i n s c a p e. // one direction //

{ t h r e e }

A/N: I might've possibly stolen a line from House at the End of the Street, oops.
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T h r e e.

There was no light, and for a glorious second Dannie thought her mother had killed her, and she had gone to a better place, but then she heard the sound of drunken laughter coming from upstairs, and she realized she was in the basement. She made an attempt to move her arms but was immediately stopped by a sharp pain. Ropes.

It didn't take her long to realize she had been tied to a chair, her arms and legs both immobile at the moment. What the bloody hell?

As heavy footsteps thudded against the stairs, Dannie squirmed already taking a guess at what the outcome of this would be. Phil's obnoxiously loud laugh echoed throughout the basement as he stood in the doorway, a glare aimed in her direction.

"Think you're so damn special," He mumbled, moving closer. "Think you can just leave."

Within seconds, he was only inches away from her face, close enough so that she could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Guess what?" He pressed his mouth against her ear. "Nothing's that easy."

"Get away from me!" She spat, squirming now more than ever. She knew what was going to happen; she wasn't stupid nor was she naive. She had seen what Phil and her mother were capable of; this wasn't going to be an exception.

Dannie fought tooth and nail the second she heard him unzipping what was most definitely his pants. She cried out, spat, but it was doing her no good, which meant that her lovely mother was in on this. Her own mother was going to allow her husband to rape her daughter. How fucking nice.

Phil moved closer and pressed his fingers into Dannie's arms, chuckling slightly as the younger girl made a failed attempt to head butt him. He backed away for a few shorts seconds but only to return with a roll of duct tape. Dannie began to scream as loud as her lungs would allow; this wasn't happening, this so wasn't happening.

But as Phil pressed the duct tape against her lips and moved closer, Dannie knew it was most definitely happening, and she knew she had no way to stop him.

"Scream all you want; nobody can hear you."

...

"Can you hear me?"

Dannie's head was whirling. Everything was dark, and for the second time that night, she hoped she was dead. But she knew better.

"Fuck you," She spat out, waving her arms over her face in defense. Wait. She stopped and opened her eyes. Her arms. She could move them.

She glanced down at herself and immediately realized she had been untied and was now resting comfortably on an air mattress. As she glanced around the room, she immediately recognized the setting and labeled it as Jess's living room.

Jess was kneeling over her, waving a hand in front of her face. Her eyes were wide, and she seemed to resemble a deer caught in the headlights.

"Dannie, I'm so sorry," She immediately apologized, tentatively wrapping her arms around the broken girl. Dannie didn't return the embrace, unable to comprehend what was happening and how the hell she had gotten here.

"They were caught," Jess filled in. "I'm so sorry I didn't believe you."

Dannie couldn't help but feel angry. Why couldn't her cousin have just believed her? She wouldn't have been...

Last night's events raced through her head, and she shivered.

Rape.

Jess could've been a factor in helping prevent that, if only she just would've believed her younger cousin. Granted, she would've had no way to even to predict that Phil would've hurt, let alone rape, Dannie. Either way, the anger still remained.

"We got you out last night. You already talked to the cops, but I guess you don't remember that, do you?"

Dannie numbly shook her head. She wondered exactly how long she had been out.

"You woke me up with your screaming; I was scared something had happened."

Dannie wasn't listening, and she really didn't care to. She supposed she could've tried to understand Jess's reasoning for siding with Jenna, but why should she? She was definitely allowed at this moment to be just a tad bit angry.

...

Dannie spent a week at her cousin's house before suddenly she just couldn't take it anymore. The constant mothering, the constant apologies, it was all just too much for her. Jess was in the middle of babbling, once again, about how much trouble it had been to get Dannie out of her house, when all hell had broken loose.

"Jesus Christ, Jess, will you just shut up?"

The room had fallen silent, the tension thick enough to slice with a knife. Jess stared open-mouthed at her younger cousin, her mouth in the shape of an 'o'.

"I love you for everything you've done, but I can't do this anymore," Dannie exclaimed as she stood up. She quickly made her way to the living room and quickly grabbed a pair of shoes.

"You're not honestly going to leave, are you?" Jess asked, following her younger cousin. "You'll have nowhere to go!"

"I'll find somewhere. I just wanna be by myself for a while," Dannie sighed. "If it gets too bad, I'll come back."

"I can't just let you leave, Dannie! You're sixteen years old!"

"And you're only eighteen! It's not much of an age difference, Jess. Please."

Jess shook her head. "No, Dannie. It's not happening."

"Bloody hell, Jess! I can't live with you anymore! The constant mothering, you're driving me mad!"

Jess crossed her arms, clearly offended. "I have a bit of reason to worry, do I not?"

"I'm turning seventeen in a few weeks; it's not like I'm a child," Dannie huffed, the anger only growing. She wasn't going to let Jess talk her out of this; one way or another, she was leaving.

"But you are a child," Jess said softly, gripping Dannie's arms.

On instinct, the younger girl automatically flinched and pulled away, glancing down at the purple bruises from a week ago that still hadn't quite disappeared.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-."

"Just let me go," Dannie pleaded, already taking a few steps back, her back only inches away from the front door. "Please, Jess."

"No, Dannie, and I mean it. I won't let you talk me out of this."

Dannie slowly nodded her head, waiting for the split second that Jess took her eyes off her. "I understand."

"Do you? Do you, really?" Jess glanced up at the ceiling and roughly placed her hands against her eyes. "Look, I'm not trying to be the-."

She trailed off as she opened her eyes and realized she was talking to thin air, the front door wide open.

Dannie was halfway across the yard by the time Jess had began to call her name. She wouldn't look back, though. She just continued to run.