makes her heart skip three beats.

The two cars pull into the parking lot of the homely looking diner with its unlit neon sign that reads "Carl's". Sam turns the car off, leaning across the seat to gently kiss Melody. He holds her face a few inches away from his, searching her eyes for the strength to handle what his dad is going to say. Melody laces her fingers with his, leading him into the diner.

.................................................................

Sticky, green leather booths line the walls next to dusty blinds hanging from the window, the smell of grease and spilled coffee tickle Sam's nose. His father has never been one for fancy restaurants or snobby waiters, his mother is the one that's always been longing for that high society life style.

Mr. Winters smiles, thanking the waitress as she hands them their brown vinyl menus and walks away.

"You really love her, don't you Sam?" Mr. Winters asks.

Sam laughs a little, squeezing Melody's hand. "Yes very much."

He rubs a circle on her palm with his thumb as she looks through the menu. His father sloshes his black coffee in its brown mug.

"I'm not going to put this off Sam, I saw you shove your mother, and heard you yelling at her," his father says.

Sam plays with Melody's fingers; it has slowly become a nervous habit for him. "I didn't want to hurt her in anyway. She was just hurting Melody and I..."

The air around Sam grows tense and he begins to find it hard to breathe. Melody picks up on it, pulling him in closer to her as Mr. Winters nods and closes his menu.

"I understand."

Sam puts his arm around Melody, pulling her into his side. "Is she okay?"

His dad laughs, small wrinkles at the corner of her eyes showing, the booth squeaking as he leans back. "She's fine! It's just her pride you hurt."

The waitress comes back, pulling a yellow note pad out of her brown waist band, her hand moving fast as she scribbles down their orders. She smiles, taking their menus before she walks back to the kitchen.

"Make sure she knows that I didn't mean to hurt her, ok?" Sam says once the waitress is out of sight.

His father smiles as he pours a packet of sugar into his coffee. "She's your mother, Sam. You know she won't hold this against you."

Once they have made it through their breakfast, well more like lunch considering they ordered two burgers and a steak, Mr. Winters walks them back to their vehicle, the sun beating down on the gravel and pavement.

"Well, I hope to hear from you two again soon," Mr. Winters says as he brings Sam and Melody into a tight bear hug.

...........................................................

They watch as the pickup pulls out of the parking lot, waving as his father drives down the street back to his home. Melody leans her head against the side of the leather seat, her eyes still tired from the rude awakening they had this morning.

"I think I like your dad way better than your mom," she admits.

She pulls her legs up onto the seat next to herself. Sam laughs, even though he feels like what had happened is no laughing matter.

"Yeah, my dad's always been the one who treats me like an adult, even when I was a little kid he treated me like that," Sam agrees. Melody smiles, closing her eyes as her skin soaks up the vigorous morning sunbeams that shine in through the windshield.

.....................................................

Melody jerks awake a few hours later, the sound of a train whistle sending her pulse racing. Sam looks her over, seeing her surprised face as the train crosses the tracks.

He laughs, reaching across the seat and squeezing her leg. "You ok?"

She sighs, seeing the blinking lights that signal the train leaving. "Yeah, um, can you stop by the grocery store before you get to my place? I need to pick up some food if you're going to be staying with me."

Sam nods, pulling into the parking lot of the white and green grocery store. Melody slips out the car door, grabbing her purse from the back seat.

"I'll be back in a few minutes I just need a few things," she says, getting ready to turn on her heels and walk into the store.

Sam turns the engine off, reaching across the seat, pulling her back into the car.

"Sam..." she whines.

He smirks, reaching up and gently pulling her face down to his. "Be back quick."

She blushes, pushing her hair behind her ear as she begins to walk into the grocery store. Dim, florescent lights, sticky linoleum flooring and bad elevator music greats her as she walks pass the line of cash registers. The bag boy stares at her blushing face as she pushes the shopping cart, one of its wheels squeezing, through the aisles of breads and cheeses.

Sam sprawls his legs out across the seat of his car, pressing his face against the window, almost ready to fall asleep, when a hauntingly familiar face in the driver's seat of a black Honda s2000 driving towards him. Sam cranes his head to get a better look out the window, his eyes widening as he reaches for his keys.

"Jet!" his scream slips past his lips too late; Jet crashes into the driver's side of the orange Station Wagon.

............................................

"Paper or plastic?" is the last thing Melody remembers hearing, her debit card is held in between her pointer and middle finger, as her eyes watch the black Honda slam against the Station wagon.

Time slows as the black crunches against the orange driver side door.

"SAM!" Melody screams, her debit card slipping from her fingers.

The plastic card clatters against the floor as Melody breaks down in a puddle of tears. The Honda backs out of the parking lot, its wheels squeal against the pavement as it shoots down the intersection.

Melody runs through the automatic doors, pushing pass on lookers as they gawk at Sam's car. The whole driver's side is folded in towards him.

"SAM!" she screams out, her fingers grabbing at the crinkled metal, the sharp edges pointing out and slicing her fingers as she pulls on them, trying to get to Sam, but the door won't budge.

She slumps down next to the car, ignoring the throbbing pain that comes when blood drips from tips of her fingers, as she cries. A few kind hearted men walk over to her, guiding her away from the car while the rest pull the door clean off of what is left of the car.

Sirens wail, her legs shake as she clumsily makes her way over to the car, kneeling in the little shards of glass as she takes in a few sharp breaths, her fingers trembling as she reaches into the car.

Sam lays there, immobile, with blood running from his brow to his cheek. Melody grabs on to his shoulders, pulling his torso out of the car and laying his head in her lap.

"Sam? Can you hear me? Sam, wake up! Sam?" she cries, tears burn as they use her cheeks for their stomping ground.

The paramedics lift him from her lap, gently laying him on a stretcher as someone checks Sam's pulse.

"We still have him," a man with a buzz cut hair shouts as he holds an oxygen mask to Sam's face.

Melody stands next to the stretcher, holding Sam's hand tight in her shaking fist as a wave of relief flows over her like cool rain, but is quickly washed away with a dizzying realization: The paramedic left open options of what could happen to Sam, plenty of things for Melody to worry about.

"What if they lose him before we get to the hospital? He only said that they still had him, but he didn't say that he was going to make it..." These thoughts send mental blows to Melody's sickened gut. The pain is so overwhelming; she feels bile working its way up her throat, right before she faints.

...............................................................

*Beep.*

Something is beeping.

*Beep.*

It's close.

*Beep.*

And repetitive.

Melody's eyes are too heavy to lift their lids, so she continues listening to the beeping, trying to remember what had happened before she fell asleep.

Her nostrils flare at the smell antiseptics and then, not so far behind the cleaning supply smell, is Sam with his coffee and leather smell. It all rushes back to her now; the sound of metal crunching together and the sickening feeling her heart got when Sam's blood oozed itself out of his skin and slid down his pale flesh.

Melody pulls her strength from her soul, pushing her eye lids open as she lets her head fall to her right shoulder. Sam lay on the bed opposite of her, his skin stitched and bandaged where the doctor had seen fit.

She throws her legs off of the bed; her head begging her to lie back down. She interlaces her bandaged fingers with his callused ones, not noticing the doctor slipping in the room.

The doctor, a tall, young woman, holds a silver clip board against her white coat, which plays off her dark sun kissed skin in her favor.

