diff --git a/src/jmh/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipListBenchmark.java b/src/jmh/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipListBenchmark.java
index ef1a475..febbe2d 100644
--- a/src/jmh/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipListBenchmark.java
+++ b/src/jmh/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipListBenchmark.java
@@ -1,20 +1,20 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.memtable;
 
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.objects.ObjectArrayList;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.*;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.infra.Blackhole;
 
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
-import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.getRandomItem;
+import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.getRandomPair;
 
 @OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.SECONDS)
 @State(Scope.Benchmark)
 public class SkipListBenchmark {
 
     SkipList l;
-    Item[] items;
+    ByteArrayPair[] items;
 
     int NUM_ITEMS = 200000;
     int index = 0;
@@ -27,16 +27,16 @@ public void setup() {
         l = new SkipList(NUM_ITEMS / 2);
 
         // generate random items and insert half
-        ObjectArrayList<Item> tmp = new ObjectArrayList<>();
+        ObjectArrayList<ByteArrayPair> tmp = new ObjectArrayList<>();
         for (int i = 0; i < NUM_ITEMS; i++) {
-            var it = getRandomItem();
+            var it = getRandomPair();
             if (i < NUM_ITEMS / 2)
                 l.add(it);
 
             tmp.add(it);
         }
 
-        items = tmp.toArray(new Item[0]);
+        items = tmp.toArray(new ByteArrayPair[0]);
 
         // generate sequence of add/remove operations
         addRemove = new boolean[NUM_ITEMS];
diff --git a/src/jmh/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableBenchmark.java b/src/jmh/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableBenchmark.java
index 794c421..007cd06 100644
--- a/src/jmh/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableBenchmark.java
+++ b/src/jmh/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableBenchmark.java
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.sstable;
 
 import com.tomfran.lsm.comparator.ByteArrayComparator;
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.objects.ObjectArrayList;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.objects.ObjectOpenHashSet;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.*;
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
-import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.getRandomItem;
+import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.getRandomPair;
 
 @OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.SECONDS)
 @State(Scope.Benchmark)
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ public class SSTableBenchmark {
     static final int NUM_ITEMS = 100000;
     static final int SAMPLE_SIZE = NUM_ITEMS / 1000;
 
-    static Item[] insertedArray;
-    static Item[] skippedArray;
+    static ByteArrayPair[] insertedArray;
+    static ByteArrayPair[] skippedArray;
     static SSTable sstable;
 
     static int index = 0;
@@ -38,9 +38,9 @@ public void setup() throws IOException {
         Files.createDirectory(DIR);
 
         // generate random items
-        var l = new ObjectOpenHashSet<Item>();
+        var l = new ObjectOpenHashSet<ByteArrayPair>();
         for (int i = 0; i < NUM_ITEMS * 2; i++) {
-            l.add(getRandomItem());
+            l.add(getRandomPair());
         }
 
         // sort and divide into inserted and skipped
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ public void setup() throws IOException {
                 .sorted((a, b) -> ByteArrayComparator.compare(a.key(), b.key()))
                 .toList();
 
-        var inserted = new ObjectArrayList<Item>();
-        var skipped = new ObjectArrayList<Item>();
+        var inserted = new ObjectArrayList<ByteArrayPair>();
+        var skipped = new ObjectArrayList<ByteArrayPair>();
 
         for (int i = 0; i < items.size(); i++) {
             var e = items.get(i);
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ public void setup() throws IOException {
         // shuffle to avoid sequential access
         Collections.shuffle(inserted);
         Collections.shuffle(skipped);
-        insertedArray = inserted.toArray(Item[]::new);
-        skippedArray = skipped.toArray(Item[]::new);
+        insertedArray = inserted.toArray(ByteArrayPair[]::new);
+        skippedArray = skipped.toArray(ByteArrayPair[]::new);
     }
 
     @TearDown
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseInputStream.java b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseInputStream.java
index 7c75a74..753cea3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseInputStream.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseInputStream.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.io;
 
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.io.FastBufferedInputStream;
 
