Closing yourself off from the rest of the world
Locking yourself in your mind
The memories haunt you
They linger behind your footsteps
Stalking you
The past is tapping you on the shoulders
But don't look back.
The night that everything changed
The moment when your shaking hand picked up the blade
And crimson dripped to the floor
The night when you decided that home-
Your safe place
The place where you're loved most-
Wasn't home anymore.
The night when you realized
That you were alone.
Alek's POV
"Chloe!" I roared. I lunged inside the room and attacked the man who had taken yet another one of my love's precious lives. Her heart had already stopped, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I took the man's neck and quickly snapped it, throwing his body aside. My eyes were in slits and I was so angry and sad that I could hear the blood rushing in my ears. More people from the Order rushed in, and everybody else started attacking.
Everyone was angry. They couldn't help it – even people who haven't met the Uniter already loved her. Everyone had a fierce protectiveness over her.
I sprinted over to Chloe and took her limp, bloody figure into my arms. Her golden curls were matted down with blood, and she was cold. It scared me, to be honest.
I was so scared that they might have gotten it wrong – that she might have died multiple deaths while she was a child in Ukraine and that was her last life, and she wasn't going to come back. It was always my worst nightmare that I've never spoken of.
"Chloe, please wake up." I whispered, placing my palm on her cheek.
"Alek! Get her out of here!" Valentina shouted. My head snapped up and I quickly stood, following orders not from my aunt, but from the pride leader. I tried to make my way out of the room without anyone noticing, but a teenage boy carrying their prisoner in his arms wasn't exactly inconspicuous.
A large, ugly man with an odd body odor came over and crashed into me, which made me stumble. I made sure not to drop Chloe, and I set her down behind me. I quickly roundhouse kicked the man's jaw which made him fall back. He got back up and tried to slam my into a wall, but he was large and although he may be stronger than me, I was faster. I quickly ducked under his arm and used both my arms to push him into the wall. He slumped down to the floor, unconscious.
I tried to pick Chloe back up and make a run for it, but by now everyone had noticed that I was trying to get Chloe out. They surrounded her, making a wall that we would have to fight through.
I suddenly heard her gasp and come back to life, her heartbeat loud and a little too fast. She gave out a little cough and a whimper.
"Chloe!" I called, fighting back-to-back with Jasmine.
"Alek?" Some man surrounding her nudged her with his foot roughly and told her to be quiet.
Jasmine's POV
I was fighting back-to-back with Alek, and I heard Chloe come back to life. I breathed a sigh of relief. She was okay again. Extremely weak and injured, but okay.
Suddenly, I heard Alek cry out, and I whirled around to see him slump down, unconscious.
"Alek!" I shouted, trying to chase after the man who had slung him over his shoulder and was taking him away. By now most of the Mai hunters were unconscious, injured, or caught up in their own fight.
But the man I was fighting grabbed my wrist and tried to punch me in the face. I quickly caught his fist and flipped him over my shoulder. While he was on the ground, he grabbed my leg and made me fall, too.
Another man took Chloe, who was still too weak to fight back, out the door alongside with Alek.
"Stop! Chloe!" I screamed, trying to get to them. Chloe looked up and we made eye contact before the door swung shut.
The man I had been fighting had taken out a knife and scraped it against my leg. I quickly pressed a pressure point in his neck, which caused him to go unconscious.
"Jasmine. We have to get out of here, now." Mom ordered, waiting with all of the Mai hunters by her side. Some of them had unconscious ones slung over their shoulders.
"Alek and Chloe – they're..." I looked back to the door that they had gone through.
"We will get them. But right now we don't have enough people, and half of our Mai hunters are severely wounded. We have to go back." And with that, I was forced to turn my back on my best friend and the only person who was family to me.
Alek's POV
I woke up in a clammy, cold room that smelled like blood and sweat. My hands were chained behind my back, connecting to the wall behind me.
Of course.
I heard a faint heartbeat beside me, and I ignored it. I just wanted to go back to sleep. Then I heard a small sniffle and a shaky breath. Wait.
"Chloe?" I whispered, opening my eyes.
It was silent for a minute. "Alek!" Chloe screamed. "Oh my god. I thought that you were never going to wake up." Her hands were chained behind her, too. But they were long enough for her to crawl into my lap and nuzzle her face into my neck.
I so badly wanted to rip these chains off and hug her, but instead I opted for laying my cheek down on her head.
