Shattered By Broken Dreams

Melody was just finishing giving herself an insulin injection when Brian walked into her bedroom.

“Knock much?” she said with that stuck up teenage attitude. The morning after Blade brought her home from the bar, Brian grounded her for a month. She isn’t allowed out of the house except for school. He took her phone away and her computer as well as her television and took back his credit card. So, needless to say Melody wasn’t her father’s biggest fan right now.

“Don’t get smart with me, Mel. You have a guest.” He stepped aside and Blade walked into her room.

“I’ll only be a few minutes” he said to Brian who nodded and walked out of the room leaving the two of them alone.

“Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of having you alone in my bedroom?” she asked with a smile plastered across her face.

He rolled his eyes and held out her purse. “Don’t flatter yourself, you left this in my car” after she took the purse he reached for the doorknob.

“Wait, don’t you want to stay for a while?” she asked

“No.”

“Come on, we can do something really fun, I have a few ideas” she winked.

He walked over to her and spoke through gritted teeth. “I have plans, I am going to meet the boys at Harlot’s where they have girls my age that can satisfy my needs. I don’t like children like you so why don’t you grow up and call me in 10 years and then maybe we can work something out. Until then, leave me alone, jailbait.”

He walked out of the room, said goodbye to his Uncle and left.

“I’ll show him Jailbait.” Melody said through tears and immediately started plotting.

Blade’s POV

5 years ago

I had just gotten my driver’s license and Brian asked me to pick up Melody from ballet class because Stormy had offered to substitute for another teacher who was sick and he was working in the studio. I had nothing to do and looked for any excuse to drive so I said yes. I pulled up to the ballet studio and Melody was waiting outside.

She was holding hands with and talking to someone that I didn’t know. I rolled down the window and called out her name and when she saw me she waived and came running over to the car. She opened the door and climbed up onto the seat and hugged me tightly.

“Hello to you two munchkin” I said hugging her back. “Lets get your seatbelt on”

I pulled the belt across her lap and when she was strapped in I started back for the house.

“Mel, you know you aren’t supposed to talk to strangers right?”

“Yes, I know” she said

“Then who was that woman outside the ballet studio?”

“She’s my friend!” she said in a bubbly voice.

“Well, what’s your friend’s name?”

“Laura”

“Oh and how do you know her?”

“She knows Mommy and Aunt Sydney and she’s my friend too”

“Oh, well I guess if she knows your Mommy then it’s ok.”

“You’re silly, Blade”

“I am huh? How about silly takes you to get an ice cream cone?” I winked at her, she was such a sweet child it was hard not to love her even if she was a pain in the ass sometimes.

“Can I have sprinkles?”

“Yup” I smiled “So long as you don’t tell your daddy”

“Oh I wont I promise” I laughed as she made an x sign across her heart.

Back to Narrator’s POV

It wasn’t the first time that Melody had met Laura, she showed up years earlier.

Melody’s 5th birthday

Brian and Stormy rented out a park to have a party for Melody’s birthday. Brian had spoiled her and brought in everything from Clowns to Pony rides.

“Daddy, look at me!” she shouted from the pony

“I see you, love!”

After being helped down from the pony she ran over to her father and hugged his legs.

“Thank you for my party daddy!” she shouted.

“You are welcome, my little love”

“You’re my favorite” she said looking up at him. “Can you play hide and seek with us?”

“Yep, I’ll be there in a minute. Ok?”

“Ok!” she ran off and found her hiding place. It was Stormy who was it and Brian watched as his wife tried to find all of the kids pretending she couldn’t see any of them. Melody must have found a really good hiding place because he didn’t see her anywhere.

As Melody hid behind the wagon the carried the pony a woman knelt down beside her.
“Happy Birthday” the stranger said.

“Thank you. Are you here for my party?”

“Well, no. I only came to wish you a Happy Birthday”

“Daddy said I couldn’t talk to strangers”

“Well, My name is Laura. There, now I am not a stranger.”

“My name is Melody. What happened to your face?”

The woman put a hand on her cheek touching the scar where her skin was burned.

“I was burned in an accident”

“Does it hurt?” Melody asked touching the woman’s face.

“Well, lets just say the pain is never ending” she smiled weakly.

“Want to be my friend and come to my party?”

“I can’t I really must go now.” The woman stood back up just as she saw Blade coming towards the wagon.

