"Mel, you should go on the salt and pepper shakers again!" Jonathon stated as the gang entered the carnival.
"Not going to happen, Jonathon. I learned my lesson the first time!" Melissa said as she linked her arm through Nick"s.
"What happened?" Nick asked.
"Well I didn"t know that the ride flipped you upside down, so I got a little freaked out."
"A little, you were screaming the whole time!" Julie stated snickering.
"I wasn"t the only one screaming!" She said as she playfully pushed Julie. They all split up so they wouldn"t draw attention to themselves as they walked around the carnival. The guys toned down their looks with sunglasses and hats.
"So what should we do first?" Julie asked everyone.
"Rides!" Jonathon and Nick said, pulling the girls onto a rollercoaster.
After the rides, they played some games where the guys won Julie and Melissa stuffed animals. Eventually they got hungry and grabbed some snacks. Melissa watched as her friends played another game. Nick came up behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"Are you having a good time?"
"Yes, this was a great idea."
"Don"t wear yourself out, we have plans tonight."
"I"m ready for whatever you have planned Carter!" She stated turning to face him. "What do you have planned?"
"You will just have to wait and see!" He replied leaning down to give her a kiss. Melissa quickly grabbed a piece of cotton candy and smashed it on his face. "Funny!" He said and then rubbed his face against her, causing some of the cotton candy to get on her cheek.
Melissa giggled. "Okay I give up!" She grabbed a napkin and removed the cotton candy from their faces.
"Mel look, a fortune teller booth! Let"s get our fortune read!" Julie said.
"Jules, you know I don"t believe in that stuff!"
"I know Mel, but it could be fun. Come on!"
"Go ahead Angel, Jonathon and I will wait out here for you two."
"Fine, let"s go." Melissa and Julie entered the tent and sat down.
The middle aged lady welcomed them and then closed the opening of the tent. The room remained dark till the fortune teller lit two large candles on a near by table.
"You wish to know your fortune?"
"Yes." Julie replied excitedly.
"You, give me your hand." She stated to Melissa.
"No, that"s okay; Jules is the one who wants her fortune told."
"Mel!"
"I read your fortune first, then hers." Melissa looked over at Julie. Julie gave her a pleading look to let the lady read her fortune.
"Alright." Melissa gave the fortune teller her hand. She looked over her hand, touching the lines in her palm. After what seemed like a long time, the lady finally spoke.
"You had a hard life. Much pain and sadden, but through it all you have grown stronger." Melissa already felt uncomfortable, but hearing that made her more anxious to leave.
"There was an accident, someone you loved was hurt. By a dark stranger, this stranger, he hurt you too."
"That"s enough, thank you, but I don"t want to hear any more." Melissa said pulling back her hand. However the fortune teller didn"t let go.
"You should listen. It would be beneficial for you and your loved ones." She looked down again at her hand. "You have found love, someone you can trust with your heart and spirit. This man is your soul mate, your other half. He has made you stronger. You have a destiny with this man, but I see""
"What do you see?" Melissa asked now wanting to know.
The fortune teller looked up at her. "The dark stranger comes back with much, much anger. He wants what he lost and he won"t stop till""
Melissa"s heart was beating wildly in her chest. "He won"t stop till what?"
The fortune teller slowly raised her head and in a soft voice stated, "Till someone is dead."
Melissa couldn"t hear anymore and quickly left the booth. "Mel, Mel wait!" Julie yelled as she exited the booth.
"Damn it, where"s Nick and Jonathon?" She asked herself looking around for them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So Jules, what"s does our fortune hold?" Jonathon asked seeing Julie sitting on a bench.
"Where the hell have you two been?" She asked standing up.
"You guys were in there a long time, so we walked around a little bit. Why, what"s wrong?"
"Mel."
"What happened to Mel?" Nick asked instantly when he heard her name.
"The fortune teller said something that really upset her and she ran off. I looked around, but I couldn"t find her anywhere."
"Split up, we have to find her." Nick said and quickly ran off.
"Jonathon, the fortune teller, she knew everything about Mel"s past. Everything!" Julie stated grabbing his arm.
He just shook his head. "We will deal with that later; right now we have to find Mel." They went in the opposite direction of Nick.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melissa walked along the water"s edge, trying to forget what the fortune teller had said. However, the words kept replaying in her head. "Dead. Till someone is dead!" She stopped and looked out at the ocean. "This can"t be happening, I won"t let it." She told herself and then sat down on the warm sand. She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head on the top of her knees. It was then that the memories she had fought so hard to bury, rose to the surface.
