asset [h.s.]

eight // countdown

Alicia

It's dark when I open my eyes again and as soon as I regain consciousness, Harry suddenly slams on the brakes and the car jolts to a stop. For a minute, I think he's had to brake in the middle of a road to wait for an animal to pass or something, and I consider making a run for it. I know that I probably won't make it very far until Harry flings me back over his shoulder and hauls me back to the car like he did before, but the thought does cross my mind. However, I'm fairly surprised when both Carl and Harry open their doors and step outside. We must be at our destination.

The observation sends a sense of relief through me, as I'm fed up of being trapped in this car and my body feels riddled with nausea from the erratic journey, but I'm also extremely scared of what's to come. That fear only intensifies when one of the back doors open to reveal Harry, his face set in that same old scowl and his eyes glaring coldly at me again.

"Home sweet home." Harry says with a smirk and I gulp nervously, clutching my water bottle to my chest as he reaches down to untie the rope from my legs. As soon as he's finished, he suddenly grabs me and hauls me out of the car with ease, like I'm just some flimsy toy he can pick up and throw around whenever or wherever he wants.

I wobble a little once I'm placed back onto the ground, but I quickly regain my balance and then take a moment to scan my surroundings. It's dark so I obviously can't see very much, but I manage to make out the outline of some trees and bushes, as well as a pretty large looking house standing before us. I jump as Harry slams the car door, only just missing my fingers that were lingering beside it, and I catch his slight smirk as he locks the car. Evil bastard.

Carl suddenly reappears from wherever he disappeared to, holding a large, bright torch in his hand. I can't help but wonder where he got it seeing as I hadn't seen it anywhere in the car, although I suppose they have their ways to get whatever they want. Unfortunately, I happened to be one of those things, for whatever reason.

"Well?" Harry asks him in a slightly irritated voice. I suppose he's just tired from driving all day, unless he's just always this angry about everything in life. I decide the latter is probably the most accurate.

"House is pretty big. Four bedrooms. Owen did us good." Carl replies, flicking his torch and shining it straight in my face, making me wince from the harsh, bright light. "God, you need a bit of sprucing up."

I clench my jaw and glare at him but I don't say a word. I've decided that I'm not going to talk to them for as long as I can manage it. Why do I want to have a conversation with two people full of such evil and corrupt nature? They've torn me from my home and forced me into this cruel, unfamiliar environment against my will, so I am going to try my best to not acknowledge them at all. I'm also going to try to not cry either, but I think that one will be quite hard. This whole situation terrifies me right down to the core and all I can seem to do is want to cry again and again until I have no tears left.

"Let's just go inside." Harry says with a sigh. "It's fucking freezing out here. This house better have electricity and hot water."

Carl nods and spins around again, heading into the house and Harry goes to follow him. I, however, stay perfectly still, not moving a muscle. I don't know what will be behind the walls of that house and I don't particularly want to find out either. When Harry notices I'm not following him, he turns around and trudges back over to me, and just by the pace of his steps I can tell he's pissed off. I keep my gaze off him, focusing it up at the moon shining among the stars in the dark sky. I seem to be trying my best to hold onto the things that remind me this is actually real life.