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
@@ -67,6 +68,37 @@ public byte[] readNBytes(int n) {
         }
     }
 
+    public ByteArrayPair readBytePair() {
+        try {
+            int keyLength = readVByteInt();
+            int valueLength = readVByteInt();
+
+            return new ByteArrayPair(
+                    readNBytes(keyLength),
+                    readNBytes(valueLength)
+            );
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    public byte[] readByteArray() {
+        try {
+            int len = readVByteInt();
+            return fis.readNBytes(len);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public long skip(int n) {
+        try {
+            return fis.skip(n);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException(e);
+        }
+    }
+
     public void seek(long offset) {
         try {
             fis.position(offset);
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseOutputStream.java b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseOutputStream.java
index e44962e..078dc9e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseOutputStream.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseOutputStream.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.io;
 
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.io.FastBufferedOutputStream;
 
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
@@ -39,6 +40,20 @@ public int writeLong(long n) {
         return write(longToBytes(n));
     }
 
+    public int writeBytePair(ByteArrayPair pair) {
+        byte[] key = pair.key(), value = pair.value();
+        byte[] keyBytes = intToVByte(key.length), valueBytes = intToVByte(value.length);
+
+        byte[] result = new byte[keyBytes.length + valueBytes.length + key.length + value.length];
+
+        System.arraycopy(keyBytes, 0, result, 0, keyBytes.length);
+        System.arraycopy(valueBytes, 0, result, keyBytes.length, valueBytes.length);
+
+        System.arraycopy(key, 0, result, keyBytes.length + valueBytes.length, key.length);
+        System.arraycopy(value, 0, result, keyBytes.length + valueBytes.length + key.length, value.length);
+        return write(result);
+    }
+
     byte[] intToVByte(int n) {
         return longToVByte(n);
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/ItemsInputStream.java b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/ItemsInputStream.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 0de87cf..0000000
--- a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/ItemsInputStream.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
-package com.tomfran.lsm.io;
-
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
-
-public class ItemsInputStream extends BaseInputStream {
-
-    public ItemsInputStream(String filename) {
-        super(filename);
-    }
-
-    public Item readItem() {
-        try {
-            int keyLength = readVByteInt();
-            int valueLength = readVByteInt();
-
-            return new Item(
-                    readNBytes(keyLength),
-                    readNBytes(valueLength)
-            );
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-            return null;
-        }
-    }
-
-}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/ItemsOutputStream.java b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/ItemsOutputStream.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 858a589..0000000
--- a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/ItemsOutputStream.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-package com.tomfran.lsm.io;
-
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
-
-public class ItemsOutputStream extends BaseOutputStream {
-
-    public ItemsOutputStream(String filename) {
-        super(filename);
-    }
-
-    public int writeItem(Item item) {
-        return write(toBytes(item));
-    }
-
-    protected byte[] toBytes(Item i) {
-        byte[] key = i.key(), value = i.value();
-        byte[] keyBytes = intToVByte(key.length), valueBytes = intToVByte(value.length);
-
-        byte[] result = new byte[keyBytes.length + valueBytes.length + key.length + value.length];
-
-        System.arraycopy(keyBytes, 0, result, 0, keyBytes.length);
-        System.arraycopy(valueBytes, 0, result, keyBytes.length, valueBytes.length);
-
-        System.arraycopy(key, 0, result, keyBytes.length + valueBytes.length, key.length);
-        System.arraycopy(value, 0, result, keyBytes.length + valueBytes.length + key.length, value.length);
-
-        return result;
-    }
-}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/Memtable.java b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/Memtable.java
index d75c693..3a28a0c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/Memtable.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/Memtable.java
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.memtable;
 
 import com.tomfran.lsm.sstable.SSTable;
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 
 public class Memtable {
 
@@ -17,16 +17,16 @@ public Memtable(int numElements) {
         list = new SkipList(numElements);
     }
 
-    public void add(Item item) {
+    public void add(ByteArrayPair item) {
         list.add(item);
     }
 
