Happy Holidays from HP4EverLuver! And a happy new year! :)
"I wanna go home." Mariah cried. She was currently in the fetal position on the floor. She had just endured her first taping, and she was cradling her stomach. Lily rubbed her back as she tried to think of something comforting to say.
"It gets easier." She said. That just made Mariah cry harder.
"What the hell? How do they get enjoyment from doing this?" Lily shook her head.
"I don't know. It seems like Matt gets more from it than Alex." Mariah arched an eyebrow and looked up at Lily through her tears.
"They're identical. How can you tell them apart?"
"Matt is the one who actually does the beating. Alex is the one filming and making the faces." Lily explained. Mariah shook her head and slowly sat up.
"It doesn't matter who's doing what. They're both despicable and I hate them both!" Lily hugged Mariah as she let the tears drop. In that instant Mariah felt younger that she actually was. She realized that she had been completely sheltered pretty much her entire life and wasn't used to having to fend her herself due to the fact that her dad or boyfriend at the time would do it for her. When her tears finally stopped, she wiped her nose on her arm.
"Sorry." She apologized to Lily. Lily shook her head. She was torn between feeling bad and finally being elated at how for once she wasn't the one being beaten. But, she understood that next week things would return to normal.
"It's nothing. I mean, at least you're not going through it alone." Mariah nodded.
"It's nice to have a friend when we're all alone." Lily smiled.
"It's nice to have a friend period whether you're alone or not." Mariah looked at the floor before speaking.
"You know what we should do if we get out of here alive?" Lily shook her head.
"When we get out of here alive." Mariah gave her a small smile.
"Sorry. When we get out of here alive, we should throw a massive party. Your friends and fam and mine. It'll be a fun way for them to meet. And I definitely wanna meet Oliver and Miley." Lily grinned.
"They'd like you. What about James? Don't I get to meet the boyfriend you can't seem to stop talking about?" Mariah giggled at the sound of his name.
"Of course. You just can't be around him alone for too long." Lily laughed. She hadn't done that in so long that she had forgotten what it sounded like.
"Why? Are you the jealous type?"
"Definitely."
"Well that's everything. You are officially enrolled." Ms. Stevens, the school's secretary said to James as she handed him his class list. James grinned at her.
"Thank you." He said earning a giggle and a blush from her.
"It's my pleasure dear. Oken will be showing you around I assume?" Oliver who had been sitting in one of the office chairs nodded and stood up.
"Yes Ms. Stevens. And thanks." He said as they left. He, his parents and James all walked outside of the office and stood in the hall.
"Well I guess you don't need us anymore. Oliver, be good. And James, wait at least a week before getting into any trouble." Ms. Oken said looking at each boy in turn. Both boys nodded.
"Bye mom. Bye dad." Oliver said as he hugged his parents. James held out his hands.
"See you later, Mr. and Mrs. Oken."
"It's Sarah and Tyler. None of this Mr. and Mrs. stuff. Kay, James?" James nodded as Mrs. Oken hugged him as well.
"See you later James." Tyler Oken said as he patted him on the back.
"See ya Tyler." Mr. Oken and his wife smiled at the two males in front of them before walking out the front doors. Oliver turned to James once they were gone.
"So, ready?" James shrugged.
"As I've ever been." The two nodded and headed up the stairs.
"I feel numb."
"Already?"
"What do you mean already?"
"Well when the body goes through extreme pain, it eventually shuts down so you can't feel it anymore. Kinda like going through shock. It took me at least a mouth and a half to shut down." Mariah placed a strand of hair behind her ear.
"So I won't feel it anymore?"
"No, you will. It will just come in waves. Like during the actual beating, it will feel like a dull throb, but it won't hurt as much. But a couple of hours later, it'll come back with a vengeance. And a strong one." Mariah looked completely defeated.
"We're never getting out of here are we? At least not alive."
"Way to sound optimistic." Lily said sarcastically. Mariah rolled her eyes.
"Well excuse me for speaking the truth." Lily glared at the younger girl.
"You don't know that for a fact."
"According to both logic and statistics, it is." Lily sighed and ran her hands through her hair.
"I'm not gonna argue with you." Mariah crossed and arms and leaned against the wall farthest away from Lily.
"Why? Because you know I'm right?"
"No! Because you've lost all hope! And if that's the case, we might as well commit suicide right now!" There was a pause before Mariah responded.
"Have you ever thought about it?" Lily's head shot up.
"Thought about what?" Mariah eyed her carefully.
"Suicide." Lily placed her hands on her hips.
"Mariah you're crazy."
"Think about how easy it would be. They have at least twenty knives in that kitchen. Just one cut to the throat is all it would take. Like a Band-Aid. Quick and easy. If you did it right, you wouldn't feel any pain." Lily stared in shock at the girl.
"Are you serious?" Mariah smiled without humor.
"I've never been more serious in my life." Lily shook her head and walked toward her.
"No. no. no. You're not thinking clearly...you're speaking out of your emotions, not out of thought. Just sit down and calm down. Once, you're thinking again, you'll see just how stupid you're being." Mariah glared and walked over to the farthest corner away from Lily and slid down to the ground.
"All the time in the world can go by, but that's not going to change how I feel in the slightest." She crossed her arms over her knees and placed her head on top of them. Lily sighed, and ran a hand through her hair, a habit that she had gotten worse at since her capture. She walked over to the opposite wall, and sat down, rubbing her arms, desperate to create some kind of friction or warmth.
