The Silence That Surrounds: Screams of the Damned

Narrator’s POV:

“Fuck you, Harry!” Sophia screamed, her knife gripped tightly in her good hand while her other one laid uselessly in a sling across her chest.

Harry, who had all but forced Sophia out of bed on their third week of rest – which happened to be a very eventful time and the other boys were only glad they had become self-sufficient to make it out of bed by themselves during the first week, though Sophia still needed assistance in the shower due to her severe break and it was driving her absolutely mad. She was livid and wanted nothing more than to still be in bed. It was only half past seven and they had been outside for over an hour and a half already.

“You’ve said that for about the hundredth time now, luv. Now, grip the knife and –“Harry hit the ground as it came hurling towards his head.

“FUCK YOU!” Sophia screamed, seeing the knife land over Harry’s head without incident and the way she was feeling, she truly wanted to be anywhere but on wet grass after a good downpour, with chilly winds blowing against her.

Niall, Liam and Zayn sat on the steps watching. They were woke up by their extremely loud arguing and it ended with Harry throwing Sophia over his shoulder and dropping her on the wet ground outside. Naturally, they followed to see what would pursue. It was strictly for entertainment purposes only and had it not been so early, the other lads would have been passing around popcorn.

“Harry got up from the wet grass, his clothes stained from the ground but he refused to give into Sophia’s stubbornness.

“Trust me, beautiful, if I could bypass this training, I would but I can’t. I’m doing this for your benefit and not mine so try to be grateful.” Harry responded to her name calling with patient demeanor. He realized Sophia had fallen into a down spiral and the only thing he could offer her was what he knew – that is, if she was willing to learn.

“Fuck you, arsehole.” Sophia seethed, watching as Harry calmly tossed her knife back. She picked it up with a tightly clenched fist.

“Alright, so, focus on the target you want to hit, that’s where aiming comes into handy.” He continued to explain despite her extreme anger.

Zayn snorted.

“She’s trying to aim for you dipshit. Give her a nonmoving target, mate.” Zayn heckled, making Harry look over with a scowl.

“Alright, the wall Zayn’s sitting at, aim for –“Harry did a high flip backwards to avoid the knife being aimed at his crotch but not without him letting out a loud exclamation with the movement. He landed up right and confiscated the knife. “Sophia, you can aim to take me out or make me childless all you desire but the only thing you’re going to achieve is pissing me off. Now –“

Sophia ran forward with her good hand raised into a fist to strike him. Liam flinched, watching Harry drop the knife and counteract her punch by flipping here around, enclosing her back against his chest, heaving in and out to take in adequate air.

“Sophia, please? I know you don’t want to but we need to do this, broken fingers or not – do you want to survive here?” Harry reasoned but she struggled, ignoring his question.

“Do you, luv? Because I want you to. I want you to have this chance and you can still do so much even hindered the way you are but you must listen and stop trying to harm me, I’m only doing what’s best for you.” Harry’s deep voice breathed out breathlessly, his wispy exhalation calm and honest. There was not once ounce of a lie laced into his words and that stilled Sophia, letting her body relax against his.

“What’s the point when there’s nothing left to go on for? I have no one. It was taken or it left me and you stand there like you know what I’m going through, so let me ask you this, curly, what do I have left to fight for? What purpose do I have to go on? I want the world to stop because I want off. I’ve had three weeks to decide and I just don’t care. I just –I want to go home. I’m tired of trying to find a reason for fighting. I’m going to fail and you know it. Why the false faith? Surely your belief in me is mistrusted because it’s all I’ve felt as of late. Let the world disappear and fade, it’s the least you could do.” Sophia spat, tensing in his hold but he kept his mouth by her ear and his arm securely over her chest, un-relinquishing.

“My trust in you is not mistrusted. You have my belief, Nightshade. You have always had it because the strength in you is remarkable – extraordinarily so. I want you to find a way to move forward, I want you to see it in yourself. Use that anger, I can see it but now we have to spark it.” Harry reasoned, his calmness seeping from him into Sophia, he felt her stop tensing.

“Fuck you.” She finally spoke but it was defeated, her breath in time with his, the air tense around them now.

“If you keep saying that, luv, I’m going to take that as a verbal invitation. Now, let’s see that anger. Let me see what the redhead in you has.” He encouraged, looking up at the opening door of the cabin, Louis appearing behind it. His face had cleared up a lot, a few red marks that were still healing but the cream and moisturizing sticks had helped a ton the past three weeks of rest.

