Stockholm Syndrome - A One Direction Story

Chapter Seventeen

Niall's POV

It was seven in the morning on my day off when I got a call that woke me from my sleep. It was a cool day at the end of April. Mum had come home for Christmas until the end of March, in hopes that Oakley would be brought back home by then, but she still hadn't & mum really had to go back to work. She would be away now until July. Everyone kind of assumed that we wouldn't be finding Oakley, at least not any time soon. We've all tried to go back to living as normal of lives that we could without her beautiful face. It was hard at first, but we had all started to adjust slowly now. The search was still on, but not as intensely as it had previously been. Everyone knows the statistics. It's been longer than six months, so we were all just expecting to get a call one day & just knew to expect the worst.
When I answered the phone that morning to hear a police officer on the other end asking me to come down to the station as soon as possible I had assumed that the time has come & I began to prepare myself to receive the worst news of my entire life as I got dressed. I called Liam to come pick me up, as I was in no state to drive. He showed up at around eight & we went to the station.

Liam's POV

It was just after 7am when my phone rang as I lay in bed.
"Hello?"
"Hey Liam."
"Hi Niall. Is everything okay?" I asked as I sat up. Niall never called me this early. Niall never woke up this early on his days off.
"I think somethings wrong." He said to me.
"With what?" I asked.
"I just got a call from the police station... I think somethings wrong. I think they want me to come down to tell me that she's gone."
I wanted to reassure him, but I really hoped that I would be right to do so. "It's okay. I'll come & pick you up. Give me a bit to get ready... maybe it'll be good news."
"It's been too long. I don't think it will be." He said.
"Don't give up hope just yet. I'll see you soon."
I got dressed & drove over to Niall's place to pick him up.
"Don't worry man. Just wait to hear what they're gonna tell you. Don't just assume the worst." Niall nodded, but didn't say anything. He didn't say a word in the whole 20 minutes it took us to drive to the police station. We both got out of the car & went inside. We waited a couple of minutes before we were called into a room.
The officer started by saying good morning & bringing us some water. He got us to sit down & I could tell that Niall was really scared to hear what we were about to be told. I was too, but I tried to hide it for Niall's sake.
"So... we have some news on Oakley's case.
"Did you find her? Is she okay, or...?" Niall asked.
"That's the thing... we don't know if we found her or not."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"We haven't really gotten any leads on her case since it was first issued back in September. It's been seven months & usually when it's been that long, these kind of cases don't typically end very favourably. But, due to our expanded country wide search, we may have a lead. Now I don't want to promise anything, but there may be good news."
"Really?" Niall said, suddenly turning hopeful.
"What's the lead?" I asked.
Back in The end of February there was a couple in California that had signed a rent contract for an apartment. They're ID's seemed a bit suspicious to the real estate agent, but he didn't question it right away. A few weeks later though when the agent brought the forms to the legal department of the real estate company it became evident that the ID's were most likely fake. The copies of the two ID's were brought to the attention of the local police department. No action has been taken yet, but it has been verified as of yesterday that the ID's were indeed fake. There is no guaranty that the young woman is Oakley. Fake ID's are common for multiple different reasons. & this girl isn't blonde & she has shorter hair than Oakley & brown eyes. But there's always a chance her appearance has been altered."
"When will we know for sure?" I asked.
"Probably in two weeks."
"There's nothing you can do about it right now?" Niall asks.
"Unfortunately no. Rushing things could only hinder the situation instead of help it. I know it's hard, but in the grand scheme of things, two weeks is nothing. She's been missing for seven months."
"Okay. Well give me a call as soon as you find something out." Niall said.
"Of course. & obviously you can do what you want, but we suggest to hold off on telling anyone else until we have further information on this lead." The officer advised.
"Of course." We both agreed before leaving. I knew this would be the longest two weeks of our lives. Especially for a Niall. But hopefully this lead would bring us right to Oakley.

