"I'm broken and I'm barely breathing.
I'm falling 'cause my heart stopped beating.
This is what it's like when we collide.
This is how you bring me back to life."
- Extreme Music
***
I walk into the house, which looks much nicer on the inside than it does on the outside, probably purposefully.
I mean what kind of safe-house would it be if it weren't inconspicuous?
As soon as I step through the door, I'm greeted with a living room with two couches and a massive tv set where two other guys who look to be about Liam's age are sitting around avidly watching a football game.
"Hey, I'm back," Liam calls to them, tossing his car keys on the counter. "And I brought company."
Both their heads turn towards me like meerkats, and I give a small wave before shoving my hands back into my pockets.
"So that's her, eh?" The one with light brown hair and bright blue eyes says. "Honestly mate, your nightly descriptions don't do her justice."
"Shut up, Fletcher," Liam replies, shooting him a glare. "Guys, this is Ira. Ira, these are the guys."
"Hey, I'm Weston. Nice to finally meet you," the other boy says, giving me a grin. He's got dirty blonde-hair, and kind brown eyes.
"Listen, I'm sure Liam's been all cryptic and secretive," Fletcher says.
"He can be a little stoic," Weston interjects.
"But don't worry," Fletcher continues. "You're safe with us."
"Right," Weston continues. "Just think of this as a sort of.. impromptu vacation. That's what we're doing anyway."
"The point is, this is a stressful time for all of us," Fletcher says. "And Liam can be a bit of a prat when he's stressed, so feel free to give us a shout if he acts like too much of an ass."
"Alright, I think that's enough," Liam interjects, clearly annoyed. He turns to me. "Come on, I'll show you where you can sleep."
"Sleep well, Love," Fletcher calls after us.
"She's going to need it, isn't she?" Weston says. "Having to deal with that one all day."
Their laughter fades behind us as Liam silently leads me up the stairs.
Strange, the boy I know from my dreams would have been laughing right along with them.
"Here..," Liam says, opening a door to one of the rooms and flicking on the lights. "You can stay here for the night. There are some clothes in that drawer if you wanted to change."
"Thanks..," I reply, taking a couple tentative steps into the room.
"Yeah," he replies, starting to leave before turning back to face me. "Oh, and if you could manage not to run off, that'd be great."
"Why would I run off?" I ask, finding my voice for what feels like the first time in ages. It sounds strange to my ears, as if I'm not even myself in this unfamiliar setting. "We're in the middle of nowhere."
He gives me a smug look. "Because I know you, Adira, and there's no way you trust me just yet."
"First of all, you don't know me," I state. If he's so set on being an enigma to me, I refuse to be an open book to him. "You're right though, I don't trust you. I'm just guessing you're a better option than whoever else is after me, right?"
"Sharp as a tack, as always," he replies, before turning to leave. "Sleep well, Love."
I roll my eyes and shut the door softly, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of slamming it.
***
I'm lying down on a couch.
The room is dim, with soft light streaming in through the window as the sun sets.
I know that there are more important things I should be dealing with, that I should be entirely stressed just lying here when there's so much to be done, but I'm not.
Because there's someone lying next to me, and there's nowhere I'd rather be than with him.
My head rests on his chest as I steady myself to the calming rhythm of his heartbeat.
"Liam?" I say tentatively, breaking the silence between us.
"Hmm?" He replies, fingertips mindlessly brushing up and down my arm.
"What happens now?" I ask, terrified of the answer, but also desperately needing to know.
Silence.
I lift my head slightly to glance up at him, but he's still unmoving.
"I don't know, Ira," he says finally, after a long hesitation.
I swallow hard, before replying. "I was afraid of that.." I answer. I wish things were different. Why does everything have to be so difficult for us? Why can't we just be normal?
At my words, Liam sits us both up, and rest his hands on my shoulders in a steadying gesture. "I'll tell you what I do know though," he says. "I know that, you're the most important thing to me right now. I know that we're stronger together than we are apart. And I know that nothing can change that, not for me," he finishes, placing his hand on my cheek. "How about you?" he asks.
I place my hand over his and lean into his touch. "I know that you're what I want, so damn the consequences I guess," I reply.
He grins, and with that, he takes me in his arms and kisses me, deeply and passionately, so much so that it feels like I could burn up if we continue, but I would never want him to stop.
He leans us back until I'm lying on my back and he's hovering over me, never once breaking apart.
