Strings (48 page)

             
‘The feeling’s mutual love. You were nothing but a drunken shag - get over it,’ Melissa snapped, throwing more insults at Amber. With each word, Amber seemed to weaken. Over Amber's shoulder, Melissa could see Luke, still motionless on the floor. He was her strength to get through this, and she wouldn't let him down again. But the air was turning colder and now his skin seemed to be turning blue.

             
Still holding the knife, Amber kept her pinned against the wall. ‘Jay-Den did all this. It wasn't just me. He’s obsessed with you,’ – ‘but it was more about the money with him.’

             
‘What money?’ Melissa asked, confused.

             
Amber was waving the knife at her again, smirking the way she always did when she switched between personalities. She tilted her head and then sighed as if she was bored with the subject already. ‘Ask little Miss May. Jay-Den was furious when she got with Toby. Said it complicated things.’

             
‘Amber, I know all about Jay-Den helping you, and right now he’s being handcuffed. And locked up for a very long time, if I have anything to do with it.’

             
‘Oh, it was much more than that,’ Amber snorted, knowing now she was on her own she could do what she wanted. Nobody controlled her any more.

             
‘Jay-Den has been getting very rich off your precious boys. That’s all I’m saying. Don't ask me how, but he brags all the time about how he’s making a fortune out of them, and how they’re too stupid to realise.’ It was like she was telling Melissa a joke, but they were the punch line. ‘He’s been ripping them off with unpaid royalties. That was what worried him about Megan ... she knew something wasn’t right. She’d been snooping through his files and emails and found out he’d been doing deals behind their backs. I was meant to kill her. But I didn’t have time.’

             
Melissa couldn’t believe what she was hearing. But now she had to do something, and quickly, before it was too late for Luke.

             
‘Amber, look, he’s moving,’ Melissa said, to distract her. Amber's eyes came to life and she turned her head to look at him, giving Melissa a perfect opportunity. She punched Amber in the side of the head, making her stumble sideways as Melissa kicked at the hand holding the knife. It took Amber completely by surprise and she dropped it. This time it was Amber who was dragged, kicking and screaming across the cold dirty floor, clawing at the hand around her neck. Every emotion coursed through Melissa as she picked up the knife and gripped it tightly. She screamed at Amber, letting all her feelings drain out of her for all the pain and betrayal she and her friends had been subjected to. Amber kicked out at Melissa as she threw her to the floor, catching her on the chest. She was covered in bruises; one more wouldn't matter in the slightest.

             
‘Payback time, Amber. An eye for an eye, or cheek for a cheek in my case,’ she sneered as she held Amber down. Then, grabbing her hair, she pulled her head up before smashing it down on the stone floor. Amber screamed out, and her arms waved around trying to claw at Melissa but failed.

             
‘What are you going to do now, huh? You crazy bitch!’ Melissa was in control now and Amber knew it. Something caught her eye in the struggle, seeming to gleam at her. Luke's guitar was standing in the corner, the same one that seemed to have been witness to everything dramatic that had happened recently. It still held the memories of Amber’s attack on her, and Melissa’s blood still stained the body and neck. Melissa pulled the struggling Amber up, and dragged her to the instrument. She knocked the guitar to the floor so its strings were facing up. Amber had pushed Melissa too far and in the heat of the moment she didn't care what people would say or think. She wanted revenge, pure and simple. The red mist had fallen and she had temporarily lost control.

             
‘No!’ Amber screamed as the roles were reversed. The strings and the bridge dug in to her face, and she yelped with pain. It only lasted a few seconds before she was pulled up again and flipped over again. Melissa sat on her chest, legs either side, holding her in an iron grip borne out of pure anger. Amber couldn't move as Melissa raised the knife and pointed it at her throat. She wasn't going for her cheek … she wanted to put an end to Amber’s evil. For Luke, for Megan, and for little Chloe.

             
‘Game over,’ Melissa roared as she held the knife above her head and closed her eyes, knowing there was no going back. Time seemed to slow down and she felt as though she was floating.

             
Suddenly, she felt strong arms hold her tightly, and a voice in her ear. ‘Miss Webb, help is here. Let me take the knife.’ She kicked out at first, her rage still at its peak. But then she saw the blue tint of the lights flashing outside, and was suddenly aware of the swarm of police officers storming into the room. Relief poured through her body as she was swiftly pulled away, and passed on to another officer. She knew that deep down she didn’t want to kill another person, and she was glad she hadn’t been given the chance to find out if she was capable of it. She would later come to realise that Amber was ill and needed help, and she would not have been able to live with herself if she’d committed the same terrible crime in revenge.

Members of the cavalry restrained Amber in an instant.
A crew of paramedics were already by Luke’s side, assessing him. Melissa ran to him, pushing everyone else out of her way. The bounds were being removed from his wrists, but they had left blood-red wounds where they had cut into him. ‘Luke!’ she sobbed, kneeling down and taking his face in her hands. ‘Wake up, baby, please wake up.’ He was motionless.

             
‘Is he alive?’ she sobbed. The paramedic checking him nodded his head. He had a nasty head wound, he was cold and weak, and he had been subjected to a high dose of GHB, so he was in a bad way. But he was alive, and his vital signs were still strong, considering what he had been through.

             
Amber was handcuffed and read her rights before being dragged away, kicking and screaming. ‘No, don’t take him away from me. I will kill you all. Luke!’ she screamed, struggling like a wild beast.

             
‘Amber!’ Melissa yelled. The two police officers halted as Amber turned, her face bloodied, and twisted into pure rage.

‘I win,’
was all Melissa said before following Luke as he was taken to the waiting ambulance. By now, there was a swarm of reporters clicking away and shouting questions, but as she held her beloved Luke's hand once again, she hardly even noticed them.

