Suddenly, there were gunshots. The water was up to his chin. It felt like days had passed when really it had only been a few hours falling in and out consciousness. Calum kicked his feet hard and tried to lift his head higher. More gunshots. The sky was a dark navy blue and all that could be seen was the waters in front of him. His lips were shaking with fear and cold. He lifted his chin up as the water had reached his mouth now. Another gunshot was heard followed by screams and yells in the distance. His vision grew blurry as he heard his name being yelled in the distance. A loud splash was heard followed by a flashlight being shone in his face.
"Oh Calum, don't worry baby. I got you. You're fine now you're okay, stay with me. Hey! Over here! Help me untie the kid, damnit!"
A confused smile spread over his lips at the familiar sound of the female voice. As he felt his ankles become untied he slowly fell into unconsciousnesss.
....
The boys were silent the entire flight after discussing their blind plan that included lots of weapons backup and ammo. Obviously they couldn't just park their jet in the middle of Hawaii so the plan was to secretly jump hopefully somewhere near Calum's location. The boys were all anxious since no one had ever traveled out of country before, but Calum was top priority at the moment.
"How much longer?" Luke yelled though the pilot most likely could not hear his words. An 11 hour plane ride was only increasing the time since he had last seen Calum. His hands began shaking with impatience. "Fuck." he whispered as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He had to stay alert, for Calum.
"Go. To. Sleep Luke." Ashton ordered from across. Luke frowned.
"How can I fucking sleep when my best friend has disappeared somewhere across the ocean without a valid passport or a jet of ours? I'm not shutting my eyes till I know he's safe and away from danger."
"Maybe regaining your sleep will keep you alert when we're actually on the ground. What are you gonna do? All there is as of right now, is to WAIT. Might as well recharge and gain as much strength as you can because I have a feeling we won't be going down without a fight." Ashton muttered as he closed his own eyes in the dim lights. Luke watched him intently for a moment then scoffed as he pushed his seat backwards and closed his own eyes.
"I'm only gonna rest my eyes..." he whispered to himself then fell into a deep slumber.
...
Meanwhile back in Australia Blythe was staring at her math homework with utter boredom. She contemplated whether or not to call Calum and apart of her did not want to ask her father if Calum showed up to work since he hadn't mentioned much. She barely saw her father anyway.
She stared at the numbers trying to memorize the formulas but her mind was unable to focus. She sighed and shoved her homework to the side and instead opened up her laptop. After typing in the password the screen immediately flashed to Blythe's background photo. It was a close up selfie of her and Andrea on a trip they had taken years ago to Caribbean. Tears welled up in her eyes as she examined her sister's vibrant smile, eyes full of happiness. There was no way she could killed herself and she knew it.
Blythe stood up from her bedroom and decided to search Andrea's room. She walked over and immediately began searching her dresser drawers, clothes, books, anything she could find. She went through her phone and her laptop, but was at last left with nothing but old photos and cheesy song lyrics. She sighed and fell onto her sister's bed in defeat left with a dead end. She wasn't ready to accept her sister's suicide but she also wasn't ready to accept her sister had thrown herself off a building after having a severe fear of heights.
Staring at the ceiling her eyes landed on a small rose colored novel hiding on the edge of the shelf above Andrea's bed. She reached up and grabbed it and immediately began flipping through the pages that had many phrases that were highlighted with tiny notes in written in the margins. Each note had something different written such as her describing the writing style, the way the phrase affected her thoughts and emotions, exciting moments. It looked like the regular novel she had to annotate for her Literature class. Another dead end. Flipping back to the beginning something written in blue ink caught her eye. On the inside of the cover was a note that clearly was not written in Andrea's but someone else's. It read:
With lots of love and care -C
Who was C? Was Andrea with someone? Suddenly the sound of the doorbell ringing jumped her out of her thoughts. Blythe flew down the stairs in hopes of seeing Calum but instead of the opened the door to a police officer waiting for her. Confused, she waited for the officer to speak because she knew her father had closed the case on Andrea so it would not be spoken about in the media.
"Blythe Nicholls?" he questioned.
"That's me." she squeaked then stepped aside to let the officer inside.
"My name is Officer Holmes. I know the case has been closed on your sister but I just had a few questions to ask you on a body we recently found."