Every move he makes sets me afire in new ways, and I can't get enough of it. Everywhere he touches is electrified.
He's what I want. He's my safety. He's what I've been missing for as long as I can remember. He's it. He's what makes me whole.
A sudden noise outside makes us pull apart.
Liam looks to the window and then back to me, a knowing look of dread heavily present in his eyes as I stare into them.
Without warning, a loud bang causes a scream to emit from me as the door practically flies off its hinges and at least five men barrel into the room.
Liam is forcefully pulled off of me, and before I know it, a pair of harsh hands grabs me and throws me off the couch onto the cold, hard-wood floor.
"Ira!" Liam shouts as he's doing his best to struggle against the two men holding him as a third attempts to wrestle him to the ground.
I start to twist my body until I'm upright again, but by the time I do, the same man grabs me by the throat, lifts me from the ground, and slams me into the nearest wall.
Almost blinded by the sudden pain in my head, I gasp deeply, grasping onto the man's wrist and desperately attempting to make him release his grip.
"Let her go!" Liam grunts out, as he's wrestled to the floor, his arms pinned behind his back.
"I will," the man holding me says callously, "as long as you give me what I want."
"You're not getting a damn thing until you take your hands off her!" Liam insists.
"Sure about that? Because I quite like having my hands on her. Her on the other hand, I think she might be a little uncomfortable," he says sadistically. At his words, he lifts me higher until only the tips of my toes can reach the floor and squeezes my throat harder, completely cutting off my flow of air.
My gasping stops as I can no longer draw in even the shallowest of breaths. A strangled choking sound escapes my throat instead as I'm filled with panic.
I can't breathe.
I can't breathe.
"Stop!" I hear Liam shout. "I'll - I'll do it, alright, just stop! Please! Please!" He says desperately.
The man gives me a satisfied look as the edges of my vision begin to go black.
"See Love? All you have to do is know where to apply pressure," he finishes with a devilish smirk, before releasing me, letting me fall to the floor with a thud.
I gasp incredibly loud as I sit up in bed.
My hands immediately fly up to my throat as I attempt to take deep breaths, and my entire body is shaking.
Was that a dream??? I couldn't breathe, I was suffocating.
I felt it. It felt real.
Suddenly, I hear a loud patter of feet running quickly down the hallway towards the room, and for a moment I panic before Liam bursts through the door, the sweat evident on his forehead.
We stare at each other. He's pale, unsteady, and sweating, and once I see the look in his eyes, I know that he was there too. Right there in that world, with me.
After seeing me awake and upright, he seems to let out a deep sigh, hanging his head in relief and catching his breath. After a brief respite, he walks towards me and sits down next to me on the bed.
"Are you okay?" He asks, as I attempt to catch my breath as well. He seems fine, and I don't want him to think less of me, to think that I can't handle this like he can, but I can't bring myself to lie either.
I shake my head no, still clutching at my throat, my eyes still wide. I can still feel it. I thought I was going to die.
"I know," he says softly. He raises a hand, and I almost flinch away, but he gently uses his thumb to wipe away a tear I didn't even know had fallen, letting his hand linger on my cheek for a moment in a comforting gesture before pulling away. "It's not real, Adira. It was just a dream."
The air is thick between us, as we sit there together, side by side, for a while, just calming down and trying to figure out what's real and what's fiction.
It's strange sitting here with him, like this. Especially considering that only a few moments ago, he was lying on top of me, closer than I've ever let anyone get, and we were kissing like our very lives depended on it.
Except that we weren't. It was just a dream. It wasn't real. None of it is I suppose.
It's odd how we can be so close there, when in reality we couldn't be further apart.
Our dream counterparts would die for each other. And we're nothing like them, are we?..
"Why was it like that?" I finally say after a while, breaking the silence that had fallen between us.
"I don't know," he replies, seemingly just as confused as I am. Maybe even just as afraid.
"Liam.. It's never felt like that before..," I say tentatively. "Everything felt so.."
"Real?" He finishes for me knowingly.
"Yeah," I reply, a little relieved that he felt it too. "More than ever."
"I'm not sure...," he says, "but with both of us here, together.. I think they may be getting stronger."
***
a/n - so yeah, I have a general idea of where I'm going with this, but specifics are still up in the air, so I hope it's at least making for an enjoyable story so far.
Also, I just saw Nerve, and it was intenseee. Edge of my seat the whole time, you guys should watch it.