The sound of Jared's irritating alarm rung violently in Leah's ears, telling them both it was time to get up. Jared grunted, turning on his side, and slamming the alarm off. It was unusual, because Leah never usually awoke on the alarm. Jared would have to disturb her from her sleep.
Leah rubbed her eyes before stretching her legs and arms out across the bed. She turned her head to see Jared grinning at her. It was as if she wasn't in control of her face muscles as she felt an even larger one curl into her lips. He placed his arm around her and she allowed her body to fall into him, her head pressing up against his chest and she relaxed.
" Good morning," Jared said.
Leah looked up, right into those evil brown eyes that she now was oblivious to recognising.
" Good morning," she smiled, then leaned back down.
Jared shuffled a little closer towards her and
Leah closed her eyes. She felt like she was about to drift off back to sleep.
" This is nice," Jared said, but Leah couldn't respond to him as she felt so calm at this moment. She didn't want to move. Didn't want
to get up and face a day of cleaning. She just wanted to lay here all day- feel this feeling for as long as she could feel it for.
Jared removed a hand from her and ruffled it through his short hair. He looked down at her, lay so calmly, and began to speak.
" Leah-"
So suddenly, a shriek interrupted Jared, filling the entire house, bursting through Leah's ears and she whipped her head off of Jared towards the door. She heard something slam so loudly, and another shriek. Leah's stomach twisted and she turned towards Jared, who was staring towards the door too, as if he was inspecting using his ears, what was going on beneath them.
He then turned to meet Leah's frightened eyes, that had already filled with tears. That moment they'd just had, had just disappeared quicker
than a stain of breath upon a mirror- they wouldn't get that chance again, because Leah would do something to irritate Jared. He let out a huff and began to climb out the bed. Leah watched him intently.
" Don't move from here," he told her sternly.
To Jared's surprise, Leah obliged without a peep, curling her fingers into the sheets and pulling them towards her face in fear. The cries for help continued to pound against her head, and she soon felt her breath quicken in her throat. She tried her hardest to control it whilst Jared was still in the room.
She watched as Jared hurried out the room. One the handle clicked, Leah automatically leaped from the bed, running towards the door to press her ear against it- she was only torturing herself. It was now a muffled cry, and the closer she listened, she knew it was more than one person.
Her pulse was pounding in her ears and she felt the sweat droplets resting on her eyebrow,tickling her skin. What was going on beneath her? Whatever it was, it couldn't happen. Not again. Death turned Leah insane- she'd always think about it for days on end.
Especially knowing she'd be eating those dead people.
Her mind spun at the thought and she felt the dryness creeping up her throat as the tears spilled from her eyes. She stood up, dragging her bony fingers through her hair and thinking of a conclusion of what it could be; on what to do.
She had to see it. She just had to. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed. Leah could try and convince herself this all day long, but she wasn't fooling anyone.
Leah wasn't thinking about the consequence of her actions when she disobeyed Jared and left the room. She began creeping down the corridor- her legs and arms were shaking like crazy so when she reached the stairs, she placed her hands on the banister to steady herself. She could hear her teeth chattering together and she honestly felt that Jared could hear her. Leah was still listening to the sound of distanced screams, and it was throwing her of from being quiet.
When Leah reached the bottom, she walked a few steps up just in case Jared planned to come back up, and leave business downstairs. Her heart was smashing against her ribcage as she turned to look at what was down there.
Her eyes widened in fear and horror as she automatically witnessed a girl, strapped to a chair. She had crow black, shoulder length hair and freckles scattered across her entire face. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her face was a crimson red colour- veins popped furiously out of her forehead. She was gagged, so that explained the muffled yells, and she looked like she'd stop breathing if she continued calling for help.
Leah then darted her tear-filled turquoise eyes to see another girl being dragged into the house, across the floor by Gabriel. Blood was smeared all over the ground where her body had passed, and she was throwing her arms all over, her blonde hair coating her entire face. Her right leg was flabby and looked as if it had zero bones to hold it up as it pored with the ruby liquid.
" Why didn't you wake me, dad?" Jared asked. " I would have been straight down."
" It's fine, Jared." Gabe said, throwing the girls body to the ground and wiping his sweaty forehead. " I can handle them myself." The girls continued to screech like maniacs, but the boys weren't listening at that moment in time.
" How did you manage to get both?" Jared interviewed his father, and Gabe walked across the room, huffing at the questions his son thrown at him.
" Easy. I snapped her ankle. Then when the little one ran off, I caught her, brought her back here, then fetched the other one. She couldn't move to run off."
" That's risky," Jared scratched the back off his head. " she could've escaped."
Gabriel ignored him. The girl with the leg that pored with blood was howling from the top of her lungs, and Leah watched as Gabe got frustrated super quick by this. He placed his hand against his head like a mind-grain had formed, and finally snapped.
