42
MELODY TRYNISKI
-Past-

Sebastián's summer house
June 28, 2018
10:50 p.m.

MY EYES SHIFT FROM the hand that holds my heels to my phone that's tugged on the front pocket of my jeans.

10:50 p.m. Only 10 minutes left.

I put my heels on, straightening my back soon after. Throwing a glance back at the door --- knowing well that Sebby is behind it --- I begin to walk towards freedom. I leave him behind.

The sound of giggling makes me halt for a moment. It's not just any giggling. I've heard it before with its occasional soft snort and the quick intake of air between giggles.

It's Alexa.

The hall in front of me is completely dark, hiding anything or anyone that might be lurking around its vast depth. The giggling greets me again, this time as a distant echo. It's like the darkness can speak, using its voice to mock me. But, as my eyes adjust to the darkness, two silhouettes appear from what seems to be nowhere. One of them is leading the other to an even darker place --- somewhere in the house that's unknown to me. Then, as if only being two figments of my imagination or lost souls, they disappear.

What the actual fuck?

I wait there for a moment, willing them to appear to me again. They don't. The giggles stay with me. They resonate in my chest as if they're my own, ominous as they repeat their familiar sound in my head. I can't shake Alexa away, but I don't know if it was really her. Then, out of nowhere, one of the shadows approaches me. Once in the light, its identity is revealed.

Christopher, not Alexa. If he's one of the silhouettes, then she's the other.

Christopher looks at me for a moment, then looks back over his shoulder. When he turns back to me, he sighs. "Do you know what you're doing?"

"Does it matter?"

He rolls his eyes. "Are you sure about what you're doing?"

No, but I'm not going to let the fear get the best of me. Besides, it's only two months with the hottest man in town.

"Are you with Alexa?" I mumble, looking over his shoulder and encountering with darkness.

"Yes," he whispers timidly, his cheeks tinging a dark red.

I realize then, in the timid intonation of his voice and the physical reaction provoked by just the mention of her name, that I long to be loved like Alexa is loved by Christopher. The guy is in love with her, just as she's in love with him, but it's almost forbidden. It is forbidden. If Alexa knew that he's the son of W.S., would she still love him? Her attraction for him would only grow, that much is obvious. But, with love, it's a different story.

This is the kind of drama and trauma I need in my boring life.

"Three times, okay?" I say, holding up three fingers. "You make her come three times. No more, no less. Don't be an abuser, but don't also be cheap."

He laughs a nervous laugh, his cheeks reddening even more. "Three times, got it. I know how the clit works, Melody. You don't have to give me lessons about something that comes to me like a second nature."

I roll my eyes, almost gagging at his cockiness. Disgusted or turned on, there's really no in between. I've always been curious about fucking Christopher. All the girls say he's the best they've had. He must be with all his daddy issues and internalized hatred.

"I don't like you for her, Chris. You can fuck her as many times as you want and admire her from afar, but that's it. You're not really boyfriend material."

He scoffs, his cocky smile turning into a sad one. "I know," he mutters, lowering his head.

"But, still, take care of her. Okay?" I whisper, feeling the accumulated tears in my throat.

"'Course," he mumbles, looking back over his shoulder, already anticipating with eagerness what's about to go down between the two of them. "You'll come back, right?"

"I'm never leaving, remember?"

He nods, furrowing his eyebrows. "If you need anything, you can come to me. Okay?"

I nod and walk away before I explode into a mess of tears. Why does this feel like goodbye? I'm only leaving for two months. Nobody is dying. Nobody is going away forever. They will all still be here, waiting for my safe return. Everything will be all right.

As I descend the stairs quickly, the boom of the music vibrating in my chest and transporting me into another reality, I bump into someone.

"Have you seen Christopher?" Nari shouts, rubbing her shoulder. "I can't find him anywhere."

"He's probably having some fun with someone upstairs," I shout, passing by her without a second glance. It's impossible to hide the smirk that's growing in my dangerously innocent face.

"I can always count on you to be a bitch," she shouts behind me, her voice quickly lost in the music.

