Hey, so sorry for the huge gap between posting but I've had a ton of exams to study for :/
So, here we are!
(Still in Holly's POV in case anybody's forgotton!)
We were frozen, our eyes locked. The pounding had stopped. My heart was beating so violently against my chest I was surprised he couldn't hear it. Nobody moved, nobody spoke. I don't know how long we stood there, waiting. It seemed like hours.
Jared put a finger to his lips, stood up and swiftly edged out the door, hardly making a sound in the thick-carpeted hall. I seized my chance. As quietly as I could, I climbed into the bath with Amber. The bleeding had slowed considerably but she'd lost a lot already, I breathed a silent sigh of relief, which vanished a second later when I realised I was still trapped. Shifting Amber into a more comfortable sitting position, I leaned her against edge of the tub before quietly climbing out. I was acting on pure fear, well you would wouldn't you?
Still having no idea what I was doing, I snuck to the door and leaned out the slightest bit. The hall was empty, he must've gone downstairs. I was torn, I wanted grab the nearest blunt object and run at him like a crazy person, which probably wouldn't be the best idea given he seemed more then a little disturbed. Then again he'd said if I listened to him he'd let us go, but did I want to trust the guy who'd just attacked my best friend? Simple answer: no. I never really had a choice, at that moment a smashing sound came from downstairs. I had no idea what was going on, I only hoped it wasn't poor Mr Jackson. All I knew was that I had to move fast.
That might explain why I did what I did next. I retreated into the bathroom, silently closing all of the doors in the hall on the way; maybe it'd buy me some precious time if he didn't know which room we'd gone into. I dragged Amber out of the tub, and put my arm around her waist, hoisting her into a semi-standing position. God, she was heavy. Not that she's a big girl or anything, but a dead weight is never easy to carry.
'Now would be a great time to wake up,' I murmured, half hoping she'd suddenly wake up, full of energy and with some awesome escape plan. She didn't, although I thought I saw her eyelids flicker the tiniest bit.
It was as I was half dragging her out of the bathroom a dark figure blocked the doorway. Crap. Feeble explanations began to form in my mind; 'I thought someone was breaking in!' 'I was following you downstairs.' 'You're a psycho and I want to escape!'. Ok, well maybe not that last one.
'Oh Jesus, is she ok?' My eyes snapped up. Alex was stood in the doorway, his black hair plastered to his forehead, his face was pale and he had blood splattered on his shirt, but he looked unhurt. I gaped at him, unable to form a coherent sentence. He didn't even hesitate; he strode forwards and put his arm around the other side of Amber's waist, taking at least half of the weight.
'Wha...' I stuttered like a complete idiot. My eyes darted to the door, convinced any moment Jared would return brandishing a weapon of some kind.
'Look, I dunno what he told you but he's crazy. I think I knocked him out but we gotta get going. NOW.' I met his steady gaze, and he looked deadly serious. I nodded, and we between the two of us we managed to lug Amber's unconscious form downstairs.
'How exactly are we getting out of here?' I panted, only just avoiding slipping on the last step and earning myself a nice concussion.
'Um...not thought that far ahead. But I did lock Jared in a cupboard.' He added brightly, as if that made up for his lack of hero techniques. At least that meant he'd be trapped for a while.
'Ok, can you drive?' I asked, sitting on the last step, keeping my arm around Amber's waist I carefully sat her next to me trying not to panic at the sight of her blood stained clothes. Alex had let go of her and was pacing back and forth.
'No. We'll just have to run...somewhere.'
'Oh great, we'll just run somewhere. I'm sure the neighbours won't think it weird that we're just dragging Amber here out of her house dripping with blood. And your lovely blood stained shirt. Why does it even have blood on it? How do I know you're not being controlled by Jared? How did you even know we were here? How did you even get IN here?' I asked, the building frustration evident in my voice. I knew I was being a bitch to the guy who'd tried to help, but to be honest, I wasn't even sure if I trusted HIM. After all Jared said, I had no idea what to think. He stopped pacing and stared at me. He looked exhausted, and I felt a little bubble of guilt for venting on him.
'I don't know what to do ok!' He cried in pure frustration, raising his hands in front of him in the universal sign for surrender.
'I don't know. I didn't even realise there WAS blood on me, but I must've cut myself when I SMASHED A WINDOW TO GET IN.' He said the last part slowly, as if to enunciate he was answering one of my questions. I nodded, feeling suddenly small.
