Harry's POV
"We've searched the entire hospital numerous times. It appears that Charlotte has succeeded in her plans of escaping."
The first thing I felt was cold, unavoidable, white hot pain that surged through my body like an inescapably devastating tidal wave. It ripped through me, leaving no part untouched or unharmed, obliterating everything in it's destructive path.
She really did it. Despite everything, Charlie hard really left me. She'd left all of us.
"We've sent people after her but she's covered her tracks well. Not to worry though, we won't stop looking until Charlotte's been brought back safely," Dr. Owen assured me but I wasn't really listening. The next thing I felt was blinding rage, fueled by the pain that still coursed through me.
"How could you allow this to happen?" I gripped the chair arms so hard, my knuckles were white.
"We-."
"You said you would keep her here," I interrupted in a shaky, low voice spoken through gritted teeth.
"She had help," Dr. Owen told me, keeping her poker face.
"Excuse me?"
"We suspect she had help in breaking out. The fire was intentionally set, providing the perfect cover for an escape. The guards were also drugged and the fence was cut near the back. Charlotte could not have done all of that on her own," While speaking, Dr. Owen pulled out her computer and began typing.
"This is the last footage we have of her before the security cameras went out," She spun the computer around so I could see the recording. Charlie was laying on the bed with her eyes closed and a slight smile playing on her lips. The room soon turned dark with a red light flashing, signalling the fire. Charlie sat up and approached the glass, looking around apprehensively. The doors clicked open and confusion flickered over her hauntingly beautiful features as she realized what was happening. She stuck her head out and looked left and right before stopping again. I noticed Charlie chewing on her lip, a thing she did when she was nervous.
Just as I thought she'd leave, Charlie retreated back into the cell and sat on the bed. Why isn't she running? What is Charlie waiting for? I could not figure out what she was doing as Charlie closed her eyes again. The footage went to static and I shook my head, not understanding a second of what Dr. Owen had shown me.
"I thought you said Charlie left?"
"She did."
"It bloody well didn't look like it, now did it?" I gestured to the computer, anger overpowering the confusion.
Dr. Owen sighed and shrugged, "More then likely, Charlie decided to stay then had a change of heart."
"Who helped her?" That bastard probably convinced her to leave. My chest tightened at the thought of her with another man. Charlie couldn't possibly have been seeing someone behind my back...could she?
"We don't know," Well what the hell did they know? Their incompetence wasn't helping my already nonexistent patience, setting me further on edge.
"She doesn't know anyone in London that would help her break out," My mind was going a mile a minute in several directions, causing an enormous headache.
"I don't know what to tell you, Harry. I'm sorry." I stood up and stormed to the door, not able to stand a second more in Dr. Owen's office. I knew I would do something I'd regret if I stayed a second longer.
"Harry, I-," I slammed the door so hard the frame shook, effectivly cutting off whatever Dr. Owen was about to say. I left the hospital and got into my car then took out my phone as I pulled out of the stall.
"Hello?" McKenna answered on the third ring.
"Hi, it's Harry."
"Oh hey, what''s up?" I heard a voice in the background and I could only assume that she was with Niall.
"Charlie-," I stopped, not wanting to tell McKenna that her best friend had deserted her over the phone. I heard giggles and a muffled, "Niall, stop it. I'm on the phone." This piece of news would certainly ruin her current happiness. It wasn't a hard decision to delay delivering the news until tomorrow, sparing the inevitable heartbreak she would feel until a later time.
"What about Charlie?" McKenna question, concern lacing her cheery tone.
"She just asked me to do something at your flat. You mind if I swing by?"
"I'll be at Niall's all night but feel free to go over. You still have the key, right?" Charlie had given me an extra key in case they'd forgotten theirs.
"Yeah," I answered, trying to keep venom out of my tone, as I thought back to when she'd given it to me. I despised the fact that I had to suppress the urge to grin like a love sick fool at the fond memory.
"Great! Help yourself to whatever."
"Thanks. I'll see you later," I grumbled then hung up. I hated myself for this desperate, feeble attempt but I couldn't help it. I was relying on Charlie coming back to the apartment to collect her things before leaving. I wanted a real damn explanation instead of her taking the cowards way out. I needed to see her face as she told me that we were finished instead of leaving me stranded without closure.
I arrived at the flat amped up and ready for a good yelling match with Charlotte. I wasn't going to let her go like this without a fight.
