by Wendi Wilson
Just like Jeremy said, she thought. No more hiding in the shadows.
“This ends tonight,” she said to her reflection in the mirror.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“I still can’t believe you wore that,” Tara complained as they sat side by side on the couch in Chris’s living room.
“Tara, please, just drop it. I told you I would come, but I am not going to sit here and listen to you whine all night about my clothing choices. You know where my head has been lately. I just can’t get over it and move on right now.”
“Sorry,” Tara said sadly. “Really, Mel, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t ride you about stupid things right now. Forgive me?”
“Of course,” Melanie said, bumping her shoulder against Tara’s.
“So,” she lowered her voice to a near whisper, “have you gotten anything else in your locker?”
“Nothing,” Melanie whispered back.
“Well then,” Tara said a little louder, “maybe it’s over.”
“Maybe,” Melanie replied, trying to sound unconvinced. She knew it was over, or would be later tonight.
As soon as the word left her mouth, the front door opened. Melanie tried to conceal her predatory smile as Sissy Woods walked in and surveyed the room.
Perfect timing, she thought.
“What the hell is she doing here? I swear Mel, nobody invited her,” Tara said angrily as she stood up and prepared to march over and kick Sissy right back out the door.
Melanie grabbed her hand and yanked her back down onto the couch. Tara struggled, trying to get back up. Melanie held her hand tightly.
“Don’t make a scene,” she hissed.
“But,” Tara sputtered.
Melanie shook her head firmly to cut her off. She pressed her lips together tightly and stared hard at the coffee table in front of her. She looked intimidated and slightly scared, but inside she was screaming.
Come over here. Come and get me, you bitch.
It didn’t take long for Sissy to spot her and flounce her way over. She stopped on the other side of the coffee table, put her hands on her hips and bore a hole in the top of Melanie’s head with her glare. Melanie slowly lifted her head to meet the eyes of her nemesis.
“Oh, hey Mel,” she said, emphasizing her nickname like it was an insult. “I thought that was you. No one else would wear that to a party.”
“Sissy,” started Tara, but Melanie kicked her shin to shut her up.
“What do you want, Sissy?” Melanie said, putting the same nasty emphasis on her name.
“I just wanted to let you know that Jeremy and I are back together, in case you had any ideas about trying to get him back. He’s mine, just like I always said, so stay away from him.”
Melanie could feel Tara gearing up for a fight, and she nudged her with her knee to settle her back down again. She needed for this to happen. It was an important part of the plan. She lowered her eyes again and made her shoulders shake with supposed grief. Sissy bought it and walked away with a look of smug satisfaction on her face.
“Melanie, why didn’t you let me give it to her? I just want to knock that smug smile off her stupid, botoxed lips.”
“It’s not worth it, Tara,” Melanie replied, forcing a hitch into her voice. “It’s over for me and Jeremy and he can see whoever he wants.”
Tara put her arm around Melanie’s shoulders and held her while she pretended to cry. Everything was going according to plan. Jeremy did his part by making sure that Sissy showed up. Obviously he had hinted that he wanted her back while ensuring that she knew Melanie would be here tonight. There was no way Sissy Woods could resist throwing something like that in Melanie’s face.
Melanie had done her part by making sure the window curtains were open. Since the apartment was on the second floor of the complex, she knew there was no way Mr. Hughes could lurk outside the windows to watch her. She figured he would be in a car in the parking lot, watching through the windows with his binoculars.
Jeremy should be down there too, as Ace, sniffing him out. Once he knew which car Mr. Hughes was in, he’d give her some kind of sign when she left the apartment. She needed to make this as easy as possible without being obvious. She needed it to happen tonight, so she could put all of this behind her.
As she sat on the couch, being comforted by Tara, she glanced at her phone to check the time. She and Jeremy had decided that if Mr. Hughes wasn’t there by ten o’clock, he wasn’t going to show. She would leave the party at ten thirty, just to make sure Ace had enough time to find him and point the way. It was ten fifteen.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Melanie blurted out and extricated herself from Tara’s death grip.
