Broken Glass [h.s.]

eleven

Dove

"Are you scared, love?" I hear his warm whisper in my ear even before I can even notice he's walking next to me.

I send him a side-glare. "I'm not. I just think it's stupid."

"Stupid?" He asks curiously, pulling up his hood as he notices a few stares thrown in his direction.

"What's the point?" I reply, "is it really that important not to waste just a few hours?"

"I don't think I understand what you're talking about" he says confusedly, looking around to check if people are still watching us.

"Don't you have anything better to do with your life, than to try to lose it by putting yourself in dangerous situations?" I ask him, and he shrugs.

"What is life without a little bit of danger?" He murmurs hiding his hands under the cloak, probably to touch his gun, hidden safely under it.

I raise an eyebrow, not believing the conversation I'm having with him. "A long one, maybe?" I reply, and he looks up at me, his usually clear eyes dark in the night.

"I think it's more about the quality, than the quantity."

I turn towards him, stopping in my tracks. "Aren't you scared of dying?"

He stops as well, looking at me with the stormy gaze I learnt to recognise as his only. "Everybody dies."

I stay silent for a few seconds before replying. "You know what, maybe you aren't as bad as I thought you were. When you aren't trying to get in my pants."

"Maybe you just judge way too fast." His tone of voice is low, deep, somehow magnetic, it penetrates me and freezes me in my place, just like his dark stare.

The guards are a few steps behind us, I can almost see them looking at us confusedly from far away, wondering why we stopped.

"Do I?" I hear myself whisper.

"Do not trust me, Dove. I'm not the kind of man you should ever trust. I don't want that burden, and I surely don't want to be trusted by you. I would just disappoint you, and do you know what's the worst thing?" He asks, and I shake my head, allowing him to continue. "I wouldn't be sorry at all."

I frown at his words. "Why?"

"Because I don't care" he says easily. "I'm not a bad person, that's why I'm telling you beforehand. Don't trust me, because I'll never care enough about you not to hurt you."

I look down, feeling some kind of sadness wash over me. "Thanks, I guess. I appreciate the honesty."

The guards reach us and don't say a word, sensing that they interrupted an important conversation. Max points right in front of us.

"Third house on the right. Red one. That's where the Moons' territory starts. Pull up your hoods, and hide if you see someone" he whispers, and I nod, pulling my hood up as he said, as Aaron and Styles have a silent conversation a few feet away from us.

I wonder what they're talking about. They're standing close enough not to let any of the words that are being said between them spill, I can barely hear the deep vibration of Styles's voice, too muffled to understand anything. He's checking something under his cloak as he speaks, maybe his weapons? It's hard to tell. All of sudden Aaron puts a hand on his shoulder, and he looks up, stopping his movements. Aaron tells him something, and he nods, before turning around and walking back to us, with the guard following him suit.

"We can go" Styles says, pulling his hood, that fell on his shoulders during his chat with Aaron, up again.

I don't say anything and neither does Max, and we keep on walking.

The closer I get to the red house, the more nervous I feel myself getting. I know I'm doing a mistake, that walking there is possibly the stupidest thing I could ever do. Everyone knows it, in the city. The Moons' territory is avoided by everyone for a reason. And the reason is, whoever goes there never comes back. My feet stop moving. I don't have a death wish. What am I doing? No, I don't want to die, but we're going straight into a mouse trap. And the worst thing is that we know it.

"What is it, love? Are you scared of dying?" Styles says turning around to look at me once he notices that the sound of steps behind him has stopped.

"Oh, please" I reply trying to act as if everything was okay, but I can hear my voice tremble, and I know he can as well.

"Everything will be just fine" he says, his eyes not leaving mine, but his voice sounding distant.

"Didn't you just tell me I shouldn't trust you?" I whisper to him once I reach him.

The corners of his lips curve into a little smile. "I never promised not to lie."

I nod and look at the guards, who are waiting for us a few steps ahead. "I see."

We reach them walking next to each other, Styles's presence almost electrical next to me. Once we're close enough they start walking again, and so do we. I barely realise we walked past the red house, distracted by the man next to me.

Soon, the streets become darker, the only source of light being the moon, all the streetlights purposely broken. Curiously enough, there is nobody around. It has to be because of the time, late enough for everyone to have gone back home, not late enough for everyone else to have come back roaming the streets in the infamous black cloaks.

All of sudden I see a hooded figure walk in our direction, and I rush to Max.

"There's someone walking towards us, what do we do?" I whisper to him fast.

He takes a few seconds to reply. "We can't hide, they saw us already. They'll suspect something if we try to hide now. Just look down, and don't say anything" he instructs fast, and I nod, slowing down slightly to walk behind him.

Soon enough, the hooded figure reaches us, their head down not to look at us as well. Even though I know I shouldn't, I can't help but turn my head to look at them as they walk past. I see the glint of their eyes in the darkness under the hood, and a shiver runs down my spine as I realise they looked at me as well.

Soon another hooded figure comes around, and the scene repeats. They look down until they walk past Max, and then turn their heard to look at us.

I don't tell Max. He told me to not look at them, he'd just get mad if he knew that not only I looked at them, but they also saw me looking.

A third taller, bulky figure comes around, and the scene repeats as a weird feeling sets in my gut.

When a fourth comes, and the scene repeats once again, I start to understand that something isn't quite right.

"Max" I whisper reaching him once again, "I think something's wrong."

"What are you talking about?" He asks, whispering as well.

"They all looked at us when passing us. Something is going on."

"Like what?" Max asks snappily, "it's not like-" his words are covered by the loud sound of a gunshot blaring through the air.

I turn in the direction it came from as I hear Aaron shout something I don't pay attention to. A hooded figure retires in the darkness of the street. I feel a hand grip my shoulder hard and turn me around. I almost scream, but then I realise it's Styles, his hood fallen on his shoulders once again.

"Move" he says as I finally understand what Aaron is shouting.

"Run!"