Entangled | Zayn Malik

Chapter Thirty-One

This is unreal. I've got to be dreaming. I am dreaming aren't I? We got out of here - we escaped, didn't we? We were untied, we got out of the room, we dealt with Mr Hedshaw and we got out of this damn place.

Except we didn't.

And the realisation that we're somehow back in this small and dingy room is too much to handle. It hits me like a tornado - wreaking havoc on the vulnerable, wrapping me up and pulling me under and dragging me away from reality.

The pain in my leg is unbearable and it's all I can feel. I can't think properly, I can't do anything properly because it's taken over me. Zayn has his arms wrapped around me to try and calm me down but it doesn't seem to be working.

I'm crying, I'm crying really fucking hard because we got out of here. We got out of this room and now we're back here and I can't help but think we're not going to get out again.

"It's okay, it's okay." Zayn says trying to soothe me, but it doesn't work. Because it won't be okay.

I'm finding it harder to breathe with every second that passes. The air in the room is becoming warm and stuffy and feels heavy against my skin. I feel like I'm aflame - the heat travelling through my body leaving burns as it goes, and then down to my leg where it intensifies and settles. I feel lightheaded and nauseous and my skin goes from feeling alight to clammy and back again in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly my chest feels tight and I try to take a deep breath but I can't, causing panic to surge through me.

I want to scream but all I can do is choke. I'm choking on my sobs, and I can't breathe and this is it. I'm suffocating. I can't breathe any longer and my organs will surely shut down any minute now. I try to form a sentence and say some words, any words, but all I can manage are choked, breathless sobs.

"Look at me." Zayn says, turning me to face him and placing his hands on each of my arms.

I try to look at him through my tears but he's blurred.

"Hey, Kaya look at me, you're fine. You can breathe." He says. "You can breathe." He repeats.

No, I can't breathe. I can't breathe.

"You're okay. You're okay." He says, stroking my arms.

I'm not okay.

"Breathe with me." He says.

I can't.

"Look at me. Copy what I'm doing."

He takes a deep breath, "breathe in" then he exhales, "breathe out." He says.

"Do it with me, I know you can do it." He deeply inhales, and then exhales again.

The tears stop falling and I blink a few times until my eyes start to focus on him.

"Breathe." He instructs and this time I copy him.

I inhale and then I exhale. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. I continue doing so until my breathing picks up a regular pattern again.

He wipes away the tears on my face with his thumbs and pulls me closer to him, earning a wince from me as it hurts to move my leg.

"You're okay." He whispers as I rest my head on his chest.

"How bad is the pain on a scale of 1-10?" He asks me.

"10." I say.

"Can you walk at all?"

"I don't think so, it really hurts Zayn."

"I know babe, but we need to see if it's broken or just sprained."

He kneels down in front of me and pulls the leg of my trousers up.

"Fuck." He mutters. It's swollen and badly bruised - a furious looking shade of purple, with spots of green, yellow and red surrounding it. Definitely broken. It looks bad, but nothing compared to how it feels.

I feel useless. I've fucked everything up. We're stuck here now. How the fuck am I going to escape here when I can't even walk?

"What is it?" Zayn asks, obviously reading the look on my face.

"I've ruined everything." I tell him.

"What are you talking about?"

"How are we supposed to get out of here when I can't even fucking walk?" I ask, tears forming in my eyes again.

"I'll carry you out of here if I need to." He says, taking my hand in his.

—

Zayn's POV

She lowers her head and it's killing me to see that she's beating herself up over this - as if it's her fault that these psychopaths have us locked up.

"Hey, look at me." I say, placing my hand on her chin and lifting her head up so her eyes meet mine.

She lifts her head and it's only in this moment that I truly realise just how captivatingly beautiful she is. In the midst of all this shit - the pain she's enduring, the blood matted onto her hair and face, the gash on her head, the fear of possibly not getting out of here - beneath all of that, her deep blue eyes still glow. They seem to say a million words with only one look.

Despite this nightmare we're living in, there's something in her eyes that tells me that she won't give up - a confidence, resting quietly behind the fear, ready to battle and unleash hell when the time comes. And as I stare into that confidence deep in her eyes, my heart skips a beat. And then another. Much like the way it does every other time I look at her. And that's when it properly occurs to me that I've fallen for her.

I've fallen hard and fast for her and we may have landed on a rocky spot, but as far as I'm concerned it's just a hurdle.

"I love you, you know that?" I blurt, watching as her beautiful eyes widen at my words. I never meant to say the words out loud, but now that I have I don't regret it for a second. Because she deserves to know that I love her. She deserves to know how beautiful she is and exactly how she makes me feel when she looks at me. She deserves to know that I will do anything and everything in my power to get her out of here and that I will always protect her.

"You do?" She says, uncertaincy dancing in her eyes.

"Of course I do." I say, watching as the corners of her mouth slowly upturn.

She lifts my hand and places light kisses all over it, sending my heart into overdrive.

"I love you, too." She says, tightening her grip on my hand and breaking into a smile.

"Really?" I ask quietly, because I'm not quite sure how someone like her could love someone like me.

"I really do." She tells me, leaning forward and placing her soft lips on mine.

It should feel wrong that we're declaring our love for each other in these circumstances, but I needed her to know. I have no idea what will happen and I don't want to ever have to feel the regret of not getting the chance to tell this woman exactly how I feel about her. The love I feel for her is giving me the willpower that I need to get her out of here safe and sound.