More Than This

Chapter 10

Ch.10 Lexi’s POV

            I was sitting in a limo. Fancy, fancy. I sat with Maddie on my lap, Taylor on my right, Alice on my left, and Justin to the left of Alice. We were facing Louis, Niall, Harry, Zayn, and Liam. We spent the first five minutes of the car ride staring at each other in an awkward silence. Maddie, my little six year old ‘daughter’ was the first to speak up.

            “My name’s Maddie,” she stated matter of factly, staring at the boys of One Direction. Their faces broke out into grins.

            “Hello there, Maddie,” Niall said with his thick Irish accent, smiling widely, “I’m Niall.”

            “I’m Harry.”

            “I’m Louis.”

            “I’m Zayn.”

            “And I’m Liam.”

            Maddie looked at them, squinting her eyes. “You all talk weird,” she announced, crossing her arms.

            The boys all broke into laughter, while my group managed some grins.

            “So,” Louis said slowly, eying all of us. “This is sort of a long car ride. Would you like to tell us how this… group came to be?” I shrugged, and looked at Taylor, indicating she should start the story.

            “Well, first off, my name’s Taylor, and that’s my brother Justin. Basically our dad was extremely rich. Our mom died when we were young, so we’ve always had to listen to our dad. And he is controlling. Not like a normal parent, though. It was psycho. The only time we were allowed to leave our house was to go to school. No friends, no dating. He had our whole future exactly planned out. We sort of just accepted it as our life. But then, he married out stepmother. She was the same was as dad, except she used physical abuse along with verbal. One night, Justin and I decided we should run. It was a haste decision. We packed backpacks, grabbed as much money as we could, and left out the window. We went to the train station and bought tickets to North Carolina.”

            Justin began speaking. “Really, we had no idea what we were in for. We were completely unprepared and nervous as hell. So anyway, on the train, it was basically empty, except for another girl around our age. She came over and sat by us, scaring the shit out of us. She asked us where we were going, so we told her our grandparents. She winked at us and told us she was going to her grandparents’, too. She asked if we could just be honest with eachother. We agreed. She told us her name was Alexa, and then explained why she ran away. We did the same for her. By the time we got to North Carolina, it was decided we were a team. We decided on walking south, making plans as we went. We walked, ate, found a place to sleep. Everyday.”

            Maddie butted in. “And then they found me. I was really, really hungry. Well, I always used to be hungry. But that day I was really hungry because mommy left and I couldn’t find her. So I just was sitting down, and three big kids walked by. One of them, Lexi, stopped and asked if I was okay. I told her my mom left. She asked where my home was, and I said I didn’t have a home. Me and mommy always lived on the streets. So Lexi told me that I could come with them. They washed me up and we had a huge lunch at McDonalds.” Maddie sat on my lap, grinning at the memory.

            “Some time later,” Alice continued, “I saw Lexi and Taylor walk into the place I… worked. Everyone was talking about them. Their names were apparently Vivian and Grace. But I didn’t believe that. Not sure why, but I didn’t. I knew I had to warn them that they had to leave. If they didn’t they’d be stuck there, like I was.” Alice was looking down at her hands, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. “So after the show, I told them to leave. I told them to go while they still could. But Lexi insisted that they weren’t going to budge unless I came with them, and Taylor agreed. At first I didn’t want to… I was nervous. Places like that, they suck you in. Make it dangerous for you to do anything else. I came there at a young age, looking for money. I wasn’t smart, and I got stuck. Anyway, I realized how much I really did want to leave with these two strangers. So I got my stuff, and we left. God, I hated that place. Every single minute there was hell. It made me feel disguisting. I was disguisted with myself. I hated, hated my life. I hated myself.” Alice was still staring at her hands. She took a shaky breath. “And I wanted to die. So badly I wanted to die. But I was scared. I was going to do it, you know. Lexi and Taylor go to me right in time.”

            “I did, too,” added Taylor, “I tried once, but Justin found and stopped me.”

            “So did I,” added Justin. He laughed coldly, “and I got close- so many times. But I couldn’t leave Taylor alone with my dad.”

            “And,” Taylor added, “if it wasn’t for Lexi, we’d both be dead right now. We had no idea what the hell we were doing. Lexi was the prepared one. I give her full credit to why we’re alive today.”

            “I would’ve died too,” Maddie said sadly, “I had no food, and it made me feel sick.” She choked back a sob and buried her head into my shoulder. I spoke softly.

            “I was an absolute mess. I hated everything about myself. Especially eyes. I still do, actually. My eyes make me a freak. Like a monster from a storybook,” I looked down at my hands. “I was depressed. I had medicine for it, but it didn’t help. I cut, and I was bulimic. A complete emotional wreck. I had to go to therapy 4 times a week because...” I gulped, “because my parents caught be ODing. Right after I took the pills, they found me and brought me to the hospital. I didn’t die, obviously. But for the longest time, I still wanted to die. I can’t explain the hatred I had for myself. Anyway, I promised my therapist I no longer wanted to kill myself. And that was the truth. I wanted to run away.”

             The car was silent. Five stunned boys sat across from us, trying to figure out how they should be acting. I studied each of their faces.

            Zayn’s eyes were flicking to between all of us before settling cautiously on Alice. Liam had a sympathetic look on his face and looked as if he was thinking hard about something. Harry was focused on me, a pained expression on his face. Niall was looking nervously at all of us, but mostly Maddie. My cousin was looking at me, but at the same time he was looking through me. The look on his face sort of scared me.

            “I-I didn’t know- Lexi your parents never told me…” his face now was shocked and confused.

            I shrugged, “I guess it was embarrassing for them or something.” We sat in a few more minutes of awkward silence.

            “So…” said Liam, straightening himself up, “I guess we should tell you what’s going to happen. We are buying Justin, Taylor, Alice, and Maddie an apartment in Florida. A nice section, of course. We’ll sign the girls up for school and cover all costs. We’ll make sure they are stocked up on clothes, furniture, and neccesities. We are going to pay for the cost of the apartment every month and make sure you have enough money for school and everything. Management will contact Taylor and Justin’s parents and let them know they lost custody. Then, we will get Justin to gain custody over the girls. And Alexa can either come with us or go back home. Parents’ orders.”

            “No way am I going back home,” I replied sternly. Maddie’s head whipped around to face me.

            “So you’re not going to be at the apartment with us?” she asked, a panicked expression in her eyes. I shook my head lightly.

            “No, sweetie, I’m not allowed,” Maddie embraced me in a bear hug while I soothingly rubbed her back.

            “It’s okay, Maddie. I’ll call you every night. And you're going to get your on home! You’ll share it with Justy and Ali and Tay. It’ll be so much fun. Everything will be fine, I promise,” I whispered into her ear. She nodded while the One Direction boys shifted uncomfortably.  Zayn cleared his throat.

            “We’ll be at the airport in ten minutes. Us and Alexa will catch a plane to the UK, and the rest of you to Florida. You’ll go with some of our security and they’ll set everything up for you.”

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okay so this chapter might have some confusing parts...? sorry, it wasn't really written well. :P please comment if you don't understand something, and i'll clear it up for yaaa xx