Hopeless

Chapter 4

Phoenix's POV

I woke with a start, a feeling of panic coursing through my veins. It wasn't that I had been moved to a bed in a room that I guessed was now mine; it was the fact that my phone was ringing; or more so, I didn't recognize the number.

"Hello?" I answered the phone cautiously, trying to keep my voice and hands steady.

"I'm coming to get you," a drunken voice slurred in my ear before the line went dead. On the inside, I was freaking out, almost hyperventilating. I was scared for my life, and I didn't know what to do. I'd seen what that man could do when he was drunk; my body was living proof. On the outside, however, I knew I had to keep the bored-teenage-girl facade up. No one was allowed to know.

"Knock knock," a deep voice said at my closed door, shaking me out of my reverie. Not wanting him to see the bruises, I pulled the blankets up to my chin; that, and I wasn't wearing a bra (I woke up in the middle of the night and changed into proper pyjamas). If he asked, I was cold.

"Come in," I called out from my comfortable bed.

"Oh good. You're awake," Harry came in with the other lads and Kamron.

"What's up? Why are you all in here?" I asked, plainly confused.

"Are you ok?" Zayn asked me. I could tell he and the other lads were genuinely concerned for me; I could almost picture Zayn's face doing a Flynn Rider smolder.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered perhaps a little to quickly. "I was just getting ready to get up and get ready, but I can't do that until you all leave." They all stood there looking at me like I was forgetting something.

"Well, aren't you going to shoo us out or something?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, Eleanor is always kicking me out of her room," Louis piped up, referring to his longtime girlfriend, Eleanor Calder.

"I would," I took a deep breath in, trying not to wince in their presence. "But I'm really cold, so I would need my sweatshirt and sweatpants if you really want me to shoo you out." Niall tossed me my favorite black pullover and my PINK sweatpants; those would work just fine. I quickly put the clothes on underneath the covers and shooed them out of the room, keeping Kamron with me, and saying, "Now the sooner you leave, the sooner I can get ready."

"Do they know?" I asked Kamron, keeping my voice dangerously low. She didn't answer, so asked her again, this time a little louder. She slowly nodded her head. "Why?" I asked.

"They know you have the bruises, but they don't know the backstory. They're just trying to protect you," she protested as I shoved her out the door.

****

Niall's POV

Phoenix took so long getting ready, I'm pretty sure I almost fell asleep, but sneaky Louis took her phone when we left. Something wasn't right, and I had to get to the bottom of this.

Her phone rang with a text from some guy named Joseph. Who was he, an ex? Her current boyfriend? Her cousin? Whoever it was had said, 'I'm going to find you. You can run, but you can't hide.'

"Look at this text," I showed Liam and Zayn the phone.

"She doesn't need to see this," Liam said, taking the phone and deleting the single-message conversation. What Phoenix didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"Act natural and plug her phone in, mates. She can't know we were on her phone," Zayn said, casting worried glances at the stairs, keeping watch for us.

"Have any of you seen my phone?" Phoenix asked as she came down the stairs. And not a moment too soon after Liam plugged in her phone. Almost as if on cue, Louis pretended to hit his head on the refrigerator while grabbing a bag of carrots.

"Are you ok?" she rushed over to Louis, focusing her attention away from Liam and Zayn.

"I hit my head and it hurts," he whined, milking it for all it was worth to save our butts.

"Here, let me get you some ice," she led him over to a bar stool after she gave him the ice.

"Can you kiss it and make it all better. Phoenixbear?" Louis pouted, really getting into it.

"Boobear! What about us?" Harry rose from his seat in indignation.

"Hazzabear, you know it's always been you!" Louis got up and sat in Harry's lap.

"Aren't you hungry?" Liam asked, letting Harry and Louis have their moment.

"No, not really," she answered. None of us could believe her ears. We knew she hadn't eaten since yesterday. She HAD to be hungry.

"Are you sure?" I broke in uncertainly.

"Have a carrot," Louis held out a carrot from his spot on Harry's lap.

"Have five carrots and my Oreos," I counteroffered, rising to get the carton from the cabinet.

"No, I'm fine," she insisted.

"If you say so," I shrugged

****

Phoenix's POV

Phew, that was a close one. Truth was, I was absolutely STARVING.

"Lads, I'm going out. I'll be back later," I called out to really no one in particular. It didn't matter to me if they heard me or not. If they were really that concerned, they could text or call me.

****

"Get in the car," a gruff voice ordered, sticking the muzzle of his gun into my back. I had no choice but to obey his orders. I walked over to the car he directed me to and got in, feeling slight relief knowing that I had my phone with me. But my captor didn't know that. I was only going to walk to the park, but now there was a change in plan.

****

Author's Note

Cliffhanger!!! Who's her captor? Will she be okay? Why didn't she eat anything???? What will the lads do??????

I'm changing the rules of the contest. I decided to just upload this chapter anyway. The contest for cover art is still open, and the winner will get a chapter dedicated to them!

I'm dedicating this chapter to xDanixHemmingsx because she was my first follower and she was the one who persuaded me to put this fan fiction up when I did (I was already planning on putting it on here, just wasn't sure when). She has some pretty good stuff, so y'all should go check her stories out. She has both 1D and 5SOS stuff up, and she's turning me over to the 5SOS side... No, I'm not leaving the 1D fandom, just adding 5SOS to it...

I'm excited to have some people reading this, but I WANT MORE!!!!! Lol..

VOTE!

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But seriously, do tell your friends. And send in designs for cover art.

I may take longer to upload chapter 5 because as I'm revising what I have written in other notebooks and uploading on here, I need to stay ahead of the revising part. And I have finals later this week.... BOO FINALS! But then I can spend more time uploading after those are over!

Love y'all!!

Lizzy-Luci :)