Stockholm Syndrome - A One Direction Story

Chapter Thirteen

Oakley's POV

As I opened my eyes, I noticed a small glimmer of light glimmering into the small window above my bed. I lay there for a few minutes before I heard the door open. It was Brin.
"Rise & shine princess." She said to me, as she walked in carrying a bag full of something. I sat up in my bed.
"What are you doing? What time is it?"
"I don't know." She shrugged. "Early probably."
"What are you doing awake?"
"Zayn woke me up." She rolled her eyes. "& he gave me this stuff & told me what to do." She said as she held up the bags.
"What's in the bags?" I asked.
"Everything you could think of to make you over."
"But why?"
She hesitated at first. "I can't say... I promised Zayn I wouldn't tell. But he'll tell you himself once I make you over."
"Okay... what have you got?" I asked.
"So Louis went out to buy you all these things upon Zayn's request."
"Why couldn't Zayn go out to buy the stuff himself?"
"I don't know. They wouldn't tell me that part. But he got you some new clothes, some makeup & hair dye."
"I have to dye my hair? Why?"
"Because. Now, you wanna go jet black or red head?" She asked as she pulled the stuff out of the box.
We decided on red & she covered my head in the dye. We waited for a while before it was time to wash it out. I jumped in the shower. It looked like a murder scene for sure.
When I was done in the shower I got dressed into a new outfit that Louis had bought for me. In the end I was dressed in grey high wasted jeans, a navy blue knitted jumper with a red plaid collared shirt underneath & black boots that went just past my knees. Then Brin did my makeup in neutral tones.
"What do you think?" Brin asked as she brought me to the bathroom mirror.
"Wow. I actually kind of like it." I said, as I ran my fingers through my hair. "The red will take some getting used to, but I like it."
"Good." She replied. "But there is one more thing."
"What?" I asked, as I turned around.
"We have to cut your hair." She said as she pulled scissors out from the bag.
My eyes widened. "Brin, there is no way. You are not cutting off my hair."
"Come on! Zayn said I had to."
"I don't care what he told you. It's never gonna happen." I said, trying to create as much distance between us as possible. But she just followed me with the scissors in hand. We fought verbally back & forth for a bit. Zayn had left our doors unlocked so we had all access to the whole basement. I walked to the locked door that lead upstairs & started banging on it. "ZAYN! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU TOLD HER! NO ONE IS CUTTING MY HAIR!" I yelled through the door as tears began to stream down my face. I then ran down the dark hallway & into the empty cellar room. I slammed the door & sat up against it.
"Come on Oak." Brin called from the opposite side of the door.
"Leave me alone Brin. No one is touching my hair." I insisted as I cried. A few minutes later I could hear Brin talking to Zayn.
"Where is she?"
"In there, she won't come out."
"Why?"
"She doesn't want her hair to be cut. I told her she had too, but she won't listen."
"I hate this!" I cried out to them. "I wanna go home now."
Then there was a knock at the door. It was Zayn.
"Oak. Can you let me in please? I promise we won't cut your hair right now. I just want to talk to you." I took a deep breath & moved away from the door. He opened it & as he flashed a dim light on me from an old flashlight it was quite clear from the look on his face that he was genuinely upset to see me in such a distraught state.
"Oakley, it's okay love." He said as he came & sat down beside me. He hugged me, trying to comfort me.
"Zayn, What is going on?" I asked through my tears.
"Why did Louis go out & but all this stuff for me? Why wouldn't you just go yourself? & why do I have to cut my hair?"
"I'll tell you okay, but first tell me something."
"What?" I asked.
"Would you ever run from me if you had the chance?"
"Why would you ask that?" I said.
"Because. I wanna take you out of here. We can live a normal life. Just like we talked about yesterday. But I need to know that you won't run from me."
"I wouldn't know where to go anymore even if I had the chance." I admitted.
"Oakley. I want to take you away from this place. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?" He asked.
I smiled. "California... I visited once & I've wanted to go back ever since."
"That's great. We can go there!"
"Really?" I asked.
"Yes. But they're still looking for you. There's a country wide search. We can't go with you looking the way you did before. If this is what you really want we'll do it. But you can't look the same. I promise, we won't cut it all off. Just a little bit. Maybe at your shoulders. Does that sound good?"
I nodded. "But only if you promise you're gonna take me to California."
"I promise." He said sincerely.
I smiled & let out a giggle of excitement. He laughed.
"You're so cute." He said as he kissed me, then helped me up.
We cut off about six inches of my hair & it fell right to my shoulders.
"You look beautiful." Zayn said, as he kissed me when it was all done. "Now it's my turn." He said.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"Because... they're also looking for someone who fits my description."
"What are you gonna do?" I asked.
"Dye my hair light brown, but it a bit shorter & get rid of my facial hair. Oh, & when Louis comes home, he'll have contact lenses for us to change our eye colour. You're gonna have brown & I'm gonna have green. Okay?"
I nodded.

***

It had gotten dark now. Louis had just gotten home & brought us our contacts. We put them in to finish our new looks.
"Oh, & I have your new identity's." He said, handing us new license cards.
Zayn was now known as Mason Woods & I was Maya Taylor.
"You leave in the morning for Cali." Louis announced.
"What do you mean 'you'?" I asked. "Aren't you guys coming with us?"
Brin shook her head.
"Brin, please."
"I'm sorry. But I can't."
"Why not? I want you guys to come. We're a family."
"No ones looking for us." Louis said. "It's just easier for the two of you to go alone. But you can always come home for Christmas." He said.
"Louis..." I looked at him sadly. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. "Don't cry love." He said as he walked over to comfort me. "You'll be okay. Zayn will take care of you... but you guys have to leave really early. It's a long trip. So I guess this is goodbye."
"No." I cried.
"It's okay. We're only s phone call away." He said as he passed me a new iPhone. He hugged me tight. Then I moved onto Brin.
"Don't forget to call every day, okay?" She asked.
"More like twice a day." I replied.
I wrapped my arms around her & we hugged as we both cried until it was time to go to sleep.

***

We left early the next morning. It was still dark out. We put some suitcases in the car & started on the long journey to California.
It was the beginning of a new life.