" Would you shut her up?!"
Jared jolted towards her at the sound his dads voice and yanked her up from the ground with a powerful pull.
" No! No, stop it. Please, let me go!" She yelled, but Jared pulled harder.
The young girl screamed louder, and because she wasn't gagged, Leah's ears were aching at the sound. She gasped from the large wound on the girls ankle; it looked as if it had been stamped on. Leah didn't reckon the boys had heard her because of the intense sounds the girls were creating.
Leah's eyes scanned the blonde ones clothes, and she was practically naked. She wore baby pink shorts that rode right up into the cheeks of her bum, and a white bikini top, revealing her full breasts. Leah couldn't lie, the girls body was beautiful- far more beautiful than her own. Leah wondered why Gabriel hadn't picked someone like this girl instead of her.
But Jared flung the girl into the chair without even taking a look at her curvy figure.
The blonde was yelling like a possessed woman as Jared grabbed some rope from the table beside him and tied her to the chair. She was writhed; swinging her stable leg around and trying to pull her arms away from his grip. The other flopped against the chair she was restrained to. Jared smirked as the rope looped around her arm, and he let out a small chuckle.
Once she was tied in, Jared moved back and the girl took her chance to boot him right in his shin with her left leg, which wiped the grin right off his face and he immediately grew angry. He brought his arm up and swung a punch right in her left cheek, and the next screech that came from her mouth made Leah cover her ears.
" Stop screaming!" Jared yelled, his voice soaked in infuriation." Before I make you regret it." She didn't listen. Her face was so red, but Jared's was redder. His blood was boiling and he turned to look at his father, who was already looking his way, witnessing the anger in his sons eyes. Gabe stopped tying the other girls gag tighter and threw Jared a pocket knife.
Jared caught it, and whipped his head to the side. His nostrils were flared and he made his way back towards the blonde, flicking the blade up. The girls eyes stretched so wide, and Jared smiled maliciously as he took another dangerous step towards her. She coiled away into the chair beneath him. She was mumbling and crying; Leah couldn't make out what she was saying.
" I warned you," Jared said through clenched teeth, before he sliced the flesh on her bare leg in one quick motion and the calls for help was enough the make the bile rise in Leah's throat. It was like watching those teens all over again. Leah didn't try to help the girl, so Theo killed her before she had the chance to attempt escape.
She couldn't take it anymore. Leah began sprinting back up the stairs as fast as she could, clearly not bothered if she could be heard by the men. Not like they could hear her through the wailing anyway.
She rushed into the room and slammed the door shut before throwing herself against the bed. Leah felt her body was about to give in on her and collapse. She'd practically felt the colour drain from her complexion; not like she had toned skin.
Leah quickly grabbed the comforter and threw it over her entire body, allowing it too suffocate her. She began to cry really loudly. Her sobbing bounced of the walls in the room- once she began, she couldn't stop. She sounded ridiculous; she couldn't control her rapid breathing.
She tried to calm down, but it was pointless- the sobbing came out thicker and with more emotion as she mesmerised everything she'd witnessed. She dug her hands into her eyes, as if she was attempting to scratch the image away, and finally let the feelings pore from her, spilling all over the bed sheets. All she could hear was the sound of her ragged breath; the screams had stopped, but she didn't even notice
" Leah," she froze when she heard a voice call her name. Leah stayed under the comforter, and kept her eyes shut tightly, tears still streaming down her face.
It was lifted from her body, and there stood Jared with splatters of blood across the skin on his face. His shirt was drenched in it too. His lips were pressed into a thin line, and he just stared down at Leah with that solid gaze.
She didn't have to go downstairs and take a look to know the two girls were dead.
Why would Jared want too kill someone as beautiful as that blonde? In his life, he technically got to pick any girl he liked. Being his first girlfriend, he must've had a specific type, so why would he pick someone like Leah?
But that's just it. He had picked someone like Leah. Jared wasn't like those other boys. Derek was always one of them boys. Leah Marshall wasn't good enough for him, and he made her well aware of that. Derek moved his eyes elsewhere. They'd have sex, but not sex like he meant it.
Things were different with Jared. He had his opportunity too stare at that girl- possibly rape her if he wanted to, and he didn't.
Jared wanted her.
Only her.
Even after witnessing the traumatic episode downstairs, and the blood that coated Jared's body, she dived at Jared and wrapped her legs around him. He was caught by surprise and placed his arms around her waist. Leah nuzzled her face into his neck, and she didn't know if the tears were coming from her eyes because of the blood that coated him, or because she felt so safe in this moment.
Protected.
" Shhh. It's okay, sweetheart," he smirked over her shoulder as he cooed her like she was a stupid child. Leah dug her nails into his shoulders and inhaled his scent. She dug so hard, he'd soon start bleeding if she didn't stop. But Leah couldn't help it.
