Disclaimer: I own NOTHING.
"H-He was right."
"About?"
"About everything…I…I am afraid of what he said."
There was a moment of silence between the two as they both pondered on the mysterious phone call.
"There's something fishy going on here Bobby," said Jaime after a minute or so, "and I intend to find out just exactly what it is."
--
Troy looked her up and down. He studied everything about her, her beautiful curls, her doe eyes, her kissable lips, her bony arms, her cut up wrists…Troy suddenly did a double take as he stared at her permanent scars from the fateful night that she tried to kill herself. Then it dawned on him. It suddenly dawned on him like a ton of bricks. Leave it to the freaky math girls to put a double meaning on something.
He was afraid to ask in fear that it might be true. But he just had to or else he would never know.
"Y-You...you want me to help you kill yourself."
Chapter 20
"Y-You...you want me to help you kill yourself."
Troy was met with silence once the question left his mouth. It was a silence that only meant one thing.
Yes.
She didn't even have to say it. One look from her dead eyes said it all.
"Ga…Gabriella." he whispered, "I can't do that."
She suddenly closed her eyes in pain. However, that didn't stop the tears from flowing down her gaunt cheeks. She was surprised that she still had tears to shed. It seemed like that's all she's been doing these past 24 hours.
"Please Troy." She whispered, "I can't do this anymore. I don't want to be here if it's only going to cause more harm to everyone."
"And you think killing yourself is just going to make everything go away?"
Her silence was enough to let him know what her answer was. He sighed and moved closer to her on the bed.
"Look," he said, "I…I know that you think everything's gonna go away if you just kill yourself. But…the truth is…it won't. Nothings ever gonna go away. You think it's gonna fix everything, but it isn't. Yea, maybe no one's gonna come after you and threaten your life anymore…but…w-what about the people you leave behind. People like me and Emily. How's she ever gonna come back if you're not here to help me save her?"
Gabriella let out a shaky breath, "B-But…don't you want me out of your life?"
"No." he whispered almost immediately.
Gabriella opened her eyes wide with shock. She had been a terrible person to him. She tried to kill him, called him an asshole, and refused to help him with his sister, and yet, he still wanted to be there with her. Sudden warmth came over her hand. She looked down and saw his hand close around her small frail one.
He could see her struggle to keep her sobs in. But he couldn't stop. He had to touch her and feel her. He had to let her know exactly how he felt. If he didn't, then there's no denying the fact that she would find some other way to get out of this life, and his.
"Gabriella listen to me," he said in a low voice, but loud enough for her to catch and hold onto his every word, "We both know that I should hate you, for everything that you've done to me. But…I just can't help…I can't help but feel the way I do for you. I care about you…a lot. And I wanna stop seeing you hurt yourself."
It was his turn to let out a shaky breath. He didn't wanna cry. He felt like he shed all his tears for Emily and he didn't want to shed anymore, "I-I guess what I'm trying to tell you is that…I…I don't wanna lose you. So please…do me a favor, and never ask me or anyone else that question again."
There was a silence after, and unfortunately for Troy, it was an uncomfortable one. Maybe it was stupid. Maybe he shouldn't have told her that. Who was he kidding? She might think that he was just using her when in fact he wasn't. He meant every word of it. He really did care about her. However, what scared him the most was that he loved her. He loved everything about her. But for some reason he just couldn't tell her that. He couldn't tell her that in the short week he got to know her, he fell in love with her.
He suddenly heard Gabriella clear her throat. He looked away from the spot on the floor and looked into her chocolate orbs. She opened her mouth to say something; however before anything left her mouth, a sudden ring tone began to echo in the room.
Troy sighed as he reached into his pocket for the phone. At least he knew it was his own phone and not the sleek one, the one where HE calls.
He looked down at the caller ID and groaned in frustration. Chad really did have bad timing. But then again, it could be important.
"What happened Chad?" he asked as he pushed the answer button on his phone.
"I just wanted to check up on you, you know, make sure everything's alright. You've been gone all day and it's getting pretty dark." He heard his afro headed friend say.
Troy sighed and stood. He could have sworn he heard Gabriella whimper at the loss of contact; however he pushed those thoughts aside and began to pace, "It's umm…its slowly coming along. What about you? Have you heard anything?"
He heard Chad sigh on the other side, "I don't know man. It's all quiet here. I-mean the phones rung a couple times but it's no one important."
"What about my parents?"
"No, they haven't called yet. I bet they'll call in about an hour or two because it'll be Emily's bedtime"
Troy pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt himself begin to choke up, "Yea…yea it would."
"Don't worry man, you'll find her. I know you will."
"Yea…" he let out a shaky breath as he ran a hand through his hair, "look Chad, I should probably go."
"Yea, I gotta call my mom anyway to tell her I'm gonna sleep over. I just wanted to call and make sure you were alright."
"Alright, thanks man. And I'm…I'm sorry I dragged you into this."
"It's ok Troy. I'll talk to you later."
"Ok." and with that, he hung up and turned to look at Gabriella, "I'm sorry about that. It's just that, Chad's helping me out a bit. He just wanted to know how it was going."
