Broken Love || The Music Freaks AU

Chapter 9: Breaking Point

Third-Person POV:

Nighttime had begun to overlook the sleepy city of Rosemeadow. The foggy winter clouds soothed over the desolate night sky as small flakes of snow began to drizzle from their great grey length. Spurs of wind travelled throughout the air as trees and grass danced to its shivering touch. Poarch lights light up the area, illuminating the snow-covered road. The faint noise of cars chattered in the distance as the unknowing residences of Rosemeadow slept quietly in their beds, dreaming of sugarplums as Christmas grew closer.

Despite the blanket of night that dressed the city, two individuals were not cozy in their beds, waiting eagerly for Christmas Eve. The quiet ambience was disturbed by the sound of their car barreling down the road.

Jake sat firmly at the wheel, sweat dripping from his forehead as Hailey twitched nervously in the passenger seat, and a confused Sean in the back, nagging his friends for answers. "There!" Hailey points at a quiet suburban house. Jake sharply turns into the driveway, nearly hitting the owner's cherry red Subaru. 

"Why are we at Luke and Zander's house? What's going on?" Sean pleaded for answers as he followed his friends out of the car and walked to the front door of the house with them.

Hailey slammed her hand on the door. No response. She slams her hand on the oak wood door again, this time with more force. She continues knocking until finally, a grumpy-looking Zander with messy unkempt hair opens the door, his eyes narrow and his face pink.

His tired expression immediately changes as soon as his eyes rest on the visitors. "What are you.." Haile shushes him. "No time to explain. Get Luke, and get in the car. Now!" She yells, startling her sleepy stepbrother. 

. . .

Milly tossed and turned in her bed, burying her face in her pillow and twisting her limbs in her sheets as her spouse Elliot lay calmly beside her, not a worry in the world. Milly continued to turn until finally flopping down on her back and gazing up at the ceiling. A nagging feeling of anger built up in her. Anger at Daisy, anger at the police, and anger for being trapped in her home for who knows how long.

She turned, now facing her sleeping husband. Shaking his arm, she tried to wake him up. Elliot however, brushes off her shaking and moved around, a small grunt coming from him. Now even more annoyed, Milly jumps out of bed and begins to walk downstairs, the stairs creaking with every step she took.

She walks into her living room and switches on the TV, the movie A Christmas Story playing as her mind races with thoughts. She huddles up on the couch, missing her family and friends and worrying about what Daisy may do next.

It hadn't been long after she started watching TV when there was a knock on her door. Puzzled at who would be knocking on her door at this time of night, she begins slowly walking to the front door, her mind breaking with the thought of who could be there. Was it Daisy coming to kill her, or was it a neighbour? 

She swung the door open and a hysteric Hailey came flying into her house. "Thank god you're not dead!" She cried as Milly noticed the rest of her friends, all tried entering her house. "Dead? Why would I be dead?"

Hailey pulled away from her and looked at Jake, concern flashing in her eyes. "Hailey, what's going on? In case you've forgotten, we're all under house arrest right now." Zander groaned, mostly upset about being woken up. Hailey strutted past her friends, Jake following and sat down on the couch, waiting for her friends to follow. Soon enough, her friends joined her on Milly's couch. Hailey takes a deep breath and begins to explain.

"So, Daisy is going to kill Elliot and me tonight?" Says Milly in a croak of a voice. They all exchange a baffled and worried look as Hailey curls up next to Jake, the recent trauma of the night flooding back to her. "And Sadie's dead?" Luke whispered. Jake nods, his eyes not leaving the floor.

"Oh my god," Milly rubs her face, leaning back on the coffee table, the newfound information astounding her. "What do we do?" Hailey sniffs and wipes her eyes. "We planned to get you and Elliot out of here before 10:30, but it's like 11:00 now, and nothing has happened."

Sean looks around the quiet corners of the house, small creaks and noises from outside startling him as he stares at the pitch-black chambers of the kitchen. "Guys," Sean says.

"What if Daisy wanted us all to come to save Milly?" They all look at Sean, confused but considering his theory. "What if this was her plan the whole time? What if she tricked us again?" Jake shakes his head. "No, but, I mean, she said, that night, at the apartment, that she wanted us to leave her alone." 

Hailey shook her head. "She was trying to get us to lower our guard." Silence overtakes them for a few minutes when a deafening explosion roars behind them. Jake flies to the floor, his ears ringing as his vision turns to darkness.

Jake's head stung as he lifted his head off the rubble-covered ground of Milly's now broken house. Fire stretched all around them, the smoke seethed into his lungs making it impossible to breathe. He looked around the destroyed house and saw his friends lying on the floor. Luke and Hailey are awake but struggling to get up and the rest of them are still unconscious on the floor.

Hailey crawls over to Jake and collapses into his arms, coughing loudly with a large wound covering her face. By now, the rest of them had woken up, all injured and experiencing the same cough. 

"We need to get out of here!" Jake screamed, the heavy intake of smoke making him dizzy. "But, Elliot," Milly coughed, trying to summon enough energy to stand. Sean lifted her up and altogether they fell out of the house, coughing and wheezing as they watched Milly's house burn.

It wasn't long after when about a dozen firetrucks and police cars and ambulances came. The firemen got straight to work as the aids brought the friends to the ambulances. 

A few hours later, the fire was completely put-out, and Milly was hysterically talking with the officers, trying to find her missing husband. Neighbours had begun to swarm the area, desperate to know what happened. 

Jake and Hailey, along with all their other friends sat at one of the ambulances, watching the carnage. The policemen walk over to the friends, a sobbing Milly ducked under his arm. "We can't find Elliot." The officer says. "We think he may have fled the scene due to the lack of body. We'll keep looking and inform you if we find him." The officer hands Milly to the friends and she begins sobbing on Luke's shoulder.

"This has Daisy written all over it. She probably took Elliot." Milly lifted her head, her eyes red and puffy. "That's it." She sniffed. "I'm going to kill that bitch."