“What’s the happening?” He questioned, sitting down next to Zayn.

Zayn shrugged and gestured out.

“Harry, training – knives, poor aiming and one pissed off red head.” He summed it up, making Louis smirk.

“This I got to see.” Louis chuckled, joining the rest of the audience on the steps away from the chaos.

“Or you could get up off your lazy arses and help? Just a thought, ya know, in case you four wanted to?” Harry emphasized on the word wanted.

“Nope, we’re good here, thanks though for the offer, mate.” Louis bantered back.

“Wasn’t a request, Tomlinson. I’m getting nowhere here and we are getting even less movement on her part. I’m the one dodging all the throws. How about helping? That goes for anyone NOT busy and look – here you all are, thanks for volunteering. Now get the fuck down here! NOW!” He barked, making the other boys hop up and begrudgingly come down the stairs, Sophia’s body still pinned against Harry’s. He seemed to notice and pushed her into Louis as he approached.

Louis steadied her, frowning. It was way too early in the morning for this drama.

Niall stopped at the bottom of the steps, clearing his throat.

“Actually, can I go start on the cooking? I don’t see how much help I can –“

Harry glared at Niall, making him go quiet.

“Actually he’s right, Harry. He’s less physically involved. He knows the basics but what help can he really be?” Zayn came to Niall’s defense.

Harry stared at Niall for a moment before muttering under his breath.

“I don’t know how he’s made it so many years around here.”

Louis followed the other’s stares, shrugging.

“He knows enough to survive and he does what he’s told. Just like Damien wanted. Let him be, mate. Zayn and I will help, Liam can assist Niall in the kitchen. The past few weeks they’ve had, I’d say they earned a bit of a break.” Louis agreed, earning a small nod of agreement from Zayn.

“The three weeks THEY’VE had? What about me? You’re not the one whose nuts almost got roasted on an open electrical fire!” Harry argued, earning a snort from Louis.

“It wasn’t that bad, stop over reacting. The TV fell, caught the carpet on fire. It can happen to anyone.” Louis counteracted, making Harry look at him incredulously.

“It caught fire to my bed and all you did was stand there like a dim wit and then there’s Niall’s lack of ability to use a bloody fire extinguisher!” Harry exclaimed.

Louis shrugged.

“Like I said, mate, it can happen to anyone. Now, let’s focus on Sophia, yeah?” He took a moment to spare the Bradford boy a glance. “Zayn? You’re the best at knife anatomy. She seems to be in a right mood so I don’t think handing her a sharp object is the safest plan. Take a walk with her and explain the lethal and nonlethal points of the human body, I’m going to have a proper discussion with our curly haired leader here and by the time you return, we might have settled some issues. Off yous get.” Louis dismissed, taking Sophia’s good hand and placing it in Zayn’s.

Sophia tried to pull away but Zayn entwined their fingers.

“Come on Sophia, we have some stuff to discuss.” Zayn said, starting to walk towards one of the path but stopped when Sophia didn’t budge. Her eyes were a hollow blue but there was a sad hopelessness to them and a tad bit of anger.

“You think you can tell me what to do? I don’t want to learn to stab someone. I don’t bloody care! Let Damien kill me, I don’t give a fuck!” Sophia growled, shaking her hand away from Zayn but he wasn’t having it. Instead he unhooked their fingers and took her arm, sending a clear warning before looking at Louis and holding his other hand out.

Louis nodded and took the knife from Harry, putting it into Zayn’s, each guiding the other in the opposite direction.

Niall folded his arms across his chest and turned to Liam who was standing next to him. It seemed they had been forgotten in the midst of things.

“So, Liam? Preferences for breakfast this morning?” He asked, figuring he was sticking to his own affairs and letting the other boys handle Lady Capulet and Lord Montague’s antics. He had more adult things to tend to.

“How about a traditional one this morning?” Liam suggested, turning to walk up the steps, his feet hollow on the wood.

“Traditional? Alright. A ton of heart attack inducing bacon, eggs and sausage with fried bread and baked beans covered in sliced mushrooms.” Niall agreed, heading up the steps.

“Don’t forget the porridge. Harry seems to enjoy that more. Remember? He’s more –“Liam paused, trying to find an acceptable word.

