Locks and Keys

Chapter 24

"Key! Key! Wake up, we need to get out of here!" A familiar and panicked voice awoke me from my unconscious state.

"Uh, what? Dammit, eyes, wake up you good for nothing plebs." I groaned, as my eyelids flickered open and my vision cleared. My head throbbed in protest as I identified the person in front of me. They had a mop of dark hair, partially covered by a beanie and chocolate eyes. Their expression held a worried expression and their eyebrows were pulled together. They seemed oddly familiar but I couldn't quite place how I knew them.

"Key, thank goodness." They said with relief.

"Uh, who are you and where am I?" I said with a shaky voice. Dammit, why was my mouth so dry?

"We haven't got time to talk right now, you must have a concussion or something." The boy answered as he began untying the ropes from my hands and ankles. "Keep your voice down, Lock can only give them the run-around for so long." He whispers, as he finished with the rope.

"Lock's here? Thank goodness." I muttered, still confused as to who this guy was and what I was doing in a place that looked oddly like a deserted warehouse.

The boy pulled me out of the chair and lifted me up so that I was on his back, like an over-sized child having a piggyback ride. He ran from the room making me bob up and down a little as he moved, which only made my head throb further, letting me know that this killer headache wasn't going to go away anytime soon. The boy ran out the large room I had been freezing to death in and out a side door, which lead out to a dirt track that had many tire tracks leading in all sorts of directions. The surroundings were unrecognisable; woods covered the area around the three rundown warehouses and the dark sky with the low hung moon cast eerie shadows over the area, almost reminding me of England, which was silly because I was in the USA, just as I had been for the past three years. Wait, hold on...

"You have a British accent. You're British, that's not something you hear everyday in the Southern state of Texas." I whispered through a grin to the mysterious boy.

"Uh, we're not in Texas, Key, we're in London. Well, just outside of London, but still London." He whispered back, which only confused me.

"London, Ohio?"

"No, London, England."

What? London, England? That couldn't be right; we weren't going back to England for another few weeks. School had only just finished and we had been packing up the house ready to move back, but we definitely weren't back yet.

My eyes began focusing to the darkness, allowing me to see everything more clearly, as a cold British breeze washed over my skin, raising the hairs on my arms and making me more on edge than I already was.

"How can I be in England? I have school in the morning, we're flying back till late June." I questioned him, still clinging onto his back as he made his way through the trees and towards civilisation; or where I hoped civilisation would be, at least.

"Key, you moved back here over three months ago, we met in school in September and it's now October. You're saying you don't remember any of this?" He said, and I furrowed my eyebrows. I tried to remember and place this new information, but my mind kept drawing a blank; the more I tried, the more my head throbbed in protest.

"I-I don't remember any of this, why can't I remember?" I whimpered in panic, as my already fast-paced heartbeat skyrocketed further. "Surely I would be able to recall these events if they had happened!"

"Shh, calm down, we don't want Kacey or Ava to hear us, who knows what crazy stuff they would do to the both of us if they discovered your escape." He hushed, still making his way through the trees, trying to be as quiet as one could possibly be, when treading over a leaf-covered ground. That was a give away that he was telling the truth; all the leaves on the trees were a golden brown and many had already been shed and lay dead on the forest floor, indicating the presence of Autumn.

"Who are Kacey and Ava? And how do you fit into all of this?"

"Kacey is the school slut, and Ava's quite a quiet girl, who we all thought to be your friend, but I guess we misjudged her. I'm one of your friends, who not five hours ago asked you on a date." He answered, which made me blush.

"Y-you asked me out?"

"Yes."

"And I said yes?"

"Yep."

"Well, at least I know I can still pull." I stated, with a grin spreading across my face. He laughed at my response.

"That you can."

"One problem." I pointed out.

"What's that?"

"I have no clue what your name is or anything about you." I laughed nervously.

"We can sort that out when we've got you to the hospital, you have a serious concussion. By the way, my name is Ollie."

"How are we getting out of here exactly?"

"Lock and I have your car parked at the main road through the trees. We didn't expect you to have been roughed up so much and we didn't want to be spotted, incase they drove off with you tied up and threw you in the boot of the car again."

"Again?"

"Haven't you wondered how you got to the warehouse in the first place?"

"To be honest, I've more preoccupied with how I can't remember the Taylor Swift concert!" I whispered angrily.

"Oh my gosh, I feel awful for you. It was an amazing concert." He admitted with a grin.

"Dammit." I muttered as we passed through the edge of the tree line and onto a main road. A car was pulled up on the side, alone with a shaded mass in the drivers seat. A mass that I would recognise anywhere. "I can't believe that lazy oaf left you to do all the hard work."

"He didn't! I swear." Ollie promised, opening the back passenger door and placing me inside.

"Key! Thank goodness you're fine." Lock turned around in his seat and reached for my hand.

"Pfft, fine, more like confused. The last thing I remember is the last few days of school... Back from when we were still in Texas." I sighed, as I buckled in my seat belt and lay my head against the window. Ollie settled into the front passenger seat and faced Lock.

"We need to get her to a hospital immediately, she's got a serious concussion that could actually be brain damage if we're not careful. We can call the police when we get her in the hands of the doctors."

"I agree, she's just told me the last thing she remembers. Where's the nearest hospital?" Was the last thing I heard Lock ask, before I fell into the void of darkness that drowned all of my pain from my head injury and the distress of the memory loss.

I wished I could stay there forever.

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Sorry it's taken so long! Exams have been killing me at the moment and this has taken me forever to write. Please vote and comment! Thanks for reading :)