HEARTBEAT {h.s}

12

I receive a brief breeze of fresh air that I inhale immediately when it seems we've eventually stepped outside. I think the decision I made was pretty self-explanatory, I chose to spare my life. Shocking, I know. The fact I'm alive hasn't even been processed and to be honest, I didn't have time to appreciate it. My mind is already racing with the dark scenarios that could come under 'helping' them. I've never thought of such gruesome and dreadful situations but now my mind is consumed with all of them like a child scribbling over a blank piece of paper with a black marker. My mind was a tempest, a deadly one.

After I made my necessary choice, they took hardly any time covering my head with a sandy straw bag; opaque but ventilated. I was practically carried out by my arms as my feet had no direction. Corner after corner, it seemed to be endless. Stairs, many stairs. These were the only things I could deduce from my steps. And that's when the crisp autumn air collided with my slightly warm skin.

Like a gust of wind, almost purifying me of the last 24 hours, or so I assume that's how long it's been. I had no clue if it was night or day, evening or morning. My focus switched immediately to the similar feeling I would relish when I sat on my cliff. Almost all my senses were stripped and now I just exist, held between bulky arms being transported somewhere unfamiliar. The abrupt breeze only lasted seconds though, it vanished before I could properly feel it.

Am I back in a fucking van? You've got to be kidding me.

The ride seems long, bumpy and uncomfortable. I'm scared but my body isn't responding to the fear anymore, I'm numb from terror. My chin no longer trembles, my fingers no longer shake and my breath has slowed. The anxious calmness all disappears, though, when the van stops and the grip on my arms return.

Where's Bryan Mills from 'Taken' when you need him?

I never felt the breeze again, it had been extremely temporary, it seems. I blindly stumble out of the 'van' and there's nothing to signal my surroundings. After walking for a moment, doors are opened and I'm guessing we must be inside of a building. Although I can see nothing, I can sense the bright lighting.

Eventually, the strength holding my arm weakens and I'm seated on a... couch? It's soft and I feel almost like I'm sinking into it, maybe I am. My hands are still tied behind my back and I'm sitting up straight. I feel the sandy bag lift off of my head, freeing me from this senseless torture.

I squint at the sudden light blinding my eyes and try to focus my blurry vision before it lands on the familiar five boys in front of me.

"Welcome home." Harry declares.

"Home?" I question.

"Yes, home sweet home."

"Can you stop prolonging this shit out, Harry? I've got stuff to do." Niall chirps up.

"Calm your tits, Nialler," Louis adds, to which Liam laughs and Niall's face screws up in annoyance.

"So..." Harry steals the attention of everyone, "This is where you'll be living until you earn our trust of course."

"Your trust?"

"Well, if you do what we say, stay quiet, eventually we'll let you go back to your small, pathetic apartment which is being paid for at the moment. Until then, you live here and you have a curfew so we can monitor you."

"God, I feel like I'm thirteen again." I let the comment slip.

"For now, you'll travel with us to work, and be escorted home." My gaze is fixed on solely him as he continues to speak, "But think of it on the bright side-"