“You want me to come?”
“No thanks. I just want to be alone for a few minutes.”
She went to the bathroom and stopped to glance around the apartment before going in. It was a small party, topping out at just eight people, including herself. She spotted Sissy by the drink table smiled inwardly. It was close to the front door, right where Melanie had suggested it go. She walked into the bathroom, shut the door behind her and locked it.
She splashed some water on her face, then rubbed her eyes, making her mascara run and smear underneath. Then she pinched her cheeks hard so her skin would look blotchy and red. She was ready. It was do or die time, literally.
She ran out of the bathroom in a rush. Tara tried to stop her, but she made an excuse about needing some air in a whiny voice. As she rushed toward the door, she purposefully rammed right into Sissy, who was conveniently taking a drink from her plastic cup. Red liquid sloshed out of it and onto her white tank top. A crimson stain spread from the neckline to half way down the length of it.
She dropped the cup to the floor with a screech and shoved Melanie backwards. Melanie caught her balance easily, but pretended to stumble a bit more, just for show.
“You stupid bitch!” she screamed in a high pitched voice.
Melanie wanted to laugh as bad as she wanted to punch her in the face, but she could do neither. She had to stay in character. Sissy had backed up a step after her outburst, seemingly remembering Melanie’s hand across her face. Melanie cowered back, murmuring an apology, and Sissy smiled triumphantly, thinking the old Melanie was back.
“You’re such a clumsy idiot, Piglet. No wonder Jeremy dumped you and came crawling back to me.”
Melanie reared back as if she had been struck, and managed to force a few tears out by remembering everything Sissy had ever said and done to her. Seeing them, Sissy smelled blood in the water and continued her attack.
“He told me he was only with you because he felt sorry for you. Now that you’ve lost some weight,” she eyed Melanie’s body up and down with a sneer, “however you did it, he doesn’t feel obligated anymore.”
Tara suddenly materialized beside Melanie. “Shut up, Sissy, and get out of my boyfriend’s house!”
Sissy smiled and glared at Melanie while she said, “This is my boyfriend’s house, too.”
With that, Melanie let out a cry and turned to run. She threw open the front door and flew to the railing, leaning over it in what she hoped was a believable attempt to catch her breath and calm down. She was actually scanning the parking lot, looking for Ace. The lighting in the lot was terrible and it was hard to find Ace’s black fur in the dark.
She squinted her eyes and everything seemed to come into focus. She could see the play of light and shadow across the parking lot before, but now she could see into the darkest parts and make out the finer details- grease spots on the asphalt, a wad of chewing gum here, a lost receipt there.
Before she could spot him, she heard a voice behind her. “Mel, are you okay?”
Without turning around, she straightened up and spoke over her shoulder. “I’m fine,” she said with a hiccup. “I just want to be alone for a while.”
This is all starting to sound very familiar, she thought.
“Mel, please don’t try to walk home on your own
.” Tara must have been remembering the same thing.
“I won’t,” Melanie said, still scanning the parking lot for Ace.
Her eye caught movement over to the left, where the lights didn’t quite reach. It was Ace! He was lying on his belly near a car. Once Ace realized that she saw him, he turned and crawled a few feet further into the darkness, then came back. He jerked his head in that direction and wagged his tail.
Bingo!
“Tara, I’m going to walk around the parking lot for a little bit to clear my head. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”
Melanie kept her back to her. She knew Tara would see the excitement in her eyes and know something was up.
“Okay, Mel. Please be careful,” she begged.
“I will. I’ll be fine, I promise.”
Chapter 29
Melanie kept her head down and walked slowly across the parking lot toward where she last saw Ace. She knew he was somewhere in the darkness, watching over her. She glanced around, looking for any movement in the area. The shadows were nearly impenetrable and as she glanced up at the nearest light pole, she realized why. The light bulbs were busted.