"He didn't suffer too much damage; a few cuts, very miner concision, a sprained wrist and a dislocated shoulder. He should wake up soon. We just have him on some pretty strong pain medication, which is why he's sleeping right now," the woman smiles, showing her artificially white teeth, before leaving the room.

Melody pulls a chair from under the windowsill, grasping the stained wood of its back as she drags it over to Sam's bed. She sits down upon the green cushion, leaning forward just enough to kiss Sam before gently laying her head next to his hand, letting herself drift off to sleep.

........................................................

She awakes, not long after falling asleep, to Sam's rough thumb rubbing across her cheek. She picks her head up, tears sliding down the creases of her bright and wide smile.

"Sam! Are you ok? How do you feel?" her heart races as she speaks.

Sam smiles out of the corner of his mouth, pushing her tears away with his thumb. "I'm fine," he assures her.

He makes a grunting noise as he leans towards her, kissing her briefly before laying his head back down on the downy white pillow.

A nurse walks in, her perfume hanging around her in a dense pink cloud, using her clean fingers tap the bag of fluids hanging next to the twin sized hospital bed.

"We're just going to keep you here over night," the short nurse says, "And make sure you're ok. After that you guys can feel free to go home."

Melody gives a polite smile as the nurse scurries out of the room, her white Keds squeaking against the linoleum flooring.

Melody lies on top of the white and blue checkered hospital sheets next to Sam, nestling her head against his chest, making sure his heart doesn't skip a beat. Sam holds his arms loosely around her waist, not minding that she worries about him because it just assures him that she loves him.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sam's muscles ache and his head throbs behind his eyes, but it's not as bad as the pain was the night before. He looks down at Melody, her long copper hair falling across her face like a veil as it lies in curls across his hospital gown covered chest. He gently brushes her hair off of her face with his finger tips, getting lost in the innocence her face possesses when she sleeps.

"Good morning mister Winters!" a petite, brunet nurse in multicolored pink and purple scrubs chirps.

Sam had forgotten the fact that he was in a hospital bed and not his own.

He scratches his scalps. "Oh, um, I guess it is morning. Are we all good to go home?"

The nurse nods, smiling down at them before her short, little legs pull her out of the room. Melody rolls to her stomach as Sam slides out from under her, retrieving his cloths from a white cabinet by the sink, slipping his jeans on under the blue and white checkered hospital gown, before pulling the gown off and reaching for his shirt. Melody inhales through her nose, the stench of sick people giving her a rude awakening before she sits up. Sam's back towards her, his arms struggling to pull the shirt over his head.

"I wouldn't mind waking up to this every morning." Melody admits, smirking as she eyes Sam.

Sam's back twitches as he turns to look at her, the pale skin of his stomach and back prickling with goose bumps. He blushes, sliding his gray t-shirt on, his skin relaxing as the soft cotton slips down his chest.

Melody jumps from the bed, tying her hair into a high ponytail, missing a few short curls at the nap at her neck.

Sam signs the release form that a short, round, middle-aged man hands him, before calling a cab. Sam and Melody stand outside of the hospital doors, breathing in the fresh summer air, so happy to be free of the stingy hospital smell. Sam laces his finger with Melody's, lifting her hand up to study the bandages wrapped around her fingers.

"How'd you get this?" Sam asks worriedly.

She leans against his shoulder, making sure it's not the dislocated one. "I was trying to get to you, but the metal was in my way and it was all jagged... I don't remember it hurting."

Sam kisses the rough bandage around her cuts as a faded yellow taxi pulls up to the curb. Sam lets Melody slide across the cracked, brown leather of the taxi seat, before climbing in after her.

...............................................

After handing the thick fingered taxi driver the cash he had left in his wallet, Sam follows Melody closely up the stairs to her apartment. He opens the white painted metal door that leads into her apartment for her, stretching his arm out to hold it open; the door makes a slight clicking noise as he closes it behind himself.

The two of them stand in the brightly lit hallway of her apartment, the smell of woodsy incents that have long ago been burnt into ash clings to the carpet and green curtains that hang above the only window in her apartment that doesn't look at a brick wall. Melody and Same stand a foot away from each other, staring face to face like it's been years since they've last seen the other.

Melody's eyes float around Sam, down his swollen left cheek, to the chapped split on his bottom lip, before making their way to the sling around his arm. Her eyes make a trail down his legs then down to the space of beige carpet between the tips of their feet, which have become blurred in her vision because of the tears steaming in her eyes. Melody's throat tightens as she flings her arms around his neck, pulling his head down until their foreheads are pressed together.

"I thought that I would never see you again..." Melody whispers as tears run down her cheek and drip off her chin.

Sam nods, the skin on his forehead moving up and down against hers as he wraps his arms around her waist. Melody nestles her head against his chest, holding him tighter the harder her tears fall.

....................................

"You guys are crazy!" the middle-aged police officer, who's years of keeping their little town free of crime have given him a large head, laughs.

Sam pulls at his hair, tired of bickering with the officer.

"I'm telling you the truth! He wants me dead, officer. Dead! Jet is nothing but a criminal. He almost killed me when he and I were fifteen, he kidnapped my girlfriend, and now he's coming after me... again!" Sam explains.

The officer laughs, flipping through his files as he shakes his head. It's obvious that he will be no help to them, so Melody and Sam stand up, not bothering to thank the officer for his time as they abruptly leave.

Sam leans against the hood of Melody's silver Acura, the sun gleaming over them.

"What do you think we should do?" he asks Melody.

Melody stands beside him, but being that she is a good six inches shorter than him she is barely able to stable herself against the bumper without sitting on the hood. "They won't listen to us Sam! There's nothing we can do!"

She kicks the curb, cursing under her breath. Sam pulls her against his side. She squirms for a second, too overcome with frustration to sit still.

"We have to do this on our own, Melody. No one believes us, I'm sorry," he kisses the top of her head, "We're going to get through this though, I know we will."

..........................................

The two of them stay awake into the wee hours of the night, Sam leans over the computer as he sends in his columns to the newspaper's "Ask Molly" section. The irony is that everyone thinks they're asking a smart and understanding young woman when really they're just asking Sam, who is of simple intelligence but has way more compassion than "Molly" would ever have.

He finishes answering a question about whether or not some woman should leave her boyfriend because he informed her that he has always wanted to join the circus. Melody peeks her head up from her notepad where she has been writing down all the incidents that have happened with Adam. She sprawls her legs out across Sam's lap, pushing him away from his lap top.

"What was he like? Before he beat you up." she asks.

Sam leans back against the beat-in dark blue couch, grasping her socked feet. "Like my brother," he nibbles on his bottom lip, running it over the cut from where part of the car window had sliced it, "There was always something about him and finding trouble, I remember having to watch the cops bring him home almost every Saturday night, drunk but happy."

Melody cuddles up next to him, the tone of Sam's voice laying weights on her eyelids. She nods, squishing her face against his shirt. "So you guys were close?" she asks.

Sam nestles his chin into her hair. "Yeah, even though ironically he was the quarter back of our high school foot ball team while I was the social outcast that stalked the shelves of the local library and played guitar under the bleachers."

Melody sighs softly, nodding to coax him to keep talking. He continues on, playing in Melody's hair as he retells every memory of Jet before he turned in to Adam. Sam catches himself midsentence, the story of how he had met Jet during soccer when they were eight is left hanging on his tongue, as he realizes that Melody has gone limp next to him; soft snores slipping out of her nose. He smiles down at her asleep on his chest, sleep slowly taking hold of him.

