//Haunt//

Chapter 7

I sit down on a plastic crate that is in the corner of the room. Matty sits down across from me and puts the gun down next to him. More silence follows; I am way too scared to initiate conversation. I look around the shop once again and I'm still stunned that this place is so deserted and that I never even knew it existed. I mean, I'd lived in Adelaide all my life, and yet I had no idea as to where we were.

"This is where you'll be staying," says Matty, walking over to a shelf and grabbing a bunch of newspapers. He throws them down onto the floor in front of me and pulls out a lighter from his back pocket. He makes fire and lights the newspaper. I watch it burn and decide to not reply to him.

He sits down again, back across from me. We both stare into the flames as they grow and I notice it's actually getting a little bit chilly. I wrap my arms around myself to try to stay warm. Matty's attention flicks up to me again. I raise my eyebrows at him, pulling my knees up to my chest at the same time.

"Yes?" I ask, with a slight hint of attitude to my voice. I didn't know where it came from, but it happened, and he looked slightly taken aback.

"Nothing," he mumbles, looking back at the fire. I look into his eyes and see a slight red colour. Everything suddenly makes sense, and I become sick to my stomach.

"Are you high?" I ask shakily. I already know the answer but I want to see what his reply will be.

"Maybe," he replies, running his hand through his hair. He looks slightly guilty. Before he can reply, a bang rings out within the area and the garage door opens. In walk George and Adam, two other members of The 1975. I gasp slightly as they walk in and notice my presence almost immediately. They look at Matty and he instantly is overtaken by a look of guilt. I can tell he is coming down from his high.

"Matt, what the fuck?!" yells George, walking faster towards us, followed closely by Adam. Matty quickly gets up and starts walking backwards. 

"I didn't mean to!" he yells defensively, backing into a corner as George's rage grows.

"Let me guess, you were high again?" George screams. I get up and walk towards the open garage door. 

"Don't leave," hisses Adam as I walk past him, as he wraps an arm around George and attempts to keep him from hitting Matty.

"Yes!" cries Matty, grabbing a small piece of steel in defence.

George instantly backs away and shakes Adam's arm off his chest. "You can't keep bringing people here when you get high. Seriously how many times do we have to tell you?" he growls as he walks away from Matty and towards me. Matt puts the steel down and exits the room angrily, opening a small door and crawling through it. As George approaches me, I instinctively flinch backwards. This does not go unnoticed.

"I'm not going to hurt you," smiles George. Talk about mood swings. "This isn't your fault, it's just the fact that this is not the first time this has happened. And I'm very sorry."

His kindness catches me off guard, along with the small similarities he shares with Nick. My heart instantly starts to ache. The facial structure. The eye shape. The cheeky smile. "Thanks. Will I be able to go home?" 

"Eventually. Not straight away though. I need to teach Matty a lesson. He's been getting baked too often lately, and if he keeps it up, it might put our band in danger."

I nod understandingly, although I don't really understand what my being here has to do with teaching Matty a lesson. He smiles at me again, and explains that he has to go find Matty and help him through the massive low that follows his high. I go back and sit on the crate, watching the small remaining flame burn out with Adam, and reminisce about home. 

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A/N

//Hey guys, sorry that this update took so long and was pretty bad, my life's been a bit hectic lately and I've been stressed out to the max due to school. Not to mention writers block. Ugh.

Anyway I'm hoping to have some bigger, better updates coming soon! Stay tuned please, I love you all for reading and supporting me through this!

Watch this space, more to come within the next few weeks!

-Jess xx//