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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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, befor
e 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.”
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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”.