LIZ'S P.O.V
present time
I dreamt of her again last night, it was the first dream I've had of her in a while. It started of sort of sweet but that didn't last long. I walked along with the black featherd bird through the dry desert until my feet burned from the hot sun. She stood there, in a long black dress waiting for me with wide open arms.
She took me in her sweet embrace as I cried into her shoulder, it felt too good to be true because I never knew her touch to be kind. It felt as if I was actually there, like as if when I closed my eyes and my head hit the pillow I managed to fall in that world, like I actually went there. She brushed my hair sweetly and kissed my wet cheek. I wish it lasted longer. Her warm embrace stabbed me until I bled on the sand, until my sobs turned into violent screams, until her sweet smile turned into a vicious laugh.
I woke up in a cold sweat at 3:35 a.m, my body shivered from the Ac blowing the cold air onto my wet skin, I shivered when I remembered how she stabbed me in the back. I shivered when I remember that same woman whose touch I cried for turned into the touch I cried from. I shivered when I remembered that's the same monster I called mom.
I tried to go back to bed afterwards, but I couldn't. I closed my eyes and waited, I turned on my side, my back, my stomach, I waited, I had a cup of tea and I waited, and I just couldn't fall asleep. Her face was the only thing on my mind, everytime I closed my eyes it was like I was back in her hands before the blood dripped from my lifeless body.
The clock strikes 5 a.m on my bright screen, the laptop warming up my lap as it's been open since 4 a.m. I look away from the laptop on my lap and at the window. I was in awe of the view around me, the horizon where the sun was rising above was a slight shade of yellow hidden away by the cotton pink sky.
Seconds later my gaze turns onto the laptop infront of me, the large W burning through my eyes like fire. I turned in my article just a few hours ago, right before I managed to get the little amount of sleep I did. I never figured out who did the killings, It wasn't my job in the first place, but something about it bothered me so much to the point where I was going insane. My article was sent, and in just a matter of days it's going to be published for everyone to see, the thought of it was frightening, it made me feel uneasy.
The article might be done, but my ambition to figure it all out was growing more and more everyday. That stupid single letter engraved on their skin was making me lose my mind, I just couldn't figure out what it stood for. The red marks on their wrists from the possibility that they were chained up made me sick, but it also made me burn with countless questions. Why would someone need to chain up a bunch of kids, keep them locked away for weeks only to kill them?
I slam the laptop shut, one more glance at that single letter and I might just about go actually insane. I get up from the bed I was laying in, my feet take me to the bathroom where I wash my face and brush teeth quickly before I change into some appropriate clothes.
It was our second day in Rome, I spent the whole day in bed yesterday after we arrived at around 11 a.m. The hotel we were staying at was just as lavish as the one in Paris, if not even more. The old architecture made it look divinely inspired, I don't think words could describe, and the view of the beautiful city out of my window was just extraordinary.
Yesterday I managed to catch some sleep after we checked in, the rest of the day I spent walking around the city with Naomi and Lexi. By the time we got back to the hotel we were all dead tired, but yet I couldn't find it in my self to catch some rest as the article had been burning through my mind.
What we were doing today was still unknown to me, but I know that Lexi definitely has some stuff planned out in her mind. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be as fun as yesterday was, despite the amount of anxiety I was drowning in I managed to have fun with Naomi and Lexi. Naomi, whom I also learned was here to support Liam and not a part of the tour crew like I thought, Lexi thought it was super sweet she dropped everything to support her boyfriend on his tour.
I shut the door closed behind me as quietly as I could. My eyes narrow at the door that opens slowly infront of me, I keep my gaze on it until the person walks out.
"Hey," I whisper under my breath.
His brown eyes narrow in confusion when he looks at me as I stand still infront of my hotel room door as I wait for him to fully walk out.
"What are you doin' up?" He shakes his head unknowingly as he waits for my response.
"Can't sleep." I answer back. "You?"
"Me too," he replied.
I nod bitting my lip anxiously, my feet drag me towards the elevator and I can feel him walking behind me as I wait for the doors to open.
"Where are you goin'?" His tired eyes glare at mine.
I shurg my shoulders, "Takin' a walk." I really don't know what I was doing, what I did know was one more minute of looking at that file and I might've officially lost my mind.
I needed to block out my thoughts, to clear my head a little.
"Great, I'll go with you," he doesn't give me time to respond as the doors open wide and he walks inside the golden elevator.
The doors opened as soon as the closed in considering we were only on the third floor. I walk outside and he walks next to me, his footsteps matching in sync with mine.
I was walkin' around aimlessly and he just seemed to follow me, I walk out of the hotel with him beside me and take a left turn from there. I don't remember any if the directions we took from the hotel to get to any of the places yesterday as I was distracted in conversation with Naomi. Right now, I was walking around like a lost puppy and Zayn just seemed to have let me.
"Can I ask you something?" I turn around to look at him again since we walked in the small elevator.
"Depends on what it is."
"When you said don't trust anyone...." I drift off at the memory of that night, "not even Harry, not even you. What did you mean?"
His words bothered me for a while, in my mind they made no sense, because why wouldn't I have at least some sort of trust in the people that we're trying to save my life. Sure, they weren't all saints, but they weren't evil also. Harry had his moments, one's where he could be intimidated, where he had a temper of where he could even be terrifiying but I doubt he'd even hurt me, so why couldn't I trust them?
"Look... I know that Harry, me, Niall, all of us, that we have our good moments. And I know Harry has the ability to be kind and sweet, but just because he's good to you doesn't mean he's trustworthy," he stops in his tracks and turns around to look at me, really look at me. "He's a killer, Liz, we all are. And with Whelve behind everything we do, you can't trust us no matter how good we seem. One day he might wake up and kill you just because Adrienne said so. It's easy to be manipulated when you've got everything to lose."
I'm left even more confused than before.
*
HARRY'S P.O.V
one day before present day
I might've been let off easy at the gala, but that didn't mean Adrienne wouldn't jump at the first chance to torture me.
The smell of blood burned through my nostrils, I couldn't ignore it no matter how hard I tried to.
I couldn't bring myself too look her in the eyes again, it made it all so much harder. I couldn't do it, not when she looked so terrified and lost. I couldn't look at what they've turned her into, couldn't look at how scared she was, scared of me. I couldn't bring myself to look at her bruised body, how hard she pulled at the chains on her wrists and ankles, I couldn't look at the blood that dripped from her forehead onto her dry lips.
I couldn't look at her.
The gun was burning in my hand, the cold metal was digging so hard into my skin I was sure it would make it bleed right onto the concrete.
I couldn't focus on anything, not on the girl in front of me, not at the woman behind me. The room was making me claustrophobic, no windows, just four walls, no doors, just metal. A prision, that's what it looked like.
I can feel her impatiently breathing behind me, her eyes send daggers into my back, she's too close, I can feel her everywhere.
I stood there frozen for more than I should've, it was making her angry and impatient. I was sure she was gonna torture me next for the delay, for how long I was dragging on a simple job that should've taken just a minute to do.
I couldn't do it, I simply couldn't. Had it been someone else I wouldn't have hesitated, but this was April. My April.
"Kill her."
///
I know this was a short confusing chapter, but it's an important one. I'll get back to writing long one's again soon.