Dying Light ~ Tate Langdon

09 | The Third Girl

{ trigger warning for Gore}

Hazel sat on her bed, reading the book Twilight. She envisioned Edward and Bella as herself and Tate. Tate being the ominous boy who sends her mixed signals, and Hazel being the girl who knew she was in love with him.

Though, Hazel wasn't sure if herself and Tate would have the same happy ending as Bella and Edward.

Her bedroom door flings open, revealing a blonde girl dressed in all black and a mask.

"Shit, there's three of them!" The woman exclaims.

A man comes running up to her. "How did you miss her?"

"I- I don't know" The blonde says. "Take her to the attic. We'll do it up there"

Hazel was paralyzed in fear. "What are you doing?" Hazel asks, her voice slightly trembling.

"Get up. Head to the attic, pretty lady" The man says.

"No!" The terrified brunette screams.

"Don't make me force you" He warns, and walks over to her, grabbing her arms tightly.

Hazel began thrashing around, kicking and moving her arms as much as she could.

The man grabs her wrists, leaving marks that were sure to leave bruises. The man drags the girl down the hall, Hazel fighting the whole way.

They pass the bathroom, where Violet is standing by the bathtub in a white dress, another woman dressed in all black is in there with her.

"Violet!" Hazel screams, thrashing even harder. "Don't hurt her!"

"Oh, I think by the end of tonight you won't be thinking about your sister" The man says smugly. Hazel could almost see the smirk on his face.

The man opens the door to the attic, pulls down the ladder, and drags her up.

"You sick fuck let me go!" Hazel screams as the man ties both of her wrists together, and to the bottom of an old closet.

The man pulled out a knife. "Nows the fun part"

He moves the knife, closer and closer to Hazel's cheek, gently pushing the blade onto her skin. The pressure increases and Hazel feels a sharp pain down right under eye, blood beginning to trickle down.

Hazel shrieks in pain, making an attempt to  move away from the sharp blade of the knife. Though her movements only made the knife make a wider, deeper cut on her face.

Tears were falling as she tried screaming. The attic door flew open and Hazel assumed the worse, another one of these sickos was going to start harming her.

But, she saw a familiar head of dirty blonde hair. Then the face. It was Tate.

"Let go of her!" Tate screamed, running over to the man and getting on top of him, throwing multiple punches. Blood started pouring from the man's head, making a pool of it on the wooden attic floor. He moved over to Hazel, untying the knot.

Once her arms were free she jumped onto Tate in a hug. She was in hysterics, crying into his shirt and surely staining it with her blood.

Tate held her face in his hands, looking into her eyes. "Go to your room. Don't come out until I come get you"

Hazel nods, standing up, holding her hand over the cut. She runs to her room and grab a towel from her floor, holding it over the area.

She hid under her bed, fearing that the man was going to come back for her. She waited for what felt like hours. Her door flings open and she hears her sister and mother's voice.

She crawls out from the bed and hugs them both, silently crying. "The police are on their way" Vivien tells her, holding her cut face.

It looked as though Violet and her mother didn't have a scratch on them, which Hazel was grateful for.

Tate runs into the room and Hazel lets go of her family and hugs him, digging her face into his shoulder. Tate's arm held a tight embrace of comfort. The ambulance comes, finally and they walk outside. Hazel had let go of Tate and clung to her sister, walking while they held each other.

"My daughter, she needs to be stitched up" Vivien explains frantically.

A paramedic walks over to them and signals for Hazel to come with her. Hazel turns around sees Tate, she holds out her hand. He walks closer and takes it.

The two teenagers sat on the back of the van as the paramedic began stitching her face. Hazel's grip on Tate's hand tightend with every poke of the needle.

An officer came up to them. "Can I ask you two some questions?"

They both nod. The officer looks at Hazel. "Hazel Harmon, is that correct?"

Hazel nods again. "Could you tell me exactly what happened?"

"I was reading a book and the guy came and dragged me to the attic. He was talking about some "third girl", who I assume was me. They took me to the attic and cut my face. Tate came up and saved me" Hazel explains.

"What were you doing at the house?" The officer asked Tate.

"I was coming to visit Hazel" Tate says.

The police officer nods. "You two get better soon, alright?"

Hazel forces a smile as the woman finally finishes her stitches. "You'll need to keep them for a while, those cuts were deep" She says. "Anything else I can do?"

Hazel shook her head. "Thank you"

The family, including Tate, stepped back into the house.

Vivien was eyeing Tate, and on a normal day she would've scolded her for having him over. But today was no normal day.

Tate and Hazel walk to her room. And lay on the bed. Hazel snuggles up to Tate's chest as she covers both of them up with the blanket. Tate's arm was around her torso.

"Thank you, Tate" Hazel says gratefully. "I would have died up there"

"I would do anything for you, Haze. Anything" Tate says, his dark eyes making contact with hers.

The two stayed up all night long, both unable to sleep. Hazel was grateful for Tate in ways she couldn't even process.