"A body?" Blythe murmured with horror. The officer nodded then pulled out a photo.
"Do you recognize this woman?" he asked. Blythe squinted at the photo then slowly the blood drained from her face.
"Trina...she-she's dead?" Blythe whispered.
"A passerby discovered a suit case in a river far out and inside, her body was discovered. I'm very sorry for your loss Ms. Nicholls but if I may ask was she not a friend of your sister's?"
"She wasn't just a friend. She was Andrea's best friend." Blythe muttered. A sudden distaste began to form in her words as she began connecting the dots.
"Do you by any chance think this may be related to your sister's death?" Officer Holmes questioned. Blythe stared at the wall lost in thought.
"Meaning my sister...was murdered by the same person Trina was murdered...why though?" she trailed off.
"I'm not sure." The Officer sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "The case has already been closed as well."
"Please, if you find anything will you inform me? My father doesn't have to know."
"I'm afraid I cannot disclose confidential info unless given consent."
"Please. Just anything that relates to-"
"But rules are meant to broken. I know you only hold good intentions Ms. Nicholls. If i discover any clues I'll make sure to let you know." the Officer offered an apologetic smile then turned to leave.
"Thank you." Blythe whispered then shut the door. She pressed her forehead against the door as tears began to stream down her face slowly turning into sobs. Images of her sister and her best friend circled her mind. Two innocent woman who's lives had been taken. But by who and why?
...
His eyes shot open to a dark room. A distant beeping was heard in the distance. He sat up instantly and peered around with blurry eyes. A sharp pain shot up in his head from sitting up too fast. He winced then slowly pushed himself up adjusting his gown that fell off his shoulder. Gown? He glanced around then finally realized he was in a hospital. Images rushed back into his mind of when the last time he was conscious.
Being strapped to the post, the water, the lack of blood flow in his arms and legs, the fear, the cold. The thought of the waves made him shiver under the hospital blankets. He wrapped the blanket around him and slowly sat up. His bare feet hit the cold ground as he shakily stood up and opened the door. The bright white lights hit him like a brick in the head. He winced and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Calum?" a soft voice murmured.
"Hm?" he croaked with squinty eyes. He felt a hand on his shoulder guide him back inside the room followed by the sound of a switch. The lights turned on causing Calum to groan. "Oh God, that hurts my head."
"Shhh sit down, you're still dehydrated." the voice chuckled while caressing his back. Finally Calum's vision became more clear as he blinked the tears out of his eyes. He froze as he stared at the woman sitting across from him. She smiled.
"Recognize me?" she chuckled as she tucked Calum back into the bed.
"You're...you're..."
"I'm?"
"Greta." he breathed with astonishment.
"It's nice to see you again, Cal. In consciousness, of course." she laughed. That familiar smiley laugh.
"Are you the one who saved me?" he asked incredulously. Greta nodded.
"Well I did of course have the help of my weapons and some friends of my own. But yes, indeed I did find you."
"H-how? When? Where? Why?!" Calum stammered with emotion he could not understand. For the first time he was seeing a woman from his childhood, and very few people remembered that. It felt as if he had family again.
"Alright hold on. You can interrogate me later, first you need to get some rest. I promise I'll tell you everything you want to know as long as you're honest with me."
"No. No I have to get back home. They must be looking for me, how long have I been gone? How long have I been out? No one can find me."
"Trust me, Calum. You're okay. Your friends are on their way. I'm sure the tracker that I found with lead us here."
"And Molly?"
"Is dead. They all are. The Nicholls are over." Greta smiled. Suddenly that smile didn't look so youthful anymore as he remembered. It seemed like there were many secrets hidden behind it, filled with everything this woman had gone through.
"Who exactly are you?" Calum whispered once he realized he didn't feel the way Molly's love potion made him feel. Every thought of her in his mind only added to the disgust.
"I'm a hired assassin, but also the guardian of Calum Thomas Hood."
"What...the...f-"
"Your uncle hired me, Calum. And he's looking for you."
woahhhh guess who's back after over an entire year? i was feeling motivated so i typed this up. updates are still slow tho so don't expect anything...to whoever tf is probably not even reading this LMAO
-z e e