....................................

Melody awakes upon the icy black and white tiles of Adam's apartment. Fear grabs at her heart, contracting it and shoving it up her throat until there's a dull pulse at the base of her mouth.

"Sam?" she whispers.

Adam appears out of the hall way that leads to his bedroom. He smiles, wiping his hands across a red handkerchief as he walks to her on his minty clouds of seduction.

"Sam's a little... tied up." Adam says, a sly smile across his lips.

Melody shakes her head as she stands to her feet, pointing her trembling index finger at him. "What did you do to him?" she demands.

Adam smirks, turning on his heels as he motions her to follow him down the hall way, past the trophy room and his bed room to little room at the end of the hall, no bigger than a closet.

"I haven't done anything to him... well, not yet anyway." Adam sighs as he swings the white, wooden door open.

Melody peeks her head through the door frame, her heart skipping beats as she looks at the skinny young man in front of her, tied to a chair with his light brown hair hanging over his face as he breaths from underneath the silver duct tape across his mouth. She throws her fists against Adam's chest, tears dripping from her eyes.

"What are you doing to him!" she screams.

Adam catches her fists in his palms before gathering her in a hug. "If you do what I say, I'll let him go, unharmed."

Melody slithers from his arms, running to Sam and kneeling down next to his legs. "What do you want me to do?" she asks Sam.

Sam shakes his head at her, screaming beneath the duct tape. Jet walks to her, running his finger tips from her scalp to the ends of her hair.

"Be mine, forever." Adam whispers.

Sam screams again, kicking and thrusting his chest as he tries to break free of the ropes. His eyes stare down at Melody, his dark green eyes welling up with tears before spilling over and running down his cheek, rolling in circles on the duct tape.

Melody stands up, keeping eye contact with Sam as she nods. "I'll do it."

Sam screams like she's just shot him through the heart; his tears drip against the floor as he tries to break through the ropes again. Adam pulls the tape from Sam's mouth, cynically smiling in victory.

Sam looks up at Melody, his eyes begging her to stop this. "Don't! Melody, no please don't do this!" Sam pleads.

Adam unties him; the ropes fall in to the puddle of tears that have formed at the legs of the chair. Sam leaps up from the chair, knocking it backwards, as he pulls Melody close to him.

His fingers grip the back of her yellow shirt as he lips find her ear. "Please, Melody, don't do it." he begs.

Adam pulls them apart, his fingers digging into Melody's shoulder. "Sam I think she's made up her mind, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Sam pulls on Melody's arm, knowing that if he decked Adam right here he might hurt Melody. "Let me say good bye? Please."

Adam looks down at Melody, sincere and caring. "Do you want to say goodbye?"

She nods, not sure why Adam was suddenly being sympathetic with her as he leaves them alone.

Sam pushes the hair away from her face, his finger tracing her jaw line. "I'll come for you, I promise. I love you." Sam kisses her trembling lips; his fingers drop something cold against her neck.

Loud footsteps tap their way in to the room, the owner clearing their throat.

"I think your time is up." Jet announces

Sam's lips hover an inch from Melody's ear. "I love you."

Adam sighs, grabbing at the back of Sam's neck as he pulls him out of the room, Sam dragging his feet behind him.

Melody stands alone in the small room, wishing she didn't have to leave Sam but knowing this is the only way to keep him safe. She listens to Sam plead with Adam, begging him not to hurt her. She runs her fingers across her neck, touching where Sam had draped something around her throat. A golden chain hangs just under the collar of her shirt, dangling loosely around her neck. She pulls it out of her shirt, her eyes steaming over as she holds the heart pendent in her palm.

Sam has been carrying it with him since the day Adam had unclasped it from her neck and left it on the carpet for someone to crush into pieces. He strung her engagement ring behind the heart. She smiles as the jewel sparkles in the light that beams in from the hallway.

She quickly tucks it under her shirt again as Adam comes back in the room, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. He kisses her with his perfect lips.

"I want my own room, I want to sleep by myself, and don't try to make out with me every two seconds. If you obey my requests I'll stay with you." she says, pulling away from him.

He nods, squeezing her close. She feels nothing but empty.
Chapter Twenty-Four

Melody's mind has become fogged over; she mourns the loss of her freewill days and nights, becoming unresponsive to Adam's persistent gifts and kisses.

One day he comes up to her with his big sapphire eyes full of joy.

"I figured that since you've been so good this past week, I would take you out." he announces.

Melody perks up, feeling her soul for the first time since she last saw Sam. "Maybe I'll see Sam! Maybe he'll take me away from Jet! Please God, let him be there!" she thinks to herself.

Adam smirks, pleased with her reaction.

.................................................

Adam and Melody walk through the cluster of booths of the local flea market, his fingers interlaced with hers, pulling her along as he smiles stupidly at the erotic painting that someone is selling.

Melody's head snaps back and forth, searching for Sam's face amongst the crowd. She stands on the tips of her toes, the smell of moth balls float off of everything around them. Her pulse quickens as she spots a tall, thin young man thumbing through a stack of vinyl records, his ashen hair rustling in the light summer breeze; she can recognize that figure anywhere.

She plants her feet flat on the concrete flooring, sliding her fingers away from Jet. "Adam I have to go, um, to the bathroom. I'll be right back," she says, praying he buys it.

He nods, not taking his eyes off the painting as Melody slinks away from his sight range.

She weaves in and out of the tables of random crap people are trying to sell. Her legs wanting to break out into a run the farther she gets from Adam, but she keeps her pace normal, not wanting to accidently knock something over and bring Jet's attention to her.

She can smell the ink and coffee roll off of Sam's skin as she walks up to the wooden boxes with dusty sleeves full of records are crammed against each other. She grabs a random record from the top of the pile Sam had set aside, holding it against her chest.

"Hey I'm sorry I'm actually planning on buying tho-" Sam begins to say before he gasps. "Melody."

Sam pulls his fingers away from the sleeve of an Ella Fitzgerald record and gathers her in a hug, holding her as tight as his arms will allow; she pushes her face into his shirt.

He rubs her back as he notices she's crying, and looks around for Adam. "Do you think you can get away?" Sam whispers.

Melody looks back at Adam, who is speaking with a woman in a black and red floor length skirt. "If we're fast; he thinks that I'm just going to the bathroom."

Sam pulls her by her hand through the crowd and to her car, which he is still continuing to drive because he has yet to replace his Station Wagon. Melody climbs in the back seat, laying flat against the floor while he starts the car up, pushing the gas pedal to the floor as he speeds out of the parking lot; driving right past Adam without him even noticing.

..................................

Once they have put a good amount of distance between them and Adam, Melody slides up to the passenger seat.

"Where're we going?" she asks.

Sam slows down to the speed limit, relaxing just slightly. "We can't go to your place, that's the first place he'll go looking for us."

Melody stares at him, fingering the chain around her neck to make sure it's still there. "Let's just keep driving." she suggests.

Sam's lips pull themselves into a smile as he gives the ok and continues driving down the highway. Melody scoots in closer to him, kissing his cheek.

"I've missed you." she whispers.

Sam blushes a little, his lips curling up into a boyish smile as he pulls into a diner parking lot, setting the car in park before leaning across the seat to hug her.