-    public Item get(byte[] key) {
+    public ByteArrayPair get(byte[] key) {
         return list.get(key);
     }
 
     public void remove(byte[] key) {
-        list.add(new Item(key, null));
+        list.add(new ByteArrayPair(key, null));
     }
 
     public int size() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipList.java b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipList.java
index 5195ad1..74ebe86 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipList.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipList.java
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.memtable;
 
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 import it.unimi.dsi.util.XoRoShiRo128PlusRandom;
 
 import java.util.Iterator;
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 /**
  * A skip list implementation of items.
  */
-public class SkipList implements Iterable<Item> {
+public class SkipList implements Iterable<ByteArrayPair> {
 
     static final int DEFAULT_ELEMENTS = 1 << 16;
 
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ public SkipList(int numElements) {
      *
      * @param item The item to add.
      */
-    public void add(Item item) {
+    public void add(ByteArrayPair item) {
         Node current = sentinel;
         for (int i = levels - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
             while (current.next[i] != null && current.next[i].value.compareTo(item) < 0)
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ private int randomLevel() {
      * @param key The key of the item to retrieve.
      * @return The item if found, null otherwise.
      */
-    public Item get(byte[] key) {
+    public ByteArrayPair get(byte[] key) {
         Node current = sentinel;
         for (int i = levels - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
             while (current.next[i] != null && compare(current.next[i].value.key(), key) < 0)
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ public int size() {
      * @return An iterator over the items in the skip list.
      */
     @Override
-    public Iterator<Item> iterator() {
+    public Iterator<ByteArrayPair> iterator() {
         return new SkipListIterator(sentinel);
     }
 
@@ -155,16 +155,16 @@ public String toString() {
     }
 
     private static final class Node {
-        Item value;
+        ByteArrayPair value;
         Node[] next;
 
-        Node(Item value, int numLevels) {
+        Node(ByteArrayPair value, int numLevels) {
             this.value = value;
             this.next = new Node[numLevels];
         }
     }
 
-    private record SkipListIterator(Node node) implements Iterator<Item> {
+    private record SkipListIterator(Node node) implements Iterator<ByteArrayPair> {
 
         @Override
         public boolean hasNext() {
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ public boolean hasNext() {
         }
 
         @Override
-        public Item next() {
+        public ByteArrayPair next() {
             return node.next[0].value;
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTable.java b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTable.java
index b1ef4c4..51d2853 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTable.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTable.java
@@ -3,10 +3,9 @@
 import com.tomfran.lsm.bloom.BloomFilter;
 import com.tomfran.lsm.io.BaseInputStream;
 import com.tomfran.lsm.io.BaseOutputStream;
-import com.tomfran.lsm.io.ItemsInputStream;
-import com.tomfran.lsm.io.ItemsOutputStream;
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 import com.tomfran.lsm.utils.IteratorMerger;
+import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.ints.IntArrayList;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.longs.LongArrayList;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.objects.ObjectArrayList;
 
@@ -21,10 +20,11 @@ public class SSTable {
     public static final String INDEX_FILE_EXTENSION = ".index";
 
     String filename;
-    ItemsInputStream is;
+    BaseInputStream is;
     int size;
 
     LongArrayList sparseOffsets;
+    IntArrayList sparseSizeCount;
     ObjectArrayList<byte[]> sparseKeys;
     BloomFilter bloomFilter;
 
@@ -36,10 +36,10 @@ public class SSTable {
      * @param sampleSize The number of items to skip between sparse index entries.
      * @param numItems   The number of items in the SSTable.
      */
-    public SSTable(String filename, Iterable<Item> items, int sampleSize, int numItems) {
+    public SSTable(String filename, Iterable<ByteArrayPair> items, int sampleSize, int numItems) {
         this.filename = filename;
         writeItems(filename, items, sampleSize, numItems);
-        is = new ItemsInputStream(filename + DATA_FILE_EXTENSION);
+        is = new BaseInputStream(filename + DATA_FILE_EXTENSION);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ public SSTable(String filename) {
     static SSTable merge(String filename, int sampleSize, SSTable... tables) {
 
         int newSize = 0;
-        Iterator<Item>[] iterators = new Iterator[tables.length];
+        Iterator<ByteArrayPair>[] iterators = new Iterator[tables.length];
         for (int i = 0; i < tables.length; i++) {
             iterators[i] = tables[i].iterator();
             newSize += tables[i].size;
@@ -76,10 +76,11 @@ static SSTable merge(String filename, int sampleSize, SSTable... tables) {
 
     private void initializeFromDisk(String filename) {
         // items file
-        is = new ItemsInputStream(filename + DATA_FILE_EXTENSION);
+        is = new BaseInputStream(filename + DATA_FILE_EXTENSION);
 
