The Hunter Chronicles - The Beginning

Before

"Mel, promise me that you won't tell her." Twenty one year old Michael Anderson pleads.

"I can't keep this from her, she is my best friend!" Melissa exclaims angrily at her brother tying her long blonde hair up in a messy bun.

"Telling her is just too dangerous. She has to figure it out for herself." He replies crossing his arms over his chest, his muscular form barely visible in the shadows.

"Isn't it better if she knows what's going to happen?" She asks as she walks over to her over sized closets.

"She won't believe us even if we tell her." He says bluntly watching her stuff clothes into a bag not paying much attention to what goes inside.

"She will believe me if I tell her. If it comes from someone she knows and trusts." Melissa argues dumping her overstuffed bag on the bed.

"Like you did?" Michael asks moving out of the shadows to flop down on his sister's king sized bed covered in a white and gold bedspread accompanied by more pillows than one would ever need in a lifetime.

"I was ten!" Melissa yells and punches his arm, her bedroom is spacious, one wall completely dedicated to shoes stacked neatly into cubes that would shame any high end clothing store while the opposite wall holds an enormous collection of jewelry with tiny lights that highlight her favorite pieces.

"It's been months now so maybe Dean was wrong. No need to tell her until he is sure. It would just complicate things if we tell her and nothing happens." Michael replies, rubbing his arm.

"It's not as impossible as you make it sound." Melissa says rolling her eyes.

"What?"

"That Dean could be wrong. The bro-mance between the two of you freaks me out."

Michael doesn't respond so she quickly adds, "If it turns out that Dean is in fact wrong, are you finally going to tell her how you feel about her?"

"How did you know?" He asks surprised as she makes her way over to her makeup table.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the way you look at her and put two and two together." She answers matter of fact, sweeping her cosmetics into her pink studded vanity case.

"Well it's not about me and you still can't tell her." He pouts.

"She will never forgive me for lying to her, Michael!" Melissa says sitting down at her makeup table in defeat.

'She will over time."

"Clearly you don't know her that well." She replies, turning around in her chair and lifting her eyebrows.

"Please, don't say anything. You weren't even supposed to know in the first place."

"But I do. So that will teach you not to divulge sensitive information with your office door wide open. Don't be mad at me if you can't master the art of a secret conversation." She says sticking out her tongue.

Michael shakes his head.

"Oh fine!" She says throwing her hands up in the air. "I won't say anything but you better not come crying to me when she finds out. She is going to be extremely pissed off at us and go off and do something stupid." She says shaking her finger at her brother. She stands up taking her vanity case and walks over to her bed she throws the bag over her shoulder and walks out of her bedroom without another word, leaving her brother sitting on the bed.

Melissa hurries down the stairs she says a quick goodbye to her parents and slips out the door before they can reach her. She dumps her bags on the back seat of her bright blue BMW and slams the door shut. She leans against the car for a minute, inhaling and exhaling slowly, shakes her head and gets in her car.