“Puritan.” Niall chuckled, following Liam into the cabin to start on breakfast.

“I was going to say healthy but – bout sums it up.” Liam agreed, shutting the cabin door as they entered.

*

Harry’s POV:

“She’s impossible!” I yelled when we were out of earshot, making Louis frown, looking back briefly before stopping when we were further from the clearing.

“Harry? I don’t know if you noticed or have paid attention the past couple of weeks but all she does is sleep. Yelling at her and dragging her outside in wet weather is not a way to earn her cooperation. What she needs is a day out from the cabin. Maybe go take her to see Broker? If there’s anyone that can help her see reason, it’s him. Come on, H, you know I’m right. That and I have a craving for his fish and chips, bring some back?” Louis smirked.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, beyond worried.

“I really don’t know what I can do, Louis. Broker is nice company but he’ll only be able to help so much. I’ve tried talking to her and apologized for whatever psychotic break I had around her but –“Louis stopped me from going on with a hand to my shoulder, I turned to him, his dark blue eyes intense.

“Let’s not even go there. You caused quite a stir around here. Zayn knows his ex-girlfriend now has no arms and legs and Niall knows his family are still alive. You owe more than Sophia an apology…well, your psychosis does. I know you didn’t mean to personally so stop worrying. Just – get her to Broker. He’ll give her a chat.” Louis smiled but it seemed even he was unsure.

I nodded.

“She’s given up. What do we do about that? I mean – we could get one of our inner circles to end it? Give her some peace? We’re technically not allowed now -“I paused when I saw Louis’s eyes go hard again.

“We went through hell for the lass. We are not ganking her because she wants us too. We’re a gang, Harry, not the bloody fucking mafia. Her mistakes are ones she will have to live with and work through. The only thing we can do is give her a reason.” Louis responded rationally but he looked as unsure as I felt.

“How do we do that? Her brother was her reason.” I said, a quiet sigh escaping my lips. I brought my hand up and ran it through my thick, curly hair.

“We can try a patient approach? Perhaps kinder?” Louis reasoned.

Evidently Louis has lost his touch and I thought I was taking a softer approach?

“I didn’t beat her when she kept on saying ‘fuck you’ and ‘fucking git’ the first forty minutes. I believe that is a gesture of kindness. I’m not going to kiss her forehead and coddle her. Sophia doesn’t need that, she needs to get her head together because right now she’s as helpless as a kitten. If Damien wants her now, she is as good as dead and I have no power over the situation. It’s utterly draining, Louis. She needs to fight.” I tried to get him to see my point but he merely nodded.

“I understand, Harry. I do but she’s lost everyone and everything. She’s killed two people and – well, she’s not us. Someone’s first kill is something that stays with them. She killed her father. The dick was a dog but he was still her father and she cared about him. Christian –he was an innocent. The look in her eyes faded with his, mate. I saw it better than anyone.” He started to walk further away and I followed for lack of anything else to do, his feet stopping at the infamous marijuana plant. It was left over from Damien’s harvest, well, the seeds were. Louis stole a few and grew his own breed of plant.

He took out his pipe and began to back some of the Cush leaves from the plant, breaking them up and packing them into the small pipe.

“You’re going to smoke your brain to cloud nine one too many times and have trouble coming down one of these days and its fucking 7:45AM – who gets high this early in the bloody morning?” I demanded, watching him take his lighter out and offer it up to me. I declined.

Louis shrugged and put it to his own mouth, lighting it up and inhaling the strong smoke, the plant’s toxin hitting his lungs like a sweet natural vaporizer.

He coughed the smoke out and chuckled, his eyes beginning to redden after only one hit.

“It’s five o clock somewhere, mate. Besides, it makes thinking easier. Makes it a lot more focused and quiet,” Louis said, chuckling a little.

“Want to hear a joke? This guy told it to me, this was awhile back mind you. He told it to me just before I killed him, though, to be honest I don’t feel so guilty. He at least left with a smile on his face.”

I shook my head.

“And you say I have issues, Lou?” I snorted but laughed a little, seeing him inhale again, blowing a thick ring of smoke out before taking his finger and cutting the circle in half.

“Why not get her high? Everybody’s happy when they’re stoned. Hell, I just baked a batch of cookies using about six ounces of weed. Got about 20 dozen out of the lot – speaking of which we need to restock on sugar, eggs and milk.” He replied as an afterthought.