         // sparse index
         sparseOffsets = new LongArrayList();
+        sparseSizeCount = new IntArrayList();
         sparseKeys = new ObjectArrayList<>();
 
         BaseInputStream indexIs = new BaseInputStream(filename + INDEX_FILE_EXTENSION);
@@ -93,10 +94,16 @@ private void initializeFromDisk(String filename) {
             sparseOffsets.add(offsetsCumulative);
         }
 
+        int sizeCumulative = 0;
+        sparseSizeCount.add(sizeCumulative);
+        for (int i = 0; i < sparseSize; i++) {
+            sizeCumulative += indexIs.readVByteInt();
+            sparseSizeCount.add(sizeCumulative);
+        }
+
         for (int i = 0; i < sparseSize; i++)
             sparseKeys.add(indexIs.readNBytes(indexIs.readVByteInt()));
 
-
         is.close();
 
         // bloom filter
@@ -109,22 +116,50 @@ private void initializeFromDisk(String filename) {
      * @param key The key of the item to read.
      * @return The item with the given key, or null if no such item exists.
      */
-    public Item get(byte[] key) {
+    public byte[] get(byte[] key) {
         if (!bloomFilter.mightContain(key))
             return null;
 
-        long offset = getCandidateOffset(key);
+        int offsetIndex = getCandidateOffsetIndex(key);
+        long offset = sparseOffsets.getLong(offsetIndex);
+        int remaining = size - sparseSizeCount.getInt(offsetIndex);
         is.seek(offset);
 
-        Item it;
         int cmp = 1;
+        int searchKeyLen = key.length, readKeyLen, readValueLen;
+
+        byte[] readKey;
+
+        while (cmp > 0 && remaining > 0) {
+
+            remaining--;
+            readKeyLen = is.readVByteInt();
+
+            // gone too far
+            if (readKeyLen > searchKeyLen) {
+                return null;
+            }
+
+            // gone too short
+            if (readKeyLen < searchKeyLen) {
+                readValueLen = is.readVByteInt();
+                is.skip(readKeyLen + readValueLen);
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            // read full key, compare, if equal read value
+            readValueLen = is.readVByteInt();
+            readKey = is.readNBytes(readKeyLen);
+            cmp = compare(key, readKey);
 
-        while ((it = is.readItem()) != null &&
-                it.key().length > 0 &&
-                (cmp = compare(key, it.key())) > 0) {
+            if (cmp == 0) {
+                return is.readNBytes(readValueLen);
+            } else {
+                is.skip(readValueLen);
+            }
         }
 
-        return cmp == 0 ? it : null;
+        return null;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -132,7 +167,7 @@ public Item get(byte[] key) {
      *
      * @return Table iterator
      */
-    public Iterator<Item> iterator() {
+    public Iterator<ByteArrayPair> iterator() {
         is.seek(0);
         return new SSTableIterator(this);
     }
@@ -144,7 +179,7 @@ public void close() {
         is.close();
     }
 
-    private long getCandidateOffset(byte[] key) {
+    private int getCandidateOffsetIndex(byte[] key) {
         int low = 0;
         int high = sparseOffsets.size() - 1;
 
@@ -157,29 +192,31 @@ private long getCandidateOffset(byte[] key) {
             else if (cmp > 0)
                 low = mid;
             else
-                return sparseOffsets.getLong(mid);
+                return mid;
         }
-        return sparseOffsets.getLong(low);
+        return low;
     }
 
