Teenage Runaway

Chapter 8

Liam insisted on everyone going to the gym to box. They dropped Bentley off at his grandmothers--per Liam's request. Liam and Harry trained them with hard and long work outs. Everyone was exhausted and dripping with sweat, but they knew how to defend themselves.

Liam made Taylor make a few more visits to her mother to talk about things, even though Taylor was sure that her mother was saying anything she could to push her buttons, but Taylor bit her tongue and endured it for her son, like any good mother would.

Taylor was more paranoid than ever. Every creak the house made, she jumped, every flicker of light. She even jumped at Bentley's random outbursts, which she had gotten used to before everything got spooky. She was getting tired of waiting to be taken, waiting for the end. If they wanted her, why not just take her? No need to make it difficult. The suspense was killing her.

Taylor tried to prepare herself to be taken, spending as much time with Bentley and the boys as possible. She worried about Liam; she'd seen how Louis and Niall had reacted to Sam and Eleanor being taken. Louis refused to get out of bed, and he needed to shave badly; and shower. Niall barely ate, the thought of life without Sam made him sick.

Harry, Liam, and Zayn tried their hardest to carry on, for everyone. They prepared meals and cleaned the house so Taylor wouldn't have to. Harry wanted to talk to her so she would calm down, but she insisted it was no use, there was nothing that they could do that they were already doing; giving her as much protection as they could. Liam started to sleep with Taylor every night because she kept having nightmares, and there was nothing anyone could do to comfort her because everyone knew she was next, if the pattern continued.

You could say Taylor's mom was doing well with the situation, although no one had told her about the kidnappings nor the dangers they were really facing. She would insist they call the cops, which would possibly threaten the lives of the two captives. Liam was grateful of the help that Taylor's mother was giving by watching Bentley, but Taylor still kept her distance, not forgiving her mother for putting her out on the streets.

Liam insisted on being with Taylor all the time, claiming it was for her protection, but everyone knew he had a thing for her. Liam tried to deny it so they'd stop teasing him, but he knew he had a crush on her, he'd had one since they were younger and he'd come visit on school breaks. He dropped her off when she had to work, went home, and then drove back to the restaurant exactly an hour before she got off, to make sure no one else was there to retreive her.

Harry and Zayn took notice of the girlfriends disappearing and wondered what the men would take from them. Harry worried about Lilly. Even though she had ended it, he still cared for her. That's just the kind of person he was. Zayn worried about his mum and sisters. Doniya was married with twins on the way, Walhya was studying to become a nurse at UNI, but Safaa was barely a teenager, and the most vulnerable.

It was Taylor's day off and four days after Eleanor was taken hostage. Liam was determined to take Taylor's mind off of things. Just like their unofficial first date, he took her to their favorite amusement park. They were going to take Bentley along with them, but Harry volunteered himself to watch him, considering he loved kids.

"So, do you still figure skate?" Liam asked as they stood in line for their first coaster.

"How would you like me to do that?" She laughed. "I can barely balance work and trying to be a mom."

"Maybe you could start again, you know, with the boys and me here."

"Me and what money?" Liam opened his mouth to say something, but Taylor cut him off, already knowing what he was thinking. "No, Liam, you're not paying for it."

"But, I have enough for-"

"No. I hate when people pay for me. Besides, I'd need yoga to get my form back."

"You used to be amazing at the splits!" Liam recalled the few figure skating competitions he saw of hers. It was a rare sport in Florida, considering it was a winter sport and they didn't really have a winter climate--or anything close.

"Yeah, well, once you have a kid you can't 'go down' like I used to."

They practically went on every ride in the park, except for a few where they tried to ride the ones the rode when they were little; they were too tall. You could call it their unofficial second date, and Liam knew that if he was feeling up to it, but when they returned it was the same scene as they left it, Louis and Niall laying in bed moping.

That night, Taylor fell asleep soundly and safely in Liam's arms with Bentley next to them. For one night, she didn't worry about being taken, and waking up somewhere else, or not at all. She had finally gotten her mind off of things, all thanks to Liam.

"What was the real reason that One Direction broke up?" The man standing in front of the two girls with the whip asked. Neither of them spoke, and the man took another lash at Sam's exposed stomach. "It's all Zayn's fault, isn't it? He left in the middle of the tour and everything went downhill."

"Eleanor, sweet, sweet Eleanor." The man cooed, walking behind the chair that Eleanor was bound to and carressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "What is Louis' credit card information? You've been dating him long enough to know that, right?" Eleanor didn't say a word because she didn't have his card number memorized, and she wouldn't have told if she did, resulting in a lash on her bare legs.

"I don't know why you girls aren't talking," the man twirled the whip in his hand. "All you have to do is give us a little bit of information of the band's and we will let you go," he said. "Maybe."

The girls still wouldn't talk, unsure of the men's motives. They would rather be tied to a cold metal chair, half naked, and be whipped than risk the security of the boys.

It had been the two week anniversary of Sam's kidnapping, marking Eleanor's one week, and everyone was on edge about Taylor's safety. They were curious as to why they hadn't received anything from the men, no notes, no calls, no videos, no nothing. They'd gotten all three within a one week span of Sam's kidnapping. But now, nothing.

Liam made Taylor take the day off of work, and no one was allowed to leave the house. Zayn had suggested that it would be better if they all stayed in the same room, since Sam was taken from inside of the house. Even Bentley took his nap in Taylor's arms. That night, praying and hoping everyone was safe, everyone went to sleep in their separate "clans" as usual. Niall, Louis, Zayn, and Harry miraculously on one bed, Taylor, Liam, and Bentley in her room. Niall and Louis envied Liam, his girl was still with him.

Taylor was the first one up that morning. She went downstairs and into the kitchen and began making breakfast--pancakes. She went to the refrigerator to get the milk out but shrieked at the letter held onto the door by a magnet, waking up practically the whole house. Niall and Louis were the first to hop up off of the bed in the living room and come to Taylor's side, reading the note while rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Liam practically flew down the steps, a very sleepy Bentley resting in his arms. They all read the note on the fridge, which had been typed up with what seemed like an old fashioned type writer with blood spatterings on the sheet of crumpled paper, most likely Sam and/or Eleanor's, for dramatization per the madmen. It read:

Drop off 500,000 dollars in cash at the corner of Banchory Road. We'll return them to you alive, maybe.

Louis and Niall took Taylor's car to the bank, despite Liam's protests to not do anything hasty. If it meant getting their girlfriends back, they'd do anything. The two of them went halfsies, each taking out $250,000 from their bank accounts. As soon as dusk fell, they dropped off the cash in a black backpack on the empty, dark corner as instructed.

Three days they waited, and nothing. On the morning of the second day, Louis and Niall went to the street corner, accompanied by Zayn, and saw the bag of cash gone. They wondered what had been taking so long. Three days and $500K later, they had nothing.

When they returned, Harry was waiting for them, sat on one of the couches. Being the only one awake, he was the first to find it. He pulled the note out of his back pocket with a grave look on his face and handed it to Niall, who unfolded it and shared it to the other two.

"One dollar short...two lives forever gone. Sorry boys, you missed your chance."