x
I had fallen asleep in the early morning, Chelsea the same. She had shut her eyes but still shifted uncomfortably on the double bed.
Our wrists were still bound by shiny silver as we cuddled together to try and make warmth in the suddenly freezing cold room, with nothing to keep us warm but a thin, ripped sheet of blanket.
I probably got about three hours sleep before I decided I couldn't do it any more. The clock on the wall stated in a gleaming red that it was 11 o'clock in the morning. My mind lay awake. When would they come and get us? And more importantly, what would they do with us?
I waited for Chelsea to get up, I knew she stayed awake long after I passed out in exhaustion so I allowed her to sleep a while longer but when the lock on the door jiggled and the door burst open she shot up.
Daniel, Ethan and another disgustingly handsome stranger entered and folded his arms across his chest.
"You haven't slept. Can't have that." Ethan said with a 'tsk' noise.
I hissed at him as he came nearer to me and he laughed, turning towards the other two.
"She's feisty, I just hope she learns how to control it in front of Tate and Harv."
Chelsea seemed to have lost whatever spark she had before as her face remained sullen, I had decided to keep my mouth shut as well.
"You're going to shower and get dressed, the girls have gone shopping and gotten you some outfits. Then you're going to meet Tate."
"Tate Duncan?" Chelsea asked curiously.
"Yeah, he wants to talk to you or whatever."
Tate Duncan attended our school early last year but left and never came back. There was little gossip about where he went as no one really spoke to him. I remember him as dark and shady as he walked through the halls with circles under his eyes and a bruise on his left cheek. He never smiled and had a very sulky face with vibrant blonde hair and icy black eyes.
Chelsea gave a short nod and I stared at her with a raised eyebrow.
"There's no point fighting, they'll kill us Ally. Just go along with it, it'll get better in the end." She said with a frown.
"How can you even say that?" I spat.
"You should listen to your friend Alison. I have a feeling she's going to live longer than you."
"Kill me. I dare you." I said, turning to face Daniel with a scowl.
"Don't tempt me, darling."
He roughly grabbed my arm and shoved me into a standing position, the stranger did the same to Chelsea but with softer movements.
He shoved me forward while pressing my hands behind my back and I gritted my teeth.
Ethan lead us through the hall until we reached a room with a bright yellow door. He opened the door and practically threw us inside. Light blue coloured walls, a shower, bath, toilet and sink lay inside.
The bright colours just screamed out of place.
The door shut and locked behind us and I stretched my arms as far as they could go.
"You shouldn't speak like that in front of them. They'll hurt you." Chelsea warned.
"I don't care any more. I'd rather die than stay here."
"No you wouldn't."
I knew she was right and that I was exaggerating but I didn't admit it. I wasn't usually short tempered so this came as a surprise to me.
She awkwardly switched the shower on with her bound hands and I ran a bath. We had seen each other naked before so it wasn't really a problem.
"This is your fault. If you hadn't have just kept your mouth shut we wouldn't have been stuck like this." She grumbled.
My jaw dropped open.
"What? So you expect me to let them trample all over us?"
"Ally! People have trampled over us our whole life, what makes now any different other than the fact our lives are in danger? Just learn to zip it for the time being and we'll find a way out."
I let out a scoff.
"From the way you're talking it's as if you're getting ready to stay here permanently."
"I'm just looking after my life, unlike you." She pointed out, not even turning to look at me.
I was silent after that.
Maybe if I shut my mouth I could think properly. I came to the conclusion always talking only dug not only mine but Chelsea's grave deeper so I had to practise biting my tongue.
I stayed in the bath for less than five minuets before jumping out and wrapping the towel around myself.
Chelsea did the same a few seconds later and banged on the door.
We heard them shouting for a few seconds before two girls entered, dark frowns on their faces as they handed us a bag each.
"This is what you're wearing to the club tonight, your first mission." The girl smirked at us. "You excited?"
Club? Excited?
I wanted to question so badly and it took all my willpower not to. What did I expect, I mean we were part of a gang now. The word was bitter to my lips. Gang. This didn't seem like your average huddle in a dark corner of an alley kind of gang though, oh no.