I groaned in response. I hated shopping.

“Did you mark the cookies? So the other lads know?” I asked, making Louis squint, going silent before he chuckled and shrugged.

“They’re in a large container, no one’s going to touch them. Anyhow, how do you get four elderly ladies to say fuck?” He snickered, inhaling the drug again.

I remained silent, hearing him start to laugh.

“Have the fifth one say bingo!”

My lips remained tight lined. This was going to be an extremely long day.

“I’m going inside to get the keys, you have fun, Lou. I’ll see you when we get back. Just make sure to have your phone handy so I can get a hold of you if we break down or something.” I waved and walked away, hearing him laugh uncontrollably at his own joke.

*

Zayn’s POV:

I walked Sophia to the tree we practiced at the first time, seeing the chip marks from her progress. I helped her sit down, making sure she didn’t try to run before kneeling next to her with a heavy sigh.

“Angel? Tell me what’s going on? Please? As amusing as it was to watch Harry do a backflip to protect his family crest, there’s something deeper than just the training that’s troubling you, isn’t there?” I prompted gently.

“You must be related to Sherlock because no shit, Watson.” She snapped back, folding her arms over her chest and not saying another word.

I chuckled. Hearing her comebacks was somehow amusing. She was a redhead in the truest form – no debate about that.

“Flower? I know everything seems to be cast in shadow right now but I promise it will get better. It did for me and believe it or not? My treatment when I came here was far worse than yours. Count yourself lucky that Harry took mercy on you. I was kept in a dog cage for three weeks – chained in the cage with my hands zip tied together and attached to one of the bars. I was envious of Niall, he only got chained down at nights but was allowed up to roam a little during the days. He had his foot chained to the bed and that was it. The basement was bloody cold at night and made even worse when you are forced to piss yourself and hosed down every few days like a rabid animal. Don’t think your life so bad, my darling love. You were luckier than most of us.” I explained, my hand going to her hair to play with the rough looking dull strands. There was even red roots beginning to show which contrasted terribly with the black dye. I felt sorry for her because behind the broken exterior laid someone who wanted something that she could never have again. Normality. It’s what we all wanted, a chance to live a normal life. We couldn’t, we’ve been in this dark world for far too long. The only time we conversed with outsiders was when we went shopping and to the bakery. I loved the elderly women behind the counter, their cheerful disposition and playful banter always made me smile. Edna was my favorite, she always snuck me in a few extra pastries and kissed my cheek. Sort of sad that the only affection I get is from a kindly elder grandmother. Hard to also believe that the woman isn’t bald from having twenty-six grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren and five great, great grandchildren – not to mention baring eleven children. I’d of ran away, changing my name and move to an unknown address in the process if I had to father that many; I’d go mad.

“You don’t know what’s going on in my mind, Zayn. Don’t fucking pretend you have even the slightest clue. Assumptions make an ass out of both me and you, so why not just piss off and leave me to my suffering? I wish to go about it alone, you can’t help me anyhow.” She sassed, moving her head from my gentle touch.

“I can’t help if you don’t tell me. Angel, I know you’ve lost a lot but life goes on. It has to.” I reasoned, wanting to hug her but I knew if I did I’d get slapped.

“Yeah, like Perrie, right? Like Caroline? You know, I wish someone would finish me off so you don’t have to go through all the bullshit. That was your quote, right?”

I flinched, realizing what I had said to her that day was uncalled for. I was upset about Perrie.

“I’m sorry I said that. I didn’t mean it, Sophia. I didn’t.” I tried to convince her but all I saw was the broken sadness reflecting in her blue worn eyes.

“Tell me something, Zayn? Tell me what she did to comfort you when you were sad or better yet, what did you do? Did you leave her helplessly chained down on the bed and force feed her, ignoring her pain or was it different with her and Caroline? Huh? Why did I have to go through all of it alone? Why couldn’t one of you blokes just swallow your pride and hug me when I cried? The only time you hugged me was when I was about to die. Was that just guilt?” She forced out a laugh to cover the beginning stages of a sob.

“Perrie was very special to me from the beginning, Sophia. Caroline was everything to Niall. We took care of them the best we could. In fact, I remember a week after we took Perrie, I came in to give her food and she was crying, I sat at the edge of the bed and stared down at her, wordlessly. It was corny but I couldn’t stop relishing in her beauty, she stared and I opened up with the worst joke. I said ‘you know, a beautiful girl like you shouldn’t be crying’” I laughed at the memory, reaching over to Sophia, gently beginning to play with the strands of her hair, continuing after the short pause to recollect my memory. God, I miss her.