"It's ok." she said as he sat back down next to her and looked down at his shoes, "I would worry too if one of my best friends sister disappeared."
There was another moment of silence before Troy finally got the courage to speak, "Look Gabriella, about what I said…"
"I promise." she suddenly said.
He turned to look at her, "What?"
She tore her eyes away from the hand that missed Troy's contact and met his icy blues with her muddy ones.
"I promise that I'll never ask you or anyone else that question ever again."
A small smile crept up on Troy's lips. Somehow, he knew that things would be a little a different now that she made that promise. The question was, how much of a difference would it make?
"There's something fishy going on here Bobby," said Jaime after a minute or so, "and I intend to find out just exactly what it is."
Jaime's words rung around Bobby's head. He knew there was definitely something going on. But it's not like he could tell her. His boss would kill him if he ever told. He couldn't blow it. Not again.
He had spent the last two years going after the young girl and every time he found her, she always managed to slip away. It was only two weeks ago when he was sitting in his office in New York sulking about how he let Violet get away again. He was more than relieved when Jaime called him asking for help. He didn't want to stay sulking on his own, so gave in to Jaime's request and flew out here. What he saw shocked him.
There she was Violet or Gabriella Montez as she was now called in her hospital uniform after she tried to kill herself again. No surprise there. Now, he was so close, so very close to getting her, and he couldn't let her slip away again.
He trusted Troy to get what he needed out of her. It was completely undeniable that the juvenile janitor has a little something for the suicidal girl and vice-versa. It was only a matter of time. All he had to was wait a while and see how long it took her to crack.
"Bobby?" he heard Jaime say.
He looked up from the spot on the floor, "What?"
"What do you think about this?"
He sighed as he ran a hand through is hair, "I don't know Jaime."
"What's not to know?" she said as she began to pace, "Something has to be going on and it involves Troy and Gabriella."
"Jaime, you don't know that for sure."
"Well, you don't know that it doesn't." she stopped pacing and sighed, "Look Bobby, two weeks ago, a young girl comes in, unconscious from trying to kill herself. She doesn't talk to anyone, she completely ignores people. Then one day, this boy shows up and they start talking. While they do that, Gabriella's foster mom comes to see me to tell me that Gabriella's room was completely trashed the night she tried to kill herself. A part from that, social services is up my ass trying to take Gabriella away without the proper treatment. Mr. Kent then walks in here with all his glory and tells us that Gabriella has been followed by some bad guy ever since she was ten. Next thing we know, Mr. Kent dies, just like all of Gabriella's other social workers. Then I get this phone call from this guy who tells me that Gabriella's trying to kill Troy, who by the way, wasn't even supposed to be here. You still think there's nothing wrong with this picture?"
Bobby sighed. She was right. You don't have to be a monkey to figure out that something's wrong with this picture.
"Bobby, you don't think that the man who called me is the same one that's after Gabriella, do you?" asked Jaime.
He ran a hand through his hair before he suddenly stood up, "Look Jaime, I gotta make a quick phone call. I'll be back in a minute."
And with that, he walked out the door, without giving Jaime time to protest.
"You really mean that?" asked Troy, the excitement evident in his voice.
"Yea. I do."
He gently reached out and caressed her face with his hand.
A comfortable silence filled the room as they both just sat there, staring into each other's eyes. Everything around them disappeared. They were suddenly Troy and Gabriella again, not jock and freaky math girl, or janitor and freaky math suicidal girl, just Troy and Gabriella.
Troy felt a magnetic pull towards her perfectly round lips and slowly lowered his head. She slowly closed her eyes and leaned her head forward to meet his lips. However, before their lips could touch, a sudden ring echoed in the room. They suddenly pulled apart and sighed.
Troy mentally cursed whoever was the destroyer of their 'almost kiss'. He was about to open his phone and tell whoever it was to fuck off, however he noticed that the ringing disturbance he held in his hand was not his own. In his hand, he held the sleek phone. The one that HE had given him.
He let out a shaky sigh before he stood up and walked towards the other side of the room.
Gabriella silently watched him as he opened the sleek phone.
"Y-Yea?"
"Well hello Troy." He heard HIS dark voice say.
"What do you want?"
"Well that's not very nice. Tell me Troy, you're a smart boy. Is it really a good idea to be impolite to the man holding your sister captive? I mean, not only have you not done what I asked you to but now your being rude. Hasn't your mother taught you anything?"
Troy sighed into the mouth piece as he opened the door and stepped outside, "I'm doing the best I can."
"Are you sure about that?"
He turned to look back into the room where he saw Gabriella's curios eyes look into his troubled ones, "L-Look, I really am trying."
"Well try HARDER!" boomed the voice.
Troy heard himself sigh as he ran a hand through his hair, "Is Emily alright?"
"I told you not to ask questions until you get me that number."
"I just wanna know—"
"You've got three more days. Don't let me down." HE said before the line suddenly went dead.
Troy held his anger with the man inside as he walked back into Gabriella's room. He put the sleek phone back inside his pocket.
"It was him wasn't it?" he heard her ask as he sat at the foot of the bed.
"Yea." he said as he put his head in his hands, "He says I got three more days."