"Are you okay?" She looked up at me.
"Says the girl who just lost a life." I threw back. She flinched.
"I swear, Chloe. When you were gone, I thought I was going to..." I sighed, crinkling my eyebrows. Her immediate reaction was to raise her hand to my cheek, but her chains held her back.
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault, love."
"But it is." Chloe cried miserably, hiding her face from me, burying it into my neck. I could feel her wet eyelashes brush against my skin as she blinked rapidly. She kept saying, 'I'm sorry' over and over again.
I needed to hold her. I needed to cup her face in my hands and wipe away her tears. I was just sitting there, doing nothing.
I felt completely useless, and I didn't like it. I pulled at the chains as hard as I could, the cold metal gnawing into my wrists painfully. But I didn't care. I kept pulling and pulling and I could feel it becoming loose. Chloe lifted her tear-stained face to see what I was doing, and she looked at the wall behind me excitedly.
"You've almost got it!" She said. I relaxed and allowed myself to rest for a while, my head hanging down, my dirty blonde hair falling in my face.
Chloe had climbed off my lap the moment she realized what I was doing, and it felt odd. Her warmth was replaced with a cold chill, and I immediately wanted her back.
I looked up at her, and she was trying to undo her chains, too. But she was still too weak and wasn't succeeding. So she sat there and pouted. I chuckled.
I started pulling again, raising myself up onto my knees. I tried to ignore the sharp, cutting pain I felt in my wrists and tried to picture everything I could do when I got out of these damn chains. I could get Chloe's off, I could hold her, I could wipe away her tears, we could escape. I gave one last sharp yank, and the chains broke out of the wall.
"Yes!" I whisper-shouted, not wanting any Order members to hear. I quickly dragged myself to this sharp rock sticking out of the ground and broke the cuffs off my wrist, which were extremely bruised and raw now.
I quickly whirled around and scooped Chloe up, kissing her. She smiled into the kiss, and I ran my hands through her curls, which were somehow still soft and bouncy. I wiped the recent tears off her cheeks and cupped her face.
"I love you." I smiled, leaning my forehead on hers.
"I know." She teased, scrunching her nose. I laughed and pecked her again, and moved behind her to undo her chains. It was a lot easier to yank them out since they weren't cutting into my lips, but I made sure to hold the chain so I didn't hurt Chloe's wrists. I cracked open her cuffs and she threw her arms around my neck.
I wrapped my arms around her waist and we stood there, holding each other.
"I missed you." She said.
"I know." I mocked her. She whacked my arm, laughing.
"Come on, let's find a way to get out of here." I let go of her and we looked around, but there was no way out except for the door. Which led into the main part of the warehouse.
Chloe and I shared a look.
Bloody hell.
If any of you guys also read Gallagher Girls fanfictions and read my Abuse story, then you would recognize the poem in the beginning of this chapter. Yes, I wrote it myself, and yes, I know it's depressing. I'm sorry. :/
But I recently found out that my friend's father has been abusing her since she was little, and she never told me. I'm the only one she's ever told, and I'm trying to get her to tell the police. She always wears jeans and long sleeves and I've seen her bruises.
It's selfish of me, because a part of me wants her to keep her secret so she won't get taken to foster care, and she can stay here with me. But I know that we're going to have to tell someone sooner or later, and she'll probably have to leave.
So this is probably the most horrible moment in my life right now so I might not update very often. Sorry, guys. :/
mbj2323: Awh thank you so much for reading it![: I'm going to update on that soon – probably after I publish this story!
Anon: Thank you so much!
Catlover10808: Don't we all?[;
TwilightFreak28: Thank you!
mysterygirl97: Ahah they got there! Unfortunately, Alek and Chloe aren't actually out of danger yet. ]:
gator19: Thanks so much!
ashley: Thanks for reviewing![':
anonymous: Thank you!
Sam: Yea, she's going to find things about her dad REALLY soon.[; I hated how they ended the series...I was so angry I wanted to stab something. ...Just kidding. I can barely punch my straw through my juice boxes. Anyways...thanks for reviewing! XD
Sira-The-Awesome: You are amazing. Thank you so much.[: Your review had my smiling the whole day. Seriously. Thank you!
Sam: Are you the same Sam as up there^^? If you are, then thanks for reviewing twice, ahha! If you aren't, then...ohk. XD SO MANY QUESTIONS, ahahah! They will all be answered in time.[; Thanks for reviewing!