Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One

by Wendi Wilson

  When the bell rang to signal the end of class, Melanie stayed where she was while the rest of the students filed out. She didn’t even look up, knowing he would speak when he was ready. One minute passed, then two. Finally he called her name.

  “Melanie, come here.”

  She gathered her book and notebook and dumped them into her backpack. Staring at her feet, she slowly walked to the front of the room and stopped by his desk. Her breathing was fast and shallow. Fear held her in its icy grip and she couldn’t figure out why.

  “Look at me.”

  His voice was gruff and firm and brooked no resistance. She’d never heard him speak that way before, yet it held some note of familiarity. She slowly raised her eyes to his and gasped at what she saw there. The anger was palpable.

  “This is unacceptable. First, you were very obviously daydreaming instead of paying attention in my class, and then, to add insult to injury, you pull your phone out to stare at a love note?”

  The way he said love made it sound like a dirty word. His breathing escalated and his next words were punctuated by rough bursts of air.

  “Unacceptable!” he continued. “You. Will. Pay. Attention. To. Me. Do you understand me, little girl?”

  Melanie nodded her head vigorously and turned toward the door, ready to run. Mr. Hughes grabbed her wrist roughly and it felt like her shoulder might pop out of joint. She looked at the hand on her arm, fear making her eyes wild, before she glanced back at his face. Confusion overtook her as she saw that the anger in his ice blue eyes had been replaced by a look of smug satisfaction. He slapped her cell phone into her hand and released her. She backed away slowly and he smiled.

  “Have a good day, Miss Johnson,” she heard as she turned and ran out into the hallway.

  She went straight to the nurse’s office and asked to call home. Her mom had the day off from the nursing home, so Melanie knew she’d be at home, curled up on the couch reading one of her trashy romance novels. Sure enough, she picked up on the second ring.

  “Mom, can you please come pick me up?”

  “What’s wrong baby? Are you sick?”

  “I have a terrible headache and I feel a little nauseous. Can you please come?”

  “I’ll be there in ten.”

  Melanie hid in the nurse’s office until she heard her name called over the school’s intercom speakers. She walked as quickly as she could to the front office, but slowed as the path took her by her English classroom. Mr. Hughes had a planning period during second and she hoped he had stepped out for the hour. As she passed by, the door swung open and he walked out into the hallway and into her path. She had to stop or plow right into him.

  “Melanie, is everything okay?”

  He sounded sincere, but his eyes were slightly squinty and his lips were pinched together. He tapped the toe of his shoe on the floor with agitation.

  “My mom is here to pick me up. Headache.”

  He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. It took all she had not to jerk away from his touch.

  “Well, I hope you feel better soon. It would be a shame if you had to miss my class.”

  He squeezed her shoulder again, nearly too hard, and winked at her before he removed his hand. His slipped back into his room and shut the door firmly behind him.

  Melanie’s stomach cramped and she started dry heaving in the middle of the hallway. Luckily there was no food in her stomach, or else the school janitor would have had a mess to clean up. She wobbled to the wall of lockers and rested her forehead against one, taking deep breaths, trying to get herself under control. She couldn’t let her mom see her like this.

  After gulping in a few more deep breaths, she straightened. Melanie stared at the closed door to the classroom. Her eyes pooled with tears and she shook her head in disbelief.

  “It can’t be,” she whispered.

  She didn’t want to believe it, but deep down she knew. She knew it when she heard his voice laced with anger. She knew it when he used the same words he used that night. Words he said right after he threatened to kill her if she screamed.

  “Do you understand me, little girl?”

  Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. Melanie’s stomach heaved again. Oh God, Oh God, Oh God.

  Her mind churned the phrase over and over again as she tried to regain her equilibrium. She started stumbling toward the office, but stopped and pulled out her phone instead. She needed to tell Jeremy. He might not get her text right away if he was still out running with his parents, but she knew he’d call or come to her as soon as he got it.