-    private void writeItems(String filename, Iterable<Item> items, int sampleSize, int numItems) {
-        ItemsOutputStream ios = new ItemsOutputStream(filename + DATA_FILE_EXTENSION);
+    private void writeItems(String filename, Iterable<ByteArrayPair> items, int sampleSize, int numItems) {
+        BaseOutputStream ios = new BaseOutputStream(filename + DATA_FILE_EXTENSION);
 
         sparseOffsets = new LongArrayList();
+        sparseSizeCount = new IntArrayList();
         sparseKeys = new ObjectArrayList<>();
         bloomFilter = new BloomFilter(numItems);
 
         // write items and populate indexes
         int size = 0;
         long offset = 0L;
-        for (Item item : items) {
+        for (ByteArrayPair item : items) {
             if (size % sampleSize == 0) {
                 sparseOffsets.add(offset);
+                sparseSizeCount.add(size);
                 sparseKeys.add(item.key());
             }
             bloomFilter.add(item.key());
 
-            offset += ios.writeItem(item);
+            offset += ios.writeBytePair(item);
             size++;
         }
         ios.close();
@@ -191,13 +228,21 @@ private void writeItems(String filename, Iterable<Item> items, int sampleSize, i
 
         BaseOutputStream indexOs = new BaseOutputStream(filename + INDEX_FILE_EXTENSION);
         indexOs.writeVByteInt(size);
-        indexOs.writeVByteInt(sparseOffsets.size());
+
+        int sparseSize = sparseOffsets.size();
+        indexOs.writeVByteInt(sparseSize);
 
         // skip first offset, always 0
-        long prev = 0L;
-        for (int i = 1; i < sparseOffsets.size(); i++) {
-            indexOs.writeVByteLong(sparseOffsets.getLong(i) - prev);
-            prev = sparseOffsets.getLong(i);
+        long prevOffset = 0L;
+        for (int i = 1; i < sparseSize; i++) {
+            indexOs.writeVByteLong(sparseOffsets.getLong(i) - prevOffset);
+            prevOffset = sparseOffsets.getLong(i);
+        }
+
+        int prevSize = 0;
+        for (int i = 1; i < sparseSize; i++) {
+            indexOs.writeVByteInt(sparseSizeCount.getInt(i) - prevSize);
+            prevSize = sparseSizeCount.getInt(i);
         }
 
         for (byte[] key : sparseKeys) {
@@ -208,16 +253,25 @@ private void writeItems(String filename, Iterable<Item> items, int sampleSize, i
         indexOs.close();
     }
 
-    private record SSTableIterator(SSTable table) implements Iterator<Item> {
+    private static class SSTableIterator implements Iterator<ByteArrayPair> {
+
+        private final SSTable table;
+        int remaining;
+
+        public SSTableIterator(SSTable table) {
+            this.table = table;
+            remaining = table.size;
+        }
 
         @Override
         public boolean hasNext() {
-            return table.is.hasNext();
+            return remaining > 0;
         }
 
         @Override
-        public Item next() {
-            return table.is.readItem();
+        public ByteArrayPair next() {
+            remaining--;
+            return table.is.readBytePair();
         }
     }
 
@@ -228,12 +282,12 @@ public Item next() {
      * keeping track of the last key we saw, and skipping over any keys that are
      * equal to the last key.
      */
-    private static class SSTableMergerIterator extends IteratorMerger<Item> implements Iterable<Item> {
+    private static class SSTableMergerIterator extends IteratorMerger<ByteArrayPair> implements Iterable<ByteArrayPair> {
 
-        private Item last;
+        private ByteArrayPair last;
 
         @SafeVarargs
-        public SSTableMergerIterator(Iterator<Item>... iterators) {
+        public SSTableMergerIterator(Iterator<ByteArrayPair>... iterators) {
             super(iterators);
             last = super.next();
         }
@@ -244,19 +298,19 @@ public boolean hasNext() {
         }
 
         @Override
-        public Item next() {
-            Item next = super.next();
+        public ByteArrayPair next() {
+            ByteArrayPair next = super.next();
             while (next != null && last.compareTo(next) == 0)
                 next = super.next();
 
