Chapter 5

Melody hid in the bathroom for over an hour before she forced herself to come out. She limped timidly into the bedroom, immediately noticing Derek lying on the bed. Studying the gentle rise and fall of his chest, she concluded that he was asleep.

Melody quietly walked over to the bedroom door, planning to escape. As soon as her hand touched the door knob she heard the man who had burned her yelling at someone downstairs. She knew that she wouldn't be able to sneak past him and was too scared to try. Melody noticed the bay window across the room and walked over to it. Looking down she knew that she wouldn't be able to jump. Her ankle was already injured and it certainly wouldn't survive such a fall without greater injury.

Melody sat down on the ledge of the bay window, bringing her knees to her chest, and studied her surroundings once more. She couldn't see above the tree tops, they were too tall and thick. She no longer thought that they provided a viable escape route. She looked down the long driveway, still unable to see the main road. She wondered how far she would have to run before a car spotted her. There were no trees to shield her on the road and if Derek or Andy decided to shoot her she would be an easy target. She noticed the car sitting in the driveway next to the RV. She would have to somehow use that to escape. It was her only hope.

Melody turned to study her captor's bedroom. The walls were painted a light blue with a white trim that matched the soft carpet. The furniture, window, and doors were made of a dark wood. It all looked very expensive, and she wondered how Derek could afford such luxuries. Did he make a living out of kidnapping girls for ransom? How mad would he be when he found out that she was worthless? How long would he let her live?

Melody's mind wondered to her mother. Had her mother even noticed she was missing yet? Would she contact the police or would she assume that Melody had run away? Would she even care?

Melody came back to reality as she noticed the small bulge in Derek's pocket. She knew that it was his cell phone. She was only feet away from being rescued, but how would she get it out of his pocket without waking him? If he caught her she would be in trouble - big trouble - but she couldn't allow herself to be so close and not try. She could see the top of the phone sticking out of his pocket. Maybe if she slid it out gently enough he wouldn't notice?

Melody took in several deep breaths of air to calm her nerves before she limped over to the bed. 'Please don't let him catch me, please please don't let him catch me, ' she thought to herself as she stared at his pocket. She held her breath as she carefully reached her hand towards the phone, and slowly pulled it out of his pocket. Just as it was almost out, it started to ring. Derek's eyes flew open, but Melody knew that she couldn't stop. This was her only chance to escape.

Melody grabbed the phone and answered it as she quickly backed away from Derek. "My name is Melody Reynolds and I've been kidnapped," she screamed frantically into the phone as Derek got off the bed and chased her. "Please help me!"

Derek quickly trapped Melody against the wall and tore the phone out of her hands. He punched her across her face, knocking her to the floor. Derek put the phone to his ear as Melody cried in pain. Her heart was beating a hundred miles a minute as Derek listened to his phone. She was sure that he was going to kill her.

The man who had burned ran into the room, dragging a short blonde woman behind him. "What's going on?" he asked in a panic.

Derek motioned for him to be quiet and listened to the void on the other end of the phone call. After a few seconds he hung up the phone and tossed it on the bed. "It was a spam call; A computer. No one heard her," Derek explained with relief as he glared at Melody.

Melody cried out in pain again when Derek viciously kicked her ribs. He kicked her again before she had the chance to protect herself. It forced the air out of her lungs and she struggled to get another breath. She was still gasping for air when he kicked her again.

"Stop," the blonde woman begged as she struggled against the man that was holding her. "You'll kill her!"

Derek paused before pulling Melody to her feet by her hair. "Give me your knife Andy," he ordered as he pushed Melody against the wall and held her there by a hand wrapped around her throat.

Melody's mind was whirling from the mixture of pain and the lack of air. She was having a hard time focusing but forced her eyes open when she heard Derek mention the knife.

"Please Derek," the blonde woman begged. "Please don't kill her."

"Be quiet," Andy warned as he pulled his knife from it's sheath and handed it to Derek.