The girls stayed while we changed but looked the other way as they had a conversation of their own.
I nearly groaned at the outfit choice.
Glittery blue long sleeved dresses with an extremely low cut in the front. The dress was up to my mid thigh and Chelsea's was the same but in a lime green that made my eyes hurt.
We both had a pair of blue stiletto heels that made me wince whilst looking at them. Even thinking about walking in them brought a rough pumping to the front of my head.
I looked inside the other bag to see make up. All different kinds. Chelsea picked up a piece and stared at it with squinted eyes.
"We put this on our face?"
The girls laughed loudly at her, whispering insults in each others ears and I did my best to not let my anger show.
"I'll do your's after I've done mine." I told her.
I grabbed the bag and began to do my make up.
I stared with concealer and moved onto foundation. I made my eyes smokey with eyeliner and eyeshadow. My messy brown hair was loose on my shoulders as I stared at myself in the mirror. If we were going, I might as well make myself look reasonably good.
I had never actually done this before other than a couple of times at my Aunt's party, but I looked surprisingly good.
I did the exact same look with Chelsea but gave her baby pink lips and turned around smugly to face the two girls.
"Impressive." The blonde one said with a smile.
The side of my mouth tilted upwards as we were suddenly handed trench coats. As in the coats that would quite obviously stand out in a crowd.
"Dan told us you'd be uncomfortable in anything else, plus you need to meet Harvey and Tate. So you can wear these until we get there."
I nearly let out a sigh of relief as I put on the ankle reaching trench coat and buttoned it.
"We're also going to unlock your handcuffs, but just a friendly reminder, I have a gun in my back pocket. Don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed." The brunette hissed rather rudely.
My wrists immediately felt free as I massaged them gently and stared at the bruising red mark that had formed in their spot.
As we followed the two up another flight of stairs, I suddenly realized how big the house was. There must have been at least four floors! The area around it was beautiful and bang in the middle of nowhere. And the inside had a homely feel to it, which I think scared me the most.
We stopped outside a door at the end of the hallway and the blonde knocked.
"Come in." A gruff voice said.
"I have your two nerds here."
She spoke like she was in high school, like a popular, snotty, rich kid that everyone despised. This was a young person's game were fighting.
"Two?" The voice asked.
"Daniel investigated, they're both the same as each other. They work together." A voice I recognised as Ethan's said.
"Bring them in."
The girls moved aside and I shuffled behind Chelsea who scurried inside. I took a deep breath before following behind.
I spotted Tate instantly. He had aged slightly but still had a dark look on his face, like he hadn't slept in weeks.
Tate nodded his head at the two leather seats and we both sat down. My heart was racing in my chest, it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. A layer of sweat formed on my palms and I slid them against my coat.
These were well trained criminals that's gang I was in, they had murdered and killed, probably done every crime known to man. Bile rose to my throat when I stared at Tate, typing away on the desk.
Light blond hair, lips pursed as he focused, ravishing black eyes that bored into the computer screen, but they held a certain dark and firmness to them that I didn't want to question.
His eyes flickered upwards and Chelsea squeezed my hand that was tightly wrapped around hers.
"Hi." He said dully.
I gave him a nod and Chelsea did the same.
"I heard one of you was causing havoc, hopefully that won't be a problem tonight seeing as you have a mission? We don't take disrespect lightly." Tate said, his eyes finding mine and darkening.
I shook my head but the hardness didn't dissolve.
"Do you have a voice?" He asked, his voice challenging.
"Yes." I replied.
"Why don't you use it?" He asked.
"Because I don't want to say anything that will get me killed."
"Really? Last I heard you didn't seem that bothered about dying."
"Change of heart." I said, a sarcastic smile swiping across my face.
Chelsea squeezed my hand roughly and tossed me a warning look which I took in mind.
I was aware of the guy staring at our encounter, amusement glittering in his now silver eyes.
"Harvey White, leader of the gang." He said, walking forwards until he was in front of us.
He outstretched his hand.