“It’s like déjà vu all over again,” she whispered to herself.
Suddenly, she heard a whisper-light whine coming from her right. That was her cue. It was show time.
She forced out a sob and dropped into a squatting position. While shaking her shoulders and mewling out cries of despair, she unlocked her phone and shielded the light from the screen with her torso. She dialed nine-one-one, turned down the speaker volume, and quickly locked her screen again so it looked like it was off.
“Melanie.”
She stood up quickly and scrubbed her hand across her eyes. He stood in front of her, dressed in all black just like before. The only difference was that he wasn’t wearing a ski mask this time.
“Mr. Hughes, what are you doing here?” she asked brokenly while taking a tiny step backwards.
“Don’t play coy with me, darling. You know exactly why I’m here. Our time has come.”
“Please,” she begged as pathetically as she could muster, “don’t hurt me, Mr. Hughes. Leave me alone.”
He surged forward and grabbed her wrist. She quickly thrust her other one down to her side to keep her phone out of view. He tugged her hard and she could only follow as he led her in between two cars. He started to open the door to a black SUV and she panicked, jerking her hand out of his grasp. She could not let him get her into that car.
She turned to run, but he grabbed her by her pony tail and jerked her back. Tears stung her eyes from the pain as he wrapped his arm around her middle and jerked her off of her feet, holding her back to his front.
No, she thought. I have got to stop him.
“Mr. Hughes, please!” she yelled over her shoulder. “Stop touching me! Let me go! Why are you doing this?”
“Stop yelling,” he hissed in her ear, but stopped trying to force her back to the car. Then in a normal conversation voice that sounded truly creepy, he continued, “I am finishing what I started. You know what I want. Now be a good girl and get in the car.”
“Mr. Hughes, please. You can end this. You attacked me, then harassed me for weeks, and now this? All for what? To get a few moments of pleasure from raping me?”
“It’s the power, Melanie. The power over your body and your mind. You must admit, you’ve thought of little else but me these last few weeks. I own you. And now I will take what’s mine.”
With that, he lifted her up and shoved her toward the open door to the SUV. With all her strength, Melanie threw her elbow back into his stomach. The breath left his body with an “oomph.”
While he was momentarily dazed, she yelled, “Now, Ace!”
She heard loud growl and Mr. Hughes’ shriek of pain as his grip on her was released and he thudded to the ground. There was a scuffle as Ace jumped on him and locked his jaws around Mr. Hughes’ throat. Her teacher froze immediately, not daring to even twitch a muscle with those sharp teeth pressing into the tender flesh of his neck.
Melanie took a brief second to smile, then remembered the phone that she had somehow miraculously managed to hold on to during her ordeal. She quickly unlocked her screen and sighed with relief when she saw that her call was still connected. She turned the volume up to hear an operator frantically asking for a response.
“Miss are you alright? The police on are their way. Miss?”
“Yes,” Melanie replied with a deep breath. “I’m okay. Please hurry.”
She verified the address of the apartment complex and gave the dispatcher her approximate location in the parking lot. They had tracked her phone, as she hoped they would, and were already on route. After she was sure they police knew where to go, she asked the most important question.
“Were you able to hear everything that he said?”
“Yes, ma’am. I have it recorded to use as evidence.”
“Oh, thank God,” she said and turned her head as she heard sirens and saw flashing police lights reflecting off the cars around her.
Ace still stood next to a still Mr. Hughes, his jaws locked lightly on his throat. Mr. Hughes had tears leaking from his eyes and was starting make blubbering noises. Melanie quickly knelt down next to him and patted Ace on the head.
“Good boy,” she said as she glared into her tormenter’s eyes. A slight wail escaped his lips as Ace’s jaws clamped a little tighter. Then she leaned down close to Mr. Hughes’ ear and said quietly, “These violent delights have violent ends.”