'I'm sorry I don't have like a plan or anything. I just figured I'd get you out and work it out from there. Jared is NOT controlling me, or in my head or anything ok? I swear. But right now we should really get away from him and THEN talk about this.' He slumped down on the other side of me and put his head in his hands. I felt more than a little awkward, and hoped he wasn't crying.
'Let's just call the police or go to a neighbour and ask for some help.' I suggested. Maybe I'd seen too many horror films, I felt silly for not having suggested bringing in trained law officials in the first place.
'No.' He muttered without even taking his hands from his face.
'Uhh...why not? It's their job to deal with the crazies.' I told him matter-of-factly, and already reaching for the house phone.
'No.' He said, this time with more force. He sat up, and I was relieved to see there were no tears. I sighed.
'He can CONTROL people Holly. If we call the police he could control them! Make them attack each other or whatever. I don't really know how it works but if we do that it's just giving him a weapon.' He pleaded, and I suddenly bought into his frustration. He was right. If what Jared said was true, then he could control them, and more people could get hurt.
'Damn it.' I muttered, Alex opened his mouth, probably to agree, when Amber gave a weak moan.
'Amber,' I murmured softly, not wanting to startle her. Her eyelids fluttered, and she gave a weak smile.
'Holly?' She slurred slightly. Having no experience in having unconscious people waking up I nodded stupidly until I realised she couldn't see me nod.
'Yeah,' I answered quickly, glancing at Alex hoping he'd know what to do. He seemed just as clueless.
'We should get going. We can go out the back.' He whispered, gripping Amber's waist again, and together we hoisted her into a standing position with us on either side.
'Woooow. I feel funny.' Amber complained lightly, Alex gave a dry chuckle.
'Sorry about that, do you feel ok?' I asked, knowing she probably felt like a pile of crap.
'Dizzy, and my head hurts.' Her eyes suddenly snapped open.
'Ohmygosh Holly! Jared! He hit-' She began, her voice sounding scarily weak.
'I know, I know. It's ok Alex knocked him out.' I soothed, which only served to make her look more panicked, but we had little time to chat. We reached the back door and I unlocked it with one hand, and kicked it open.
'Can you stand?' Alex asked, I frowned at him.
'I'll try,' She muttered, and Alex slid his hand out from her waist, I did the same after a little hesitation. She looked like she might topple over at first; however once she was through with her initial swaying she seemed steady enough.
'Ladies first,' Alex held the door open, acting so much like the boy who'd spent the afternoon at my house I felt a twinge. He was different then, I reminded myself. Jared was influencing him. I ushered Amber in front of me, but she grabbed my arm and we stepped over the threshold together.
'Can we trust him?' She whispered in my ear, but before I had time to reply Alex was next to us.
'Hey did you have a dog, cause I think I hear barking from there,' He pointed to the rickety wooden shed that resided at the bottom of Amber's garden. Hey eyes went wide.
'Yeah! Oh God d'you think he's ok?' She gushed, looking very much like she wanted to sprint to the shed. She probably would have if she hadn't been feeling so weak. I hadn't even noticed the absence of barking when I'd arrived; Jared must have locked him in the shed to shut up the barking or something.
'Hold on,' Alex muttered, and he dashed towards the shed, peering through the smeared glass window.
'He's fine,' He announced, I bit my lip glancing back towards the house. I couldn't help feeling we were wasting time.
'I wanna take him with us. What if Jared hurts him? He was saying all this real messed up stuff and-' She stopped mid-sentence, tears pooling in her eyes and threatening to overflow. I gave her a one armed squeeze.
'He'll slow us down though. I don't think it's a good idea...' Alex said softly, glancing at me for assistance. I sighed, it probably wasn't a great idea but Amber was right, Jared was pretty messed up, plus it might make her feel better to have her dog with us.
'Let's just get the dog and go. He's trained and stuff, and he'll be good I'm sure.' I said, trying to ignore Alex gawking at me like I'd gone crazy or something. Really, it's not polite to stare.
'Fine, fine.' He mumbled shortly, clearly not wanting to start anything at that moment in time. After fumbling with the lock, he yanked open the door and the golden retriever flew out, wagging his tail and drooling. Alex frowned. I suddenly regretted agreeing to let the dog accompany us; it was starting to feel like the 'fellowship' from lord of the rings films. All we needed now was a dwarf, an elf and for Alex to put on a big hat and declare himself a wizard.