He sits back just a little, pulling on the golden chain until the ring and heart are out from under her shirt. He unclasps the back of the necklace, sliding the ring off of the chain and holding it delicately in-between his thumb and index fingers.

"Do you think it would be a good idea to still get married with this whole Jet thing?" Sam asks.

Melody sits foreword, a semi-truck flies down the highway behind them as she runs her fingers through his hair. "Yes, I think that it would be a good idea to still get married, then I'll be yours, and Jet won't be able to take me from you."

Sam blushes as his hand fumbles for hers, lifting her left hand to his lips before kissing the soft surface of the back of her hand and sliding the ring onto her finger.

...................................................

Sam and Melody spend the rest of the day driving absolutely nowhere, wasting a month's worth of gas money.

"Sam, um, you know we're going to run out of money soon," Melody points out.

Sam nods as he changes lanes. "I know, I won't be able to keep up with my photography appointments but I've got my laptop in the back so I can still write and return the emails I'm required to reply to for the newspaper."

Melody sits back, the nagging fear that Adam could be right on their tails and without them realizing it tingles at the back of her head.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Adam turns from the wildly inappropriate painting to see a silver Honda shoot out of the parking lot, its wheels squealing as it turns onto the main road.

He scans the crowd for Melody as he pushes past people to the back of the store. He storms into the women's bathroom.

"Melody! Melody?" Adam shouts.

He pushes the stall doors open; they slam against the inside of the stall and echo against the tiled walls. He reaches the last stall, throwing his fist into the cracked tile wall, he realizing she's gone.

He bursts out of the bathroom, pushing over clothing stands as he runs to the nearest officer.

"Who took her?" Adam shouts.

The officer scratches his head, a thin, strawberry haired woman sits at the booth where the officer has been nibbling on a piece of cake. "Please, sir, calm down. What makes you think someone would take your girlfriend?" the officer asks.

"My girlfriend went to the bathroom a half hour ago and is now nowhere to be found. What would be the first thought in your head when you can't find your girlfriend at this hippie garage sale?" Adam fumes.

The officer rolls his eyes, pulling a pen and paper out of his pocket. "What's her name?" he asks as he lets out a huff of air.

"Melody Vernon. I also believe I may know the person that did this."

The officer sighs. "And who's that, sir?"

Adam clinches his fists at his side. "Samuel Winters."

The man nods, brushing the white and yellow frosting from the corner of his mouth as he scribbles Sam's name on his notebook. "I'll send word of a suspected 'kidnapping'."

Adam stares at the officer for a while before turning around and storming back to his black Toyota.

"Why do they want to hurt me so badly? If they would just do what I say I wouldn't have to injure Melody or Sam," he thinks to himself as he speeds down the road to Melody's apartment.

....................................

Adam struts down the hall, rifling through his pocket for the pick and tension wrench attached to his keychain. He shoves them into the keyhole, jiggling just a little before it makes a clicking noise and opens. He smiles to himself. He's been picking locks for as long as he can remember; he could do it with his eyes closed if he wanted to.

He slips into her apartment, flicking the lights on as he makes his way through her living room.

"Melooodddyyyy, you better not be hiding from me," he calls out as he peeks in her room. "You should know better than that."

Enraged, He flips her vanity over. Perfume, lipstick, and hair ties scatter the brown and purple woven rug, the pink wood of the vanity crushing each item.

Adam cracks his knuckles, calming himself down, as he walks through her living room, flipping the arm chair over before making his way back out to the street curb.

.....................................

"GAHHHH!!!" Adam screams as he throws himself into the red painted wall in the hallway next to his bedroom. He stares at the white mark where his head rammed into the wall, his temple throbbing as he turns around, pressing his back against the wall before sliding down the wall on his back.

"I'm so confused..." he whimpers.

He holds his face in his hands, biting the inside of his palm, sending a quick jolt of pain to block out his murderous thoughts. "Why do they choose to hurt me like this?"

A chilling, yet comforting, feeling falls upon Jet like a heavy blanket. Cold, slinky, hands slide across his shoulders.

"What are you going to do about it, Adam?" the voice breathes.

Adam looks at his side. A beautiful woman slinks her hand around his neck, running the back of her nails across his skin. His Adam's apple bobs as he swallows.

"H-how'd you get in here? And why are you calling me 'Adam'? I-I'm Jet..." Jet stutters, trying to fight free of Adam.

She pulls herself into his lap, running a polished red nail down his cheek. "You let me in, Adam."

Jet fights the urge to throw her from his lap, but her flesh is just too tempting

"I don't remember opening the door... but..."

She kisses him, draping her arms down the back of his shirt, her nails cutting through his gray shirt as she drags them up his spine.

Icy shivers shoot up and down his nervous system, coolness flows through his veins as a sudden hardening feeling hit his heart. Suddenly he doesn't feel incapable; he can do anything.

He opens his eyes, a wicked smirk spreading across his lips. He cracks his neck, pushing the smooth, slinky legs off his lap before swaggering out of his apartment.

He slips the key in the ignition of his black Honda S2000, revving the engine a few times before speeding down the interstate. Destination: Wherever Sam and Melody go.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The orange arrow next to the tank gage rides on empty. Sam taps the glass above it, hoping it'll move to full.

"Ugh, check the map under the seat. When's the next town?" he asks, frustrated.

Melody leans forward, her hands blindly groping under her seat until she finds the side of the torn up map. Her fingers trace out the blue line they have been following on the map.

"Take exit six, there's a small town nestled in the mountains down there," she informs as she pushes the map back under the seat.

Sam nods, sticking his arm out the window as watches the exit signs on the side of the road.

Melody sighs, pressing her head against the clean window of her car; she's been watching the white line on the side of the road blur past her for hours now due to the fact the only scenery is asphalt and farms.

Sam's eyes bounce back and forth between her and the road. "Hey, you ok?" he asks.

Melody rolls her head to look at him; the dry desert landscape behind him brings notice how pale his skin is. "Yah, I'm just tired."

Sam frowns, reaching across his seat and grabbing her knee. "Melody, you can't lie to me, I know you too well; there's something wrong. What is it?"

She shrugs; flicking the plastic slates of the AC vents back and forth. "I'm just thinking about everything, you know?"

He just nods, staring out the bug splattered window as he slides the wheels of the car onto the off ramp. Sam smiles at the sight of the gas station sign. "I'm gonna fill up. You wanna run into the minimart for something caffeinated?"

The car shakes across the gravel and jerks to a stop next to one of the gas pumps. Melody pops the little knob on the top of the door, unlocking it before stepping onto the hot asphalt.

"I'll be right back." She throws her hair into a ponytail as she strides into the store.

A round, middle aged man sits behind the counter of the minimart, his thick thumbs pushing the glossy pages of a Sports Illustrated, his eyes only giving Melody a quick glance as she makes her way to the back wall.

A fly buzzes pass her, landing on her sticky skin for a few seconds before she swats it away. She pulls on the dirty metal handle of the glass freezer door; it makes a suctioning sound as she yanks it open. Her fingers grab two frost covered cans of Energy X, a fruity drink with about five thousand calories and enough caffeine to keep you awake for three days. Her feet tap against the yellow linoleum flooring as she makes her way to the check out.

She places the cans on the counter as a bushy eye brow rises above the bikini covered magazine. The man puts down the magazine; his hairy fingers reach out for the cans.

