Dream Haunter (2 page)

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.