Promise me this... (An Ed Sheeran FanFiction)

Endless scenarios creep into my head as I drive through this dead end street on the outskirts of London, each one leaving me more terrified of the pitch black that engulfs me with every corner I take. My radio is singing to me, 'so you think you can tell, heaven from hell. Blue skies from paint, can you tell a green field from a cold, steel rig.' Pink Flloyd, the only distraction. The only thing keeping me from hyperventilating. Two lights appear and hover behind me, as if mocking my instability. Suddenly my radio isn't loud enough and I reach for the dial, turning it loud enough to block out the sounds of the night. Words spill out of my mouth, lyrics, but out of time. I'm a nervous wreck. A paranoid mess. As if sensing my stopped heart, the engine in my car stops.

'No, no, no,' I knock my head on the steering wheel. Tears from being terrified and from frustration welling in my sockets, 'Stupid rental piece of junk,' I slam my palm into the leather circle. The commodore slows to a stop behind me and two doors open and close in synch. A cloud in the sky becomes very interesting all of a sudden, anything to keep me from looking at the faces belonging to the approaching footsteps.

'You okay, Love?' a muffled voice through my car window asks.

I know I have to look, I have to. My eyes shift to the right and lock with a ginger boy about my age. He has on a thin green hoodie and jeans despite the biting cold, 'Yeah, just a conk-out,' I try to smile but my cheeks refuse to move.

My car door clicks open and I freeze as another man appears behind the ginger, he's taller, with shoulder length, mousy brown hair. 'Where do you need a lift to?' he asks.

'Um. No where, I, uh, I don't need a lift. I just... I'll sleep in the car tonight. Right here. Yeah. You, uh, don't have to take me anywhere. I'm Fine. Really,' I mentally kick myself for sounding so vulnerable.

'We're not going to hurt you,' the ginger boy promises.

'That's what they all say. The next day the one in my position is at the bottom of a lake somewhere in the middle of a rainforest where nobody will ever see them or find them and then they're left there for years and years until their corpse has rotted or been eaten by weird, carnivorous fish,' I'm rambling. Another mental kick. Why am I so stupid?

'You watch way too many movies,' mousy brown says, 'and look around, if you stay here tonight someone probably will come and pick you out of this car, I mean look at it,' he kicks my front tire, 'so, unless you really do want to be the next major investigation under London's police force, I really think you should come with us.'

'Jake, be nice. She's scared. Look at her,' Ginger shakes his head before he turns to look at me, 'I promise you right now that we won't hurt you. But somebody else will if you leave yourself out here tonight as an open target. I won't be able to sleep tonight knowing we left somebody alone on a back street, especially this back street.'

Jake rolls his eyes, 'Gee, Ed, quite the sweet talker. You coming or not, Princess?'

Words refuse to form in my mouth. What did he mean, especially this back street? Ed extends his hand to me and I reluctantly grab it. 'You're gunna be all right, okay, Love?'

'Okay,' my head makes small, awkward jerking movements and I hope it looks like a nod.