This place was remarkable. So remarkable I was questioning how they managed to stay off the radar for this long. They truly made me question everything. What were they even benifiting from when they kept everyone here?
Why was my mom doing this? It coudln't of been to keep me safe, I was safe. We were both safe. Even before Dad left we were safe.
Stupid Steven, I cursed as I paced in my cell.
I had been there for three days already, and the only people to talk to me have been Lucy and Jones. Hours passed and I wouldln't talk to anyone, as the shifts changed every four hours. I constantly had gaurds outside my cell, some were friendly, some were not, and some were very friendly. So friendly, I was glad for the bars that seperated us.
My hair somehow always found it's way into a ponytail, so that'd how it was as I was taken from my cell. Lucy showed up, and discretely touched my hand in comfort. There was something in her eyes. She couldn't tell me, not with all the gaurds around, but something had happened.
The guards led me down a hallway I had never seen before, and what I saw at the end made my throat close up. I was so shocked, I could barely regiester anything as I started to walk faster towards the cell in front of me.
"Dad?" I croaked.
The man sitting on the ground in the dark, moved a little bit, and I saw the flash of green on his wrist. I fell to my knees in front of his cell. "Dad? Please, Dad?"
My dad moved, and when he finally looked towards me, he gasped. "Mia?"
Tears steady streamed down my face, as I launched myself against the bars, and my dad did the same. We gripped hands, and he started to cry. "How?"
"Mom said you were dead, everyone did. Then she did bad things, moved us out here, and well she obviously got too lonely so she had her last living family member be taken also,"
He started at me, blinking as though he couldn't believe I was actually here. He reached to feel a piece of my hair, and to stroke it comfortably. "My Amelia."
"Mia?" Lucy called out. I flitted my eyes quickly from my dad to her, but chose to ignore her. My dad kept his eyes locked with mine, but I could see the question brimming in his hopeless eyes.
"Since you disappeared, I have gone by Mia. Everyone shoved it down my throat constantly that you were dead, and the police said you just left us.. but I didn't believe them. I knew you were out there somewhere. I just had to find you,"
He brushed my cheek, "And you did- wait." He turned my wrist over and brought it closer to his face. "Why are you a red?"
Lucy popped up at my side. "She's a red, because they deemed her dangerous to this place."
"Why?"
"She has no one that we can use against her, besides you, and we're not allowed to lay a hand on you unless we want to face Silvia's wrath," A deep voice said from behind me.
I slowly turned around, and noticed a man the same age as my parents, standing there. He had his hands in the pockets of his jacket, which probably cost more than all the items of clothing I had added together.
"Steven."
He dipped his head down, and I noticed he had deep dark brown hair. He smiled at me, as though he knew a secret that should be obvious to everyone, but everyone was too stupid to figure out. "The infamous Amelia."
I nodded my head once, and stepped away from the cell, though I felt my dad's fingers graze my back, as though he was trying to get me to stay with him.
"So the reason I'm a red," I replied in greeting, "is because you can't find any way to attempt to keep a teenager locked inside a facility?"
Steven had a smile that transformed his face from mysterious to scary. "Yes, though you are only a seventeen year old child, you are still a threat to my entire empire."
I heard my dad repeat my age behind me, quietly, his voice taken over by sadness.
"Okay, Darth Vader, I'm going to need you to calm down the theatrics."
Steven's phone buzzed twice, and I quickly glanced towards Jones and Lucy, who were both stiff as a pole, and were both avoiding my eyes. He slid the phone up to his ear, his eyes never leaving my face. I heard a faint mumbling over the phone, and I realized how easy it would be to take him out, right here,
Another smile transformed his face, "Fantastic, bring them in."
Dread filled my stomach, and I knew. I knew the moment my wrist had a little zap shocked into it, and my wrist turned a deep orange. I squared my shoulders. The doors swung open, and I was greeted by my mom, followed by three guards. And behind them, the two brothers and their idiotic best friend who were always there to save my ass.
A low sound came from the base of my throat. Carson's eyes met mine, and the sheer amount of emotion I saw in them almost made me fall to the ground.
I saw my mother flick her eyes towards Steven, and my dad. She refused to meet my eyes, even as she brought my friends, who all had electronic bracelets snapped around their wrists, in front of Steven. All three boys looked like they had put up a fight, with bruises tainting their faces.
Even as Carson was put in front of Steven, he refused to take his eyes off me. Steven smiled at them. "Welcome," He paused. "I'm Steven, and I'm sure you all know why you're here." Steven threw his eyes up to look at me. He clucked his tounge and stepped around the boys.
He walked up to me, and started to slowly circle around me, taking in every single minuscule movement, every single flick of my eyes.
A hawk circling it's pray.
"All I'm wondering is," He grabbed a piece of my hair that was hanging down from the ponytail, and it took every fiber in me to not flinch. "why has nearly everyone in this room sacrificed freedom for you, little red?"
I threw him a dry, unamused smirk. "Well, I imagine they did it because a complete psychopath was hunting them, and their kid down."
He stopped circling at this, and started into my eyes like we were in some dramatic final episode where he was about to reveal some epic sad story about how mommy never loved him enough as a child, and daddy never cheered him on at his baseball games.
"But why these boys? All three of them, willing to throw everything away for you,"
I let out a bitter laugh, "Shocker, right? See normal people? They have people who care about them, who don't try to run away from them every possible second."
