A/N: Hello hello hello. I'm proud of myself I've been on my A-game with updates. Hope you guys have enjoyed them! This one tho? I love this one it's my favorite so far. I think you guys are going to enjoy it. It was so much fun to write, I love writing flashbacks. This one is still kind of short but it's the last short one for a while I promise (I hope lol). I'm writing this A/N like a week before I'm actually going to post this chapter so I plan on starting Chapter Sixteen today so again I'll already have the next chapter ready for you guys which will be posted on Friday, February 12th. Anyway, let's get into the chapter!

A/N: Hahahaaaa I take that back. Sorry, I didn't update this on Tuesday, this week has been absolute hell, and it totally slipped my mind to update. My personal life shouldn't affect my updates for you guys, and I'm sorry. I'll try to update Chapter Sixteen on Sunday but with how I've been feeling lately I'm not sure. Again, I'm sorry. Hope you enjoy the chapter though!

xxx

Perilous

Chapter Fifteen

Because that was the moment it happened.

That's the moment everything changed.

Cammie POV

I was in a bathroom.

The walls were smeared with blood. There was a rope attached from my left ankle to a large metal ring on the floor. I'd already tried untangling it several times, it was useless. And they knew to keep anything and everything I could use to escape out of my reach. My back leaned on the cool porcelain surface of the bathtub. A large bandage covered half my core, I was pretty sure it had begun to bleed again. The red sports bra I wore was far too tight, the tattered leggings were no better. I wore no shoes. Honestly, I didn't know what I hated more- the dried dirt, sweat, and blood I was covered in, the awful knots in my ridiculously long hair, or the frustrating texture of the cracked tile beneath my bare feet.

I was crying. Hot tears poured down my cheeks as my throat constricted over and over again, sobs escaping my mouth. I wailed like a child, the pain unbearable.

I didn't know where I was, or why I was crying. Just seconds before I was in London with the team and...

I couldn't remember.

The mind of the body I was in - teenage me, I noticed after a glance in the cracked mirror - took over. It reminded me of a loss I'd just suffered. A loss that was more painful than pain itself.

"What the hell are you doing?"

A voice interrupted my sobs, and I looked up, blurry-eyed and helpless, to see Zion. A teenager then, 16 like me, with messy dark hair and psychopathic green eyes. His loose jeans and red tank top did little to hide his muscles, which made him, unfortunately, all the more attractive. Fortunately, though, it gave me another reason to hate him. The usual smirk on his face was replaced with a look of confusion when he noticed me curled up on the floor.

"Never seen anyone cry before?" I growled in a way that wasn't as intimidating as I would have liked.

"You're crying?" He exclaimed.

His shock repulsed me more than the bile rising in my throat.

Zion walked closer and leaned his left arm on the doorframe, just above his head.

"Leave me alone, asshole!" I cried.

"Oh you're more pathetic than I thought, aren't you?"

My glare could have killed him.

"Alright," He sighed as if he was beginning a meaningless, annoying task. He walked even closer and stood above me, arms crossed. "What's wrong?"

"You know what's wrong!"

"Yeah, well, guess what, bitch? I wanna hear it from you."

"Keep testing me, and it won't just be my blood on these walls."

Zion's eyes narrowed with impatience. "What. Is. Wrong."

The pain and the anger took over again. "She killed him. She killed him right in front of me."

"So what? You spent the last 8 years thinking he was dead anyway."

"But it's different when I watch. I saw the life leaving his body. I saw the pain he felt." I shook my head, choking back another sob. "Every time I close my eyes I watch my father die. It's like I've lost him all over again except this time, he's really gone. And it hurts." I clutched at my chest, the place where that unbearable ache began and spread to the rest of my body. "It hurts everywhere."

I looked up at him, and for a second, just for a second, I saw something in his eyes. Something that looked like sympathy, or concern. It was a flash of something that suggested he cared about my pain and my father and that he wasn't as evil as I thought.

But as quickly as I saw it, it disappeared.

"Hm. I have the perfect solution." He mused.

I scoffed. "I don't want your help."

"Well, you're gonna get it."

As much as I protested, I was curious as to what he had in mind. My faith in it, however, was less than confident because Zion's "perfect solution" was usually murder.

"Turn it off." He finally said.

"That's not how grief works. You cant turn off emotions."

"I disagree."

"Of course you do."