I laugh as I calmly walk to the front door. Someone grabs my arm on the part where Logan left some bruising, making me gasp and whimper in pain. What is this, huh? How many obstacles you can put to prevent Melody from going to her destination? I mean, fuck. Come on.

"Where is you goin'?" Logan says close to my ear, his hot breath making me shiver.

Of course, it's him. Who else would grab me by the same bruised arm?

"None of your business," I say, pretending that his grip doesn't hurt one bit.

His eyes darken, but he's too drunk to do anything about his anger. "Can we talk for a minute?"

I roll my eyes, trying to shake away from his tight hold. "I'm kinda in a hurry right now, Logan."

"What can be more important than your boyfriend?" he shouts, his lips mounted into a scowl. "I just wanna say I'm sorry for earlier. That ain't cool. I dunno what I was thinkin' or what got over me."

Pathetic. What did I ever see in him?

"Okay. Can I go now?"

"Are you for real?" he says, shaking his head in disbelief. "I ain't sayin' nothin' 'bout you goin' 'round fuckin' every dude that comes in your way like a fuckin' whore. You've never apologized for it, and you ain't even wanna listen to my apology?"

"Well, that says a lot more about you than me," I say, laughing. I can't help it. He's just too easy, and the whole situation is just a fucking waste of my time.

His grip on my arm tightens so much that I can feel his nails digging to my bone. He shoves me to his chest, smiling and nodding at anyone that passes by us. "Listen here, you fuckin' little whore. I'm over here tryin' to be a good boyfriend, the fuckin' good person that I am, but you just have to make it so damn hard."

"Logan⸺"

"Shut up! For once listen to me," he shouts, tightening his grip until the pain becomes unbearable. "You make me a bad person. You do this to me; do you get that? You're the worst person I know, and I hate myself for lovin' you. I'm tryin', really tryin', to not hurt you. Why ain't you listenin' to my apology?"

He chooses violence over me. I hate him for it. But, still, there's a part of me that loves this side of him. Maybe I'm drawn to his darkness. Maybe I saw that darkness from the beginning and fell in love with it, not him.

"How can I listen past the pain you're provoking?" I shout, looking at his tight hold on my arm. Tears spill down my cheeks, my first ever sign of vulnerability in his presence. I curse myself for it. Willing myself to give him my biggest smirk ever, I hold my chin high. "Your apology is worth shit when you continue to do what you constantly promise not to do."

"Melody, you're crying?" he mumbles, finally letting go of me. The darkness in his eyes clears, giving way to something softer. "I ain't mean to hurt you."

"But you do. You always do," I mutter, turning away, leaving him behind.

Once outside, the effects of the party wear off. The music sounds muffled from here, the party a distant memory. The woods are pitch dark, but I know my way through them. With my arm throbbing as if it has a heart of its own, I walk towards the riverbank. I let the sound of the water guide me through the cold night, its constant crashing against the rocks and its calm flow as it runs through its normal course making me company.

"Melody!" Logan shouts from a place that now seems part of a memory.

Still, I run away from his voice, run away from the place that chooses anything and anyone over me. As I run, the place where I discovered him in my mind, images of us when we were little flash in front of me. It's all there, in the past --- the wind slapping my face, my calves hurting from all the pedaling, my lungs burning from lack of air, our loud laughter through it all.

Logan, with his little afro and his toothless smile, didn't know that someday he would be an abuser. Sebby, with his curly hair not yet in dreads and his adorable broken English, didn't know he would become an addict. Micah, with his bright green eyes and dorky laughter, didn't know he would absolutely loathe who he really is. Nari, with her jet-black hair and her round spectacles, didn't know that it would become almost impossible to fall in love.

Cat, with her pudgy freckled nose and her young competitiveness, didn't know she would become dependable on those who show her the slightest bit of attention. Alexa, with her beautiful black skin and her innocence intact, didn't know she would find her mother's murdered body a few months later. I, with my little heart-shaped lips and my impulsive necessity to always be a good little girl, didn't know that I was and will always be a bad person.

We were truly happy, but we didn't know it. It's so clear now, though.

I stop at our special place, my heart leaping to my throat. My lungs burn as I take desperate pants for air, my stomach churning in an unpleasant way. As I look around the place, I'm only greeted with more and more darkness. There's no one here. He's not here. Where is he? I check my phone and look at the time --- 11:10 p.m.