  Before she could pull up his number, though, her phone dinged with an incoming text. She unlocked the screen and stared at it. Her numbed fingers barely kept their grip on her phone as she read the words on the screen.

  Unknown Caller: 912-555-8782

  “Tell anyone and you’re dead.”

  Chapter 21

  “Hey, babe.”

  “Hey! How was your day? Did you have fun with your parents?”

  Melanie knew she sounded slightly manic, but she was determined to keep the distress out of her voice. She couldn’t get that text out of her head.

  Tell anyone, and you’re dead.

  When her mom brought her home from school, she went straight to her room and burrowed under the covers on her bed. She had stared at the text all afternoon, her emotions flashing from disbelief to fear to miserable resignation. She couldn’t tell anyone or he would kill her.

  “It was fun. You okay? You sound funny.”

  “Um, yeah, yeah, I’m okay. I came home from school early today with a headache, but I’m doing better now.”

  “You want me to come over?”

  “No!” she yelled. Then more calmly, “I mean, no, that’s okay. I’m already in bed and my mom is checking up on me every hour. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

  “Okay,” he said skeptically. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye.”

  After saying goodbye and hanging up, Melanie felt miserable. She hated lying to him, not to mention she was horrible at it. That’s why she didn’t want him to come over. If he saw her face, he’d know immediately that she was lying, if he didn’t already. She had no idea how she was going to face him tomorrow. In first period. With Mr. Hughes.

  “Oh, God,” she moaned into her pillow. “What am I going to do?”

  Melanie jerked upright as her phone beeped out her text message alert. She had to force herself to look at it, fearing that it was another message from him. She realized he must have gotten her number when he confiscated her phone in class. She was freaking out that now she’d have to live with threatening texts and phone calls in addition to the creepy gifts in her locker.

  Well, that solves the mystery of how the stalker got my locker combination, she thought. He probably got it from the front office.

  “What’s up? You feeling any better?”

  Melanie sighed in relief when she read the text from Tara. Then she tensed up again. She had to lie, again.

  “Still got a headache.”

  “Chris just texted me. J said you were acting weird.”

  “Just not feeling 2 good.”

  “Ok, girlie. I’ll let u sleep. See u in the morning?”

  “Yeah. Should be good 2 go.”

  “K. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  Melanie threw her phone on the bed in frustration. She had no idea how she was going to face her friends tomorrow, much less Mr. Hughes. Jeremy being in class with her made it twice as daunting. She thought maybe she should continue to fake being sick in the morning. Her mom would believe her and she could just hide in bed all day.

  Her phone beeped, and she picked it up thinking it would be Tara again. As she unlocked the screen, her eyes widened in horror.

  Unknown Caller: 912-555-8782

  “I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

  She dropped the phone like it burned her, and as it hit the bed it beeped again. She slowly reached for it, afraid to look, but more afraid not
to.

  Unknown Caller: 912-555-8782

  “Don’t ignore me, baby. I want you so very much.”

  With tears filling her eyes, she decided to plead with him to leave her alone. She didn’t know what else to do.

  “Please, leave me alone. Please.”

  “Oh, how I love it when you beg. You don’t know what it does to me.”

  “Stop texting me!!!”

  “My only love sprang from my only hate- Romeo and Juliet. You may think you hate me now, but you will love me, soon. We are the perfect match, you and I. I know what you need, Melanie. You need a strong hand to lead you into the throes of ecstasy. I can teach you so, so many things about the pleasures of pain. I will teach you those lessons in the very near future.”

  Melanie was sobbing now, trying to stay quiet so her mom wouldn’t hear. She decided not to text him again, thinking that her responses were only encouraging him. Her hands were shaking so badly that she wouldn’t have been able to tap the right letters anyway. Regardless, her phone beeped again.

  “If I see Jeremy touch you again, I’ll break all his fingers. You are mine and you better not forget it again. With that, I’ll give with another quote from Shakespeare to mull over-These violent delights have violent ends. Good night, Melanie.”