“She sniffed and said ‘neither should a pretty boy like you.’ Her feet weren’t tied down and before I could blink she lifted her leg up, moved it and kicked me right in the dick. Needless to say I screamed like a girl, fell from the bed clutching myself, food all over me and the floor and what’s worse is she did make me cry. Harry comes in and sees all this before ordering Louis to fully restrain her to the bed. I didn’t let him though and though it took but she finally came around when she saw I wasn’t going to hurt her. As time went on, we both fell and when it came time for her to leave, she had to be sedated. Perrie didn’t want to and I didn’t want her to go but in this life, attachments are dangerous. It’s not because you weren’t any less beautiful or important, love. It’s because it is too painful to care about someone and have them leave you. You know that feeling well. I’m just sorry you have to feel that loss. There are no words I can say that will make Dylan come back. He shouldn’t of had to leave in the first place, he was a truly good lad.” I smiled, the tears welling up in Sophia’s eyes.

“Niall says it never gets easier. Dylan left me a notebook of his drawings. The other day, I had the guts to finally look at it again, you know? He had drawn two hands, entwined together. A male’s hand and female’s hand, the male’s hand was large. It said ‘forever’ I think it was Dylan and I, it looked like my hand. It said forever under the hands but it’s not forever for me, is it? He lied to me. Everyone always lies to me, Zayn and I’m sick of it!” She yelled, a loud cry of frustration filling the tense air. I simply grab her into a hug, giving her forehead some support as she wraps her arms around my shoulder and lets it go.

I didn’t try to shush her or calm her. I felt her loss too. I understood more than anyone.

“Perrie was special, Sophia. She was full of such life and beauty that there can never be a replacement. Just like your brother to you. We can never replace them in our hearts and they haunt us. They haunt us so much that they are a constant memory. Though us, they are alive. You have to carry on so that they can carry on. Don’t make yourself their unfinished business. We have enough ghosts lurking in our minds here, we can’t be the reason they stay. I’m begging you as a former fellow hostage and as a friend, use their death to fuel your survival. Be the reason they died because if you give up, they died in vein. Dylan…Christian? He was an innocent to it all and Damien murdered him. You saved him, your purpose is far more beautiful than you realize.”

She shook her head, tightening her grip.

“I have no friends, I have no one. Your obligation is to help protect its members and I am just the inconvenience. Why won’t you let me die, Zayn? Harry would never have to know. I miss my brother and mother so much that it hurts to breathe. The ach in my chest…it’s breaking my heart in fucking two and you’re all being sadists. You’re making me suffer. It’s hard to wake up and find beauty in anything. It’s hard to breathe from all the crying I’ve done and no one cares. You all walk by and pretend that you don’t see tears pooling in my lap. If no one else gives a fucking damn, then why the fucking bloody shit should I?!” Her voice screeching next to my sensitive ear drums.

I tightened my hug with one arm and cautiously let my other hand wander to her bare arm in the sling, moving it back and forth in a gentle motion on her arm with two fingers.

“Because no one can see invisible tears, darling. I would have comforted you, I would have been there for you if you needed me to. Right now, you have the whole world’s weight on your shoulders and it’s crushing you. Give me some to bare and tell me what I can do, Sophia. I want to be your friend in this pace because truthfully? I could use one too. Just tell me what you want and I –“She cut me off, her raspy voice barely a whisper this time.

“I wish I could go back to the last night Dylan and I spent together. I would hug my brother and tell him that I love him, that I’m going to miss him. I wish more than anything that there was an invention to bring someone back to life for five minutes. If I had five minutes, I’d hug him, tell him what an amazing and incredible person he was. I would tell him so he knows because he doesn’t know. He died singing me to sleep and I never got to say goodnight or to tell him what he meant to me and that’s what hurts. I feel this despair in me because he doesn’t know. I want my brother and no one can give him back to me. I want to say I love you! Zayn, I never got to say goodbye. I want Dylan. I want to be free and go home. I want to be with Dylan, I don’t want to be here no more! Make the pain stop, Zayn, please tell me how to make it stop. I want it to stop!” She screamed, her breath hyperventilating and her cries growing louder and louder until they echoed around us. I was absolutely lost on how to even comfort her but I tried, I hugged her tighter, shushing her soothingly but it came out as a cardboard cut emotion.