Steven's hand made contact with my cheek before I could even tell what was happening. My head whipped to the side, and a couple shouts rang out throughout the room. Mine, dad's, and Carson's. Over Steven's shoulder, I could see Jake struggling against his restraints, however, Colton told him to stop.
Thank god they brought him around. He's probably the only reason they are even alive. Idiots, complete idiots for coming here, but alive.
I spit blood out onto Steven's fancy loafers, and smiled, though I could taste blood on my teeth still.
"Do whatever you want to me," I spit more blood out. "But just to let you know: you're getting pleasure from punching a seventeen year old girl in the face."
He said nothing, but walked over to my dad. "Would you like to tell her, or should I?"
I took a step backwards. "Leave my dad alone."
Even as I was saying this on the outside, my insides were screaming, Tell me what?
He shook his head, and Steven just laughed. "Coward,"
Steven turned to my mom, and when I looked at her, I could already see her looking at me. "I'm sorry,"
Steven pulled a gun out, and every single breath in the room stopped. My eyes darted towards everyone. Every single person I cared about, my entire family was in here. Steven walked towards me, and slid the gun against my side. "We're going to play a game. Answer correctly and honestly.. or she dies," He backed us up so we were against a wall where we could see the entire room. Jones had moved Lucy farther away from all of us. I could see the pitying looks in their eyes. "Who loves this girl?"
My mom put her hand up first, which was almost comical to me. Followed by my dad, Colton, Jake, and lastly, Carson. I met eyes with him, and a tear ran down my face. Steven wiped it off. "Hands down." Everyone did so. "Now, here's a new question. Who here is in love with dearest Amelia here?"
Carson's eyes never left mine as he raised his hand, his chin tilting up with defiance. I whimpered a little bit, and I could feel the gazes of my parents on my face.
"Who used to be in love with her?"
Down went one brothers hand, up went another's. Steven chuckled. "One brother for the other dearest?"
"Okay, who just met this girl?"
Jones and Lucy.
"Who does this girl consider family?" No one raised their hands, and I had a moment of self pity. None of these people knew how much they meant to me.
"Who is related to her?"
Mom's hand raised, and I turned to see my dad, but his hand was not in the air. I furrowed my eyebrows. Did he want me to get shot? "Dad?" I murmured, and the gun jabbed against my side more forcefully.
He shook his head, and cast his eyes to the ground. I could feel the change in the room as everyone directed their attention back to Steven. The boys' faces had all fallen slack, my mom had tears on her face, my dad hadn't looked back up, and jones and Lucy? They gaped, openly.
The pressure of the gun went away, and I turned to see Steven. Or well, to see his hand in the air.
And then, well, the gun in his other hand shot off. I jumped soundlessly, and spun around in horror as my dad slid to the ground, his hand clutching his abdomen. I can't remember if I screamed, or if I moved soundlessly towards the cell. Either way, I was at the cell, trying to push through. "Well, that should unlock them."
"I've always loved you, Mia, and no matter what you learn, remember everything with me was real. Everything," In his palm he had a chunk of metal. He handed it to me, and rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. "Bring this place down,"
I knew the exact moment he died, because his hand went limp, and his band powered off. My body was lethally calm.
"Mia," Carson said.
I turned around to see Steven comforting my mom, who was breaking down. I got to my feet, wiped the tears, and stalked over to my friends. No one was paying attention to me, besides them. I pulled out the metal, and noticed my name, along with my birthday, was carved into one side.
I leaned down to be eye to eye with Colton. "Thank you for coming." I hugged him, and as I wrapped my arms around him, I cut the bracelet, which didn't really give much of a protest towards the jagged metal.
I did the same with Jake, telling him to get everyone to a safe place, and to not answer the door until he saw this place get burned down on the news. And I told him that what was going to happen, was going to be hard, but he had to grab Carson and get him out.
I saved Carson for last, mostly because I had no idea what to say. So I said nothing.
I leaned down and kissed him fiercely. He was shocked, and once I slid my hands down his back to cut the tie, his hands were free and then they were in my hair. We were standing and he was pulling my hair out of the ponytail.
I heard Steven yell, but it was too late. I gave the man I loved one more fierce kiss, and pulled away. "I love you, more than anyone, now, broody boy."
I pushed him back before he could say anything, and I stepped towards Steven.
"Lucy, Jones, please get my friends out of here." I paused. "And take yourself and yours with you."
They didn't move, still answering to Steven. I turned to them. "Get the fuck out, unless you want to burn with them."
They quickly got out of the room, and Steven didn't even bother trying to stop them. Perhaps it was the metal I had at his throat. We stood like this for minutes staring each other down. He didn't think I would do it, that I would kill my biological father, but was too scared to try me.
Mother wouldn't touch me, not after she realized she was the cause of me losing my dad.
The second they left the building I knew it, only because, the system started ringing, and it literally told me that 7 people had left the building.
That means Louis and Jones' wife both got out too.
My loved ones were safe.
And my bracelet turned red.
Which meant, it was time to fuck some shit up
THE END
A/N
its over guys like wowza
I know I told you guys two more chapters, but as I was writing this, it just seemed to fit better with ending it here.
Thank you so much for reading this!!
We almost hit 2k and I honestly can't believe that. I'm so thankful for all of you. There have only been a couple of readers that weren't silent readers. Some have been here from the beginning, almost a year ago, and others just joined recently, but you have all made writing this so much better.
I love you alllll, and I will hopefully see you soon in Falling Together, Or in the second one for this book!! as always
xox han