Suddenly there were police everywhere and Melanie looked around to see guns pointed at Ace. She had a moment of panic where she thought they might shoot him.
“No!” she yelled, holding out her arms toward the policemen. “He’s my dog! I trained him to protect me.” Then to Ace she said firmly, “Ace, release.”
He immediately released his prisoner and sat back on his haunches. Mr. Hughes started to sit up, but shouts from around him stopped him.
“Freeze! Police! Don’t move!”
He was handcuffed and stuffed into the back of a police car while some detectives in plain clothes interviewed Melanie. She watched as the police cruiser drove by with Mr. Hughes in the back seat. He looked scared and pitiful. Melanie smiled as the car pulled onto the street and drove away.
“And that’s everything,” she said when she finished the story. She had told them all of it, from the first attack to tonight. She showed them the text messages. She told them about the notes and the verbal threats.
The only thing she left out was that the whole night was an elaborate set up. She and Jeremy had discussed it and he wanted her to come clean, but she didn’t want to risk Mr. Hughes getting out on some kind of entrapment plea. She needed him to be gone for good and for the whole ordeal to be over.
Her mom showed up as she finished her statement. She wrapped Melanie in her arms and they both cried. Ace sat by, and watched with his dark, soulful eyes. It took several minutes and more than a few tight hugs before her mom noticed him.
“So,” she said as she knelt down to scratch him behind the ears, “he saved you again, huh? I guess I am going to have to lift his ban from the house.”
Melanie knelt down next to her mom and threw her arms around Ace’s neck.
“He really did, mom. In more ways than one.”
Chapter 30
Melanie sat in her kitchen two mornings later, tapping her fingernails on the table. She was nervous and twitchy and she kept changing positions in her seat. Her dad was due to show up any minute and she was trying to keep herself from bolting.
A hand reached out and took hers, squeezing it with reassurance. She looked over and met eyes the darkest shade of brown, and one of them closed with a quick wink.
“You’re gonna be fine,” he mouthed at her.
Melanie’s mom shuffled around behind them, banging pots and pans together like some kind of chaotic symphony. Every so often, the sounds would stop and her mom
would make a comment under her breath like “I can do this,” or “Why am I doing this?”
“Mom, can you please relax and sit down?”
Her mom plopped down into the chair across from them. She looked at Melanie intently, then slid her gaze to Jeremy.
“Jeremy, I really appreciate you being here for Melanie, but I think maybe you should leave before her father gets here.”
“What? Mom, no! He’s not leaving!”
“Mel…”
“No! I’m serious mom. If he goes, I go.”
“It’s okay, Mel. I can go if she wants me to.”
“Jeremy, please. I need you to stay. Please stay.”
Jeremy looked back at Melanie’s mom, who just shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, baby,” she said calmly. “He can stay for now, but your father needs to tell you some things, private things, and he may ask him to leave.”
A loud knock on the front door cut Melanie off before she could respond. Her mother took a deep breath and went to answer. Melanie heard the door open and the murmur of a deep voice greeting her mom.
She had been hyper aware of sounds all morning, attributing it to her nervous state. She heard the footsteps on the carpet, her mother’s rapid breathing and her father’s sharp inhale as he stopped in the doorway in front of her.
Jeremy tensed and dropped her hand. She looked at him in bewilderment as he stared incredulously at her father. She shot a glance at her dad and was transfixed. He looked just like the picture, only a bit older and scruffier. His wavy brown hair was shot through with a few gray strands and his blue eyes had creases around the corners.
He was staring at Jeremy with intensity. Melanie cleared her throat and his gaze shot to her. Instantly, his face softened and a slight smile lifted the corners of his lips. He took another step forward, and her mom slipped into the kitchen from around behind him.
“Melanie,” he breathed.
Jeremy stood up and walked behind her chair, taking up a protective stance. Melanie stayed where she was and her dad’s eyes stayed on her. The silence stretched on for what seemed like forever, until Melanie’s mom took charge of the situation.