I looked over at the quick approaching figure, seeing it was Harry. I gave him a desperate look and he came over quickly.

“What happened? What’s wrong, angel?” Harry tried asking as I struggled to get up with her, Harry quickly assisting me but Sophia was too emotional to hold herself up, crashing back onto her knees and using her only good hand to cover her eyes.

Harry bent down gingerly and picked her up bridal style without a word or complaint.

“I want to go home, Harry. I want to be free, want to go home. I want my brother, I want to go home!” She sobbed out frantically, making Harry look at me with a similar look. Like I stated before – we have absolutely no idea how to handle this situation.

Finally, with a soft sigh he replied.

“Alright, hun; we’ll go home. I’m taking you to London for the day. I think you and I need to pay Broker a visit and then we’ll do some shopping. A little bit of familiarity might be the healthiest thing for you right now.” Harry reason, turning to walk back towards the clearing.

“I don’t want to – I just want to go home with Dylan. I never even got to say goodbye. He doesn’t know Harry. He doesn’t even know I loved him!” She continued to plead and sob.

The only thing I could do was follow the pair, Harry’s expression as lost as mine. Women were a mystery. A beautiful, broken mystery. Delicate as flowers, crushed with the slightest bit of pressure and Sophia was destroyed beyond recognition. She was – a beautiful disaster. Managing to open up and break to pieces at the same time.

Harry and I reached the cars, his decision to take the tinted windowed black Range Rover. I ran to the left side of the car opening it.

Harry put Sophia in and reached delicately over her shoulder to grasp the seatbelt but he paused, their faces close together and their eyes meeting at the same time.

“I don’t want to feel this anymore, Harry. I just want it to go away. Tell me how to stop it or let me go home so I can tell Dylan I love him. He has to know I care. I want to say goodbye.” She sniffled, chest heaving, which was usually a sign another sob was about to come.

Harry just stared into her beautiful blue eyes for a few tranquil moments, his hand slowly moving to her face, his palm flat against her wet cheek, leaning in ever so slightly.

Oh God, he isn’t –is he?

“Harry that’s not a –“I started but my voice died in my throat as Harry met Sophia’s lips in a soft fragile kiss.

Yep – he did and that was when I saw Sophia’s eyes come to life in realization, her good hand raising up.

I had no time to warn Harry as it was brought down hard across his face, their lips torn apart and his head snapping back violently with a deafening crack.

“NO! You fucking cad! I didn’t – you…you didn’t…fuck you!” She screamed.

I saw the red handprint start to form on his cheek right away and boy was it a stinger. It made me cringe for him but Harry was calm, simply bucking her seatbelt and climbing out of the passenger side, shutting the door.

“So that’s what it takes to snap her out of it?” I asked, sarcasm clearly shining out in my tone.

Harry shrugged, though he had a slight put off look on his face – which I might add suited the red handprint perfectly.

“It worked, didn’t it? We’ll be back soon. A day out will hopefully help with her sanity. We’re going to see Broker, maybe he’ll be able to fix her –hopefully. You’re in charge, everyone’s toked out of their minds. Louis is smoke a plant and Niall and Liam are currently trying to fry wax fruit for breakfast. Evidently the cookies Louis baked were pot cookies and Niall and Liam decided to have some before breakfast and weren’t aware…make sure they don’t burn the cabin down. I’m going out, I’m not dealing with their antics –“ His rant was cut short by the high wail of the smoke detector, making Harry grunt, walking to the driver’s side door on the right and getting in, muttering to himself. “I told Louis to put a bloody label on them but the hell if anyone listens to me anyhow, no one ever bloody fucking listens to me around here because evidently I don’t know shit.”

With that his door slammed shut and he was gone, leaving me the only sane person in this monkey house.

I looked at the cabin door as it flung open, Niall coming out, heavy black smoke following him – Liam following a second after.

“Run! The fruit’s exploding,”

I ran into the house and saw melted wax everywhere – and the kitchen counters on fire. Fuck my life and everything in it.

I ran to get the fire extinguisher. One thing’s for sure, that marijuana tree is being burned, with Louis tied up to it if there was any hope in hell.

