Max's POV
Chapter Nine
Louis looked to me as if asking if the scream was good enough. My heart sunk farther into my chest, I shouldn't even be in this predicament. I simply nodded my head taking a seat on the bed. Louis followed my actions taking a seat next to me.
He let out a deep sigh, "I'm sorry about your sister." I glanced over at him seeing his sorry expression. In a sense I just lost my sister, the girl who I've known for fifteen years. "It's okay I guess."
"It's really not okay, she shouldn't have gotten you into this mess in the first place. An actual sister doesn't get her sibling into an in reversible situation." He said meeting my eyes. I inhaled loudly. "I'm just as bad as she is. I'm no better. You are here because of the decisions we made. I just wish I could go back and change things."
Louis placed a warm hand onto my shoulder, my eyes looked up to meet his icy blue ones. They say the eyes are the windows to your soul, if that's true then his soul is nothing but hurt. He probably yearned for his freedom but unfortunately he was stuck here with us. "You can be better than her. You can still make it out of here as a good person." Louis said meaningfully. I could already sense what he was getting at.
"Help us escape. Once we get out of this hell house we can call the police. You can go your opposite ways so they'll get busted." Louis reasoned, he didn't even look like he believe his own words. I'm not stupid, Louis was only trying to butter me up. "You don't mean that. As soon as you get the chance you'll rat me out too. You think I'm oblivious to this game you are playing?"
"I- We-" he stammered over his words. He was caught. I should have been angry, but in all honesty he had a right to do what he was doing. I couldn't blame him because in his position I'd be doing the same thing. But that didn't make me feel any better about trying to help them.
I help them and then I'm in the hole right with my crazy sister and her friend. Louis tried to speak to me again but I just pushed him away. I needed to stop having talks with him for my own benefit. I'm not trying to go to jail and Louis seems to have a way of getting into my head.
"I have to hit you and at least leave a mark. Harper won't believe me if you come out clean." I said standing up. He looked up at me with hurt eyes. "What about these?" He asked holding up his cuffed hands. There was nothing I could do about that, my sister had the key not me. "Do I look like I have a key?" I asked rhetorically, Louis eyed me. He seemed just as tired of this conversation as I was.
I needed to take some time for myself, to figure out what I was going to do. I needed to think about my options here, and to decide if I valued my own freedom more than theirs. Everything was just so jumbled up and I needed to make sense of it.
He nodded with a grimace on his face. "I-" I started, my eyes looked over the boy before me again. "I'm sorry for this." I said truthfully. Whatever I wanted it wasn't seeming them hurt. I already knew that I didn't want them in pain or suffering, but other than that? I wasn't sure.
I looked at the gun that was still in my hand. I hated the way it felt holding it, it was power that I most certainly did not want. I took the handle of the gun and looked back over at Louis for probably the millionth time. I raised the handle up and back down against Louis' face. I felt disgusted.
He let out a cry of pain as the gun made contact with his face. It's official I'm just as bad as Harper. How could I let her do this? And why did I even go with the plan in the first place?
**
Liam's POV
We all winced when hearing Louis' screams and agony. This is so screwed up. How could people do something like this? Especially three teenage girls. The main one seemed to enjoy the sounds of his pain, she was psycho. I could really see just how much she enjoyed watching us suffer while she was beating me to a pulp. My face was proof of he evenly intentions.
I felt so many emotions, so many thought I didn't know how to deal with. It didn't help at all seeing Niall supposedly on their side either. He was talking just as crazy as she was, what is wrong with them?
"Please just stop." Niall cried to the girl. "Harper make her stop." He continued. I looked at Harry who was just as terrified as I felt. The boy hadn't tried to utter a word at all, he probably didn't want to be put in the position Louis and I had already been in. He had only let out small cries, I wish we could go back and never had went out that night.
"Niall, honey. You know that Louis needed to be punished. He's outright disrespectful. I have to set an example." She said putting a hand on his shoulder. It was disgusting to look at. At first glance you could have sworn she had sympathy for him, but there was no denying she was cold hearted. Niall looked up with tears brimming in his eyes, he looked how we all felt but were too afraid to admit to it.
"No. He didn't deserve this. He's scared and afraid of you. How can you attack him for expressing his fear? All you do is threaten us and hurt us. How are we supposed to trust you when you've given us no reason to." He yelled in her face. We were all in shock and scared for what she would do to him.
She looked hurt, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was just an act. "Shut up." The other girl in the room growled back at Niall's remark. Niall just glared at her. "No Jenni. It's okay." She spoke in a hurt voice. She looked at Niall once more with a look I couldn't quite put an expression to. She reached around to Niall's neck and carefully unlocked the collar that laid on each of our necks.
Quietly she walked over to each of us doing the same, she was surprising me more with each growing minute.
She walked back over to Niall and placed a hand on his cheek. "I'm sorry." She said softly, she was wasting her time because no one was buying this pathetic act. "Jenni help me take the boys to the basement." She said. My stomach turned. What did Niall do? His outburst could have just doomed all of us. I looked down at my throbbing wrist. I was tired of being tied down or chained up.
Jenni seemed confused but didn't question her friends motives. "Leave the cuffs chained to the table." She said. Confused didn't even begin to describe how I felt. The girl came over with the key and went to Harry first. He scooted his butt away from the crazy girl in front of him. She just chuckled dryly before removing the handcuff from his hand. I figured his hand was just as sore as my own.
He rubbed the raw skin on his hand and looked up to meet my stare. I gave him a reassuring look even though I didn't believe it myself. She came over to me next and did the same thing. My arm instantly felt twenty times better without being restricted. The skin was red and irritated.
Before we had times to comprehend what just happened we were being ushered down the stairs of the basement. "What are you doing?" Niall finally spoke up looking at Harper genuinely confused. "I'm giving you what you asked for, talk to your friends. I'm giving you some of my trust." She said looking deeply at him. The staircase creaked under our feet as we descended.
The basement was as bad as I thought it'd be. It looked kinda cozy with a couch and tv in the well lit room. It was apparent as we entered that the only way out of the room was back the way we came. "What about Louis?" Harry said, we all looked at him, he said what we all were thinking.
"I said some of my trust. He's collateral if you all try to pull something. Prove to me you all can be trusted and we will give you more freedom. Please don't make me regret this." She said looking at all of us.
We looked at each other and back at her. "Thank you." Niall said in a low voice. I was dying to ask him questions that we all wanted to know. Mainly about his actions while talking to queen crazy herself.
She nodded at him before pulling her friend behind her and going back upstairs. As the reached the door it shut and the sound of it locking echoed.
Harry and I looked at Niall ready to ask tons of questions. He had a lot of explaining to do and it better had been good. Before I could even ask anything Harry's raspy voice echoed into the soundless room.
"What the hell Niall?"
"I'll explain everything I swear. But first please don't be mad. I'm trying to help us out of this situation." He said putting his hands in the air. "How by helping the enemy?" I remarked rolling my eyes.
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Yay an update! I'm sorry for making you all wait for another but I was writing I swear. Thank you for the support on the last chapter. Things are just starting to get hectic. Would you guys like short chapters more frequently or longer chapters less frequently? Please let me know!