Girl I Know

Brian stood in the back yard waiting for the wedding to start. This was in itself a true trial by fire for him. It had been two months since he had a drink and he was surrounded by alcohol. For Stormy he would manage to find his will power and his strength.

Aubrey and Zacky sat talking quietly among themselves. Tera was lecturing Jimmy about staying far away from the cake and Johnny was standing by the door holding Riley around the waist and nuzzling at her neck while she giggled.

Seven was Jonnie’s made of honor and she held Dreamer, the flower girl in her arms to try and keep her from running around the yard and getting her dress dirty. Blade would be the one standing beside Lyric as his best man while Legend stood on the other side also as his best man. With two best friends, Lyric couldn’t have a best man, he had to have best men. Matt sat with Sydney in the front row trying to comfort her as she shed happy tears for her son on his wedding day.

“Melody isn’t here yet” Blade leaned over and mentioned to Lyric.

“Well, that spoiled little brat is going to get a piece of my mind” he whispered back.

“I got a bad feeling about this. She wouldn’t just blow off the wedding” There was a look of concern on Blade’s face as he spoke.

“Well, it looks like she did” Lyric shrugged as he responded.

Brian caught sight of Stormy when she walked out into the yard and took her seat. It was then that he saw in her what his daughter had warned him about. She didn’t look like herself anymore. She was thinner and she looked exhausted almost reminding him of her former self when they met all those years ago. He sat in the back row by himself and Riley also took her seat upon hearing the music start.

A very teary eyed Johnny walked his daughter down the isle and kissed her cheek before placing her hand in Lyric’s. He had learned to give his daughter her freedom and accepted Lyric into his family with open arms.

Jonnie and Lyric happily took their vows and finally after a love worth fighting for Jonnie had her man and Lyric tamed Jonnie Reckless.

When the ceremony was over the reception immediately followed. Lyric and Jonnie couldn’t be happier and when they had their first dance it was to “A Dream is a wish your heart makes” from the Disney movie Cinderella.

Blade walked over to Brian who was smoking a cigarette over by the pool.

“Have you heard from Melody?”

“No, I am assuming she got caught up and is just running late”

“Fuck” Blade muttered under his breath and walked away.

He dialed her cell phone, but the call went straight to voice mail. Legend approached him just as he undid his tie. “Am I the only one that thinks there is something wrong?”

“What are you talking about?” Legend looked confused.

“Melody. I’m talking about the fact that she hasn’t shown up yet”

“Maybe she’s just running late”

“She would have called someone if she was just running late” Blade disagreed with Legend.

“You want to go take a walk by her place?”

Blade nodded. “Yeah. Let me just go tell Lyric that we’ll be right back”

“Ok, I’ll wait out front” Legend walked away and headed out to the front of the house to wait for Blade.

Blade walked over to Lyric and whispered something to him. Upon hearing what he planned on doing, Lyric excused himself from Jonnie so he could join Blade and Legend.

“It’s your wedding, we can handle it” Blade said as Lyric kept in step with him out to the front of the house.

“It’s my cousin” was all he said in response. The three of them walked down the street to the beach and when they reached Melody’s house Blade knocked on the door.

“Melody!” he yelled out her name, but still nothing.

“Open the door” Blade said to Lyric and Lyric knew exactly what he meant.

It only took one kick for Lyric to get the door to fly wide open. The three of them walked inside the house and to them it appeared to be empty.

“Mel?” Legend called out her name, but she never answered him.

“What’s that?” Lyric pointed to a reddish brown spot on the rug in front of the couch.

“Blood” Blade whispered looking down at the spot and the fear started to set in that something happened to Melody.

They searched the kitchen and the deck and didn’t find any sign of her. The only place left was the bedroom. When the three of them walked into the bedroom they all looked at each other when they saw what a disaster the room was. There was blood all over the rug and faint splatters on the wall.

Blade was frustrated and ran his hands through his hair. “Where the hell is she?” he asked as the panic started to rise in him.

Legend checked the bathroom, but came back out when he found it empty. The three of them were about to leave when Lyric let his eyes sweep over the room one more time. Just as Blade was about to walk out the door, Lyric grabbed his arm and pointed…