Hollows In Time (✔️) | 'Hollows' Book Ⅱ

Chapter Nine

^ Jameson—our love. And if you swipe there's a video ;) ^

"My lungs felt like they were closing up inside of me, my stomach was wringing itself out repeatedly and God knows where my heart is."
—me, 'The Hollows Of Hiraeth' (that felt so cool lmao)
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H o l l o w s I n
T I M E
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I downed the water in thirty seconds, I was thirsty to say the least. Jameson wrapped the jacket around me whilst we waited for the keys from another guardian.

"Why are you here?" He asked me first; my fingernails started to nervously tap against the arm rest.

"I don't know." I responded, unsure whether I was telling the truth or a lie, or both. There was a moment of silence before Jameson shot another question at me.

"How long have you been here?" He asked, agony trembling his voice. My leg started to bounce, and along with my fingernails which were still rapidly tapping, I could've combusted into a cloud of a panic.

"A while." My answers were vague, but I preferred it that way—less details, less questions, less conversation on a topic I didn't want to talk about.

The next question was asked hesitantly, and I could hear in his voice that he was being tentative, "Are you okay?" There was a stream of silence that followed as I pondered his question. The answer should've been simple. Of course I'm not, I was kidnapped from my own home, I was tortured, I was made vulnerable. I was ashamed. My pride was hurt and so was I.

"No." The air thickened after my response. I couldn't breathe. I put the car window down beside me and breathed in and out slowly.

"I am so–" Jameson was cut off when someone tapped on the back window. They had the keys. The exit. I had the exit too.

"Is this really the exit?" I asked aloud and Jameson frowned as he reached over to grab the keys from a guy who got into the car and sat behind us. Maybe I could recognise him if I tried. If I know him, that would be.

"What do you mean?" Jameson responded to my question with another question and I turned around to face him. Jameson stopped moving and I heard him take in a sharp intake of breath as his eyes ran over my face. He looked shocked. I tilted my head to the side.

"Is this the real exit? I've been looking for the exit." I recited, almost like a poem or a riddle. It didn't make sense, only to me. Jameson seemed to understand, but how can I trust someone who abandoned me? Jameson hesitantly reached out for my hand and I let him take it even though I couldn't stand the thought of him touching me. But I was too concentrated on the thought of the exit to be concerned.

"Yes, yes this is the exit." He told me and held my hand for a second longer, a second too long. He looked away when more people joined, taking his hand away from me, the one that refused to save me. A cheat, he is. I continued to stare at him, thinking about everything that was done to me, all that pain, but done to him instead. It was fascinating. How my pain could be made better if I put his face on the Sky in my memories.

Soon, the car started. My eyes left Jameson but my thoughts didn't. The exit. The anticipation. I knew this exit. It had once been used as a entrance. I gulped. Please.

I squeezed my eyes shut and pleaded that I would be set free—I don't want this torture.

"Sky," Jameson called out to me softly and I opened one eye, aware of his gaze that kept averting back to me in worry. Silently, I knew he was trying to coax me out of my heavily built armour. I didn't step out of it, but I let it rest loosely around my thin frame. My breathing was still out of whack as the car whizzed down the track, dust flaming up and clouding the air. I couldn't close my eyes, couldn't shut out reality and allow it to hit me hard later. I would endure this now. The gate had been wrecked, which I had assumed had been done by the Guardians.