Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One (20 page)

The next few days flew by in a rush. Melanie
ignored Jeremy at school, while he sent her looks full of longing and regret
meant to fool everyone, especially Mr. Hughes. It seemed to be working. Melanie
hadn’t received any more surprises, either in her locker or via text message.

It was Friday afternoon, and Melanie was in
her room getting ready for the big party at Chris’s house. She decided to wear
comfortable clothes because she needed her movement unhindered. She put on her
yoga capris and a sports bra with a racer-back tank top over it. Tara was going
to throw a fit, but she knew she could calm her down with a few tears and
comments about heartbreak and not wanting to attract attention right now.

“
Anything from Mr. H?”

The text from Jeremy came through as she
practiced a few self-defense moves she learned from the internet. She wiped the
sweat from her brow with towel as she read it.

“
Nothing. It’s like the calm before the
storm. Tonight’s the night, Jeremy. I can feel it.”

“Stick 2 the plan, Mel, and everything is
going to be fine. I’ll be right where we planned, don’t worry.”

“What about the other thing? Do u think u
pulled it off?”

“For sure. She’ll be there.”

“Ok. See you tonight. ILY.”

“ILY2.”

Melanie deleted the conversation from her
messaging app and threw her phone on the bed with a smile. She knew she should
be scared out of her wits, but she was excited. She was most likely going to be
attacked tonight by someone who wants to hurt her, degrade her, and take her
free will and her innocence from her. She was ready, though.

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.”

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.”