“Good morning, Jade, how was your sleep.”
“According to the current situation… amazing.” I tried to smile but I was still intimidated by him. I still didn’t know what he could do to me if I got him angry so I tried my best to say things that made him happy.
“I was thinking if we could play something? I need to be in work in two hours but in the meantime… we could play Truth or Dare.” He smiled and sat down next to me.
If I had been still a bit sleepy it now was all gone and I was wide awake. Did he really want to play this with me? This could be my chance to get out of here! “Okay, I am in,” I smiled and then knitted my eyebrows. “Am I allowed to say anything I want or?”
“Well,” he laughed and took a sip of the cup he was holding (most likely coffee like every morning) and smiled. “Of course you are not allowed to dare me to let you out of here. Except for that you’re free to do what you want.”
“Alright,” I smiled and suppressed a big smile. I already knew what I was going to say and it was not what he forbad me to. I looked at him expectantly and rubbed my eyes because I had just woken up and now that the first excitement was gone I was becoming a bit sleepy again. “Who starts?”
“Me. Okay, so truth or dare.”
“Truth,” I smiled and put my hands in my lap, waiting for his response. I had to admit that I was afraid of what he would ask me but the thought of maybe getting out of here was too big. I couldn’t think of anything else anymore!
“Okay, who was the first person you ever had a crush on?”
I had no idea why he wanted to know such things but this was an easy question since he most likely wouldn’t know that guy after all. “His name was Connor Robinson,” I said and looked away, as if I was thinking back about him with a sad smile. “My teachers told me to tutor him and he was the only one nice in school, or at least I thought so. He kissed me and I thought he would really like me but it was just some sort of bet – he lost, because I didn’t sleep with him. I mean, I was only twelve or something?”
“Douche,” he murmured and I raised my eyebrows ever so slightly. Wasn’t what he was doing here way worse? At least I could protest about having sex with this guy – I had no control over this whatsoever. He shook his head in disapproval and sighed before he offered me a kind smile, which was confusing me again.
“Why are you so nice to me?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Why shouldn’t I? You haven’t done anything wrong.”
Now I was really confused. “But… why are you keeping me in here then?”
He laughed again and shook his head with a smile on his lips. “I told you the day we first really talked, remember? I told you, it’s all about Perrie. It’s her fault that you’re in here and I will keep you in here until you realize that and leave her. I am her big brother and I supposed to protect her, also from a heart break. And I know you will break her heart.”
“But when you’re supposed to protect her, why did you throw a vase at her?” I asked, confused. Why would he do this all? Why couldn’t he just tell me everything and get me out of this confusion? Why couldn’t he just let me escape?
“Oh, she told you?” He asked, seriously confused. He probably thought he would know everything about my and Perrie’s bond, but apparently he didn’t. But how could he know when he didn’t know I was sleeping at Perrie’s when he and their parents were gone? “Well, my mum was telling me she was about to kill ‘her useless daughter who is only costing her millions of pounds’ and I tried to stop her but she wouldn’t listen to me. So I decided to throw anything at her, because no matter how much I love everyone in my family, Perrie is always first.”
“Oh.” I said because I honestly didn’t know what else to say. Did she know how much he loved her? And that he only did this for her, even if it was a kind of weird way to show her this way… Why didn’t he just tell her like normal people and not kidnap one of her best friends? “And… sorry if I’m being too curious… but what about this trips you and your parents do once in a while? You know, when you go somewhere over the weekend or for a night and leave Perrie alone? Where do you go?”
“You’re really curious,” he smiled but didn’t seem offended. It was really interesting to see him opening up to me so much. I really wouldn’t have expected this… “Well, I know that my parents… never wanted me or Perrie but they somehow didn’t give us away. Which would have been better, for both of us, even if they would have seperated us. But I am also glad somehow they didn’t because I learnt how it is if you need to look after someone who is weaker than you. I am not sure Perrie knows what I do for her, I guess she sees the evil big brother in me.” He sighed sadly and looked away and I really felt sympathy for him, no matter how weird this was. How could I have sympathy for someone who kept me locked in some dark room so his younger sister would forget me or until I would hate her?
