Paige
It's been a few days since Aubrey and Maria got back, Aubrey has gotten better but she's not the same. She didn't go silent like Bailey did but she's just gloomy and not as energetic as she used to be and I get it what happens in here can take a toll on you. Maria seems to be doing fine; she didn't have as much of an effect as Aubrey did. Maria came back worse the last time she did it, which is strange because we thought they were getting worse, but you never know what's going on in Jackson's head.
As we're sitting on the couch we hear the speaker come on. "Red and Aqua come through the doors" Matthew and I look at each other. That's the first time two people have been called out at the exact same time. We both stand up and my heart starts racing. What if this is like what happened with Liam that can't happen. I can't be responsible for Matthew going missing.
Once we get to the door he reaches his hand out and turns the door knob, his hands are shaking. I wonder what he thinks is going to happen once we get on the other side of the door. Jackson's mother grabbed me and the other man grabbed Matthew. They guide us to the fear room once we get in there they throw us on the floor as they always do. Matthew and I stand up quickly looking at the door while Jackson walks in and makes his way to the door that leads to the glass box.
"Look at you two waiting to see what I'll say" Jackson says laughing he turns to Matthew and says, "Now Matthew as discussed in your last fear room your fears have changed so today were going to make you go through that fear." Matthew's face drops, he looks at me terrified.
"W-what is it Matthew what's your fear" I ask. He looks at me then back at Jackson he opens his mouth to say something and the lights shut off. I reach out into the dark trying to find him.
"Matthew, where are you?" I yell out trying to find him.
"Paige, I'm right here just reach out for me." Matthew says his voice sounds close. I reach out and eventually I feel his hand touch mine. The room goes cold as he brings me into his embrace. He holds on to me not wanting to let go. The room gets so cold it's almost unbearable. I feel someone grab me from behind there strong, way stronger than me. They pull me away from Matthew.
"Paige, where are you? What happened?" Matthew yells. I try to say something back but the figure covers my mouth with their hand. I don't want to fight back for fear of what may happen. They had a hold of me and I couldn't do anything about it. This was the first time in a while that I've actually felt weak. I always imagined that I would be the strong one, the one who fights for everyone but right now I'm weak and all I want is to be back with Matthew. I feel the figure drag me to the far side of the room. The room is still freezing, my body shivers as the figure keeps a hold on me.
"Paige please come back to me." Matthew yells his voice cracking he's in pain and I need to get to him. I swing my shoulder around to break free from the person holding me back once I get free I yell out to Matthew,
"Matthew I'm right here I'm coming." I say trying to calm him down. I make my way to the center of the room that's where he was before I reach out and eventually find him. He grabs my hand and pulls me to him, he holds on to me tighter than he did earlier. He keeps his arms around me holding as tight as he can, his breathing is heavy. After a few minutes the room starts getting hot. The lights cut on there so bright it's blinding. I look over at the glass where Jackson stands. He looks at me and laughs, he presses a button on the remote and the room gets brighter. I close my eyes but it still hurts.
"Hey hey we got this. We are going to be okay. We just gotta do this together.'' Matthew says I can tell he's hurting too but he's trying to be strong. He hasn't let go of me since I got back to him. The lights start to dim and the room cools down. We both look around waiting for the next part of it.
"It's the water next" I say Matthew looks at me then back at Jackson. Jackson stares us down, his finger hovering over the button. I see him smile before pushing the button. Water starts hitting our feet. I look at Matthew as we slowly let go of each other.
"Don't worry it'll be okay" he says trying to calm me down but I was calm. I had done this before when it was him I was worried about.
"I'm sorry" I say, looking Matthew in the eyes.
"What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything," he says, grabbing my hand, the water now reaching our knees.
"Yes, it is my fault you're having to go through my fear rooms because of me." I say looking at the floor
"Paige, it's not your fault if it's anyone's fault it's mine" he says he takes a deep breath and I look up at him "My fear is losing you" he says I don't know what to say. The water reaches our waist and it starts rising faster. In a second it reaches our chest and we start to swim the water continues rising and it almost at the ceiling when I finally decide to respond to what Matthew said a little bit ago,
"Matthew I can't lose you either, you're always there for me you understand me" I say he looks at me trying to catch his breath. I hear a loud noise coming from the glass room, Jackson knocked a chair over. I see him hit a button on the remote and the room gets cold, the water freezing. I look at Matthew. This is hard for him. After a few minutes the water drains out. We hit the floor weakly. I make my way over to Matthew and he sits up and hugs me.
The door to the glass room swings open and Jackson comes out; he stands with his arms folded looking down at us.
"Well aren't you two perfect." he says with a scoff, "get them up" he says looking at his mother and the other man. They pick us up, our body's weak. They sat us down on the bed in the corner of the room, Matthew and I looking at each other, confused as to why we were still here and not heading back to the living quarters. I guess Jackson sees our confused face because he says, "Oh we are not done with this fear room." smiling a devilish smile. I wonder what else he has planned.