***

Oakley's POV

It was around four in the afternoon. I was starting to make dinner. We were going to have pasta & I was stirring the pot. Zayn was in the bathroom taking a shower. There was a knock at the door. I walked across the room & opened it. There were two police officers standing there. I knew this could only mean one thing.
"Can I help you?" I asked.
"Yeah. Are you Maya Taylor?" One of the officers answered.
"Yes." I responded.
"Is your boyfriend Mason Woods home?"
"Yeah. He's just in the bathroom right now... what exactly is this about?" I asked, pretending to be clueless. That's when Zayn walked out of the bathroom.
"What's going on here?"
"Mason Woods?" One of the officers asked.
"Yes." Zayn replies.
"Your real estate agent brought to our attention your ID's & when we ran them through our system we came to find that they are fake."
"What are you talking about? That's who we are." Zayn insisted.
"The system never fails."
"What exactly are you accusing us of officer?" Zayn asked.
"Sir, we are looking for a young woman by the name of Oakley Karwell. Do you know anything about her?"
"No." Zayn replied. "I mean I've seen the police reports. It's really sad. I hope she's found safe soon. But I don't know anything else about her."
"Right." The officer said.
"What about you ma'am?" He asked looking at me.
"I don't know anything." I said.
"Really?"
"Yeah." I nodded.
"The both of you are going to have to come down to the station to have some tests done."
"Why?" I asked.
"So we can find out who the two of you really are."

The next thing I knew we were in a police car, being taken down to the station. When we got there we got out of the car. The officers had made a mistake in not handcuffing me though. We were walking towards the building & as soon as they looked in the opposite direction I made a break for it. The station was downtown. I ran across the street & started running down the sidewalk. They started chasing me. I was small, so I was really fast. I was always a good runner. I probably ran half a mile before bystanders started to get curious. I had been caught off guard when I heard a strangers voice call out my name. "Oakley!" They said. & by instinct I slowed down & looked back. As soon as I did I knew I fucked up. I kept running. "It's her!" The officer yelled as he was catching up to me. I only ran faster. I reached the end of the black before he caught me. He handcuffed me & walked me back to the station. There, Zayn was in handcuffs sitting in a holding cell.
"No! Zayn." I shouted. "Let him go."
"Oakley, it's okay. You're safe now." The officer said.
"No. He didn't hurt me." I insisted. "Let him out!" I insisted.
"You need to come with us before we can let him go." He told me.
I was then taken for blood work. I knew that would be the end of it after the results came back."

***

I was sat in a locked room when the officer came back in. "Oakley." He said. "That's who you really are. You know everyone's been looking for you for months."
"I don't care."
"Where were you?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Did he hurt you?"
I hesitated at first. Then I knew what to say. "Okay yes. I am Oakley Karwell. & maybe he did take me. I thought he was going to hurt me. But he never did. & maybe he held me hostage for months before we started our new life. He's not a bad person. He just wanted someone to love & someone to love him. That's what I was for him. I do love him. So please. Just let us go. We're happy now."
"We can't let him go. Who's to say he won't try taking someone else."
"He won't do that. Not if he has me... you know, I wanted to go home for so long. I sat in a dark basement for weeks. Probably even months, just hoping that some how some way I would be found & brought back to my family. But the longer it took the easier it got. It stopped being a bad thing... so yes, I did want to go home. I was scared. I was his hostage, his stow away, whatever you want to call it. But you took too long. Maybe if you were better at your job I would have happily went home. But not now. Now we're happy. I won't let you take me away from him."
"Oakley, it doesn't work like that. He's going to jail. & you're going back home."
"No. You can't!" I started having melt down. I was so furious. I just wanted to be back in our apartment with Zayn. I so had wished I never answered the door. It took me a while to calm down again. The officer said that he would take me to say goodbye to Zayn.
We got to the room & he took my cuffs off & opened the cell. I walked in. I was crying.
"Zayn I'm sorry."
"It's okay." He said.
"I shouldn't have opened the door. This is all my fault."
"Oak... it's okay. We had a good run. Just never forget... I love you."
"I love you too." I said & then kissed him. I was then taken out of the cell. I broke down as soon as they took me out of the room. It was so bad. They must have had to sedate me, because the next thing I knew I was waking up in a hospital bed in a hospital room.