Chapter Eight: Decisions

Then

Haruhi wasn't even aware that she had fallen asleep until she woke up. As the memory of the recent events came back to her, she sighed, disheartened that all of this hadn't been a dream. She sat up slowly, her joints popping as she stretched her cramped muscles. There was very little light in the room; the view she had out her window wasn't the greatest since she was just staring at a bunch of vacant balconies. She assumed that it was close to night, or at least she hoped that it was close to night. The passing of time was beginning to get a bit foggy. It had been night when she was taken, but day when she was dragged to this room. So Haruhi assumed that it had been at least one day, moving onto two if the sun was indeed setting.
Turning her view away from the window, her gaze went directly to the middle of the room where a plate of food sat, waiting for her. How long it had been sitting there, she wasn't sure. But the mere thought that one of those men had been quiet enough to not disturb her sleep bothered her; they could have done something to her, and it was possible that she wouldn't know.

The food on the plate was very simple- rice and a slice of bread, which looked rather stale. A glass of water sat next to it. Haruhi heard her stomach rumble and felt her mouth water at the mere sight of the pathetic meal. It was enticing to say the least, but a nagging thought at the back of her head told her not to eat it; it could be laced with something for all she knew. With this horrible situation she was dealt with, she didn't want to make it worse for herself by being drugged or poisoned, even if she was sure that her captors intended on keeping her alive. But at the same time, she didn't know how long she'd be in this prison; she didn't want to starve.

For what had to be at least an hour or so, Haruhi ignored the food as best she could. Pacing the room, humming a tune, stretching, mental counting-anything to keep her mind off of the food and the fact that her belly was making itself louder and louder, waiting for the owner to give in. The growling quickly became a gnawing pain, as though her stomach was trying to digest itself. She eyed the food, her mouth filling with saliva at the sight of it.
What was the possibility that the food was fine? And what was the possibility that is was drugged, or worse, poisoned? Picking up the plate, she sniffed the food before hesitantly taking a handful and placing it in her mouth. It didn't smell strange and tasted just fine. But she was aware that there were some drugs and poisons out there that were colorless, odorless and tasteless.
"I guess I'll just have to wait and see and hope it's not poisoned."

As the sky began to darken, Haruhi waited to see if there were any side effects of the food that she had been given. But nothing seemed to happen; she was still alert and awake, and felt fine. But once the sky had disappeared below the horizon, she was left in darkness, even the moon was not out tonight.


Time began to blur together eventually. At first, she could keep track of the days. Two days, three days. But then she began to lose track after she lost count of how many sunsets and sunrises she had seen. It didn't help that there was nothing to keep her mind active. Pacing the room could only help so much, until she began to get lost in the sea of thoughts. Whether Tamaki and the others were okay, and if they were being fed too. Or whether her father and the resto of the club's parents were worried that they were missing. Or if there was any more plans on what these men wanted to do with her and the others. And sleep seemed to come too easily to her and she wasn't sure if it was because of the lack of protein in the food she was given, or the lack of mental activity there was or if it was from pure boredom.

Every now and then, she could hear her captors moving and talking in the other room, but normally they said very little to one another. And twice a day one of the henchmen would intrude on her; once to give her food and once to empty the bucket that she had been forced to use as a toilet. It was nice to think that these men seemed considerate of her needs; she hoped her friends were getting a similar treatment.

She heard something crash against the wall outside her cell room. She didn't need to press her ear against the door to hear the argument that was going on in there.
"What is wrong with these people? Who has to inform parents twice that their children are missing?" There was the shatter of glass followed by angry grunt. "I tell them not to go to the police, and that's the first thing they do."
"What do you want us to do? If the police find us-"
"I'm not going back to jail!"

The voices clambered over one another to be heard by the boss, no doubt echoing off the walls of the very empty room. Everything went silent for a fraction of a moment as she heard the slap of skin on skin contact.
"Everyone, shut up! You don't think that I know the police are probably hunting us down by now. I refuse to go back to jail; I'd be there until I die."
"Then what do we do with the brats? We can't let them go. They can describe us to the cops."

"Then do what you want with them…. Than dispose of them. I was hoping to get the money from their families. But I'd prefer to be a free man than a rich man."
Haruhi gulped, her heart sinking into her stomach at the man's words. She scooted away from the door, back to the flimsy mattress. Her thoughts raced around her; there were two choices that she could make. Neither of them were good.
She could sit here and do nothing, while she allowed these men to do whatever they wanted to her and her friends. Or she could fight back, perhaps try and wrestle with one of them for the keys to her friends' cells. If she could free them, they could make a run for it and call for help. If she sat here and took no action, then all of the Host Club would perish.
She pressed her palms against her temples, shutting her eyes.
"This shouldn't be hard," she muttered under her breath, "There's only two options." She knew she was trying to psych herself out because either choice would have bad consequences. And, she wasn't about to allow her and her friends to be sitting ducks while these creeps finished them off an disposed of their corpses.

She had to get out this room. And grab the keys to her friends' prisons.

ASAP.


A/N: Alright everyone. I apologize in not updating in such a long time. My laptop crashed on me twice this summer and I lost everything I had saved on there. So I had to rewrite this chapter; I hope it's good and that you enjoy the read. And thanks again to everyone who has commented on this story, I love to see reviews and see what people have to say.

~dendragon14