One song lyric at the beginning of the chapter! Please vote and comment! <3
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"Please tell me this is all I dream," I say, "I want to wake up from this nightmare."
"Sorry babe," Niall responds, "this isn't a dream, but it'll all be over soon. I promise."
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Class starts back again on Tuesday. Today is Sunday. Tomorrow is Labor Day. I have to to back in Chicago before tomorrow.
Someone has to know I'm missing. And where is Zayn?
I can't stop thinking about Taylor being sold for a car. A fucking car! How could any mentally sane person just sell a human being for a stupid car! Niall and Harry have just moved on with their lives as if nothing happened.
I'm sitting alone at a kitchen table eating breakfast in a gigantic mansion that Harry and Niall share in these Northern Canadian mountains. Persian rugs, granite floors, spiral staircases, diamond chandeliers, and ceiling-high windows are only a few of the things that make up this house. Also, there are several garages with many cars including Ferrari's, Bentley's, and Rolls Royce's.
This has been my home for the past few days and I have to say this upper class life does seem appealing, but I cannot forget my circumstances of being here which are immoral and dreadful.
There could be a world war three going on outside, but I wouldn't know because I'm trapped in Northern Canada.
I hear footsteps coming from the large velvet center staircase and I turn to see a sleep-eyed Harry walking down the stairs. He's wearing loose-fitting gray sweatpants and a black Rolling Stones t-shirt. His hair is tied up in a bun and when he sees me, he smiles.
"What are your plans for today, Emily?" Harry says.
He walks over to the glass breakfast table I am sitting at, sits down, and places his elbows on the table as he rests his chin in the palms of his hands.
"How should I know?" I respond grimly, "You two seem to tell me where to go everyday so what are my plans for today, Harry?"
Harry smiles even bigger as he squints at me.
"You're funny, Emily," Harry laughs.
I roll my eyes and look down as I continue to eat my cereal.
"So what is going to happen to Taylor?" I say.
"Uhhh..."
"Is she just gone forever to you?"
"I thought Niall told you not to worry."
I take a deep breath and it feels like fire is burning inside my brain.
"Can I show you something?" Harry says gleefully.
"No," I respond.
"I'll be right back!" He yells and jumps out of his chair and proceeds to run down a hallway and out of my sight.
I sit at the table for five minutes and contemplate whether or not I actually might see my apartment again. Or see my family again. Or see Stephanie again. Or see Zayn again. I'm beginning to think that this is all my fault. If only I would have just stayed to myself like I did last year. If I wouldn't have decided recently to become more outgoing, then maybe I wouldn't have ended up in this awful situation. Thousands of miles from home, kidnapped by two psycho maniacs. One of those being a guy I was starting to like.
I can't stop getting the feeling that something really bad is going to happen. I can't just be here because 'Niall didn't have a date.' I feel like Niall and Harry are hiding something from me. I feel like-
"I'm back!" Harry yells as he sits back down at the table and places a solid black chest on the table, "do you want to open it?"
"No, you do the honors," I respond.
Harry pulls a key from his pocket and inserts it into the keyhole on the box and slowly opens the chest. I blink a several times at the sight I see. A bright light flashes at my eyes for several seconds and I squint to try and see what is in the box. Two colossal earrings lay in the black velvet box. The dangle earrings are composed of massive diamonds and smaller diamonds around the edges.
"They were my mum's," Harry says in a serious tone.
"They look very expensive," I respond and lean forward to get a closer look at the beautifully pure diamonds.
"These were her favorite. These earrings are one of the few things I have left of my parents."
Harry stares down at the earrings with a despairing glare. He clenches his jaw and I notice his leg twitching under table.
"Why is that?" I say.
"After mum and dad passed, they donated everything they had to charity. Everything. Every last bit of it. All of their possessions, but I happened to snag these. All they left me and my brothers was money. Money. Can you believe that? Money and greed is what killed them and that's what they leave us. Maybe some of us wanted mum's record player or dad's movie collection? Maybe we just wanted things to remember them by?"
Harry slams the box shut and squeezes the chest tightly and starts to cry. He's breathing heavily to try to keep the tears in, but he fails.
"Harry...please don't cry," I say with sympathy, "you'll get through this. Stop crying. It'll get better."
"I can't remember the last time I had a normal night of sleep. I have nightmares every night. I can see my parents dead bodies. I see them screaming. Screaming as their bodies are being burned when they were cremated."
"Harry..." I say.
"It's crazy what the death of your parents can do to you. It can really mess up your mind. Make you feel like nothing's going right anymore. It'll make you want to give up on life. Sometimes I really do want to give up, but then I realize I have a future to look forward to, so I don't."
"Harry...I know you've been going through a lot, but that doesn't mean you can take advantage of other people..."
"But I don't."
"What about Taylor? How could you wish that upon anyone? Especially to a girl as amazing as her?"
A small smile appears across Harry's lips and then he chuckles to himself softly.
"Are you fucking laughing?! Are you kidding me?! How could you just-"
"Emily...look at the door," Harry says.
"What?" I say as I turn my body around in my chair to look at the door. I hear the door knob turning and the door slowly opens. A body steps through the entrance of the mansion and I see a girl with a floppy hat and stiletto heels step into the foyer.
It's Taylor.
I nearly fall out of my chair in shock. This can't be true. Just last night I saw that girl being pulled away in tears from a mysterious man. There is no way she is standing right here in-
"Hey Emily," Taylor says to me as she walks towards me, "I'd like to apologize."
"Let me explain," Harry says as Taylor sits down at the table with Harry and I.
I barely hear Harry's words because my head is pounding so hard.
"Taylor and I have a, let's say, special relationship. Who in their right mind would just sell a human being, right? So, I don't."
"I still don't understand."
"Let me finish," he says, "Sometimes the only way to get stuff around here is to sell women to those awful men. So Taylor, the most amazing actress in the whole wide world, pretends to be sold to these men, then she escapes and she's back home with me."
Harry winks at Taylor and she smiles.
"That still doesn't make any sense," I say, "how can you just escape those men?"
"Trust me, it's not that hard," Taylor laughs.
Trust. Something I feel I don't have with anyone anymore.
"But why were you crying and telling me you were afraid that Harry would sell you?" I say.
"I was trying to relate to you because I thought that's why you were here," Taylor responds.
"Then why am I here?"
Harry sighs and looks at Taylor.
"You're running out of time. You're going to have to do it soon," Taylor says.
"I know, but I don't know if we're ready yet," Harry responds.
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" I yell.
"I'm going to get Niall," Taylor says, "this needs to happen now. I'm tired of hearing you two talking about it and I'm tired of seeing Emily go through all this stress."
"Wait," Harry interjects, "maybe when-"
"No! I'm going," Taylor says sternly.
Harry stands up from his chair.
"Okay I'm going with you. Emily, please wait here. I'll be right back."
My mouth is half-open but no words are coming out. I have no idea what's going on.
They don't seem to have bad intentions, but I feel like I shouldn't trust them.
I don't know what to do. I could escape right now. I could run out of the door, but where could I go? I don't have any money. I can't run all the way to Chicago. I could get stuck in the snow. I'm so afraid. My body is trembling.
All I have left to do is wait for Harry to come back and see what fate brings me this time.