Shaking my head at this unusual thought our little clan made its way down Amber's street (now she was conscious we decided to risk it) and fast as we could. I tried to quell the little bubble of panic that was rising inside me, we had Alex now at least, and he was immune to whatever Jared could do. I hoped. Amber wasn't her usual chatty self; then again she had just been knocked out by her crazy boyfriend so this lapse in conversational skills was forgivable.
'I think we've come far enough now,' She announced, lowering herself onto a bench next to the entrance of one of the few nice parks there were in town. I blinked.
'What?' I asked the confusion evident in my voice. She squinted up at me in the evening sun.
'We can call the police now.' She replied, matching my confused tone. I glanced at Alex who had adopted an uncomfortable expression.
'Uhh...' He contributed, such a great help.
'What? Did you already do it?' She asked, sounding entirely too hopeful.
'No...it's just that...well the thing is...um...' I spluttered, realisation finally dawning on me. In all honesty I should've realised right from the moment Jared started spouting his crazy talk that Amber was waaay closer to finding out about me then I'd liked. In my defence, I wasn't actually thinking about that at that moment in time, I was more concerned with the threat of imminent death, but now that immediate danger was out of the way I guess it was time to explain. An explanation that was way overdue.
'What?' Amber asked, annoyance colouring her voice. Well, at least she was sounding more like her old self again.
'Ok, I have to tell you something...'
'Holly, is this really the best time for secret sharing?' She retorted, punctuating her tone with an eye roll. Alex shifted uncomfortably, eyes darting left and right for any sign of Jared I assumed. I sank down on the bench next to Amber, leaving a larger gap between us then I normally would. This small action did not go unnoticed.
'Holly, what's goin' on? You're scaring me. Are you ok?' She demanded, furrowing her brows. Of all the ways to tell her, I never imagined it like this. Well, I never did plan to tell her if I could help it but there you go.
'I'm fine,' I assured her quickly, 'I just haven't been...completely honest.' As I spoke I addressed most of my words to my shoes, not wanting to look at her reaction. After a moment of silence I ploughed on figuring the faster I got it out there, the quicker it would be done. Dad was gonna be maaaaad.
'What exactly did Jared tell you?' I asked, completely ignoring my 'like ripping off a plaster' plan.
'He was, I dunno, just not making sense. Something about controlling people, and I didn't get him like this other girl did. I...I had no idea what he was on about, and I just kinda got angry thinking he liked some other girl. We were arguing and next thing I know...' She motioned to her forehead, wincing at the memory. After another brief pause, in which I contemplated my deepest, darkest secret (I mean the mind-reading thing, I'm not a vampire or anything) was about to go public.
'He wasn't lying about everything.' I said carefully, peeking up to see Amber's reaction to this bit of news. She looked neutral, and hadn't actually changed from when I'd looked at her five seconds ago. At least she hadn't grown any deformities in the last few seconds which is always a good sign.
'In fact, pretty much most of what he said was true. M-most, not all.' I glanced at Alex who was petting the dog, who'd developed somewhat of an attachment to him, like crazy and staring straight ahead, determined not to get involved. He was frowning.
'So...there was another girl?' She asked, evidently puzzled. If only it were that simple...
'Not that bit. The other stuff-' I began, willing myself to explain this time. That is until I was interrupted.
'Ok, I know this is really, really bad timing but I just don't think we should sit in plain sight and do this.' Alex burst, looking surprised at himself. He subtly nodded towards Amber shaking his head. He was right, if I told her she wouldn't believe me (well, who would?) and might run off all dramatic. This meant she'd probably end up in danger or call the police and put us all in danger. He couldn't have announced his little suggestion BEFORE I'd started divulging my secrets could he? Jeez.
'Um, no way ho-say. What is going on here?'
'Ok it's really hard to explain, so maybe Alex is right. Let's just go somewhere more...out of sight...and then we can talk. 'kay?' I added brightly. Amber narrowed her eyes at me but said nothing. Alex looked relieved and helped Amber to her feet like a gentleman. At this the dog began barking, disgruntled Alex had stopped giving him attention.
'Maybe we should drop the dog off somewhere?' I suggested into the vast awkward silence that had descended.
'Good idea,' Alex muttered absently scanning the street for God knows what. Amber said nothing.
