Dream Haunter (17 page)

………………………………
.

“
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.