I parked the car and went up to her flat. I stuck the brass key into the knob and unlocked the door, almost snapping the key in the process with my roughness. I couldn't help my body's attempt to release some of the pent up rage I felt.
"Charlotte! You better have a damn good explanation for this!" I yelled, storming through the flat. I threw open her bedroom door and was greeted with an empty room and her seemingly untouched belongings.
"You better be here!" I growled, yanking my fingers through my hair. I searched the entire flat and came to the conclusion that she hadn't been here. My subconscious told me it was stupid to think she would be here in the fist place since this is the first place someone would look as soon as it was discovered that Charlie was missing. But the sliver of hope that she would come here anyways was too much for me to ignore. I had to be certain.
Now that I was sure, I didn't know what to do with myself. I needed relief from these crushing emotions that were trying to swallow me whole. Never in my life had I felt this magnitude of emotion - pain, anger, and confusion hitting me with a crippling force from all directions at the same time.
Before setting out in search of the liquor that would provide the comfort I needed, I returned to Charlie's room to double check that she hadn't packed her shit and left already. I yanked open the closet and I couldn't tell if I was glad or not that her clothes were still here. It left the possibility that she would still show up but it also left more uncertainty. In a way, finding an empty room would give an inch of closure. It would say she was gone for good with no intentions of returning and what we had was finished.
The bottles wedged at the back of the closet caught my attention and batrayal hit me as hard as it did the first time, my already weak knees giving out on me. "They aren't mine," and "I am not drinking," replayed over in my head, taunting me. What a load of bullshit.
Instead of dwelling on all the lies she told me, I grabbed one of the few unopened bottles and went back into the living room. I opened it and without hesitation, took a large gulp. I winced at the burn as it ran down my throat but it didn't stop me from swallowing three more mouthfuls.
What the hell? I realized what I was drinking; bourbon. I remember Charlie saying once that bourbon was the worst alcohol there was and she wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. I suppose that was just another lie too. Was our whole relationship a lie?
That's how I spent the day - drinking, thinking about all the crap Charlie's done to me, and staring at the door that would never open to reveal the woman that I, despite everything, was hopelessly in love with.
Charlotte's POV
From what I could tell, I had tugged at the restraints to the point that my raw wrists were now bleeding. I'd woken up disoriented and tied to a chair with a blindfold and gag on. I felt completely cut off and defenceless, intensifying the agonizing fear that made my stomach twist and heart race.
The anticipation of pain was killing me. Damn it, why couldn't they just get it over with already!?
As if on cue, I heard the door being unlocked. A small whimper escaped my throat, muffled by the piece of tape covering my mouth. The first thing I head two pairs of feet entering. One pair approached me and ripped the tape off, leaving a bitter taste left on my chapped lips.
"Someone made a mess," Jack poked at my bloody wrist while clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth.
"Well if you'd just untie me, I would be happy to clean it up," I remarked to which I'm sure he smirked at. I had to dance a fine line in order to play this game with Jack. I had to smart-mouthed enough to keep him happy but I couldn't over do it and anger him. That wouldn't end well for me.
"There's no nail this time, is there?" I was only partially joking.
Jack, as far as I could tell from the voices, was a few steps to my left and Peter was closer to my right, "No, but I think this will be comparatively worse then a nail."
The lump in my throat made it difficult to speak so I chose to remain silent. Despite all the time I'd spent preparing myself for this, I still trembled in fear as I waited to see what they had planned for me. I quickly decided to delay the inevitable a little longer.
"Don't you want to tell me about all the things you did first?" I suggested, still not clear on all of what they did to me. Honestly, I didn't care to know but if it kept them talking for a little longer, I'd be happy to listen to all the twisted things they'd done.
"What, can't figure it out on your own, sweetheart?" Jack taunted and I shuttered at his pet-name.
"I'm just a little fuzzy on the details, is all."
"Well I guess we should fill you in," Peter spoke then pulled the blindfold off. I was blinded by the bright light at first but then, as my eyes adjusted, I wished they would have left the blindfold on. I didn't want to see what they'd done to the room I was in.
Covering every inch of wall throughout the bedroom I was in, was photos of us. McKenna and Niall at a carnival holding hands. Liam, Louis and Zayn in the car. Through a window, Harry and I can be seen together in bed, asleep. Liam and Niall drinking coffee in the shop near their home. Zayn and Louis having lunch. Harry walking through a park, wearing the beanie that I loved on him. McKenna and I on the couch, mid-laugh. Hundreds of photos stared back, taunting me, and I bit my tongue so hard that I tasted blood. It seems that they had been watching us for every second since we escaped, although evidently we never really got away from them.
