I groaned and rolled under the soft covers. The piano music still played in my head. Every inch of my body was as stiff as a piece of wood. My muscles screamed at me to stop moving. A faint thought played at the edge of my half-conscious mind; Something was wrong. The pillow was too fluffy, the bed plush and comfortable, and the springs didn't squeak when I moved. My bed at the shelter wasn't that comfy. Was I dreaming?

My eyes fluttered open and darted  around, making out fuzzy, undefined shapes. My pulse accelerated, drumming up an intense headache that bashed the left side of my skull. My arms weighed a ton, straining to massage my throbbing head. The burn in my shoulders didn't help either. My hair felt like a century old cobweb as it caught my languid fingers in its tangles.

I must look like a complete smash-up.

In a New York minute, the alarm of awakening to reality came crashing down.

One snappy movement and I sat up on the bed. My stiff spine protested, but I ignored the pain and snatched the covers to cloak my body up to my chin. I scanned the room with frantic wide eyes. My heart flopped down to my stomach when I didn't recognize the place.

Oh God! Where am I? How did I get here?

My eyes wandered around, scanning the room. It looked nice. Much nicer than a dorm room in a shelter. Warmth and tranquility crept up into me, even though it was an unfamiliar place. The blue-gray walls, light wood trimming and lack of furniture gave it a simple kind of elegance. A set of colorful paintings above the wooden headboard accentuated the place. A modern rug in  deep red carpeted the parquet tiles beyond the foot of the bed.

Trembling, I sucked in shallow intakes of air, mentally freaking out about the possibilities of what might have happened to me.

Holding my ragged breath, I gulped, and moved the covers away, peeking down at my clothes underneath. I was fully dressed. Same outfit I'd worn yesterday. I exhaled, the tension receding a little. There was an inkling in the back of my mind, telling me I was safe, but I couldn't explain why, or how.

Pressing my head between my hands, I attempted to clear my muddled thoughts. It took me a couple of minutes to regain access to my brain. There were flashes of memories, or was it a dream? A nightmare that somehow had a happy ending...

A clash at the shelter...

A panic attack on the sidewalk...

Myself, crumbled on the ground into a fetal position…

A crippling fear of being exposed to the world…

An undefined buzzing, and a piano tune that had seemed to be my salvation...

And finally, a sense of protection while, somehow, I'd been carried to safety.

Am I safe? Is that why I'm not running to the door right now? I do feel safe for some reason!

Restoring some composure, I threw the covers back, and carefully slipped my legs onto the floor. I held on to the edge of the double size bed, stretching my spine and rubbing the stiffness off of my neck. I was afraid I might lose my balance and plump back down if I stood up too fast.

Sunlight filtered through the sheer striped curtain, but it was hard to guess the time.

My cell phone lay on the nightstand, and my duffle bag and shoes on the floor next to the bed. I continued to penetrate the knots in my hair while I checked the digital clock on the phone screen.

11:40 a.m. That's impossible! I never sleep that long!

There were a couple of missed calls, and a new text from Asha, telling me she'd been at the airport and she'd try to return as soon as possible. Apparently, I'd been too knocked out to hear the phone ringing. I bit my lip in regret. I should've been there to see her off.

The other text made my heart leap in my chest, and a flood of hot liquid poured out through my eyelids. The text was from Akram, around six o'clock in the morning.

[[ Please, let me know when you wake up. I'll be outside. ]]

My hands jerked up to wipe the tears rolling down my face, as my thoughts began to clear up. A wave of emotions swelled up inside me, and abruptly everything came back to me.

It was him. My perpetual hero. Akram! He saved me again !

“Oh, Akram,” I whispered. A teary hiccup escaped my lips. I stifled it with my hand and clutched at the edge of the mattress.  A flood of memories rushed back in an instant, and my thoughts drifted back to last night's events …….

The buzzing and the piano music in my ears hadn't stopped, even when I had fallen apart in the street. The significance of the tune had taken a minute to register in my panicked brain.

My phone was ringing!

Hands barely functioning, I fumbled for the phone in my pocket. My shoulder was squashed to the cool ground,  lungs struggling to draw in a fair amount of oxygen. It felt like my soul was leaving my body.

Akram! Please be Akram!

With difficulty, my hand twitched awkwardly to extract the phone from under my slumped body, straining to push the 'accept’ button. I couldn't make out the caller ID, but It had to be him... It had to be Akram!

There was no exact memory of what I said to Akram in the phone. My mind was jumbled, my chest constricted. I recalled my brittle tone and his worried voice telling me to calm down. My heart palpitated wildly, it could've exploded inside my chest, or stopped beating altogether.

