Dream Haunter (6 page)

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.