"Eight fifty," the clerk behind the counter sighs lazily.

She slides two five dollar bills across the counter, telling him to keep the change as she walks back out into the blazing sun.

Sam is leaning against the side of the silver car, his eyes shut and his face angled up toward the sun, soaking up its rays. A silver scar above his brow shines in the sun light, catching Melody's eye as she leans against the door next to him, holding the iced can out for him.

"I'm sorry," Melody apologies.

His head snaps down at her. "What for?"

He takes a can from her, pulling the tab, letting it slowly fizz out before opening it the rest of the way. Melody uses her now free hand to reach up and trace the scar on his forehead out with her cold finger tip, sending goose bumps across his forehead.

"For Jet... when he had you tied up... that's when I realized I really had been blind to who he really is. I'm sorry I let it get that far."

Sam sighs, running his hand across the back of his neck, growing tired of her apologizing to him constantly. "Can we not talk about it, please? I know you're sorry, I've forgiven you, if you haven't already noticed," he walks around the driver's side door, Melody turns on her heels to look over the top of the car at him as his fingers grasp the handle. His eyes squint in the sun light as he looks at her. "I love you Melody, but every time you bring it up, or apologize, it makes me wonder whether or not you're still looking for my forgiveness, or if you're trying to convince yourself of something." He stares at her for a moment before sliding into the car.

Melody nods, slipping into the passenger seat. "No... you're right. I need to stop and forgive myself."

She stares out the window, which is now free of bugs thanks to Sam who cleaned it off; a tumble weed rolls across the pavement in front of them. Sam leans across the seat, pressing his lips into her temple.

"Please do," Sam says as he bumps the key until the engine starts up.

............................................

Night falls upon them like a soft blanket of blue and black. Sam stretches his legs out at the rest stop parking lot while Melody walks back to him from the restroom

She brushes her wet hands on her pants. "My whole life I have never been at a rest stop that actually had some sort of paper towels."

Sam laughs, grabbing her damp hands and using his shirt to dry them. "I'm tired so how about we just spend the night here?"

Melody laughs, looking around the empty parking lot, one street lamp flickering above them. "So someone can just smash a window and kill us in our sleep? I don't think so."

"They'd kill me. I'd make sure they didn't kill you," Sam assures her.

She laughs, nestling her head into his chest as she lets out a tired sigh. "Fine! But if I die, I'm suing you."

He kisses the top of her head before turning around and climbing into the car. He pushes the driver seat back, locking the doors as Melody climbs into the back seat.

She finds Sam's leather jacket underneath his book bag, curling the leather up into a makeshift pillow before pressing it against the window and laying her head upon it. She closes her eyes, listening to the dull hum of the street lamp above her and the soft ruffling noise of Sam crawling over the seat to her. She keeps her eyes shut, too tired to talk to him at the moment.

Sam's arms slip around her waist, pulling her from where she rests against the window, holding her against him.

She moans, scrunching her nose up in disapproval. "Sam I'm sleeeeeeeeping."

He drapes this jacket across her shoulders, squeezing her tight. "No, you're talking. You will be sleeping soon, but not until I get comfortable."

Melody's hair falls across her face, blocking out the light as Sam kisses the top of her head.

"Ok, I'm good. You can sleep now," Sam announces before he starts to drift off to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Seven

Adam watches in the distance, a troubling smirk spreading across his face as he slides under Melody's car. Its sheer luck that he found them; if it hadn't been for the minimart clerk he would have never guessed that they were taking the highway south down to Iowa.

Adam smiles as he pulls a pocket knife out of his jeans, pressing it against the gas line in a rocking motion until the blade slices through the thick line. His jeans scrape against the pavement as he slides out from the car. He grabs a fist sized rock from the curb and sends it hurling through the driver's side window.

Sam jerks awake; the sound of breaking glass hitting the front seat startles him. He looks around the darkened parking lot, registering the familiar face of who was once Jet. He pushes Melody from his chest, his breath catching as he watches Adam walk toward them.

"Mmmm... Sam what's wrong?" Melody asks, moaning and stretching her arms above her head.

Sam grasps the door handle. "Jet's here."

She sits up, eyes in a panic. "How did he... there's no way he could have known where we were going..."

Sam shrugs. "I don't know..." he climbs from the car, slowly making his way to Adam."What the hell are you doing here?" he asks, fists clenched at his sides.

Adam grins, sinister and crooked. "Just here to claim what's mine."

Melody presses her face against the car window, her breath steaming the glass around her mouth. She can't make out the words being exchanged between Sam and Adam, but she can make out the fists ready to fly at both of the young men's sides. Her heart pounds against her chest as she watches Adam step back and kick the side of Sam's head, sending Sam to the hard pavement.

"SAM!" Melody screams, her hands trembling as she slams them against the window

Her skin begins to sweat and shiver; Adam's making his way towards her. She panics and climbs into the front seat, pumping the key in the ignition, praying for the engine to come alive, but it won't start. She lets out a scream right before Adam grabs her through the broken window.

"SAAAAAMMM! Help! Someone help!" she screams until her lungs are empty.

Adam slaps his hand over her mouth, pinching her nostrils shut. "Shhh, you don't want anyone to come and take you away from me, do you?"

Melody claws at his arms, her fingernails leaving thin, red streak marks as she tries to break free. Her heart pounds, the world around her blurs as her head throbs, her vision blackening right before she collapses in his arms. Adam smiles to himself as he slings her over his shoulder, casually sauntering off to his car.

.......................

Melody wakes up after who knows how many hour of being unconscious. Her head pulsates across her brow and her arms and legs ache. She rolls her head back and forth against the black pillow case.

"Where am I? Where's Sam? Why do I hurt?" she thinks to herself.

She tugs on her arm, trying to get it to come down from above her head but the harder she pulls on it the more something digs into her wrists. She looks up; her eyebrows rising in shock at the sight of industrial strength rope wrapped around her wrist and tied in knots around the bedpost. She looks at her other arm, also held tight to the bed post by ropes.

She jumps at the sound of Adam snoring in the silver painted chair next to the door. She tries to quietly untie one of her bindings with her finger nails but Adam is already waking up.

He smiles, standing to his feet. "Good morning."

Melody shrinks back against the pillows as he sits at the foot of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asks as his fingers trail across her legs, his breath heavy and minty as it fills the room.

Melody kicks and screams at him, as if to intensify how horrible she's feeling. "How do you think I feel, you psycho?"

He grabs her feet, his fingers digging into her ankles. "I'm trying to be nice! But I guess you don't want me to be," he yanks Melody's legs around before he ties them to the bed posts.

Tears of frustration run down Melody's face while she tries to pull her ankles free, jerking her body around every which way. She lets out an aggravated scream right before Adam tapes her mouth shut.

.......................

Sam finally wakes up on the cold pavement; the stars above him are still swirling in time with the thump of his pulse. He stands up, his legs weak beneath him.

"Melody?" he calls out.

The whole world is spinning and he can't remember how he ended up on the pavement or what he's doing at a rest stop.

A truck driver runs over to him, his beer cut bouncing underneath his flannel vest.

"You ok?" the man asks between pants.

Sam runs his fingers through his hair. "I don't know what happened... Jet was here and my car... he broke into my car and..." he trips over his feet as he runs to Melody's silver car. "He took Melody!"