-            Item toReturn = last;
+            ByteArrayPair toReturn = last;
             last = next;
 
             return toReturn;
         }
 
         @Override
-        public Iterator<Item> iterator() {
+        public Iterator<ByteArrayPair> iterator() {
             return this;
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/tree/LSMTree.java b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/tree/LSMTree.java
index 0f99735..297e843 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/tree/LSMTree.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/tree/LSMTree.java
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 import com.tomfran.lsm.memtable.Memtable;
 import com.tomfran.lsm.sstable.SSTable;
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ public LSMTree() {
         tables = new LinkedList<>();
     }
 
-    public void add(Item item) {
+    public void add(ByteArrayPair item) {
         mutableMemtable.add(item);
         checkMemtableSize();
     }
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ private void checkMemtableSize() {
         }
     }
 
-    public Item get(byte[] key) {
-        Item result;
+    public ByteArrayPair get(byte[] key) {
+        ByteArrayPair result;
 
         if ((result = mutableMemtable.get(key)) != null)
             return result;
@@ -47,9 +47,10 @@ public Item get(byte[] key) {
             if ((result = memtable.get(key)) != null)
                 return result;
 
+        byte[] tmp;
         for (SSTable table : tables)
-            if ((result = table.get(key)) != null)
-                return result;
+            if ((tmp = table.get(key)) != null)
+                return new ByteArrayPair(key, tmp);
 
         return null;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/types/Item.java b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/types/ByteArrayPair.java
similarity index 83%
rename from src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/types/Item.java
rename to src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/types/ByteArrayPair.java
index 97c8fad..82e9203 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/types/Item.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/tomfran/lsm/types/ByteArrayPair.java
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 import static com.tomfran.lsm.comparator.ByteArrayComparator.compare;
 
-public record Item(byte[] key, byte[] value) implements Comparable<Item> {
+public record ByteArrayPair(byte[] key, byte[] value) implements Comparable<ByteArrayPair> {
 
     @Override
     public int hashCode() {
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ public int hashCode() {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public int compareTo(Item o) {
+    public int compareTo(ByteArrayPair o) {
         return compare(key, o.key);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/TestUtils.java b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/TestUtils.java
index c9cf1cd..d97f2ba 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/TestUtils.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/TestUtils.java
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm;
 
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Random;
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ public class TestUtils {
     static final int MIN_BYTES_LENGTH = 10, MAX_BYTES_LENGTH = 500;
     static Random rn = new Random();
 
-    public static Item getRandomItem() {
-        return new Item(
+    public static ByteArrayPair getRandomPair() {
+        return new ByteArrayPair(
                 getRandomByteArray(),
                 getRandomByteArray()
         );
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ public static List<byte[]> getRandomByteArrayList(int size) {
                 .toList();
     }
 
-    public static void assertItemEquals(Item a, Item b) {
+    public static void assertPairEqual(ByteArrayPair a, ByteArrayPair b) {
         assert compare(a.key(), b.key()) == 0;
         assert compare(a.value(), b.value()) == 0;
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseStreamsTest.java b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseStreamsTest.java
index 201dc24..be35e4d 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseStreamsTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/BaseStreamsTest.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.io;
 
+import com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
 
@@ -25,6 +26,9 @@ public void shouldReadWrite() {
         var longList = Stream.generate(rn::nextLong).map(Math::abs).limit(1000).toList();
         longList.forEach(os::writeVByteLong);
 
+        var pairList = Stream.generate(TestUtils::getRandomPair).limit(1000).toList();
+        pairList.forEach(os::writeBytePair);
+
         os.close();
 
         var is = new BaseInputStream(tempDirectory + "stream");
@@ -38,6 +42,12 @@ public void shouldReadWrite() {
             var read = is.readVByteLong();
             assert read == i;
         });
+
+        pairList.forEach(i -> {
+            var read = is.readBytePair();
+            assert read != null;
+            TestUtils.assertPairEqual(i, read);
+        });
     }
 
