•Lonely is more than an adjective• || A Number Five x Reader Story

Chapter 16 - Alcohol makes him surly

Allison left, presumably to check on Luther, leaving me and Diego alone in the living room. It was silent, the bleeding now stopped as the wound on my temple healed slowly, the bloodied flannel clenched between my fingers as I thought over the recent events.

"No sign of Five, then?" My gaze lifted to meet Diego's, who's eyes were trained on the cut on my head, healing before his very eyes.

"Weren't you just with him?" I nodded, eyes falling to the floor. He said he would come and get me. I sighed and lifted myself from the sofa.

"He'll probably come around tomorrow. He said he'd find me, so I'm just going to go to bed and wait. He'll have some answers, I'm sure." I didn't even look back at Diego as I left the room, ascending the stairs towards the bedrooms. It was oddly quiet now, without the sound of bullets ricocheting around me, but something else was missing. Mum sat just out of the corner of my eye, still were I had left her earlier. I could hear her humming in my mind, but my ears fell on silence. My trajectory changed, and a hand ran over her shoulder, causing her head to lull to the side, eyes blank and empty.

"Mum?" I grasped her other shoulder and held her up, shaking her lightly in the hope of some response. The embroidery that had been in her hand fell from her lap, swinging against her legs from the thread that went through her skin. This drew my eyes over to her wrist, which was sliced open to reveal dull circuits.

"No no no no NO! MUM?" Inside I knew it was futile, but I continued to shake her as if she were only sleeping. But Mum never slept in 29 years, she didn't even have her own bedroom.

"MUM!" My visions blurred as tears started to fall, my voice turned raspy as I struggled to choke past the sobs that rose up from within me. I wasn't sure how long I had been there, but I felt myself get pulled away from Mum, my hands forced from her body as I was pulled into a chest.

"It's okay... I'm here..." Allison's voice was quiet above me, arms holding me tight as I struggled against her. If I closed my eyes, I might have still been in Mum's arms, her voice telling me it was okay to cry. We sat on the ground until the house went dark, silence falling as the world slept around us. I couldn't stop crying, stop calling out for Mum. She was all I had left in this house, even if she had started faded some time ago. Allison's hand ran through my hair, soft stroke almost hypnotising. I could feel myself fading, eyelids heavy, eyes sore and dry. It was comfortable in Allison's arms, and even as my tears subsided she still held me close, held me till my eyelids gave out and my vision faded to black.

-

I wasn't on the floor when I woke. I almost expected to see someone sat at the foot of my bed, but as I sat up, I saw I was alone. The duvet was wrapped around me haphazardly, as if I had been tucked into bed by an animal, causing me to struggle to get up as my limbs untangled themselves from the sheet. I fell to the floor with a soft thump, wings splayed over me. Awfully undignified, so I was glad no one was around. There's noise from within Five's room, a rustling around through cupboards and my hopes were lifted, I round the corner, only to see Luther crouched on the floor, going through Five's things. Pogo stands behind him, watching as he goes through years old items.

"You're not going to find anything?" My arms are folded over over my chest, looking down on the oversized man. He stopped what he was doing to turn to me, hands full of old paper.

"We need to warn him. He doesn't even know we were attacked. And -"

"What are you doing here?" Diego strode in through the door, his voice dripping with malice. His hand clasped my shoulder as he looked over me to Luther. Silence fell over the room as Luther rises slowly, cautious about his next move.