The truck driver tries to calm him down, looking over the blood that is dripping down Sam's forehead. "Come on, let's get some coffee and see if we can make sense of this, but first you might want to get your head checked, you're a little bloody," the truck driver suggests, motioning to his semi truck.

Sam runs his fingers through his hair again, pulling his hand back to study his light skin and the dark red spots that are smeared across each finger. He willingly climbs into the cab of the semi truck, pushing the mess of wrappers and napkins off of the seat before the truck driver turns back onto the highway. It doesn't take them long to reach the small local diner.

Sam orders a short black coffee, taking big gulps of it while having random panic attacks. "He took Melody again! What is he doing to her? What has he already done to her? Is she ok? She's probably scared! I need to find her..." Sam shouts as he starts to stand up, ready to go hunt down Adam.

The truck driver grabs his arm. "Are you sure you're ok?"

Sam nods, even though his head is still slightly bleeding, and runs outside. He keeps running down the long, dark stretch of road, praying that it leads somewhere.

..................................

Melody's jaw screams with pain as she continues chewing through the duct tape, the taste of adhesive in her mouth makes her want to vomit. Adam comes back in the room after assessing the damage she had down when she kneed him in the groin.

He gently sits down next to her on the bed. "Can I get you anything?"

Melody glares, her eyes burn holes into him. Adam runs his hand across her face, slowly; Melody shakes her head at his touch, screaming, as small tears run down her cheek.

"I love you Melody," Adam rips the tape off of her mouth, waiting for her to respond.

She looks into Adam's beautiful eyes and confidently as she hisses, "I hate you. I wish you would die," she tries to bite him.

Adam shakes his head, his eyes sinking to a sad gray color. "How can you say that? I've done everything for you! I loved you and you act like..." his eyes pierce into her as he leans forward, wrapping his hand around her neck. "DIE!"

Melody kicks and screams, praying that Sam will find her, as she struggles for breath.

.............................

"Please God!" Sam prays aloud to himself as he runs, "Let me find her... let her be safe..."

Something warm and strong tugs on his soul, the trees and road beneath him blur until they're just smeared colors of green and gray. His arms still swing beside him and his feet slap against the asphalt until he opens his eyes. His feet slide across the tiles of Adam's apartment as he brings himself to a halt. He doesn't think for too long about how he has gotten here, there are more pressing matters. He jogs down the hallway, noticing the back of Adam's head in one of the rooms. His stomach burns when he sees how Adam is keeping Melody; he has his hands wrapped around her neck while she is tied to the bed. The room goes blurry, Sam's palms begin to sweat, and something in the back of his head gives him a shove as he attacks Adam. Sam's arms swing wildly, striking Adam's jaw, Adam fights back with intense velocity and strategy, while Sam fights with everything that he has.

Melody struggles to untie herself, her fingers slipping as realizes she can't hold consciousness much longer; her body slumps against the pillows as she passes out.

Adam smiles as he looks over at Melody, thinking that he has killed her. "You can have your girlfriend back, Sam."

Sam stands up, slowly walking over to where Melody lays, shaking with emotion. "Why would you do this? You said you wanted what's best for her and you thought that death is what she wanted?"

Adam sighs, acting as though the subject isn't worth his time, as he walks out of the room.

Sam gently unties Melody's limp figure, sliding her off of the bed and into his arms. His muscles shake as he looks at her purple wrists and ankles. His heart skips a beat when he notices her chest slowly rising and falling. He smiles through his veil of tears as he stands up and walks out of the apartment; he somehow ends up at Melody's house. He lays her down on her bed, kissing her cheek as she takes a sharp inhale.

His voice catches as he lets out an exhale, lying down next to her. "You scared me!" he says in between sharp intakes of breath.

Melody moans and rubs her head. "He... he tried to kill me because I didn't love him... and I said that I..."

Sam runs his hand across her forehead, so thankful she's ok. "He thinks you're dead, I don't think we'll see him ever again."

Melody smiles, joyful tears rain from her eyes as she leans into him. Sam is still shaking from that one big burst of adrenal that he had when he was fighting Adam; the veins in his neck pulsate. Melody holds him tighter as she attempts to calm him down.

"Thank you Sam," Melody cries, holding Sam close.

A shaky smile spreads across Sam's face as he laughs. "I love you."

She kisses his trembling cheek, running her hand up and down his back, trying to make him relax. He lays his head on her shoulder, taking deep relaxing breaths. She squeezes her arms tight around him in fears of getting taken away from him again.

Chapter Twenty- Eight

Adam scratches at the back of his neck, frustrated that he is still trapped inside of this godforsaken nightmare that is his life. His fingers fumble for the light switch of the room that once was full of his glass cases, but now is only occupied by one.

"It didn't work, I'm still cursed," he says as he shyly stands in front of the case.

Chloe barely registers him. "I'm sorry."

Adam nods, biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from screaming or crying, he doesn't know which. He rocks back and forth on his heels, trying to calm himself down, before he unlocks the door to Chloe's case.

Her head jerks up at him, surprised, as she looks for any signs of why he might need her. "What do you want?"

Jet reaches his hand out for her, knowing his boundaries with her. "Please Chloe, I'm not going to hurt you, I never have."

Her legs wobble as she stands up, slowly stretching her toes out as she walks; her feet making sweet contact with the cold tiles. She stands a few inches away from him, watching his eyes switch back and forth between bright blue and grey as he holds his arms out.

Her stomach clenches with uncertainty, she breaks eye contact with him as she feels the lump in her throat grow. "Adam..."

He shakes his head, stepping forward, making sure the distance between them is as few as possible. "No... I'm Jet. I'm only Adam when..." he licks his lips, talking about his split personality has never been a pleasant for him. "I have always been Jet to you. Please tell me why this hasn't been working? I thought I had love..."

Chloe shakes her head, her black hair swishing back and forth around her shoulders. "She had love, not with you but with Sam. Adam was controlling your sense of judgment, so Adam was in love with her, not you."

Jet leans back on his heels, the feeling of Adam making his way through his veins prickles through him, he hates it when Adam comes. "Did you love me?" he asks.

Chloe plays with the ends of her long hair, twisting the strands around her index finger; she can smell the icy, mint scent being pushed through Jet's pores. She won't have Jet much longer; Adam is coming.

She moves fast and swift, brushing his cheek gently against her knuckles, "Yes, and I still do," she kisses his cheek bone, tears blurring her vision as she slips back into the case; Jet's gone.

Adam watches her with a smirk. "Is that all you have for me, Chloe?"

She brushes her tears away, sitting back down on the glass floor. "Go away, Adam."

He winks at her before slowly exciting the room, leaving her sobbing in the dark.
Chapter Twenty- Nine

Sam and Melody don't see Adam for a few months, so they decide to carry on with the wedding. Melody is ecstatic; it is finally the day she will turn into Sam's wife, and never be taken from him again.

Melody fixes a fly away hair as she looks into the gigantic mirror that's frame is elaborate and painted white, its glamour flows throughout the hotel room. This is her dream wedding, in this palace like hotel with peach and rose scented candles lit everywhere as she gets ready.

She nervously runs her hands down her silk dress and peeks out the door, looking over the guests. Paisley colored dresses are adorned on her aunts and cousins; a simple yellow dress is worn by her mother who is speaking with them. Melody scans the room once more, looking over the happy, formally dressed crowd when she notices a haunting face.