“Mel, come on your father is looking for you”

“OK!” she yelled. “I have to go now, Laura. Bye!” she smiled and ran off in the direction where Blade was standing waiting for her. He took her hand and led her over to her father.
--
Melody opened her closet and pulled out a red corset top and micro mini skirt with fishnet stockings. She fixed her hair and makeup and put on a pair of high heels and climbed out her bedroom window. You would think her father would have done something about that after the last time, but he was trying to trust her. Although after tonight he would probably never trust her again.

Blade sat with Lyric and Legend at a table by the stage celebrating Legend’s engagement. They’d been there for a few hours and had quite a few drinks when Lyric had to excuse himself after receiving a text message that said.

“I need help. I’m sitting outside your place. Please hurry”

“I’ll see you guys later” he said to his friends and headed back to his house.

“I think I’m going to go home and see my fiancé” Legend downed his drink and stood up. “You coming?”

“Nah, I’m going to hang out for a while.”

“Ok, see ya back at the house”

Blade nodded and focused his attention back to the stage. He was on the prowl tonight and had every intention of not going home alone. The music started and a new girl came out onto the stage. She wore a top hat so he couldn’t really get a good look at her face, but he had already made up his mind that she would be his by the time she got off the stage.

She had on a black suit jacket that she slowly took off to reveal a red corset and tiny black skirt that was more like a belt than any thing else, but when her hat slipped off he was able to see her face.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me” he mumbled and got up from the chair and yanked her off the stage.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” he asked through gritted teeth as he dragged her outside.

“Dancing for you and don’t pretend you didn’t like it” she winked.

“I dont fucking believe this” he ran his hands through his hair in frustration. She moved closer to him and put her arms around his neck.

“What are you doing?” he asked

“This” and before he could respond, her lips were on his. When he realized what was happening he pushed her off back so hard that she fell flat on her ass. She looked up at him with her mouth hanging open in shock when he reached down and grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up. “Get in the car!” he demanded and shoved her in the direction of his vehicle. After opening the door he shoved her inside and walked around to the driver side slamming the door after getting inside himself.

--
Brian was sitting on the couch with Stormy on his lap. He was whispering something in her ear that made her laugh when someone started pounding on the door like the house was on fire.

Stormy got off Brian’s lap and watched him as he got up to answer the door.
Blade stood there with Melody in his grip and dragged her inside.

“What the hell is going on and you better let go of my daughter.” Brian warned.

“Well, I found your daughter pole dancing at Harlot’s so maybe you should learn to keep a better eye on her. Keep her the hell away from me!” he said and walked out of their apartment slamming the door on his way out.

“Pole dancing?” Stormy said looking at her daughter waiting for an explanation.

“It’s no big deal, Jeeze” she said.

“No big deal? First of all you had no business being outside of your room, you’re grounded remember? Secondly, you’re sixteen and have no business in Harlot’s” Brian yelled.

“You two act like what I did was bad, I was just having fun! Lighten up!”

“I swear to God, tomorrow I am going to have bars put on your windows.”

She laughed in her father’s face. “Go ahead. You can’t put bars on the front door”

“Mel this is serious, a strip club is no place for a girl your age” Stormy said disappointed in her daughter.

“Hanging out in bars with musicians, pole dancing at Harlot’s, throwing yourself at Blade like a little tramp. You’re 16 what the hell is wrong with you, Melody?” Brian yelled.

“What the hell is wrong with me, Dad? You’re the one who married a pole dancing tramp from Harlot’s remember. So, what the hell is wrong with you?” as soon as the words came out of her mouth she felt the back of his hand stung her cheek.

“You slapped me!” she shouted as the tears started to fall.

“You’re lucky I didn’t do more than that. Go to your room right now and don’t come out.”

Stormy was sitting on the couch with her face in her hands. Brian knelt down in front of her and pulled her hands down. “Don’t cry,” he whispered. “She’s just angry, she didn’t mean it.”

“She said it like I wasn’t even her mother” she cried.

“We’ll straighten this out tomorrow, I promise. Don’t let it get to you, she’s just a kid, she doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

Stormy nodded and wiped her eyes.

“I love you” he said and tapped her nose forcing her into a slight smile.

Meanwhile Melody was already plotting on how she was going to make her father sorry for slapping her. Little did she know, it was her that was going to be sorry.