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.
She jumps at the sound of Adam snoring in the silver painted chair next to the door. She tries to quietly untie one of her bindings with her finger nails but Adam is already waking up.
He smiles, standing to his feet. “Good morning.”
Melody shrinks back against the pillows as he sits at the foot of the bed.
“How are you feeling?” he asks as his fingers trail across her legs, his breath heavy and minty as it fills the room.
Melody kicks and screams at him, as if to intensify how horrible she’s feeling. “How do you think I feel, you psycho?”
He grabs her feet, his fingers digging into her ankles. “I'm trying to be nice! But I guess you don’t want me to be,” he yanks Melody’s legs around before he ties them to the bed posts.
Tears of frustration run down Melody’s face while she tries to pull her ankles free, jerking her body around every which way. She lets out an aggravated scream right before Adam tapes her mouth shut.
…………………..
Sam finally wakes up on the cold pavement; the stars above him are still swirling in time with the thump of his pulse. He stands up, his legs weak beneath him.
“Melody?” he calls out.
The whole world is spinning and he can’t remember how he ended up on the pavement or what he’s doing at a rest stop.
A truck driver runs over to him, his beer cut bouncing underneath his flannel vest.
“You ok?” the man asks between pants.
Sam runs his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know what happened... Jet was here and my car… he broke into my car and…” he trips over his feet as he runs to Melody’s silver car. “He took Melody!”
The truck driver tries to calm him down, looking over the blood that is dripping down Sam’s forehead. “Come on, let’s get some coffee and see if we can make sense of this, but first you might want to get your head checked, you’re a little bloody,” the truck driver suggests, motioning to his semi truck.
Sam runs his fingers through his hair again, pulling his hand back to study his light skin and the dark red spots that are smeared across each finger. He willingly climbs into the cab of the semi truck, pushing the mess of wrappers and napkins off of the seat before the truck driver turns back onto the highway. It doesn’t take them long to reach the small local diner.
Sam orders a short black coffee, taking big gulps of it while having random panic attacks. “He took Melody again! What is he doing to her? What has he already done to her? Is she ok? She’s probably scared! I need to find her…” Sam shouts as he starts to stand up, ready to go hunt down Adam.
The truck driver grabs his arm. “Are you sure you’re ok?”
Sam nods, even though his head is still slightly bleeding, and runs outside. He keeps running down the long, dark stretch of road, praying that it leads somewhere.
………..…………………..
Melody’s jaw screams with pain as she continues chewing through the duct tape, the taste of adhesive in her mouth makes her want to vomit. Adam comes back in the room after assessing the damage she had down when she kneed him in the groin.
He gently sits down next to her on the bed. “Can I get you anything?”
Melody glares, her eyes burn holes into him. Adam runs his hand across her face, slowly; Melody shakes her head at his touch, screaming, as small tears run down her cheek.
“I love you Melody,” Adam rips the tape off of her mouth, waiting for her to respond.
She looks into Adam’s beautiful eyes and confidently as she hisses, “I hate you. I wish you would die,” she tries to bite him.
Adam shakes his head, his eyes sinking to a sad gray color. “How can you say that? I’ve done everything for you! I loved you and you act like…” his eyes pierce into her as he leans forward, wrapping his hand around her neck. “DIE!”
Melody kicks and screams, praying that Sam will find her, as she struggles for breath.
………………………..
“Please God!” Sam prays aloud to himself as he runs, “Let me find her… let her be safe…”
Something warm and strong tugs on his soul, the trees and road beneath him blur until they’re just smeared colors of green and gray. His arms still swing beside him and his feet slap against the asphalt until he opens his eyes. His feet slide across the tiles of Adam’s apartment as he brings himself to a halt. He doesn’t think for too long about how he has gotten here, there are more pressing matters. He jogs down the hallway, noticing the back of Adam’s head in one of the rooms. His stomach burns when he sees how Adam is keeping Melody; he has his hands wrapped around her neck while she is tied to the bed. The room goes blurry, Sam’s palms beg
in to sweat, and something in the back of his head gives him a shove as he attacks Adam. Sam’s arms swing wildly, striking Adam’s jaw, Adam fights back with intense velocity and strategy, while Sam fights with everything that he has.
Melody struggles to untie herself, her fingers slipping as realizes she can’t hold consciousness much longer; her body slumps against the pillows as she passes out.
Adam smiles as he looks over at Melody, thinking that he has killed her. “You can have your girlfriend back, Sam.”
Sam stands up, slowly walking over to where Melody lays, shaking with emotion. “Why would you do this? You said you wanted what’s best for her and you thought that death is what she wanted?”
Adam sighs, acting as though the subject isn't worth his time, as he walks out of the room.
Sam gently unties Melody’s limp figure, sliding her off of the bed and into his arms. His muscles shake as he looks at her purple wrists and ankles. His heart skips a beat when he notices her chest slowly rising and falling. He smiles through his veil of tears as he stands up and walks out of the apartment; he somehow ends up at Melody’s house. He lays her down on her bed, kissing her cheek as she takes a sharp inhale.
His voice catches as he lets out an exhale, lying down next to her. “You scared me!” he says in between sharp intakes of breath.
Melody moans and rubs her head. “He… he tried to kill me because I didn't love him… and I said that I…”
Sam runs his hand across her forehead, so thankful she’s ok. “He thinks you’re dead, I don’t think we’ll see him ever again.”
Melody smiles, joyful tears rain from her eyes as she leans into him. Sam is still shaking from that one big burst of adrenal that he had when he was fighting Adam; the veins in his neck pulsate. Melody holds him tighter as she attempts to calm him down.
“Thank you Sam,” Melody cries, holding Sam close.
A shaky smile spreads across Sam’s face as he laughs. “I love you.”
She kisses his trembling cheek, running her hand up and down his back, trying to make him relax. He lays his head on her shoulder, taking deep relaxing breaths. She squeezes her arms tight around him in fears of getting taken away from him again.