Handsome and the Hideous

Chapter 19

Cody and I were silent as I wiped tears away from my face. Neither of us knew what to do, but we knew hiding in the closet was our best bet. Because we didn't know what we were up against, we knew we had to wait it out and hope the assassins didn't find us.

"We should hide within the clothes," Cody whispered. "We can't let them find us."

I nodded and got up, and Cody got up as well. There were hundreds of coats hung up at the walls of the closet and boxes of clothes beneath them. I went to one corner and Cody went to the corner across from me, and we sat on top of the box. Pulling the coats that hung around us, we tried our best to hide. It seemed to be working because I couldn't see anything but darkness due to the coats that surrounded me.

"Charlotte," Cody whispered.

I pushed a jacket away from my face to look at Cody, who was directly across from me. He also had a jacket pushed to his side and he was staring at me, looking pained.

"I'm worried about Rosalie," he whispered. "I-"

A gun shot went off and Rosalie screamed. I gasped as an unpleasant shiver ran down my spine. Cody's eyes flew wide and horrified, he stared at me. The both of us knew what happened and I covered my mouth to fight back a sob.

Feet pounding against the staircase was the next sound we heard and Cody and I quickly tried to hide ourselves. My heart was racing and I was on the brink of tears, but I forced myself to stay as still as possible. As I awaited what would happen next, I prayed that at the very least, Cody would make it out alive.

Loud footsteps stomped around upstairs and I closed my eyes, waiting for them to reach the closet. Time went by slowly and I found myself growing more and more anxious. Sighing, my heart jumped when the closet door flew open. As the light turned on, I froze.

"Where could those goddamn kids be," a man muttered, walking around the small room.

I felt like throwing up. My body began to shake with fear and I cursed myself, knowing I couldn't give any sign that I was in the room.

Hearing hangers being moved, my heart then froze. My eyes flew wide and I grew terrified as I realized the man was searching the room properly. I knew I should have expected it, but I couldn't have helped but hoped otherwise.

It was all a matter of time before the man would find us, which led to me thinking  of a plan of how to escape or save Cody. As I thought, nothing would come to mind, however. Even if I ran, there were men outside in the hallways and there was no way I could be sure that Cody would follow me. Closing my eyes once again, I realized there was nothing I could do but hope luck was on my side. Luck never was, however, so I then began to hope my death would be quick as the man's footsteps seemed to be nearing me.

As I waited, my heart pounding, I became surprised when the light turned off. My eyes flew wide and I nearly let out a sound of relief, but decided against it as I heard the door close. Thanking the world for saving me, I began to cry lightly, realizing how scared I had been.

"I can't find them!" the same man shouted.

"Let's look outside," another man replied. "They probably ran off."

I heard footsteps go down the stairs and relieved, I let myself move a jacket aside to look at Cody. He was already looking at me, seeming equally as freaked out from what happened, but he smiled. Weakly, I smiled back.

We stayed where we were for a few minutes, afraid someone would return, but we continued to stare at each other. Eventually Cody gestured for us to move out of our hiding spots, and I obeyed. Going to the centre of the room, I sat on the ground and Cody sat next to me.

"That..." Cody began, shivering.

"Was terrifying," I finished. "Cody, what are we going to do?"

"Our phones!" Cody's eyes widened and his hand dove into his pocket. "We can call the police."

Cody fished his phone out of his pocket and turned it on. He bit his lip, seeming nervous, but there was hope in his eyes. My heart began to pound against my chest as I hoped we could be saved. But as I saw him deflate, my heart sunk.

"I have no bars," Cody said, groaning. "What about you?"

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and frowned when I saw I didn't have any bars either. My dad seemed to have thought of everything.

"I don't either," I said.

"Dammit. We have to wait for night to leave." Cody sighed. "It'll be easier to hide because we have to run to town. We have to get out of here."

I nodded, agreeing with Cody's plan. The idea of leaving our safe spot was terrifying, but I knew staying in the mansion wasn't safe. Sighing lightly, guilt washed over me as I realized I had dragged Cody into a horrible situation.

"I'm so sorry Cody," I said, looking at him with sad eyes. "You shouldn't be stuck in this situation. You did nothing wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong either," Cody said. "It's not your fault."

"Then why does my dad hate me? What did I do to make him want to kill me?"

Tears began to flood into my eyes and I hated myself for it. I couldn't stop crying and it made me feel weak.

"Your dad is a shitty person," Cody said, growing angry. "You did nothing wrong. Okay Charlotte, don't blame yourself for this. We're going to make it through this. We're going to get justice."

Despite Cody's words, I couldn't believe him. After everything I'd been through, I felt like nothing could end well for me. Having a happily ever after didn't seem to be in my cards.

"I'm so sorry," I said, breaking out into tears.

Cody's eyes softened as he watched me cry lightly. He then moved to my side and wrapped his arms around me, and I buried my face into his chest. Crying harder, I found myself letting out all the sadness I held within me.

Cody and I remained hugging each other as we waited for the sun to set. We used our phones to determine the time occasionally, but other than that we remained silent as we held onto each other. I didn't know what was in store for us, but I decided I couldn't give up. With Cody at my side, I had to make sure he made it through this alive. It was the least I could do for dragging him into my mess.