Melody squirmed under his grasp as he slowly waved the knife in front of her eyes. "Do you want me to kill you?" Derek asked in a menacing tone.

"No," Melody cried.

"Andy then?" Derek asked. "He warned you what would happen if you tried to escape again. I'm sure that he would be more than happy to follow through on his threat."

"No," Melody pleaded. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again. I promise!"

"If you break that promise, I will kill you without hesitation. It won't be a quick death either. I will make you suffer until your last breath," Derek warned.

Melody nodded her understanding and sighed with relief when Derek finally handed the knife back to Andy.

Noah took another sip of the horrible coffee a police officer had provided him. He had been waiting in the interrogation room for over an hour. The EMTs weren't able to save Karen, Melody's mother, and she had died from what appeared to be an overdose of cocaine.

"I'm sorry for the wait Mr. Williams," Officer Mitchell said as he walked into the room, closing the door behind him. "We just finished talking to your friend, Mr. Holton."

Noah nodded his understanding, straightening his slouched position in the chair.

"Let's get started," Officer Mitchell said as he placed a tape recorder on the table and turned it on. "It is my duty to ask you if you would like a lawyer."

"Do I need a lawyer?" Noah asked as Officer Mitchell sat down in the chair across from him. He had been under the impression that he was just there to answer a couple of questions about Melody and give his official statement about what happened to Karen.

"You were the last person with a woman before she died. What do you think?"

"I talked for her for two minutes before she collapsed and then proceeded to give her CPR," Noah said in disbelief, unable to understand how they could think he was somehow responsible for her death.

Officer Mitchell paused for a moment before nodding his head. "Alright," he sighed. "Just tell me exactly what happened."

"Melody, Karen's daughter, didn't show up for the final performance of our school play. It is out of character for her not to show so Mrs. Finch, the assistant director of the play, asked Jake and I to go check on her," Noah explained.

"Jake Holton," Officer Mitchell clarified for the tape recorder.

"Yes," Noah replied.

"Why did Mrs. Finch ask both of you to go check on her?" Officer Mitchell asked. "It seems like more of a one person job."

"I was giving Jake a ride home so he had to come with," Noah explained. "We didn't know where Melody lived so Mrs. Finch gave us the address. We drove my car to her house and I went to the door while Jake stayed in the car. Karen answered the door and I asked her if Melody was home. She called Melody's name up the stairs but Melody didn't answer. She wasn't home. I asked Karen if she knew where Melody was, but she didn't answer. He body started to sway so I asked her if she was okay. Then she collapsed and started seizing. I told Jake to call 9-1-1. Karen stopped breathing so I started CPR. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived and the EMTs took over."

Officer Mitchell nodded his head. "You said it was out of character for Karen's daughter Melody to not show up to the play performance. We still haven't been able to find her. When was the last time you saw her?" he asked.

"Last night," Noah replied in a worried tone. Officer Mitchell's question made him think that something could be wrong with Melody. "We had another play performance last night and she was there. I invited her to Jake's party afterwards and she said that she was going to meet me there, but she never showed up. Why? Do you think something could have happened to her?"

Officer Mitchell shook his head. "No," he replied. "She's probably just at a friend's house."

"I don't think she has any friends," Noah muttered. His mind was running through all of the possibilities of what could have happened to Melody.

"We'll find her," Officer Mitchell assured.

Derek carried the glass of water and small backpack up to his room. The backpack was Melody's. It didn't contain much but there was a couple of books in there that he knew Melody would want. He had a feeling that they would come in handy.

Derek walked in to see Melody asleep on the bed, her wrists restrained to the headboard, right where he had left her. He set the glass of water down on the nightstand and stuffed the backpack on the top shelf in his closet. He walked into his bathroom and opened his medicine cabinet. Taking out one birth control pill, two morning after pills, and the supplies to take care of Melody's burn, he walked back into the bedroom.