Something doesn't feel right about this. I look around the woods, twirling and twirling so much on the same place that I begin to get whiplash. A sound startles me, a crunching of leaves behind me. But there's no one there, only darkness. Still, I feel eyes on me, eyes everywhere around me. What's happening?

"Hello?" I shout, my voice echoing back at me. "Is it you? Stop messing with me and come out!"

The silhouette of a man appears close by, tall and strong and scary. It just stands there, staring directly at me without moving. Deep in my frightened heart, I know that it may not be him, but I still have to make sure.

"Please tell me that it's you," I whisper, more to myself than to the shadow. My stomach feels queasy, while my whole body trembles.

When it doesn't answer, I take out my phone and begin to run. Without looking back, I dial Alexa's number and wait for her to answer. No response. I do it again and again and again and again. They all go to voicemail. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. She's fucking Christopher right now.

Sebby's summer house comes into view, its structure shaking with the constant beat of the music. The purple and green lights flicker all around the woods, providing a source of visibility among the endless darkness. I stop for a moment and look over my shoulder. The man is not behind me. After sending Alexa a quick voicemail, I send her a short text message:

Alexa, where the fuck are u? I need u.

There's a pulsating pain spreading through my chest. My feet hurt from running so much in these heels.

What was I thinking? I don't want to disappear for two months. What's the point of it, anyways? To be with him out in the open for two months? It's not worth it. Not when my parents are going to freak out and imagine the worst-case scenarios. Not when my friends are going to think that they could've done something to prevent my disappearance. Not when I'm going to be away from Sebby for so long.

I'm safe for now. People are going to come out of the house at any second to celebrate our tradition near the riverbank. I can celebrate with them and go back to Sebby to apologize. With trembling hands and my chest heavy with dread, I take my heels off and walk toward safety.

But, before I have time to react, someone puts a large hand over my mouth. My screams are muffled the more he squeezes my cheeks. It's him. I know his hands by heart --- rough and big and always clean. I attempt to run away, but he grabs me by the waist. Panic rises from my stomach to my chest. Why is he doing this? Is this some new kink he wants to try?

"There's no need to panic, darling. It's only me," he mumbles in my ear, but something about his voice has changed. No longer is it seductively deep or adorably sweet. It's gruff and rough and sinister. "My world will change everything in yours, remember?"

Those words hold a whole different meaning now. I don't want to know his world anymore. I scream to no avail, my legs pedaling in the air, my body trying to wriggle out of his tight grasp. Sebby's house is further and further away, its safety out of my reach. He puts something over my head, something that prevents me from seeing, and drags me away from what I thought was my prison. I now know it was my true freedom.

The guys I end up loving are always so rotten inside. He chooses sadism over me. And I love it, so I stop fighting and let him take me away.

•Word count: 2,438•
•Overall word count: 6,234•

Countdown: only 8 chapters left + an epilogue!!!!!! ♡

Happy Thanksgiving, guys! ♡ I hope you're all having an amazing time with your families and eating lots of turkey.

So, here's chapter 42 after an almost three-week absence 😅 College is LITERALLY kicking my ass right now. My finals are so close... I can feel them breathing down my neck. Are you in the same situation? The holiday vacation can't come soon enough! I will try to update chapter 43 on Sunday (I already have half of it written), but I can't make any promises (lots of assignments to do).

*Back in chapter 4, when detective Ellis interrogates Alexa, the text message she received from Melody during June 28 said 11:02 p.m. I changed this to 11:15 p.m. after noticing the little plot hole. This is my first draft, so I'm noticing and changing things as I go.*

Questions: what are your theories so far?!?! I'm dying to know. This is the last chapter in Melody's pov, so what do you guys think of her? The way she thinks? The way she acts? What are we thinking about the characters that appear in this chapter? What do you think of Sebastián's secret? What about that weird and awkward conversation with Christopher? What about the ending? Why did U drag her away like that? Do you like this chapter?

Feel free to correct any grammatical errors, but be kind about it. Tell me what you think of this chapter.

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