'Ok then shall we just take him to my house?' I answered my own question with another question. It was at that moment that the enormity of the situation engulfed me. I don't think I'll ever know why it took quite so long to set in, or why I didn't fully comprehend what was going on until that moment. What could we do, really? We were chatting almost as though we were out for a lazy evening stroll. Jared had abilities much stronger than my own, and even though he was supposedly locked in a cupboard, it didn't seem as though something so insignificant would be able to hold him for long. When he got out I had no idea how he'd react. It's not every day I face off with mentally disturbed people who bash my best friend on the head. We couldn't call the police, I had no idea what the range of his abilities were, or even if he could do other things. My parents would be home soon and we had nowhere to go, and there I was worrying about a dog? What, was I supposed to usher the dog inside my house with a note for my parents 'Hey, might be being chased by a mentally disturbed person so I don't wanna come home in case he finds me. Just dropped off Amber's dog 'cause he might go whacko and do something to him. Make sure you lock all of the doors and windows and be careful around Amber's boyfriend, 'kay? Love you bye x'. I had a feeling a note like that probably wouldn't do the trick, whatever the trick is.
'You ok?' Alex asked looking concerned. Amber turned to scrutinize me too, and I self consciously smoothed down my hair, suddenly nervous.
'Yep. Let's just hurry ok.' I took Ambers arm and steered her down the street. Alex fell a little way behind, and began humming softly to himself.
'Are you humming 'Metallica'?' I asked, amused in spite of the situation. He nodded looking embarrassed.
'Calms me down...' He mumbled, I shook my head at him and we continued walking.
The sky was beginning to turn the colour of faded denim, and sometime soon the street lamps could flicker to life. We walked mostly in silence, my house was only a few minutes away, a knot had formed in my stomach. I would just have to leave the dog there and write a note saying Amber and I were staying at a friend's house for the weekend, and ask if they'd take care of the dog. Not much of an explanation but it was all I had. Amber looked exhausted, and more then once had swayed so dangerously either Alex or I had had to steady her.
When we finally reached the house I faced a moment of panic, thinking the hall light was on and praying my parents weren't already in. They weren't, thankfully. They'd probably gone out to dinner with Kate or something. I hurried to the door and unlocked it motioning for Alex to lead the dog inside.
'Wait there,' I mouthed to Amber who obliged unwillingly. She seemed a little light headed; we should get her to a hospital. Maybe she'd be safer there, was he even looking for Amber? Was he even looking for any of us? We hadn't seen him yet, then again we HAD run away which is kind of the point. I ran my fingers through my hair. It was just too much. All of it, too much.
'Have you, y'know used YOUR ability?' Alex breathed. I jumped, startled at his proximity.
'Ssssh don't make it obvious,' He sighed and rolled his eyes.
'What?' I asked distractedly.
'Your abilities! Have you tried finding him? Getting in his head? Finding out what he plans to do?' He rattled off his questions at top speed. My head really hurt, it took me a moment to get what he was saying. He was right! Why hadn't I used them? I'd been so worried and frustrated and exhausted I hadn't even thought. Ok, now I felt stupid, I was sure I wouldn't have overlooked something so obvious. There it was, the doubt settled in. He was stronger then me, he could probably block me, or even try to control me if I left my mind so vulnerable. Then again there wasn't much else we could do...
'Alex! What did you say you did with Jared?' Amber screeched jogging towards us, looking frightfully pale.
'Uhh, I knocked him out and locked him in a cupboard, why?' He replied, reaching out a hand to steady Amber as she reached us in the hallway.
'My parents! What happens when they get home? Oh God, oh God, oh Go-' She began shaking, and sank to sit on the foot of the staircase.
'I didn't even think. I just did it-' Alex's faded into silence. Everything was a mess. I sat next to Amber, tentatively patting her back, unsure what the hell to do. The dog, who had been slumped on my mum's favourite brown leather settee, suddenly jerked upright and began to growl softly. Alex frowned and disappeared out of the front door.
The minutes ticked by...and he didn't come back. Even Amber noticed his absence. I wanted to check outside, the door was still open allowing the evening breeze to gently caress us. I daren't. I wanted to slam the front door shut, and get rid of the terrible sinking feeling in my stomach. I daren't. Just then a dark figure appeared in the doorway.
Thanks so much for reading! Feedback is always appreciated! Also, there was a little supernatural reference in there for anybody who noticed it! There is so, so, soooo little left to write but I enjoy writing it so much so I might try to prolong it! I hope you like it, this chapter is a little more dramatic and stuff then the rest of them, but I figure since it's one of the 'main' ones that's ok? So, not as much banter as I'd like but we'll get back to that at the end!
Cheers!