"Like the wall paper?" I pulled back when I caught sight of Jack towering over me. He seemed to have tripled his muscle mass and looked like he could snap me in half with his pinkie finger. It was dark when they'd taken me from the hospital and I hadn't noticed the change. I was too focused on escaping to pay attention to Jack's new build.
"Not my colour," I forced out, trying not to show how intimidated I was.
"How did you get into my flat? I have a security system?" I questioned in a shaky voice. McKenna still lived there, unknowingly in danger.
"Lucy was in your apartment the day you had it installed."
"So?"
"So," Jack leaned against the wall, ruffling some of the pictures, "You told McKenna the pass-code on the phone." Oh my god, they knew the pass-code this entire time, rendering the security system useless. How could I have overlooked the possibility that Lucy overhead me talking to McKenna that day.
"And those alcohol bottles in my bag that Harry found?"
Jack flashed me a cheeky grin, "We did that."
"And the airline ticket?"
"Lucy's idea," Peter said.
"And you tried to break me out of the hospital?" I recalled the first time trying to get out.
"It wans't easy getting everything in for you or getting into the hospital's mainframe. Hiring Max or Mark, or whatever his name is, wasn't cheap either. Then you had to go and mess it up although I can't say I didn't enjoy the show," Jack told me. If only I hadn't been so concerned with escaping, I could have realized what was really going on.
"Why'd you want me in there if it was such a hassle to get me out?"
"We didn't want you in there. Blame your boyfriend for that one," Peter sneered, "Although, he just wanted you in therapy. That doctor bitch convinced him committing you would be better." It made me feel just a little bit better knowing Harry wasn't fully behind me being in the hospital.
"And the bathtub?" I took a deep breath at the memory of someone pushing my head underwater in my bathtub.
"We probably would have killed you then if Harry hadn't walked in," My mind was swimming with the new information and I could barely wrap my head around any of it.
I was running out of questions to ask. It seemed I wouldn't be able to delay the torture much longer, "How did Lucy live?"
Peter shrugged, "After you left, we got the bleeding under control and stitched her up."
I took one final deep breath before asking, "So now, after all of that, what are you going to do?"
"You get a front row seat for that," As he spoke, Jack picked up a remote from on top of the T.V. that I sat in front of and clicked it on.
"This is my favourite show," He winked but I was too much in shock to come up with a snippy comeback. On the screen before me was my flat.
"What the hell is this?" I sputtered, my stomach churning uncomfortably. If I had anything in my stomach, it would be on the floor by now.
"You'll be able to see what we're up to twenty four seven," Peter flashed the smirk that both Jack and Lucy had inherited. Jack was right, I'd rather take the nail then what they had planned for me.
"I-...You-....Wha-......" I stumbled over my words but I couldn't form a coherent sentence.
"Have fun sweetheart," Jack chuckled and left the room, leaving me wishing they'd killed me like I had assumed they would.
The screen was divided into four corners, each having a different camera angle. I could see every single thing that would go on in my flat. Every single twisted thing they would do to my friends would be on display for me to see and there wasn't anything I could do to stop it.
The cameras showed a perfect view of the living room, kitchen, hallway, and my bedroom. My breath lodged in my throat at the sight of my home and I couldn't stop the few tears that escaped. Please god, let this just be one big nightmare. I couldn't stand the thought of everyone thinking I'd left, let alone watch it.
"Charlotte! You better have a damn good explanation for this!" I could see Harry tearing through the house like a tornado. So he knew. The hospital probably notified him.
"Ahh!" I grunted, yanking at the restraints again and slamming the chair down. I needed to do something - pace, scream, punch a wall - anything instead of just sitting here and watching my life crumble. But I could't due to the fact that they'd left me tied to this damn chair.
Harry went into my room, took a look around, then breathed, "You better be here." While raking his fingers through his hair.
The look on his face was like a knife in my gut. That completely destroyed look that I'd seen too many times take over his features. And it was all because of me. Because he thought I'd broken my promises and left.
Harry staggered through the entire flat, each room turning up emptier then the last, and he crumbled every time he saw that I wasn't there to pick up the pieces. He returned to my room and threw open the closet so hard it left a dent in the plaster but he didn't seem to notice. I realized that Harry was checking if my belongings were still there.
