fameless → ZACH HERRON ✓

t h i r t y - t w o

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
( HOME )

     CARMEN LAYS LIMPLY. Her arms lay at her sides, gashes and purple bruises covering them. Her left foot is angled awkwardly, sticking out from its normal position. Her forehead is covered in blood from the recent impact with the floor.

She stares up at the ceiling, not daring to move from her current position. Her body aches, a burning sensation shooting through her limbs every time she moves even an inch. Jackson stands above her, staring down at her in amusement.

"I can't quite grasp why you're still holding strong," He sighs, stepping away to take a seat next to Cole. "It's really easy, Cam. I don't understand why you won't just end this and tell me the truth."

The girl doesn't reply, blinking away the tears that had constantly been pooled in her eyes.

"Think about it- you could go home," He says. "You can go back to that Zach kid, and all your Hollywood besties. I'll let you live your life happily, and you'll never see me again. Just say it."

"I won't lie," Carmen's voice cracks. "Not now, not ever."

"Wrong answer," Jackson seethes through gritted teeth, moving back over to her.

Carmen doesn't flinch once as his foot connects with her side, damaging her body even more than before. Within the last minutes, she had grown tolerance for the pain. It was like she could no longer feel it.

Perhaps it was her body's way of shutting down, she thought as he kicked her again. Maybe she was finally dying- that she had taken enough hits to be put out of her misery. It was a slow death, she thought, but at least she was numb.

As Jackson saw that her expression never changed, he stopped. Carmen didn't seem to notice that he stopped, though- at least until he started to stomp at her ribcage.

By now, blood was covering the floor around the girl. Her black clothing was soaked in the paint-like substance. If she could've felt her bones break, she knew she would've screamed bloody murder. But she was caught in her thoughts.

She wondered where her mother was, and how she was coping. Did she not know that she was missing? Or was she not missing her, just like the others?

Of course she had given up on someone coming to save her, so that definitely wasn't an option that ran through her mind. Instead, the girl guessed that her mother hadn't figured out that she was missing. Maybe she thought Carmen was still at the Why Don't We house.

And then she thought of Zach.

Was he with a new girl now? Of course he was- Zach is famous, and any girl would be lucky to have him. Unfortunately, Carmen never got to truly know him- she fell for him anyway. Despite them only knowing each other for two weaks, she felt like she was in love with him.