"Troy," she said as she crawled over towards him, "I really am sorry."
"I know." he said in a barely audible tone.
There was a moment of silence between the two in which the sound of their breaths was the only sound that let each other know the other one was still there.
"W-What are we going to do now?" she asked timidly.
He turned his head and looked into her eyes, which he noticed were no longer as dead and empty as they once were. He then looked out her barred window and noticed a small airplane fly in the sky above them.
'Probably from the nearby airport.' he thought.
Wait. He did a double check and continued to stare at the plane as it disappeared from sight. It was as if a light bulb had suddenly flicked on in his mind. Of course, how could he have not thought of that before?
"How set in stone is your promise?" he asked her.
Gabriella felt her eyebrow arch upward in confusion at his odd question.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
"Do you still want me to help you get out of here?"
"What?"
He suddenly stood up and started to look around the room, "Do you still want me to help you escape?"
Realization finally dawned on her as he placed shoes that he found under her bed beside her.
"You want to help me get out of here?"
"Think about it Gaby. You promised that you would never say a word to anyone. Well, if you show me what it is your hiding instead of telling me, then technically you wouldn't break your promise because you didn't tell anyone."
Gabriella sighed as she shook her head, "I don't know Troy."
"What if HE finds gets us? He's not stupid you know? He does what he says and he says what he means. If he says he's gonna hurt us, he will and if he says he's gonna kill us, he means it."
Troy shook his head, "We don't have any other choice. Its either we wait here for him to come get us, or we go and get this thing before he gets to us."
"And what are we gonna do once we leave? Where are we gonna go, huh? Have you thought of that Troy?"
"Wherever we need to. Wherever we have to."
She shook her head, "I don't know Troy. He's gonna find us. He always does."
"Not if we cover all our tracks."
"But what about Dr. Sullivan and Dr. Drake? Are we supposed to just slip by them?"
"I'll find a way. Trust me."
She sighed as she began to bite her lip.
"Gabriella think about it." he said as he kneeled in front of her and took her face in his hands, "We need to get out of here. Every second we stay here is another second we give those guys to make their move and another second without Emily. You think that just because you're here they're gonna leave you alone? Well they're not. If you don't give them what they want, then they're just gonna come in here and take you away and I can't let that happen. I won't let that happen."
Gabriella could do nothing but let tears fall from her eyes as she looked into Troy's loving ones. No one had ever looked or spoken to her like that before, with so much love and compassion.
"A-And…if they take you…I…I don't even want to think…I…I can't lose you too." he said as his eyes began to swell.
"You won't." she whispered as she leaned down and touched his lips with her own.
It was a brief kiss. However, it was enough to show how much they meant to each other.
"So where are we going?" he asked as he pressed his forehead to her own.
She slowly sat up and looked towards the table in the corner of the room. Troy followed her line of vision until it landed on the round snow globe that had been placed on the table by Dr. Sullivan. He looked back at her and noticed the faraway look in her eyes as she continued to stare at the globe. He stood and walked towards the table. He grabbed the snow globe and slowly shook it.
"It's in New York isn't it?" he asked softly as he watched the snowflakes fall softly on the buildings.
She didn't say anything but continued to stare at the object in his hand.
"Gaby?"
She closed her eyes to stop the tears from dripping down as she bit her lip. She took a deep breath and slowly nodded her head.
He looked at the globe, then turned his head towards the barred window where he saw another plane ascend into the air.
He sighed and looked at the crestfallen girl on the bed, "New York it is then."
"We need to move in now."
"Not a chance." said the voice from the other line.
"But she's here, she's been here all this time and we've done nothing but sit on our asses and wait for this boy to get something out of her when I'm pretty sure she's not going to budge."
"Look, why don't you worry about what you're supposed to worry about and let us worry about what we're supposed to worry about."
"Yeah? And what's that."
He heard the voice sigh, "Just make sure that your little blonde friend doesn't find anything out. Remember, we are to be as discreet as we possibly can."
Silence.
"Do I make myself clear?"
Silence.
"Bobby?"
"Crystal."
"Now what about the other one? Alice was it?"
"Yeah. We had a run in the other day. I think she knows."
"Well you better hope she doesn't or else it's your ass again understood?"
"Yeah boss."
Im so sorry for the late and short Update. Life's been hectic right now. Im really not sure when Im going to get the chance to update again but I hope that it can be sooned rather than later. Thank you all for your support and for allowing me to get 200 reviews. I appreciate all that was said and I'm very gratefull and feel truly blessed to have readers like you guys.
I have a TWITTER now and if anyone of you would like to friend me on it then you're welcomed to. Its homskillet91. All I ask is that you please let me know who you are first before you twitter me or whatever.
I hope evryone had a Happy Easter and if you dont celebrate it, then I hope you had a happy Sunday.
Before I ask you guys to review, I have a small favor to ask you. If any of you are Christian or practice some form of Religion, I would like to ask if you can please pray for my friend who was shipped out to Iraq a week ago. Pray for his safety ans also help me pray for his his sister as well, who is one of my bests friend and her family.
Thank you, and please dont forget to review. :)