My throat burned with remarks that I swallowed down as I shook his hand. He looked at me for a second before his mouth twisted slightly as he wiped his hands on his jeans.
"Your mission tonight is to go into the club security systems and turn off the lights for approximately three minuets while we attack. Then turn them back on and have fun."
"Have fun?" Chelsea asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's a club, dance around, go get laid. Do whatever you want."
"C-Could we possibly go back here afterwards? If we don't want to 'have fun'?" She inquired.
"You'd have to get a cab back."
I raised an eyebrow.
"You trust us enough to get a cab?"
Harvey turned around and gave me a falsely innocent smile.
"We may need new computer nerds, but Tate here is twice as good at tracking someone. And after he's tracked you, there'll be no warnings, he'll kill you on sight. And if he can't find you, which is very unlikely, he'll go for your family. I believe you have a brother you care about very much and you have a mother and sister. Kill 'em on the spot."
I stared at him in horror and bit down on my tongue that wanted to scream in his face.
I turned to see Chelsea, fists clenched beside her as she shot daggers at Harvey.
"Will we ever see them again?"
"Not in the near future." Tate said with lack of care.
"So I just let them think I'm missing?"
"Yes. You do exactly that."
It was sick. There was so much fire on my tongue that needed to be released. My hands went to my knees and I squeezed sharply on the skin that was revealed.
I let out a breath I didn't realize I held and nodded.
"Fine."
***
I wasn't in the most comfortable of positions right now.
Tate and Harvey had to come with us unfortunately, Tate, being Harvey's right hand man, needed to tag along to assess me while Harvey did the dirty.
It was all an assessment. I was being assessed. Not in my own little computer games or a school test, I was being test on whether I could be associated with a crime correctly, or whether or not I was just a loose end.
Chelsea got to sit on her own while I was pressed between the beasts seeing as they trusted me to run off more than her.
We arrived closer to the venue and I grimaced when I saw the huge line outside. The loud pumping of music could be heard from the outside and I found myself getting nervous.
"I'm underage." I said to Harvey who laughed.
"Doesn't matter. You're in a gang now, you can do whatever you want."
I crossed my hands together as the driver stopped the car and we headed out. I clutched the material of my trench coat while Chelsea removed hers.
Harvey and Tate stared at me expectantly and I inwardly groaned before removing the cheesy nightwear and pretended not to notice the way their eyes gleamed as they shamelessly checked out the two of us.
I had no doubt they were going to be doing the same to many other girls tonight. The thought repulsed me.
We somehow skipped the cue and Tate showed us the ways up the stairs.
He opened the door for us and we stared in shock at the two men who ran the systems. Without batting an eyelid Tate pulled a gun out of his pocket.
No.
"What are you doing?!" I screamed.
He pressed the trigger twice and both of their heads exploded with blood.
It seemed as if everything around me had blurred as I stared at the bleeding men in front of us. My heart hammering in my chest was the only noise I could hear. Chelsea's face came in front of mine, her muscles relaxed but her eyes wide in fright.
"C-C-Come o-on." She said, pulling my hand forwards.
I realized Tate had scurried off and stared at the dead bodies in shock.
"Let's just get this over and done with, then we can go home."
I was unable to move as she pulled down on a lever and the power went out, the television screens going black.
I forced my legs to sit down and stared up at the hollow figure of my best friend with a torch placed in her shaking hands.
She began to tremble with tears and I felt the same feeling burn up in my throat. She stared in the direction of the dead bodies but didn't want to light it up, knowing she wasn't mentally prepared to see them.
She pressed the lever again and the lights came to life, the music started again and we were both let out breath's of relief.
Tate popped his head round the corner and grinned at us both.
"Good job girls, next time you'll be set a harder task."
"What do we do now?" I asked, bile rising to my throat as I tried not to look at the figures that bled out in front of us.
"It's party time."
I watched as he danced away and heard his footsteps retreat down the stairs, Chelsea didn't even wait up for me as she followed him.
An uneasy feeling rested in the pit of my stomach.
I don't have a good feeling about this.