Dream Haunter by Shayna Corinne

out into a run, away from Jet, away from Sam, while Sam
slowly climbs out of the car, casually walking to Jet.
    He stops a few yards away from him.
“Why did you bring her into this, Jet?” Sam shouts.
      Jet makes his way over
to Sam, panting as he leans over his knees. “Don’t call me that.
I’m Adam. And I didn't try to, I loved her before I even knew that
she was yours,” Jet
pants.                          
    “ But when you found out
about us….”  Sam says, his fists at his side.
      Adam smirks. “That was
just the icing on the cake. I got a girl and revenge, all in one
swoop.”
      Memories of he and
Jet, the real Jet, fill Sam’s mind; all the times they had snuck
out for a concert their parents didn't approve of, playing guitar
together. Sam pushes them away, coming back to the current conflict
they are having, who Jet really is: Adam.
    “ Would you die for her?” Sam
asks.
      Adam’s eyebrow rises
in an arch. “What? Um…well…”
    Sam clinches his fist, his
nails digging into his palm. “Would you die for her?” he demands.
      A branch snaps under
someone’s foot by the car, drawing Adam and Sam’s attention away
from each other. Adam stomps over to where Melody is crouched
beside Sam’s car, grabbing her by the crook of her arm and dragging
her to where Sam stands. Sam thinks through a plan, trying to
figure out how to get Adam to stop touching her.
    Adam pulls out his
pocketknife and puts it to her neck. “Would you die for her, Sam?” he
asks.
    Sam’s eyes stare at the way the little
light shining through the clouds bounce off of the sharp, wooden
handled, knife and onto the skin of Melody’s neck.
    Sam steps forward, puffing
his chest out. “Yes, because I truly love her,” he says
confidently.
      Jet’s eyes become
panicked as his mind tries to grasp onto something that would get
him out of the situation, scotch free, while still pissing off Sam.
He thrusts the end of the bat into Sam’s side, right below his
ribcage, while sliding his tongue down Melody’s throat.
    Her skin feels like it’s being peeled
from her shaking bones as she claws at his chest, screaming and
grunting until she slips free of his arms.
    Sam straightens up, grunting at the
pain that throbs in his stomach and steals his breath. He lets his
fist fly through the air before it smashes into the side of Adam’s
face. He grabs a fist full of Melody’s t-shirt and he pulls her
against his chest; she thuds against his chest as Adam takes off
down the hill, tripping over his feet before turning the
corner.
    Sam wraps an arm tightly around
Melody’s waist and places his other hand on the back of her head,
hugging her as close as he can. She sobs against his white cotton
t-shirt, wiping her eyes against the shirt before looking up at
him.
    “ You would die for me?” she
asks sheepishly.
      He rests his chin on
top of her head, feeling like he is breathing for the first time in
months. “Any day.”
    Melody’s heart leaps, trying to break
through the thin barrier that is keeping it from Sam’s.
    ……………………………… ..
    Melody and Sam fall asleep on the beat
up orange couch in Sam’s apartment.
    Something heavy and hot burns its way
into Melody’s lungs, awakening her from her comfortable sleep next
to Sam. Her eyes burn against the heavy smoke that is blowing its
way through Sam flat; Sam moans in his sleep, not being jerked
awake by the heat of the yellow-orange glow. Melody’s eyes find the
source of the smoke: a small note slid under the door. She jumps
from the couch- her heart pounding with panic due to her lungs
filling up with smoke- running to the smoking paper as she screams
at Sam to wake up.
    Sam jerks awake, suddenly alert, as he
takes in the smoke and fire that are climbing its way through his
apartment. Melody stomps out the paper, coughing and eyes burning,
but the fire has worked its way across the apartment from randomly
tossed papers on the