Love, Melanie

                                    

                                          
     I read the text again. Analyzing every word.
      She's looking for me.
She didn't leave me, we left her.
     Adam is tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. His other hand runs through his hair every so often. He's scared.
      "Adam," I whisper softly, "I think you're confused. I think Mom is waiting for us, we should go see her."
      His gaze snaps towards mine, "Melanie, I swear to God, shut the fuck up."
      I wince.
      He looks down at my hands in my lap and sees me phone, his eyes widen.
      "Give me that." Adam takes my phone and scans over the text that the screen is open on.
      He curses under his breath and tosses the phone in the backseat.
      "It's not my fault," he yells at me, "Mason knows! He knows about us, and you know what I told you, he doesn't understand. No one could. And he was going to tell, so I had to shut him up, and we had to run away."
      The color immediately flows from my cheeks, "Adam what did you do?"
       "He's not going to tell anyone and we're going to be safe. We can be together Melanie. Just you and me right," he looks over at me, "right?"
      I nod quickly.
Adam lied.
      The realization hits me like a truck. If he lied about this, what else has he lied about?
He hurt Mason.
      The bracelet feels cold against my skin and I suddenly get sick to my stomach.
      "I'm going to throw up, Adam, pull over." I shout.
      He quickly complies, pulling over on the side of the road.
      As soon as I throw my door open the contents of my stomach empty on the concrete.
      "Shit, are you okay?"
       For years I've been telling myself that Adam knows best. That he's always right. That whatever he does to me, I deserve worse.
       But today he lied. And my mom is looking for me. And Mason is somewhere lying in a pool of his own blood.
      Every scar on my body feels like it's lighting on fire, I can't think, I can't see.
     My mother didn't leave me. Adam stole me away. And I don't want to go. I don't want to go with him. 
He's your brother, he loves you.
      I don't think he knows what love means.
      I'm squatting with my hands on my knees, Adam is holding my hair back.
      I stand up straight and back away from him slightly.
     "Come on," he urges, "they're gonna start looking for us."
      "Adam, lets just go home. We can explain everything. We'll be okay."
      He scoffs, "Is this about Mason? You're going to choose him over your own brother?"  
He's right.
     Get back in the car.
      "No. I- I just think that we can explain everything, and we can lie! We're good at lying."
     "You don't get it, Melanie. I will get taken away, they'll put me in a jail cell, and I'll never be able to see you again."
      "If everyone thinks it's so wrong that how can you be sure it's right?" I ask him. I'm asking myself. I don't know anymore.
      I can tell he's getting frustrated.
      "Get back in the car. On the count do three, Melanie, or so help me God."
      I don't move.
      "One."
      Adam punched me for the first time when I was six. It didn't take me long to realize he was stronger, better, faster. He overpowered me in every way.
     "Two."
      And I told myself that was okay, because he was my new brother. And siblings listen to each other. They keep secrets. 
      "Three."
      But now I just look at my arms and the fingerprints on them. And I do what I should have done eleven years ago.
     I run.
      It's cold. The wind is biting at my cheeks, I can feel my nose start to run from standing outside for so long.
      But I keep running.
      "Melanie! Fuck!" 
      He chases after me, yelling a string of curse words, ordering me to stop.
      I'm terrified. I'm terrified of what he'll do to me when he catches me. Of never seeing my mom again. I'm scared that I'll never be able to tell Mason thank you for the bracelet.
      I'll never get to sign my name with a Love in front of it.
      I have been scared my whole life. Of losing Adam, the one person who was always there. And now I don't want to spend one more minute in his presence.
      "Please, God, please." I sob out loud.
Don't let him catch me, don't let him catch me.
      I'm fast. But he's faster.
      It's funny how your life is comprised of moments.
      The moment I saw Mason enter my seventh period on his first day. 
      The moment I fell into the pool, wanting to drown, but he saved me.
      The moment he saw the bruises on my arm.
      The moment we kissed.
      The moment I realized that Mason was the someone in my life who was willing to stay and fix me.
     And the moment that I felt Adam's fingers slip through my hair so I made a split second decision to turn into the road.
      Time is stopped, but I can't move. I see the car and I see the woman behind the wheel, her eyes widen in slow motion. The man beside her is yelling something that I can't hear.
     I can hear someone screaming my name. I can feel that I will never be fast enough to turn back around. I know that this is it.
      And then my whole entire life amounts to one moment.
Love, Melanie.