"No one will want you. You can"t leave me, I won"t let you. You are mine and if I can"t have you, no one will. I"ll make you sorry for what you did. Your life is no longer yours, it belongs to me."
"Mel, he"s in the hospital. There"s internal bleeding, he needs immediate surgery. Someone deliberately tampered with the brakes. Who would do something like this?" As each memory came to her, more and more tears fell. She buried her head as the tears came faster. Once she got control of her emotions, she reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone.
"Hi mom, how are you and dad doing? That"s good, no nothing"s wrong. I just wanted to check in, so you didn"t worry. Yeah, it"s great getting to see Nick everyday. I have really missed him. Everything"s fine between Nick and me, I promise. Mom, really I"m okay. Alright, I"d better go, Nick and I have plans tonight. I will mom. I love you too; tell dad I love him too. Bye."
Melissa hung up her cell and placed it back in her purse. She found her compact and checked her appearance. She quickly fixed her make-up and then put it away. She took a deep breath and looked out at the ocean.
Ring, Ring, Ring.
She gradually grasped her cell phone once again and flipped it open.
"Hello?"
"Angel, where are you?" Nick asked with concern.
"I"m down by the ocean, near the beach house."
"Stay there, I"m coming!" He stated and hung up.
Melissa replaced her cell in her purse. Knowing Nick, he would be in here in a matter of minutes. And she was right, in ten minutes she could hear his car pull into the parking lot. She could hear him making his way towards her. She stood, dusting off the sand from her clothes. He gathered her into his arms and just held her. In his arms, she felt like nothing or no one could touch her.
"Angel, what happened?" He asked leaning away so he could see her face.
"Nothing."
"Mel, I know that isn"t true, Jules told me that the fortune teller said something that upset you. What did she say?"
"Nick it"s not important." She said walking away from his embrace.
"Yes, it is. Whatever she said upset you enough that you ran off. Why won"t you tell me what happen?"
Melissa could feel the tears starting to form in her eyes. She didn"t want to lie to Nick, but she couldn"t tell him the whole truth. So she told him what she could.
"She knew about my dad"s accident." She replied wiping away a tear. Nick walked over to her and wrapped his around arms her. "It brought back bad memories that I thought I had dealt with. I guess it is still a sensitive subject for me." Nick held her even closer to him, wanting to erase all the pain she was feeling.
"Tell me about your dad"s accident." He asked as they sat down on the beach.
"I was over at Jules" and Jonathon"s when my mom called me. I could tell by the sound of her voice that something was wrong. I never thought she would tell me that my dad had an accident and was in the hospital. She told me that I needed to get there as soon as I could, because my dad was going to be rushed into surgery. I was too shaken up, so Jonathon drove me to the hospital. I made it in time to see my dad before they took him into surgery." Tears rolled down her face as she relived the memory.
"He looked so pale and weak that I had to force myself not to cry. I didn"t"I didn"t"I didn"t want his last memory of me to be me crying. So I told him I loved him and that I would see him very soon. He couldn"t say anything; he just squeezed my hand and smiled at me." She took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. "I really thought that would be the last time I would see him alive."
"What happened?"
"According to the police, my dad didn"t break in time and ran into a road barrier. His car flipped twice, finally landing on its roof. Amazingly he didn"t suffer any broken bones, but he was bleeding internally. The doctors worked on him for five hours, those were the longest five hours of my life." Nick reached for her hand and held in his. "Finally the doctors came out and told us that the surgery went well and that he was in recovery. After a little bit, we got to see him. He still looked weak and fragile. My mom and I sat in his room till he woke up and told us to go home and get some rest." She looked up into his eyes. "Nick, I never thought he would walk out of that hospital."
"But he did and now he"s back home with you and your mom. Angel, I know that must have been horrible on you, to see your dad that way. But your dad is home now and getting stronger and stronger each day." Melissa smiled through her tears. "Focus on that and not on the past."
"You are amazing Carter! You know exactly what to say to make me feel better."
"Anytime Angel." He pulled her in for a hug. "Things are only going to get better, I promise." He whispered into her hair. Melissa could only wish that was true.