*

Narrator’s POV:

Sophia’s breath was ragged but evening out as the minutes pass, her eyes ahead unblinking, waiting for Harry to demand she put on a blindfold but he was silent, his mind in deep wonder. He knew pissing Sophia off snapped her out of her near breakdown and he had expected the slap even before he got it but the moment his lips met hers, there was a spark. Not a love at first kiss spark but…something special. He just didn’t know what. Harry didn’t know anything other than violence but with Sophia – she wasn’t someone in his world that belonged. She wasn’t violent the way he was. She was a flower, his flower. A deadly nightshade and he loved the unpredictability she brought to the group, no matter how dangerous it was.

“Do you have a blindfold?” Sophia asked hoarsely, not even looking at him.

“You won’t need them anymore, Sophia. I’m letting you see the main road out. Do with it what you will. If you want to be free, I’m not going to stop you but I can’t take the tracker out of you. You want out of the group? Then run, let them catch you – let them torture and kill you because I can’t stand to see you like this anymore but I won’t be the one to pull the trigger. My hands have too much blood on them, innocent blood and I’m not adding yours to the mix. I want to help you survive, help you have a fighting chance but I can’t do that if you won’t let me. So die, don’t die but don’t you fucking dare ask me to do the dirty work because I won’t. I’m leaving it all up to fate.” Harry explained, his voice holding on to his emotions to keep them from falling apart. He was helpless to help Sophia if she didn’t even want to help herself.

“I never got to say goodbye,” She whispered, bringing her knees to her chest. “I just wanted to hear him say that he loved me, I wanted him to hug me back. I just want to hear him say he loved me and I never got to tell him. I fell asleep while he sang to me, Harry. I was selfish, selfish cause I fell asleep and didn’t say it and never got to hear him say it back.” Sophia babbled on, resting her forehead on her knee as they continued quietly along the muddy dirt road.

Harry wanted to close his eyes but considering he was driving, that wouldn’t have been a smart choice so he took a quick glance at the unhinged girl before his attention was back at the road.

“I did. I was there when he tucked you into bed, I heard him whisper how proud he was of you, how much he would miss you. How he wished he could stay. That he would be with you. He loved you very much Sophia. I had to force him from the room to get him to bed but he tucked you in, he hugged you and he kissed you. He knew you loved him too, his eyes looked so fondly over you, angel. There was so much love inn them – so, so much. Please don’t cry. He knows and you know he does,” Harry paused to let it sink in, speaking up again to continue. “If I could, I’d give anything in this world to bring Dylan back to you because I know what it’s like to lose family and I want you to go on more than anything. I can’t make you though and I know that. You can leave and I won’t stop you but if there’s even a small bit of doubt, I beg of you to reconsider what’s at stake. Because if you leave – it’s death for us all. When one is caught and tortured – the others in that circle are all executed but I’m tired of fighting you and everyone else. So go if you’re gonna go but you won’t make it far. The choice is yours alone my luv, I can say no more of it and I won’t waste the extra energy.”

Sophia didn’t say anything. This was all incredibly fucked up but not as much as it was going to be in just a few short hours because what Sophia didn’t know was the events that were predestined to play out was also going to enact a huge part in what determined her future – not just hers but everyone in the cabin.

**

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hi readers! What a chapter, eh? Bet no one saw that coming. I hope you liked it though! Anyhow, those who want to be a character in TSTS: Just message me or comment in the comment section with character personality, character description, age, gender, name you want them as. Here are the positions open now: Hostages of Harrys, drug dealers they trade with, workers or victims at the playhouse with Dr. Sadistic if you want to be his assistant lol…um, there’s Damien’s gang and working closely with him. There’s the Cage, an underground fighting ring to the death. You can be handlers or you can be fighters who fight Harry, Louis and Zayn…though keep in mind fight to the death haha. There’s also a position for Asher Heart’s wife who is a very nasty bitch, conspiring against Ashton with his twin brother Ashely. She cheated on him for years with Ashley and she’s carrying Ashley’s kid, who she was trying to pass off as Asher’s. There’s plenty of drama happening there and that stuff takes place at the cabin. Then there’s odds and ends like drug dealers, there’s also ‘jobs’ like executions and kidnappings or exchanges of humans or drugs or guns, arms dealers…I dunno, if you have ideas, let’s hear them and we can talk where to add you. Anyhow, thanks for being such bloody amazing readers. You guys are seriously the best!

Notes