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/ItemsStreamsTest.java b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/ItemsStreamsTest.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 537ebe6..0000000
--- a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/io/ItemsStreamsTest.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
-package com.tomfran.lsm.io;
-
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
-import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.objects.ObjectArrayList;
-import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterAll;
-import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll;
-import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
-import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
-
-import java.nio.file.Path;
-import java.util.stream.IntStream;
-
-import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.assertItemEquals;
-import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.getRandomItem;
-
-class ItemsStreamsTest {
-
-    static final String FILENAME = "/items.data";
-    @TempDir
-    static Path tempDirectory;
-    static ItemsInputStream in;
-    static ItemsOutputStream out;
-
-    static ObjectArrayList<Item> items;
-
-    @BeforeAll
-    public static void setup() {
-        out = new ItemsOutputStream(tempDirectory + "/items.data");
-
-        items = new ObjectArrayList<>();
-
-        IntStream.range(0, 1000)
-                .mapToObj(i -> getRandomItem())
-                .forEach(e -> {
-                    items.add(e);
-                    out.writeItem(e);
-                });
-
-        out.close();
-
-        in = new ItemsInputStream(tempDirectory + FILENAME);
-    }
-
-    @AfterAll
-    public static void teardown() {
-        in.close();
-        out.close();
-    }
-
-    @Test
-    public void shouldReadItem() {
-        for (var item : items) {
-            var it = in.readItem();
-            assert it != null;
-            assertItemEquals(item, it);
-        }
-    }
-
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipListTest.java b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipListTest.java
index 62154fe..58ac74a 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipListTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/memtable/SkipListTest.java
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.memtable;
 
 import com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils;
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.objects.ObjectArrayList;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Order;
@@ -16,14 +16,14 @@
 class SkipListTest {
 
     static SkipList l;
-    static ObjectArrayList<Item> items;
+    static ObjectArrayList<ByteArrayPair> items;
 
     @BeforeAll
     public static void setup() {
         l = new SkipList(100);
         items = new ObjectArrayList<>();
 
-        Stream.generate(TestUtils::getRandomItem)
+        Stream.generate(TestUtils::getRandomPair)
                 .limit(100)
                 .forEach(items::add);
 
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ public static void setup() {
     @Test
     @Order(1)
     public void shouldFind() {
-        for (Item item : items) {
+        for (ByteArrayPair item : items) {
             var found = l.get(item.key());
             assert found != null;
             assert compare(found.key(), item.key()) == 0;
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public void shouldFind() {
     @Test
     @Order(2)
     public void shouldRemove() {
-        for (Item item : items.subList(0, 50)) {
+        for (ByteArrayPair item : items.subList(0, 50)) {
             l.remove(item.key());
         }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableMergeTest.java b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableMergeTest.java
index 71e0a26..745ca0b 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableMergeTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableMergeTest.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.sstable;
 
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.comparator.ByteArrayComparator;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterAll;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
-import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.assertItemEquals;
+import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.assertPairEqual;
 
 public class SSTableMergeTest {
 
@@ -18,7 +19,7 @@ public class SSTableMergeTest {
     @TempDir
     static Path tempDirectory;
     static SSTable merge, first, second;
-    static List<Item> firstItems, secondItems, expectedItems;
+    static List<ByteArrayPair> firstItems, secondItems, expectedItems;
 
     @BeforeAll
     public static void setup() {
@@ -29,8 +30,8 @@ public static void setup() {
 
         // generate overlapping items
         int n = 10;
-        firstItems = generateItems(0, n, false);
-        secondItems = generateItems(n - n / 2, n * 2, true);
+        firstItems = generatePairList(0, n, false);
+        secondItems = generatePairList(n - n / 2, n * 2, true);
 
         // expected is all first items and all second items except the first n/2 overlapping ones
         expectedItems.addAll(firstItems);
@@ -49,10 +50,10 @@ public static void teardown() {
         second.close();
     }
 