Adam.

Her bridesmaids rush to her side as she begins to sway backwards.

"What's wrong, Melody?" says the closest maid, Kara; she pulls on her pink straps to make sure she doesn't slip out.

Melody steadies herself on the king-sized bed, resting on the white and gold sheets. "Get Sam for me, please."

Kara shakes her head, laughing. "You're not supposed to see him until the wedding!"

Tremors run through Melody's body as she looks up at Kara. "Please get him for me, I need him!"

Kara's eyebrows arch as she stumbles out of the room in search for Sam.

She finds him leaning against a yellow wall next to the door that leads to the altar, nervously playing with his camera.

Kara runs up to him, breathless. "Sam! Melody's freaking out, she says she needs you."

Sam nods, not needing an excuse to go see Melody. He hands Kara his camera before jogging up the marble stairs, cursing the black dress shoes that pinch his toes. He hesitantly raises his fist to knock on the white door with vines etched into it, old superstitions getting the best of him, but instead of giving in, he knocks.

She's breathtaking; the white corset style bodice clings to the curve of her waist as the skirt hangs from her hips in a puffy white cloud and flows down over her feet.

Her eyes are in a panicked rage as she stares up at him. "Sam! He's here! He's in the building, I saw him come in two minutes ago."

Sam's muscles twitch as he pulls himself away from how beautiful she looks. "Jet? He's here?"

She nods, her red curls bouncing back and forth with her head. He leans forward, quickly pecking her cheek before running back down the stairs.

Chester, who is donning a dark blue suit, is standing next to Kara, in deep conversation when Sam grabs his arm.

"Whoa is everything ok?" Chester asks once he has pulled his arm free.

Sam shakes his head, surveying the accumulating guests that are sitting in white painted lawn chairs down the aisle. "Jet's here."

Chester waves his hand in disbelief. "Wait, wait, wait. The guy that..."

Sam nods, spotting Adam standing in the corner of the room. Sam and Chester sneak up behind him, grabbing each of his arms as they pull him out of the hotel. Adam struggles against them, but Chester is, thankfully, stronger than he is.

They pin Adam's arms to the brick siding of the back of the hotel.

"What are you doing here!" Sam shouts.

Adam smiles as he casually rests the back of his head against the brick wall. "I'm here for the wedding. I'm a friend of the bride."

Sam rolls his eyes, pushing Adam's arms harder against the wall. "Can't you just leave her alone? Please, just stay away from her!"

Adam shakes his head, giving a cocky grin. "I don't think I can do that, Sam."

Sam lets out a grunt of frustration, shaking Adam's shoulders back and forth against the wall. "I apologized to you about your mom and you know I'm not the one who killed her! I came and begged for your mercy! But then you go and harass Melody. I was fine with you hating and trying to seek revenge on me, but leave Melody alone!"

Adam smiles down at Sam. "You know this has nothing to do with my mother."

Sam steps back, letting Adam slump against the wall, running his hands through his hair. "Please back off, we're getting married today, this is meant to be a happy day. Please leave, I never want to see you ever again."

Adam laughs, brushing his black sports coat sleeves. "Not going to happen, Sam... Sorry."

Sam screams, balling his fist as his side before beating it against Adam's face.

Chester grabs Sam's arms, pulling him away from Adam, whose nose and cheeks are bleeding as he crashes to the ground.

"Sam!" Chester yells as he pins Sam's arms against his chest. "Calm down!"

Sam takes a few deep breaths and pulls himself away from Chester, stomping back into the hotel. He massages his knuckles as he climbs back up the marbled stairs to Melody's room, the door is already open so he just walks in.

"He's gone," Sam announces.

Melody hugs him close, her white skirt flows around his legs. "Thank you."

He kisses her forehead and reluctantly leaves the room.



A black baby grand sits in the far corner of the ball room that Sam's dad had rented out for this special occasion, the young college pianist plays the traditional wedding march, his fingers gently stroke each key as though if he were to press too hard they'd break. The two large oak doors swing up, revealing a white dressed Melody, her arm wrapped around her father's.

Sam stands at the altar, holding his breath as he watches Melody's grand entrance. Bright red roses line the white cloth that leads from the door to the altar, each petal had fallen there from the basket of the young, blonde flower girl with a braid down her back.

Sam fixes his pasture, standing a little taller the closer and closer Melody gets, her hair in loose curls around her face and shoulders, a white lace veil pinned at the crown of her head. Her soft pink lips part in to as smile as she looks over her family and friends that had shown up while she was getting ready. She kisses her father's cheek as he hands her off to Sam. Her eyes fall upon Sam, her eyes misting over, no other word but dashing comes to her mind. His hair combed back out of his face, his black tie strait, his tux hanging perfectly off of his shoulders and down his arms. Melody spots out Sam's bound fist, happiness turning into curiosity.

She stands beside him, whispering through her smiling teeth. "What happened to your knuckles?"

He smiles back. "Long story, I'll explain it later."

She eyes him for a moment before bringing her attention back to the pastor as he speaks, his eyes looking over the room past the rim of his glasses.

The pastor smiles, looking at the both of them as he speaks, "We are joined here today in holy matrimony..."
Chapter Thirty

"They're married," Jet says as he walks around his trophy room.

Chloe watches him, his feet dragging behind him as he walks to her.

"How'd you mess your face up?" she asks, leaning against the glass, trying to reach him.

He runs a hand across his face. "Sam. When Adam took control of me... he decided to finally bash my face in."

She sighs, leaning her face against the glass; goose bumps prickle her forearms. "I would too if you tried to take someone I loved away from me."

Jet's pulse quickens, he knows it's not Adam he feels inside of him this time, and that he won't be around for awhile, so he grabs the latch to the door. It clicks open in front of Chloe.

"But I did. Well, at least Adam did," Jet admits.

Chloe stretches her feet as she walks to him. "No, you're still here."

Jet looks to the side, biting his lip, trying to fight back emotions he can't begin to describe. "Are you sure?"

She nods, pushing her head against his chest. "Just let me out... I can save you..."

His breath shakes as he wraps his arms around her waist. "Ok, you have to be fast though; I can't hold Adam off much longer."

Chloe pulls back, nodding as she softly laces her fingers with his, leading him to his front door. She stands in the open door way, holding both of his smooth hands in hers.

"I'll find you, and I'll save you. I promise," she stands on her tippy toes, softly kissing him before pulling back. "I love you Jet."

She walks down the hallway, light beeping noises and someone calling her name taints the air around her. She closes her eyes as the white cloud tugs on her heart, her skin feels dry and tight and something around her smells of dying flowers. She opens her eyes to find her mother leaning over her.

"CHLOE! Oh, Chloe you're awake!" her mother shouts as she places kisses all over Chloe's face, crying as she strokes her hair, "Oh sweetie how are you feeling?"

Chloe sits up, looking over at how her bedroom has been transformed into a hospital room. "I'm fine."

Her mother looks her over. "Honey you've been in a coma for years! Now you're saying you're fine?"

Chloe nods, standing from her bed. "Yes, now I need to find Jet."

She begins grabbing cloths out of her closet, pulling the IV from her arm as she slips her favorite hoodie over her head. Her mother comes up behind her.

"Oh honey, don't you remember? Jet's missing... they haven't found him in all these years," her mother gently explains, trying to coax Chloe back to her bed.