Next thing, I was paralyzed on the ground, watching the street from a horizontal view for an immeasurable length of time. The world seemed to have a cloudy veil surrounding it. Shadows sped by, blowing ear-splitting horns. The dirty concrete sent stabs of sharp pain through my bones, penetrating my every cell, freezing my lungs and crippling my muscles.

An icy cold sensation knocked the life out of me when the sound of footsteps scraped the ground somewhere close.

Someone's coming! Someone's going to hurt me!

I began to hyperventilate, unable to utter a sound, other than uneven gasps for air. The footsteps stopped two feet away from me. Some unknown person bent down and threw something with a metallic chink right next to me. I winced as the objects jingled against the hard concrete.

At the same moment, I vaguely spotted a car stopping beside the curb, and an indistinct figure running towards me. The faces were out of sight, and a violent jolt of fear curdled my blood. I wailed in hysteria. "Please, don't hurt me...Please... don't hurt me... "

“Hey! What are you doing?!” A familiar manly voice called. I only could make out his dark jeans and shoes as he crossed the edge of the pavement.

“Easy, man! I was trying to help. I thought she was a hobo. You know her?” A strange male voice echoed behind me.

“She's my friend. Let me take it from here. Thanks!” The soothing male voice demanded in an unusually edgy tone.

“Alright, man. Whatever.” The footsteps scraped away.

The streetlights seemed to darken, and I couldn't trust my hearing, or my weakened sense of reason. Everything was so frightening that I needed to absent myself somehow to escape my own existence. I pulled my flaccid arm up to protect my face, but I let it wilt down when I heard the familiar voice caressing my ears from a close distance.

"Sweetheart, it's me. Nobody is going to hurt you.” Akram's voice was husky. He dropped on his knees, reaching his hand to touch my sagging arm, then he pulled it away as if he was stung. “Oh, God, Mel, what---” he gasped and broke off.

Through heavy eyelids, I took in his agonized features like a lifeline; his pale face, furrowed eyebrows, round eyes reflected the passing headlights. I couldn't move a muscle to reach out to him. "Akram... please... don't leave me... please, " I rasped, unable to recognize my own voice.

" I won't, Mel, I won't… God, I'm so sorry.” His face seemed to blur while I strained to focus. "Sweetheart, please, open your eyes. Look at me." His voice broke, and I felt bad that he was distressed because of me.

Akram's fingers clawed at his knees as he stooped forward. His cinnamon eyes were wide, distraught, poring over me in shock. His arms sailed in the air before he shrugged off his jacket and placed it carefully over my body. His eyes panned the street that seemed to be uncharacteristically empty. I realized that the clammy moisture on my face wasn't only tears. It was drizzling in August.

"Lord... please," Akram pleaded, lifting his troubled face to the sky.

I tried my hardest to focus on Akram's face. His hands fluttered over my body and brushed the space surrounding me without making contact. They flew away to grab fistfuls of his damp hair.

“Mel, I can't move you. I'm sorry. Something could be broken and I don't know what to do.”

A hint of calm washed over me when he placed cautious fingers on my forehead, brushed the sticky hair off my face, and softly erased my tears. "I don't want to hurt you. I'll call an ambulance, Okay?" He pulled his hand back to reach inside his pocket.

My arm jerked convulsively to grasp his arm "No!... I'm not broken. Just take me away... Please, take me away." I squealed, limbs shaking. I couldn't decide if I was feverish or freezing, but I didn't want him to leave me.

"Alright, sweetie. But I'll have to take you to the hospital. I can't just... "

"No! No! Pleeeeease... Not... the hospital… pleeeeease!" Weeping and sniffling, I clutched at his shirt to sit up straight, feeling a lightheaded sensation mixed with a tinge of nausea. The lights of New York City were fading for the first time, my surroundings gradually slipping away.

Akram held my hand, steadied my back, and pulled me carefully to him. "Okay, Okay. Just breathe... Hold on. Can you walk?"

I nodded, my head still spinning.

Akram slipped his arm around me, helping me up. My legs failed me, and gave way when I pushed myself to my feet.

A subdued groan reached my ears, and I was lifted off the ground, my back supported by his arm and my head nestled against his chest. His heart throbbed rapidly in my ear. I let my eyelids slide down, and fastened my arms around his neck.

I thought I heard him murmur something like, "God, forgive me. I'm so sorry."

But it's not his fault… it's all mine...

As the warmth of his aura enveloped me, I didn't recall much afterwards. Although I thought he had talked to me in the car and I had mumbled incomprehensible words in response, in between involuntary sobs, but nothing had lingered in my head . The drive had been a vague, out of body experience..