Leah moved back and Jared looked into her eyes. She was staring at him, her ocean- blue sockets still full of tears, but a smile on her lips. Considering she'd just witnessed him torture someone, it wasn't forced at all.
" I love you," he whispered, and Leah felt a chill of happiness spread through her entire body, reaching her heart within seconds. The hairs on her arms immediately stood to attention.
Loved her.
Nobody had ever said they loved her before. Not even her parents.
And these three words allowed Leah to feel comfortable enough in expressing her feelings to Jared too. The boy who saved her. The boy who actually wanted her.
The boy who just said he loved her.
" I love you too, Jared," Leah couldn't stop grinning, and Jared leaned down to kiss her face. For the first time, she enjoyed it. And it made her realise how much she's craved it all along; she was just too oblivious to it due to the situation she was placed in- being kidnapped.
But if it meant that Leah could actually be capable of being loved, she'd allow her self to be abducted all over again.
They stopped kissing, and Jared noticed the blood had crawled it's way onto Leah's face from his, and it caused a grin to lift into his lips.
Leah belonged here.
Jared continued to smile so widely as he placed his hand out, for Leah to take.
" Come on," he said, and Leah happily intertwined their fingers, and began exiting the room with Jared's hand in hers.
As they walked down the stairs, Leah was reminded off the two people who'd just been murdered down here. She'd forgot if she were honest, but she couldn't even act like she cared now. Those memories had vanished, and all that mattered now, was that Leah was calm and gratified.
Leah had Jared.
Once they entered the kitchen, Leah noticed Lindsay was now down there. She hadn't noticed her before, but now she was scrubbing the staining ruby colour off of the ground where the murderous scene took place. Gabriel was sat at the table. He had changed clothing and was now nibbling his breakfast and reading a book like he hadn't just murdered two girls, alone, with no reason. Just because he felt in the mood.
Both Lindsay and Gabe turned their heads to see the two holding hands, and Lindsay got up from the ground, giving Leah a full view of her swollen eye. She must've received that last night when Leah was awoken to Gabe's yelling.
Leah tried her hardest not too look, and Lindsay made her way to the table to get their breakfast. Leah and Jared took their seat, and Lindsay carried two bowls over to them.
Leah smiled and thanked her before eating. Gabe noticed the grateful look on Leah's face and stopped reading to eye her. This was unusual, and he needed to make sure it wasn't going to end in a stunt like the last one. Leah acting all kind to sneak knives and try to hurt them again.
" How are you feeling this morning, Leah?" Gabe asked, pushing his bowl to the side for Lindsay too fetch. Leah recognised that his tone was questionable.
" Good, thanks. And you?" Gabe was taken back by Leah's response and he turned his gaze towards Jared. He gave him that impressed look that Leah was finally warming to Jared, and it made Jared place his hand on her knee.
" I'm well," he said. " it's nice too see you settling in now. We may have had a rocky start, but I think we're getting there."
" Well, this is my home," she told him, these words creating gooseflesh on her own skin. This is exactly what they wanted to hear, and the disgusting part is, Leah now actually meant it. There was no place she'd rather be.
Gabe smirked at her words, and Lindsay placed a glass of water in front of him. Gabe didn't say anything, and Lindsay looked as if she was waiting for him to thank her; he never did.
Eventually, he got up to go grab his coat, and Jared let go off Leah's leg to follow. Gabe wrapped the jacket around him then turned to meet his wife's eyes. She was already staring at him.
" We will sort out that in the basement later," Gabe told her. " For now, just keep the door closed, and don't go down there."
" Okay," she said.
Gabe began heading over towards her and he leaned in to peck her lips, in which Lindsay eagerly dived at him to kiss him back. Leah could tell Lindsay was trying hard to redeem herself from her episode last night; that's why she was being so clingy and desperate for his attention.
Gabe pried her off, furrowing his brows at her foolishness. Lindsay went a little red and Gabe tutted, beckoning Jared to follow him. Jared went over to Leah and kissed her, before hurrying towards his dad.
When Gabe seemed as if he were about to leave, Lindsay twiddled her thumbs and spoke.
" I love you," she reminded him, and both Gabe and Jared turned to meet her old face. There was a pause, and for a moment, Leah thought Gabe wasn't going to reply.
" I know you do," Gabe smirked before exiting through the door, and Leah's heart dropped for Lindsay.
Lindsay appeared so disheartened as the door slammed shut, and she bowed her head against the ground, her short, greyish hair falling in her eyes. Leah watched her with sadness; Lindsay wanted to fix things, but Gabe wouldn't let her. She'd fucked up.
Leah couldn't imagine how she was feeling.
Leah really didn't want to end up this way with Jared, so she was going to try her hardest to not let it happen.
After all, she did love him.
I'm missing Theo already. I want him back😫😫!!
Also, I'm currently editing the first few chapters because why not?