Andley: I Love Your More Than I Can Ever Scream

Chapter Eighteen: We Stand Tall, United

*Andy's POV*

"That's all very well," I began, hesitant to speak; I still wasn't entirely sure I could trust them "but how exactly would we get out?"

"We have a plan, but it won't happen straight away. We need to wait for Jonatha to return, in aboot 2 days, maybe?" Aboot? James' accent was strong! He looked over to Ben, who nodded in agreement. "We haven't got much, but it's better than nothing, yeah?" I just nodded slowly, Ashley doing the same.

"What do you mean by 'when Jonathan returns'? Is he not here, then?" Ashley spoke up. He hadn't said an awful lot since we got here, not even to me.

Ben looked at him confused, and then with sympathy. "You didn't think you'd stay locked in here forever, right? Jonathan doesn't like holding prisoners. And trust me, this is the nicest it gets..." I felt a chill run down my spine. I hadn't thought about what might happen, I guess we'd just assumed we stay here? To be honest, I didn't really want to think about it, so I'd distracted myself with focussing on trivial things. Or at least trivial compared to the situation. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Ashley begin to shake a little, tears forming in his eyes. Within a second I had pulled him into my arms and was soothing him, playing with his hair and making quiet shushing noises. Even if I wasn't sure how genuine Ben and James were, I had to trust them. There was no other way, and we had to get out of here. For Ashley's sake if not for mine.

Turning to face them, looking at James directly in the eyes, all fear and hesitation leaving my voice and mind, I asked "what do we have to do?"

~Time Lapse: 2 days~

The sound of panic and commotion echoed through the hallways, people rushing about last minute tasks in preparation. Even without James poking his head in to confirm, I had already figured that Jonathan was back. A sudden sense of nausea overtook me, and I felt sick to the bone. Panic, paranoia and anxiety began to set it. We'd done exactly what we had to, everything. Taken the special pills Ben had given us (although he refused to tell us what they were for), kept to ourselves, we knew the entire escape route by heart and knew exactly what we had to do. But I was still petrified. Anything could go wrong. We could get caught, Ben and James could be fraudes, the escape route might be blocked, someone could find us. Our chances of a success weren't great, but they were the only chance we had.

"You ready?" Ashes asked me. He looked fairly blazé about all of this, but I knew he was just hiding it. We didn't have time to panic, to worry and to start doubting. I just nodded and without thinking pulled him into my arms, crashing my lips to his. The tears pouring down my cheek mixed with his, as we embraced in what could be our last kiss. It was passionate, loving but at the same time hungry and desperate. It was short and simple, but still the most perfect kiss of my life. Nothing could go wrong, I wouldn't allow it. I couldn't lose Ash and I would do whatever it takes to save him.

The kiss was interrupted by the door being thrown open. I jumped, and pulled away, turning to see Jonathan standing before us. Somehow, he managed to look even more menacing than usual. "I'm very sorry to...interrupt, but we have business to deal with. Follow me." He turned around and walked away, Ash and I slowly following after. As we stepped out the room, two men came and stood either side of us: Ben and James. I had to hide the smile that started pulling at the corners of my lips. They'd managed to get on guard duty for us, which meant the plan was at least beginning to work. We walked down a long corridor, and I noticed the quality gradually increasing. The walls had less paint peeling off, the floor had less holes, there was no damp and the weird sewage-smell that always lingered seemed to have all but gone. Jonathan lead us into a small room, decorated simply. The walls were a plain cream colour, there was no carpet on the floor - just a plain laminate, a few pot plants decorated the corners. In the centre was a desk and chair facing the door, and to the right of the entrance was a small, black leather couch. Jonathan pointed at it, indicating for us to sit. We did.