Zion ran a hand through his curls. "Look, you want the pain to stop right? Then it's that easy. Just stop hurting."

I hung my head, deciding to ignore him.

"Aw, come on," He kneeled in front of me, moving my hair behind my ear and caressing my face. His touch was like poison, but I couldn't find the strength to push him away. "My little Chameleon," If he was anyone else, it would have been a sweet pet name and a tender gesture. But he wasn't anyone else, he was a murdering psychopath, and it was repulsing, the smooth texture of his fingers on my skin and the lack of emotion in his voice.

His mood changed quickly.

Zion grasped my chin in his hand and forced me to look him in the eye. "Turn it off, Cammie. Just turn it off. Turn. It. Off."

At first, it sounded stupid.

But when I looked in his eyes and saw them- saw the lack of emotion, the lack of humanity, the lack of anything, I finally understood. Zion wasn't your typical numb teenager, he was a psychopath and he took pleasure in hurting people. But other than that, he felt nothing. He was entirely emotionless. Nothing ever hurt him, nothing ever interested him.

I understood because no matter how crazy he naturally was, Zion had suffered. And he was suffering. He had suffered as much as I had, as much as my dad had, as much as his brother had, and he was still suffering as much as us. He knew pain, but instead of succumbing to it, he exhibited his power over it, and he turned it off. He drained himself of all traces of feeling, and he survived.

So what do you think I did?

I stared him in the eyes, I mulled over what he was telling me, and I turned it off.

Slowly, I felt the pain in my chest subside, I felt the aching, bleeding cut at my core lose go numb, I felt my anger seep from my pores, and my grief disappear into the air.

And what was left?

It was just me and the smirking boy across from me, both of us freed of anything that could break us.

I sat up straighter and I wiped my tears.

Zion's smirk twitched in some sort of proud amusement as he brushed my hair back.

"Good girl." He whispered, before walking out of the bathroom and leaving me there.

I snapped out of the void in my mind where those dormant memories slept and was brought back to that moment in the hotel, in London, in the room.

Bex's arms were still around me, but I didn't feel them.

Instead, I felt my eyes flutter closed. I felt a smooth, large hand grasping my chin. I saw emotionless green eyes staring at me. I heard a deep voice saying the one thing I needed to hear, the only thing I could do in my situation.

"Turn it off, Cammie."

The voice echoed in my head.

"Just turn it off."

It boomed louder...and louder...and lou...

"Turn."

...der...and...

"It."

...louder and...

"Off."

My eyes flew open, and when they did, there was nothing. Nothing inside of me. Not anger, not confusion, not sadness, just...

Nothing.

A/N: Okay don't hate me but why do I kind of ship teenage Cammie and Zion? Like, I'm not going to put them together obviously because Zammie is endgame BUT I would lowkey love them together as a Bonnie and Clyde sort of relationship. And that's kind of what they were before Cammie left, really. They had and have like no romantic feelings for each other whatsoever but they were practically betrothed so why fight it? They would be a great enemies-to-lovers couple, just saying. ANYWAY, about this chapter. I loved it. Do you love it? Let me know in the reviews if you'd like, you know I love reading them. I actually didn't plan on Matthew still being alive after the night Cammie was kidnapped but then I was writing this chapter and said, why not? Lol anywayyyy time for reviews.

CammieAMorgan: Hope you liked it this chapter too! Thanks for reading!

Duchess12: Welp she knows now loll. This ain't just tea, this is still boiling in the kettle, whistling and all. Sorry, it's a couple of days late, I've had a rough week. But it's here now! I hope you like it! RIGHT Zach tryna be all that like pipe down and let the queen workout in peace. Unfortunately, everyone's reactions will have to wait until the next chapter, ut you do get a little flashback here! And omg yes that hug put me in my feels, lowkey. UGH THANK YOU SO MUCH! Description I feel is one of the things I struggle with because from my point of view it seems I get repetitive sometimes- you saying this really made me feel better after a bad day, I can't even describe how grateful I am. And yes, stereotypes are great but eventually they do get old. I'm not in jail either lol...yet. I'm kidding! Sort of...no definitely kidding my dreams of NYU would go up in flames if I ever got something like an arrest on my permanent record. And yes friend thank you so much! See you on Sunday love 3333

And that's all! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, your comments make my day. Even if you don't review, knowing that people actually read these means a lot to me and I am eternally grateful. Love you guys, see you on Sunday!

xxx