“Anyway, I know when my mum has drunk too much she always gets in this mood… where she wants to get rid of Perrie. My dad is more or less harmless, all he does is shouting, but which dad doesn’t? Anyway, my dad and I decided we would always take her away for a night or two when she is in this mood again. We drive to Oxford then and let her sober up with some coffee and all this stuff. I really don’t know why she loathes Perrie so much…” He sighed and shook his head sadly.
“Can I ask you one last question?” I asked pleadingly and smiled sadly. I really felt sorry for all he had to go through.
“Yeh, sure, you already know everything.”
I cleared my throat and sat straight up because I felt awkward asking this now, even if it wasn’t as… informative as the others. I just needed to know. “If you want to save Perrie, why are you keeping me here? I will tell you a secret now… I love Perrie, okay? I would never dare to hurt her, seriously. This, what has happened, was all a big misunderstanding. I wanted to tell her that I still loved her and that she wasn’t annoying me at all. She means everything to me, and I swear that I would never hurt her. Don’t you hurt her if you keep me here? You yourself said that Perrie and I are really close and that I mean something to her too. Please, let me go. I will make her happy, as long as she wants me to. If she doesn’t want me anymore, I will go, I swear by god. You hurt her with this, if what you said is true.”
For a moment he looked away, his chin in his hand. He seemed to be thinking about my words, weighing the options and probably if he could trust me. What reason would I have to lie? Okay, maybe I had a reason, but I really did love Perrie and I really would want to make up with her and tell her how much I loved her.
“If I would let you go…” He murmured and my heart beat increased. Would he really let me go? Wide eyed I waited for him to go on and it seemed to take an eternity before he opened his mouth again. “If I would let you go, what would you say where you have been? Or why no-one could contact you? Would you tell them it was me? Again Perrie would think I was the monster…”
“Well… I could try to explain it to her.”
“I know exactly what would happen,” he laughed bitterly. “She would ask you why you’re defending me, and then she would be angry at the two of us. I… I would really let you go, if you could tell me an excuse.”
“I… I…” Frantically I was looking for an excuse I could tell anybody. If it wasn’t for the three of us – Perrie, Jonnie and I – I would tell the truth. But I didn’t want anyone to know it was him. He only did this to save his sister’s heart and I seriously understood his moves. He just did it all too fast, without thinking properly and I surely wasn’t one to judge when I had been judged for years. I never wanted to be one of those people. “I could say I… I had been… tripped somewhere in the woods when I was walking to Perrie’s… I was in the woods, because I had to pee and I couldn’t hold it anymore. And people know I am clumsy, so maybe the believe me? And I had hurt my foot and couldn’t stand up and my battery had been running low so I couldn’t call anyone and I survived because of the food and water in my schoolbag.” I smiled proudly and he looked surprised.
“Do you think you can tell this everyone? Even Perrie, the person you yourself said you loved the most?” For the first time I really saw his face, without the friendly mask he kept all the time, and I could see he was broken. He really needed Perrie’s love.
“Yes, because I see how much you love her and you need her too.” I smiled warmly. “And if you bring me to the hospital you can even say you found me and brought me there so you’re the hero.”
And I think that was the moment where I first had seen a genuine smile. It was exactly like Perrie’s, his eyes were sparkling and the right corner of his lips was slightly parted. “I am so sorry for kidnapping you, Jade, I should’ve known better.” He smiled but then bit his lower lip. “What are we going to do because of your foot? It needs to be hurt.”
“I know.” I sighed and bit my lip, looking down at my foot. I was afraid to hurt it but I needed to do this. I got up and then walked through the room on my tiptoes. I found a whole on the floor and walked there on purpose. I felt my foot not being able to hold my body’s weight on the whole and fell over – before I could hit my head too Jonnie grabbed my upper body and pulled me close to him.
“Ow!” I exclaimed and bit my lip, pressing my eyelids together. This had hurt more than I had expected and I could tell my foot now was seriously injured.
“Jade Thirlwall, you just gained a lot of respect from me. And now, let’s go to the hospital.” He said and held me bridal style. This way he opened the door with his foot and I finally felt free again.
~*~
A/N: Woohoo :D It's close 11pm here and I have a spanish test tomorrow so I don't really have time for an Author's Note, soo...
Love you all and thank you for reading! Please keep commenting/voting/faning! :)
Love,
Marlene xx