*****

‘Luke, don't you dare get out of that bed,’ his mother warned as she put her hands on his shoulders. She could feel him shaking with rage, his eyes conveying anger, pain and disbelief. Debbie had decided that as his parents they should tell him what had been going on while he was missing. They had endured seven hellish days, thinking he might be dead. So yes, they now wanted just half an hour alone with their boy. Even Amber didn't know the true extent of the destruction left by her actions. Not to mention Jay-Den. Debbie hated telling Luke about Jay-Den's attack on Melissa. They were the last things she told him and she watched the colour drain from his face as he stared at his mum in disbelief.

             
‘He did what?!’ Debbie thought he was going to have another panic attack. He’d suffered a couple after the Kelsey episode, and Debbie could see another coming on if he wasn’t careful. He tried to get out of bed but Debbie stopped him – there was nothing he could do because it was in the hands of the police now. ‘He didn’t ...’ He couldn’t even say the words.

             
‘No, he didn’t!’ Stuart had to wrestle with him to keep him from charging out of the room. ‘Luke, you have to calm down. I know how you feel,’ he said.

             
Luke glared at him. ‘No you don't, how could you? Is she OK? Where is she?’ he asked, desperate to see her and hold her.

             
Stuart gripped his son’s shoulders and looked him right in the eyes. Debbie cried as she watched yet more pain engulf her son. ‘We’re all angry … we love her too. I know how I’d feel if someone tried to do that to your mother.’

             
‘I should have been there to stop him.’ He sank back into bed. His head throbbed and his wrists and ankles felt like they had been attacked with razor blades.

             
‘She fought him off. You should be proud of her,’ Debbie said as she once again pushed her son back down onto the pillows as he gripped his head. Luke had a linear fracture of the skull from Amber’s blow. He had been hit twice but he could not remember any of it. His last clear memory was saying goodbye to everyone at the party, and then waking up at the old school. Amber would never say how she got him there, but now he knew Jay-Den was the man behind it all, Luke guessed that he must have helped her.

             
‘Where is she?’ Debbie assured him that she was just down the hall and was equally desperate to see him. But they had wanted some time with him first, to explain things. Melissa had understood that, but the wait was killing them both.

‘I want to see her … I need to see her. She should never have been put through this, my beautiful girl.’ His mum nodded and said she would get her but before she did there was one more thing she needed to say
.

             
‘Luke, she’s terrified you won't want her because of her face. She thinks you’ll be mad at her for letting Jay-Den into the house and trusting him again. You’ve both been through some very traumatic events … you’ll need to fix each other. She’s been through so much and she’s lost so much weight.’ Debbie had to be honest with him. Although things were finally settling down, the psychological and emotional impact of all of this would hit them hard and they needed to help each other through it.

             
‘I bet she hasn’t been eating while I’ve been gone.’ He knew the answer before his mum confirmed it.

             
‘You know she doesn’t when she’s stressed or worried. We all thought you were … gone.’ His mum cried again and she held him tightly, her miracle son. Luke was struggling with all this information, and hated to see her cry. The anger in him bubbled up again as he thought about how awful it must have been for them to go and identify a body, fearing it might have been their son. Luke needed to let out his anger, but the people who deserved to be on the receiving end were not there. He was surrounded by the people he loved and they had been through enough. He was lucky to be alive, and lucky to be loved, so he should be thankful, he realised. The anger subsided for now, and instead tears rolled down his cheeks.

             
‘She killed Chloe,’ he cried as the exhaustion took over and the magnitude of what had happened began to hit him. He cried for Chloe, for Megan and for everyone else who had been caught up in the mess. But mostly he cried for Melissa, his soul mate, who he had failed to protect. He didn’t give a second thought to the money Jay-Den had defrauded them of, he would worry about that much later.

‘I want to see Melissa now.’

                                                                       *****

      ‘What is taking so long?’ Melissa complained, p
acing the room. She understood that Luke’s parents wanted to see him first, but she was getting impatient. She turned to face the others in the room. They were sitting quietly, all looking shell-shocked. Dale got up from his seat, and took her in his arms.

     ‘Stop pacing, y
ou’re making me dizzy,’ he said, before asking again if she needed anything. A doctor to check her over, maybe. The new bruises around her neck made his blood boil once again. Melissa shook her head and insisted she was fine.

     ‘
I just want to see Luke. I don’t want to talk about what that piece of shit did to me…’ It made her feel dirty, and sick to her stomach. She had already told the police what had happened at their home, handed her clothes over and been checked over by medical staff.

‘
OK, of course you don’t have to.’ Dale reassured her, ‘I still can’t believe it. Son of a bitch!’ he said, angrily.

     ‘I told you he was a low
life, but did anyone listen?’ Beth piped up from her chair in the corner, where she too was seething. ‘Those two pyschos are meant for each other. Sex for a record deal, Jesus fucking Christ! What planet is that man on?’ Her eyes welled up as she looked at her best friend. ‘I don’t know what I would have done Liss, if anything had happened to you.’ She let her tears flow. ‘And, you’re a stupid moron for going to find Luke alone.’

‘I know,
I’m sorry for putting you all through that.’

The door suddenly flew open
, interrupting them. Toby and Tom burst into the room.

‘He
’s OK?’ Tom asked. The bandmates hugged and punched the air as Dale confirmed that Luke was going to be fine.

Then they remembered why all this had happened. How di
d they even begin to process it? They felt numb, and for once even Toby wasn’t sure what to say. All they knew for sure, and what they needed to focus on, was the fact that Luke was home and he was safe. The fact that it had been Melissa who had solved the mystery and found him – before the police did - completely blew them away.