Hugging myself tightly, I closed my eyes and inhaled , holding tight to the edge of the bed… Akram's bed.

Calm down, Melody. It's Okay. Akram is here. It's okay...

I grabbed the pillow that I'd slept on and hugged it in my arms. I leaned forward to rest my head and relive the sweet memory that came to me; Akram kneeling beside the bed, aiding me to sip a warm drink that tasted like mint. The look in his eyes filled my mind. His deep, concerned eyes watching over me. It was the last thing I had seen before winding down, and giving in to sleep.

Tears streamed afresh, bringing me a sudden twinge of self-pity.

Last night, I'd been a pile of nothing - rejected, abandoned, and tossed on the sidewalk like garbage. Anyone could've taken advantage of me in such a defenseless position, if it hadn't been for Akram. If I'd been found by someone else, I could've been drugged and possibly…...!!

Pondering the scary thought, I grabbed my throat, swallowed a mass of bitterness, and squeezed my eyes shut.

I was lucky then. Could've been worse… Could've been much worse.

Involuntarily, I shivered and held the pillow tighter against my chest, inhaling a subtle sweet scent that found its way into my lungs.

Oh, Akram! How could I ever repay him?

A thick heaviness pressed on my heart.

You can't… You have nothing to give him. Even your soul isn't worth it.

What about the truth?… you owe him the truth,  the voice of reason answered.

The lump stuck in my throat, blocking my air. I raked through the snarls of my hair, chewing the inside of my lips…

He has to know at some point, right? Even with the risk of losing him. How selfish can I be? Especially after what he's done for me.

He deserved to know I was  the reason he'd been attacked and robbed. He deserved to know I wasn't as good as he'd thought. That I was just a homeless, despicable liar who pretended to be somebody. A girl from the street who had slept in his bed.

Oh no! He let me sleep in his bed? In these dirty clothes? The same clothes I had on since I'd fainted in the icky streets of Manhattan!

I shuddered. My nose wrinkled as reality hit me, along with how I smelled.

EW! I need a shower! Right now! Oh God! He carried me like this! I contaminated his bed!

I shuddered again...

Gingerly, I got up to my feet, tried a few cautious steps, and tiptoed towards the closest door. I peeked outside, careful not to make a sound. The hallway was empty, so I put the door back and locked myself inside the bedroom.

It was easy to locate the bathroom; the only door left beside the closet. I grabbed my duffle and scurried to enter the bath. It was cozy and clean and smelled faintly of citrus, and it struck me for a second how different it was from the traumatizing showers back in the shelter. I stood for a moment, admiring it while making the comparison. This was a private haven. It wasn't mine, but it was much more intimate than I'd ever experienced.

My eyes fell on the few mannish toiletries scattered on top of the vanity; shaving cream, hair product, mashed toothpaste. There was something warm and personal about Akram's things that brought a smile to my lips.

Wow! I'm in his home! Using his bathroom! How crazy is this?

Stepping in and locking the door, I dropped the bag on the bathroom floor, and rummaged for a clean outfit. I began to undress, feeling terribly self-conscious and avoiding my reflection in the mirror. It wasn't my favorite sight to look at. I hopped into the shower and ran the cleansing hot water, intending to wash last night's memories away.

When I left the bathroom, I was almost presentable in my old blue jeans, and two-sizes-bigger butterfly t-shirt. I split my wet hair at the side and brushed it using a tiny bit of Akram's hair cream. It felt so good to have a long wholesome shower. It was like a layer of my troubles had been washed away.

Passing the mirror, I glimpsed my swollen eyes and the puffy bags underneath them and I cringed. I considered leaving discreetly to start my search for a place to stay. At least I would spare Akram the needless scare.

He asked me to tell him when I'm awake. Am I trying to run away from the confrontation? What a coward!

Bracing myself, I clasped my fingers around the thick strap of my duffel, unlocked the bedroom door, and turned the doorknob.

****

Hello dear ones

I thought I should try not to let you wait for too long. Hopefully, you'll like this short chapter. I was hoping to make it longer but the more words the longer the wait, so here you go. Please VOTE & COMMENT if you like this chapter and maybe share the story with a good friend who might be interested...

*How would you feel if you were in Melody's shoes, waking up in a strange place and can't remember what happened??

*What do you think happened to Akram before he came to rescue Melody?

*Where do you think Melody is going to go next?

*What do you think of Akram taking Melody to his apartment?

I hope you enjoy reading....

Much love

Most_bay