His mother grabs me from off the bed and takes me to the corner of the room. Matthew tries to stand up but the man pushes him back down onto the bed. She holds me in the corner as Jackson makes his way back to the glass box. Once he makes it in there he picks up the remote and shuts the lights off. I hear Matthew's breathing get heavy.
"Paige, are you there, are you okay?" Matthew says just as I'm about to respond they cover my mouth again as they had done before. I try my best to get away from them but I'm weaker than I was earlier. Suddenly the room becomes tight, like the air has just been sucked out of it. Jackson's mother lets go of me all of a sudden and I fall to the floor hearing the door shut. She must have left.
"M-matthew" I say crawling on the floor trying to get to him. It feels as if there is no air in the room.
"Paige, Paige, where are you? Are you okay?" Matthew says breathlessly. I crawl farther across the floor closer to the bed. I eventually reach the edge of the bed and I feel Matthew sitting on the floor leaning his back on the bed.
"Just breathe" I say with my head pounding. I start to feel lightheaded and before I know it everything fades away. I can hear Matthew saying my name worried but I can't say anything, everything is slipping away. I start choking on air trying to catch my breath. All of a sudden the lights come on and the room fills with air again. I catch my breath when I open my eyes. I'm laying on Matthew. I must have passed out on him.
He picks me up and hugs me. He's still taking deep breaths trying to fill his lungs with oxygen again. Jackson walks into the room and walks out the entrance a few seconds later. I feel someone picking me up off the ground. I opened my eyes as we were being guided back to the living quarters. Matthews next to me stumbles trying to walk. I'm doing the same, my whole body weak.
Once we reach the door they open it and throw us in Matthew and I hit the floor a few seconds later. I feel someone picking me up. I open my eyes and I see Isaac carrying me to the couch. I look behind me and the girls are guiding Matthew to the couch. We both sit down across from each other while everyone brings us water and blankets. I try to sit up on the couch but can't because Maira has to help me. Once we get our water and blankets everyone gathers around us.
We lay and watched tv for a while and I eventually fell asleep. I woke up later that night and the lights were out and everyones asleep. Matthews on the other end of the couch he's awake looking at the ceiling.
"Oh hey you're awake." I say he looks up at me.
"Yeah I just couldn't sleep." he says sitting up.
"Are you okay?" he says, grabbing my hand and I look up at him. I don't know what to say after everything that happened today.
"I don't really know." I say Matthew gives me a look of sympathy.
"Come here." he motions for me to come towards him. He gives me a hug but it's not like the other hugs he's giving me today earlier he held onto me like he wanted to keep me safe and never let me go. Now his hug is soft and comforting. I ended up falling asleep in Matthew's arms.
I wake up the next morning to the sound of someone in the kitchen. I get up carefully not to wake Matthew up. I walk into the kitchen and see Issac making breakfast,
"Oh sorry I didn't mean to wake you up." he says as he turns to look at me.
"No it's fine, you didn't wake me up. I'm usually up early anyway," I say, grabbing water out of the fridge. He continues cooking breakfast while I sit down at the kitchen table. After a few minutes, Matthew walks into the kitchen.
"Morning," he says with a yawn.
"Morning," Issac replies back, not taking his eyes off the food I nod, as to say good morning. Matthew makes his way to the fridge and gets something to drink, then comes to sit down at the table. A little while later Bailey, Aubrey, and Maria get up. We all eat breakfast and sit around for a while. I'm starting to feel better but after everything yesterday I'm drained. It just helps to know that there are people who are here for me.
"You two should sit down and take it easy for the next couple of days." Bailey says to Matthew and I.
"Well I just wanna get back up on my feet and not lay around, you never know when the next fear room is going to be." I reply
"Okay whatever you do you but if it were me id take it easy" aubrey says jokingly
"I'll keep that in mind" I say
The rest of the day goes by quietly and we lounge around most of the day. When it gets to bedtime and the lights go out we all go into the bedroom to go to sleep. I wake up early the next morning when i walk into the kitchen i'm surprised to see matthew is already awake he looks up from the food he's making,
"Oh morning" he says.
"Good Morning" I say, grabbing water out of the fridge.
"Can we talk about something?" he says, turning towards me.
"Sure what is it?" I responded, taking a drink of my water.
"The fear room probably freaked you out when I told you that losing you was my biggest fear. I've just never met someone like you. your strong and-" I cut him off
"Matthew I understand if I weren't afraid of Jackson losing you would be my biggest fear too." I say with a laugh, he laughs and then turns back to his food. I go and sit down on the couch and turn on the tv after a little while Matthew makes his way to the living room he sits down next to me handing me a plate.
"Thanks" I say, giving him a small smile he nods his head as to say your welcome. We sit and eat a little while later Isaac comes out of the bedroom.
"Oh there's breakfast on the counter." Matthew says as Isaac enters the kitchen and comes back into the living room carrying a plate. He sits in the chair next to the couch. Watching the tv with us after about an hour everyone's awake and sitting in the living room.