The fact that Mariah already doubted the fact that they were going to get out alive was not a good sign. Especially cause Lily had started to think the same thing. And even if they did get out alive, what would they do? Be bombarded by the media for a couple of months? Have them following their every movement? Go back to school? How much work had she missed so far? How long would it take to catch up? Would she still be able to graduate with her class? These and more thoughts ran through her head as she gradually drifted to sleep.
"How's that homework, coming along?" James scoffed at the question and ran a hand through his hair. He was currently lying on the Oken's living room couch, a math textbook on his lap. He had been staring at it for over forty-five minutes, and wasn't any further then when he started. He looked up to see Oliver standing at the bottom of the staircase, eating an apple. James had just finished his second week of school in Malibu, and was trying to get back into the swing of daily homework. He wasn't doing well.
"It's not." James finally admitted. Oliver shrugged and walked into the kitchen.
"Just write down random crap. Mr. Wilks doesn't actually check to see if it's right, he just checks to see if it's done." James nodded.
"Thanks." And then began to do as Oliver had suggested. Oliver reappeared in the living room, minus the apple from before. He sat in one of the armchairs and placed his feet on top of the coffee table. He then folded his hands over his stomach, and sighed as he stared at the two house phones and one cell phone lying on the table. When James had "completed" his homework, he placed it aside and began to stare at the phones as well. This had become routine for them. They would go to school, come home, stall, and then take their places in front of the phones. Miley's routine was pretty much identical, except for the addition of Hannah concerts that were slowly decreasing as the search went on. All three would stare at the phones in complete silence, so they were sure not to miss a call. They'd sit in their designated spots and stare till after two in the morning. Then they would go to bed, wake up at seven, and it would start all over again. Oliver's parents came home from work, the four ate dinner, and when everything was clean and put away, James and Oliver returned to their couches from that afternoon and Sarah and Tyler joined them. When the grandfather clock struck two AM, the four snapped out of the trance that they had all been under for the past seven hours. They all trudged up the stairs, and said good night before going their separate ways.
As Oliver lay in his bed, he kept tossing and turning; too exhausted to stay awake, yet to afraid to miss the phone ringing if he fell asleep. After twenty minutes of useless tumbling, he pushed the covers off of him and walked down the stairs. He went to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. He was headed on his way back to his bedroom to catch at least an hour of sleep, when a small blue light caught his eye. He looked over at the coffee table to see, the black cell phone lighting up, after carefully setting the glass on the counter, he slowly made his way over to it, his heart thumping louder with each step. He was afraid to get all the way over to it and find out that his brain had been playing tricks on him. It already did that everywhere. He'd see blonde hair and his heart would stop only for it to slowly start again when he noticed that the hair didn't' belong to Lily. Whenever a skateboard would pass him, he look up only to realize it was either a guy or someone who didn't even remotely resemble her. If he were to find out that he was just dreaming again, he was certain he would collapse in a heap on the ground and never get up again.
When he was within a foot of the phone, he reached out, picked it up from the table, and held it in front of his face. It said one new text message. He heart started to thump wildly and he had to lower it and close his eyes, trying to revert it back to its normal pattern. 'Don't do that Oliver.' He thought to himself. 'It might just be another one of Hannah's fans saying how sorry they are.' With that mindset and mentality, he raised the phone once more, and flipped it open. It was from a blocked number and Oliver had to brace himself against the side of the sofa by the time he was done reading it.
Good Morning Oliver.
You don't know who I am, but I certainly know who you are. Let's just say I'm a friend of a friend. Now, I know where Lily is, but she's not gonna be there much longer due to the fact that they're gonna kill her. Call/text this number to get in touch with her.
425-658-7432
She's in Lynnwood, Washington. But like I said before, she's not gonna be there much longer.
You might wanna tell James as well due to the fact that Mariah is going to meet the same fate.
Good luck,
A friend of a friend
"JAMES!" Oliver yelled as he bombarded into the guest bedroom. James shot up in his bed, gasping. He glared at the boy blocking his doorway.
"Oliver! Are you trying to wake your parents?" Oliver rolled his eyes and jumped onto the bed. He was holding the phone in his hand and he shoved it into James face.
"Read this text!" James stared at the screen for a second before looking back at Oliver.
"Why-"
"Just read it!" James glared at the younger boy, before taking the phone from him and reading the message. As he read through, his expression went into one of shock and when he read the last part, despair. When he was done, he handed the phone back to Oliver.
"They're going to kill them?" James asked. Oliver nodded, silently.
"What should we do?" James shrugged.
"Should we call it?" Oliver shrugged.
"Do you wanna call it?" James shrugged. The two stayed in silence till James asked the question they were both thinking.
"What if...What if it's...you know...a hoax?" Oliver asked the next question they were both wondering.
"What if it's not?"
"Should we take that risk?" The two boys stared at each other before looking back at the phone. Finally, James took it from Oliver with shaking hands. "I think we should. If this is a way to get into contact with the girls, I think we should try it." Oliver firmly nodded in agreement.
"Dial it." James nodded, and with shaking fingers began to dial the number before placing it against his ear.
"It's ringing." He whispered. Oliver's eyes widened.
"Put it on speaker." James removed the phone from his ear and put it on speaker. Their hearts pounded as they waited for it to stop ringing.
"Hello?"
So what do you think? Are you completely hooked yet? I sure am!! :) Chapter 10: A Plan is Formed...