Harry sank to his knees and I lost it, sobs ripping through my throat uncontrollably. I slammed the chair again, up and down, up and down, until I heard the cracking of wood.
"Come on. C'mon!" I coaxed and continued to work on the chair until it had broken and I was able to stand. I got the tape off and threw the arm chair pieces against the wall as hard as I could.
I knelt infront of the television, grabbing both sides of it, and murmured, "I'm right here baby. I love you so much and I'm so sorry. I'll do whatever I can to get back to you and then I'll never leave your side again. Just...please hang on."
I couldn't bare to watch if Harry moved on from me, bringing other girls around to take my place. My heart broke for what seemed like the millionth time today at the possibility of that happening while I was forced to watch. I contemplated smashing the T.V. to bits but knowing was better then not knowing, so the television remained intact.
Harry reached into my closet and pulled out a bottle of brown liquid, holding it as if it would shatter at any second. Where the hell did that come from? I never put that there-.
"You fucking bastards!" I screamed, slamming my fists against the hardwood floor repeatedly.
Harry took the bottle back to the living room and threw himself onto the couch. He ripped the lid off and took a big drink without hesitation only to pull back and examine the label with a confused expression. I squinted at the bottle and came to the conclusion that it was Bourbon, the worst alcohol known to man. I had no idea how people could drink that stuff, the pungent taste revolting to me. My grandpa had secretly given me a drink when I was 15 and he'd laughed when I spat it out, telling me that it was an acquired taste.
I'm sure Harry realized this but he kept on drinking anyways, never taking his red-brimmed yet still strikingly green eyes off the front door. He was waiting for me. If I were in his shoes, I'd probably be doing the same thing.
I sat there for hours although time had no meaning to me. All I did was watch while silently crying. Harry had gone through the bottle and went back to my closet for seconds. It seemed to be well stocked thanks to my captors. Eventually, Harry passed out, still waiting for me to come home.
At least asleep, Harry didn't look as if the weight of the world was suffocating him.
Finally, I got up and looked around the bedroom. It was similar to the one I was kept in last time - white sheets on a bed placed in the corner with a nightstand next to it, a dresser filled with clothes that I wouldn't enjoy wearing, and a desk with a lamp and book on top. I tried the doorknob and much to my surprise, it opened. I crept out cautiously and went to my left first. I searched blindly and eventually found a light-switch which I turned on to expose a simple kitchen, also similar to the previous one. Except in this case, there was only one chair at the table. I opened to the cupboards and as I'd thought, there were dishes and cutlery for one person. There was also a T.V. on the counter, my apartment visible on the screen.
Swallowing back more tears, I backtracked and went to the right of the bedroom and into the living room that held a single blue couch, glass coffee table, and T.V. displaying the same thing as the one in my bedroom and kitchen. In this place though, the door my captors came and went through was in the living room instead of the kitchen.
I could see exactly what they wanted me to. The highlighted aspect throughout this entire place that it was just me this time. There were no other bedrooms, one set of dishes, and no extra chairs. I was completely alone.
I went back into the bedroom and closed the door, although it didn't give me any feeling of privacy. I noticed that there was a bathroom across from me but I didn't go in it. I didn't want to have to face the single toothbrush that I'm sure would be there, blatantly obvious.
Instead, I pulled the comforter off the bed and wrapped myself in it. I threw the pillow to the base of the television then laid down in front of it, at the perfect angle to see what was happening on the screen. Despite the heavy exhaustion setting in that made me want to close my eyes, I forced them open to watch the screen for a little while longer. It helped me to imagine that Harry was really right across from me, snoring lightly and shifting every so often.
"Goodnight Harry. I love you," I murmured before inevitably slipping into unconsciousness.
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Sorry for the late update but I hope it was worth the wait ;) Man I just want to give each of my characters a hug! lol
Anyways, please fan, vote, and comment! They have been kind of lacking lately so maybe we could pick it up a bit? Even a simple vote lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm writing and if you don't like my chapter, let me know what I'm doing wrong so I can improve :)
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
I also wanted to know, I don't exactly have much else planned for Niall and McKenna so do you want me to just stay focused on Harry and Charlie (not that the other characters still won't be present and active through the rest of the story) or do you want me to sneak some Niall/McKenna drama in there? Or maybe some drama between the boys or whatever I don't know aha so let me know!
Awesome cover on sidebar by @tribal- thanks so much for making it! xx