Dream Haunter (5 page)

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.”