  “Oh, God, what should I do?” she whispered to herself.

  She knew, logically that she should tell everyone the truth. Jeremy would protect her, Tara would shield her, and her mom would call the police.

  She had no proof. She used the search engine on her phone to look up the phone number and all that came up was one of those companies that sells throw-away phones at convenience stores. There was no way to trace it back to Mr. Hughes. If the police couldn’t lock him up, he would be free to come after her. Or Tara. Or Jeremy.

  How am I supposed to keep Jeremy from touching me without telling him why?

  She stared at the ceiling as she thought it over. There was only one way to protect him, and it devastated her. She was going to have to do the last thing in the world she wanted to do- break things off with him.

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  The next morning, Melanie got up extra early, despite having no sleep. She had dark bags under her swollen, red eyes. She laid awake all night, forming a plan of attack for today. She knew she had to do something, anything, to protect the ones she loved. Even if that meant hurting them in the process.

  She threw her sunglasses on as Tara pulled into her driveway. She hopped in and buckled her seat belt, but Tara just put the car in park and stared at her.

  “What?”

  “Don’t ‘what’ me, Mel. What’s wrong with you? You look like crap,” she said as she reached over and yanked the glasses from Melanie’s face.

  “I was up all night crying, obviously,” Melanie deadpanned.

  “Why were you crying? What’s the matter?”

  “I’m going to break up with Jeremy today.”

  “What?!? Why would you do a stupid thing like that?”

  Melanie took a deep breath. It was do or die time.

  “It’s that family secret I told you about. I thought I could handle it, but I can’t. It’s just too much.”

  “Are you sure? You said before-”

  “I know what I said!” Melanie interrupted with a shout. “Sorry,” she said quietly. “I thought I could, but I can’t. I really can’t talk about it. I’m sorry.”

  Tara threw Melanie’s sunglasses into her lap and put the car in reverse. “Okay,” was all she said, but Melanie could tell she was upset. They didn’t speak again until Tara pulled the car into a parking spot at school.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I know what I have to do.”

  Tara reached over and grabbed Melanie’s hand and squeezed it. “Well, I’m here for you if you need me.”

  “Thanks, Tara.”

  Melanie’s car door opened and Jeremy stuck his head in and quickly kissed her on the cheek. Melanie reared back and anxiously looked around to make sure Mr. Hughes wasn’t in sight. She hopped out of the car and slammed the door, then put a few feet distance between them. Jeremy took a step toward her and she took a step back.

  “What’s the matter, Mel?” He looked from her to Tara and back to her again. “Did I do something wrong?”

  “Bye, Mel. I’ll talk to you later,” Tara said as she walked away, presumably to go find Chris and tell him what was going on.

  “Mel, look at me,” he said when she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

  On a big breath, she blurted out “I want to break up.”

  Jeremy’s head reared back as if she had struck him. He looked at her incredulously for a few seconds before asking, “Why?”

  “I just do, okay?”

  “No, not okay. You need to tell me what brought this on. This is so far out of left field, I…I just don’t understand.”

  “I can’t handle it.”

  “Can’t handle what?”

  “The thing. You know, the secret. I thought I could, but I can’t. It’s too weird. So please, just accept this and leave me alone.”

  “Mel,” he said gently, taking another step toward her, reaching his hand out as if to touch her.

  “No!” she shouted. “Leave it, Jeremy. I’m done.”

  With that, she turned and walked away, trying uselessly to stop the tears that were leaving wet trails down her cheeks.

  Chapter 22

  After spending ten useless minutes in the girls’ bathroom trying to calm herself down, Melanie had to run to first period to make it in time for the bell. A quick glance around the room showed her that Jeremy wasn’t there yet. She walked quickly, with her head down, toward her desk. She especially wasn’t ready to glance at Mr. Hughes yet.