-    private static List<Item> generateItems(int start, int end, boolean incr) {
-        ArrayList<Item> result = new ArrayList<>();
+    private static List<ByteArrayPair> generatePairList(int start, int end, boolean incr) {
+        ArrayList<ByteArrayPair> result = new ArrayList<>();
         for (int i = start; i < end; i++)
-            result.add(new Item(new byte[]{(byte) i}, new byte[]{(byte) (i + (incr ? 1 : 0))}));
+            result.add(new ByteArrayPair(new byte[]{(byte) i}, new byte[]{(byte) (i + (incr ? 1 : 0))}));
 
         return result;
     }
@@ -60,9 +61,9 @@ private static List<Item> generateItems(int start, int end, boolean incr) {
     @Test
     public void shouldGetItems() {
         for (var item : expectedItems) {
-            var it = merge.get(item.key());
-            assert it != null;
-            assertItemEquals(item, it);
+            var val = merge.get(item.key());
+            assert val != null;
+            assert ByteArrayComparator.compare(item.value(), val) == 0;
         }
     }
 
@@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ public void shouldGetItemsInOrder() {
         while (it.hasNext()) {
             var item = it.next();
             var expected = expectedItems.get(i++);
-            assertItemEquals(expected, item);
+            assertPairEqual(expected, item);
         }
 
         assert i == expectedItems.size() : "expected " + expectedItems.size() + " items, got " + i;
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableReconstructTest.java b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableReconstructTest.java
index f9c149e..5f9df10 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableReconstructTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableReconstructTest.java
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.sstable;
 
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.objects.ObjectOpenHashSet;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.List;
 
-import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.getRandomItem;
+import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.getRandomPair;
 import static com.tomfran.lsm.comparator.ByteArrayComparator.compare;
 import static com.tomfran.lsm.sstable.SSTable.*;
 
@@ -25,9 +25,9 @@ public class SSTableReconstructTest {
     @BeforeAll
     static void setup() throws IOException {
 
-        var l = new ObjectOpenHashSet<Item>();
+        var l = new ObjectOpenHashSet<ByteArrayPair>();
         for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
-            l.add(getRandomItem());
+            l.add(getRandomPair());
         }
 
         var items = l.stream()
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableTest.java b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableTest.java
index 5d039fa..539d421 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/tomfran/lsm/sstable/SSTableTest.java
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package com.tomfran.lsm.sstable;
 
 import com.tomfran.lsm.comparator.ByteArrayComparator;
-import com.tomfran.lsm.types.Item;
+import com.tomfran.lsm.types.ByteArrayPair;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.objects.ObjectArrayList;
 import it.unimi.dsi.fastutil.objects.ObjectOpenHashSet;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterAll;
@@ -11,28 +11,28 @@
 
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 
-import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.getRandomItem;
+import static com.tomfran.lsm.TestUtils.getRandomPair;
 import static com.tomfran.lsm.comparator.ByteArrayComparator.compare;
 
 class SSTableTest {
 
     static final String TEST_FILE = "/sstable";
-    static final int NUM_ITEMS = 100;
+    static final int NUM_ITEMS = 10;
     static final int SAMPLE_SIZE = NUM_ITEMS / 3;
 
     @TempDir
     static Path tempDirectory;
 
     static SSTable t;
-    static ObjectArrayList<Item> inserted;
-    static ObjectArrayList<Item> skipped;
+    static ObjectArrayList<ByteArrayPair> inserted;
+    static ObjectArrayList<ByteArrayPair> skipped;
 
     @BeforeAll
     public static void setup() {
         // generate random items
-        var l = new ObjectOpenHashSet<Item>();
+        var l = new ObjectOpenHashSet<ByteArrayPair>();
         for (int i = 0; i < NUM_ITEMS * 2; i++) {
-            l.add(getRandomItem());
+            l.add(getRandomPair());
         }
 
         // sort and divide into inserted and skipped
@@ -62,10 +62,9 @@ public static void teardown() {
     @Test
     public void shouldFindItems() {
         for (var item : inserted) {
-            var it = t.get(item.key());
-            assert it != null;
-            assert compare(item.key(), it.key()) == 0;
-            assert compare(item.value(), it.value()) == 0;
+            var val = t.get(item.key());
+            assert val != null;
+            assert compare(item.value(), val) == 0;
         }
     }