Chloe shakes her head, smiling. "No, I know where he is."

She tugs her jeans on and walks out of her room, grabbing her keys, which are still hanging from the hook where she had hung them so many years ago.

Her mother is running after her, screaming, "Chloe he's gone! Please come back!"

But Chloe is already in her car, pulling it out of the drive way and driving the few blocks between her and the hotel where Melody and Sam had gotten married yesterday.

Chapter Thirty-One

Melody wakes up the next morning with a sense of peace and security warm in her belly. She rolls over; the soft white sheets twisting around her legs as she nestles her head against Sam's chest. He moans, his eyes slowly flickering open, looking up at Melody's mess of red strains of hair sticking up every which way.

"Good morning Misses Winters," Sam happily sings.

Melody blushes, keeping her face a few inches from his. "Good morning Mister Winters."

Sam rolls over onto his side. "Ugh, I feel unbelievably corny today."

Melody laughs, hugging him close. "Ha! Yeah. Hey Sam?"

He rolls his head to the side of the pillow to look at her. "Yeeeeees?"

Melody giggles. "I wove you."

Sam rolls his eyes, using his fingers to mess with her hair. "Correction, you're corny," he lifts her chin up, kissing her quickly, locking his fingers gently in her hair. "I love you."

She opens her mouth, ready to respond, when there's a knock at the door.

"Housekeeping!" shouts the voice on the other side of the door.

Sam looks at Melody, perplexed. "Didn't the cleaning lady already come by?"

Melody nods, peeking over Sam's shoulders at the door as someone knocks again.

He scratches his head, sitting himself up on his elbow. "You order something?" he asks Melody.

She shakes her head as Sam shouts over his shoulder, "I think you've got the wrong room!"

The person on the other side of the door laughs. "Nope!"

The door flies open, banging against the side of the wall. Melody clings to the sheets of the bed as Adam marches over to them. Her right hand grips onto Sam's upper arm.

"I thought I got rid of you," Sam growls.

Adam smirks, eyeing the two of them. "Well then I guess you'll have trouble taking out the trash now won't you?"

Sam's muscles tighten. "Get out of here, now!"

Adam sits down at the end of the bed, "Hmm... nah I think I'll stay here."

Sam jumps from the bed, shoving Adam off of the edge. "Don't make me kill you!"

Melody crawls to the end of the bed and pulls Sam back to her, speaking in a soft yet forceful voice. "Stop, stop now. Please you guys are hurting me so much. I love Sam, Jet you just have to realize that you don't want what you think you want."

Adam shakes his head, climbing back up on the bed. "I'm not 'Jet' I am Adam and I know what I want, and I'll get it."

Melody lays her head on Sam's shoulder. "Jet, all you want is your mom back, you think that she's the only person that has ever loved you, but you're wrong,"

Sam nods, seeing where Melody is going with this. "I loved you like you were my own brother!"

"And I loved you," a gentle voice says from door way.

Adam turns around, his breath catching at the back of his dry throat. "Chloe..."

Sam sits back down next to Melody, whispering to her. "That's Chloe... she's been in a coma for years."

Adam stands up shaking and holds onto his head as he screams, "No! No, no, no!"

Chloe walks up to him. "Jet, please."

Adam shakes his head, standing up and backing up to the window. "It's Adam, not Jet!"

Melody slides under the sheets, becoming uncomfortable with having two people in her hotel room while she's with her new husband.

Chloe holds her hand out. "Jet, please, I love you, but this isn't you."

Something inside of him breaks, letting in just enough light for him to see Chloe.

"I-I..." Jet stutters.

Chloe smiles, taking two steps forward, looking down at Sam and Melody, "Melody, you know of his curse but there's more to it... There's something that happens, he calls himself Adam and that's when he gets like this. But Jet," Chloe blushes. "My Jet, he's nothing like that, he's amazing."

Jet collapses next to the window. "Chloe..."

She grabs his shoulders, lifting him up. "I'm so sorry, I'll take him."

Sam puts an arm on Jet's shoulder. "I need to talk with him, meet me in the lobby?"

Chloe nods and takes Jet out the door, shutting it behind her.

Melody holds Sam's waist tightly. "Wow. That was..."

Sam kisses her, his lips tremble. "I know. I need to go and talk to him," he goes to climb out of the bed, but Melody grabs his shoulder.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" she asks.

He smiles, kissing her again. "No, I love you Melody. I'm sorry this isn't the best morning-after-the-wedding that you deserve."

He pushes his hands through her hair before reaching for his shirt.



Sam runs his fingers through his hair, fixing it as the elevator dings with each floor it passes. He walks pass the ballroom he was married in last night; the feeling of joy and love is still flowing through him.

Jet sits with Chloe at a small white cloth covered table; he holds his forehead in his palms while Chloe rubs his back, saying something too soft for Sam to hear.

"Jet," Sam pulls up a polished brown chair. "Can we talk?"

Chloe stands up. "I'll leave you too alone."

Jet stirs his lemon water with a straw, apologetically looking up at Sam. "I am so sorry for all I have put you and Melody through, I just don't know what I'm doing, and I'm so confused!"

Sam nods; the smell of breakfast hangs in the air and makes his stomach growl. "Thanks for the apology."

Sam looks at his fingers, wondering if Jet is going to apologize for something else that he had done that posed some uncomfortable feelings last night.

Jet's eyes fill with even more regret. "Oh, and um, I'm sorry about sleeping with Melody... um... she and you are married now and that's so weird and I feel wrong and..."

Sam smiles, even though the thought still hurts him, and reaches across the table and patting Jet's shoulder. "Calm down!"

He nods, taking a few deep breaths as he looks down at his iced cup of lemon water. "Ask me anything and I'll answer it."

Sam leans back against the chair, staring out the window on the far side of the room at the changing leaves of the oak tree. "How did you get into Melody's dreams?"

Jet shrugs, forcing out a low laugh. "I have no idea, somehow I end up in girls dreams, usually everything takes place at my apartment," he pauses. "I was told that I couldn't live a normal, happy life until I learned what love is. I know it sounds like something out of a child's fairytale but it's true."

Sam leans against the table, looking over at where Melody and Chloe stand. "I think you have been loved. And you're learning to show it, so that's a start."

Melody fidgets by the glass doors that leads out to the parking lot, Sam and her suitcases sit by her feet.

Sam looks down at his watch, the leather band sliding down his wrist when he raises his arm. "Oh hey, Melody and I have a plane to catch so I'll talk to you later."

The two of them stand up in unison. Jet hesitantly leans forward, hugging Sam. Sam, shocked at first with his arms stiffly held at his sides, but soon gives in and hugs Jet back. Jet pulls back, looking over at Melody then back to Sam.

"Can I say something to Melody?" he asks.

Sam looks over at her; she shifts her weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "If she'll talk to you."

Melody watches cautiously as Jet approaches her. He stops a foot in front of her, locking eyes. "I'm so sorry for everything that I have done to you; I wish I could take it back you don't know how badly I do... I understand if you don't forgive me."

Melody looks at him in shock. "Um, thank you, I forgive you."

Jet smiles and steps back, letting Sam wrap his arms around Melody's waist,. "Have fun," he waves good bye as Chloe laces finger with him.

Sam bends down and kisses Melody's cheek. "He's free," he whispers.

Melody smiles and jumps into the cab that will take them to the airport.

"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