  As she sat down, she caught movement from the corner of her eye and instinctively looked toward it. Jeremy stood in the doorway looking everywhere but at her. He walked in and headed to the other side of the room, to the only empty desk besides his normal seat behind her. Melanie saw Sissy look back and forth between them, a smile on her lips.

  Great. Now she’ll start hounding me again. Just what I need on top of everything else.

  To get her eyes off of Jeremy and Sissy, she looked toward the front of the classroom. Mr. Hughes was staring at Jeremy with one side of his mouth turned up in a smug grin. He turned his head and caught her eye, giving an almost imperceptible nod of approval. Melanie dropped her gaze to her desktop and tried not to look at him again.

  He must have realized she was on the edge, because he refrained from calling on her during class or acknowledging her in any way. When the bell rang, she shoved her stuff into her backpack and raced for the door, intent on escaping before anyone tried to speak to her. She made it out into the hall and to her locker without incident, switched her English book for math, and dashed to her second period class.

  Tara tried to talk to Melanie during class, but she pretended not to hear her whispered inquiries as to how she was holding up. She made it through class without having to speak, then practically ran to band. Her luck held out, and she sat down just as the director started warming them up with some scales.

  After the hour was over, Melanie lingered in her chair. She was in no hurry to go to lunch and face the masses. She usually sat with Tara, who sat with Chris, who sat with Jeremy. Just thinking about the cafeteria politics was giving her a headache. She decided to just skip lunch and head to the library instead.

  As she snapped her flute case closed and stood to leave, the door to the band room swung open and Sissy Woods walked in like a queen. Melanie groaned inwardly and braced herself for the verbal attack that she knew was coming.

  “So, Piglet, trouble in paradise?”

  “Leave me alone, Sissy.”

  “What, you don’t want to talk about it? I knew Jeremy’s stint at slumming it with you wouldn’t last long. I’m sure he just felt sorry for you, being so fat and ugly and all.”

  “Shut up, Sissy.” Melanie could
feel the blood rushing through her veins as her anger built.

  Sissy went on as if she hadn’t even spoken. “I mean, seriously, you and Jeremy Stevens? Let’s be honest, shall we? He would never want someone who looked like you. He was faking it, Melanie.”

  The use of her real name, rather than the offensive nickname, drove her point home. Melanie’s breath came in short bursts as she dropped her backpack and instrument. Clenching her hands at her sides, the whooshing sound in her ears intensified as her blood pressure rose.

  “Shut up, Sissy. I mean it.”

  “Or what? What are you going to do, Piglet? Are you going to cry? Do you think Jeremy will come to your rescue again if you cry? Not likely. He’s finished with his charity work and now he’ll come back to me. Right where he always wanted to be.”

  Before Sissy could even finish that last sentence, Melanie attacked. With a harsh growl, she shoved Sissy as hard as she could, which sent her sprawling across the floor. Before she even hit the ground Melanie was on top of her, slapping her across the face once, then twice, then three times. Before she could go for a fourth someone came into the room yelling, and she felt hands trying to pull her away from Sissy as she fought to stay and dole out more punishment.

  She snarled and fought the hands that pulled her across the room. She was shoved down into a chair and the red haze that had clouded her vision started to dissipate. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head to clear it, then looked around the room. Chris was standing beside her with one hand on her shoulder. He was the one who had pulled her off Sissy.

  Tara was squatting on the floor in front of her, holding her hands and talking in soothing tones, trying to pull her out of her stupor. Melanie still couldn’t understand a word she said though, because the blood was still pounding in her ears.

  Melanie looked toward the door and saw Jeremy standing just inside, a shuttered look on his face. Sissy was in his face, squawking like a chicken about being attacked and pressing charges. Jeremy wasn’t even looking at her, but at the floor where Melanie had pushed her down. After a few more seconds, he looked at Melanie with a frown on his face, then grabbed Sissy’s hand and dragged her from the room.