Runaway ~ Aurora

ZAYN.

A splash of ice cold water to my face sends a chill through my entire body, waking me up from the pitch black hole I've been in. I struggle to open my eyes only to find myself in the all too familiar basement. I notice that my legs are untied but my hands still tied together. An angry Harry leans back on a chair directly in front of me, staring me down.

"Get. Up!" Harry commands lowly.

Trying to move body proves to be such a task as pain shoots everywhere. I groan and slowly push myself to stand on my feet. My balance is off and before I could fall, a pair of hands hold me firmly upright. I turn to the side to see Louis.

"Why?" Harry simply asks while getting up from his chair.

"Why what?" I counter knowing very well that this is a losing battle.

Suddenly Harry grabs me by my collar and Louis let's me go. From the way he's breathing, he is ready to do anything just to make me talk.

"Why did you kill her!?" He shouts and shakes me hysterically.

"I didn't."

Before I could say anything more, his fist connects with my abdomen so hard that I bend over in pain. He holds me up again roughly and punches me square in the face.

"Then I'll just beat the confession out of you!" He hits me with another hard blow that sends me flying back on the seat then I fall over. Sharp pains pierce all over my head as my ears ring loud. The warmth of a liquid dripping down into my mouth catches my attention. Blood.

I put my fingers over my nose and bring them in front of my eyes. So much blood. If I'm not wrong, that blow has broken my nose. I find myself laughing for no reason. A loud hearty laughter that seems to have shocked Harry from the expression on his face. I'm starting to lose it I swear.

"So you're just gonna beat on a tied up guy?" I spit some of that blood in my mouth right next to his feet. "How is this a fair fight?" I add.

"In case you haven't noticed, it's not a fight. I'm beating the holy hell out of you." Harry arrogantly replies.

I hold myself up and try to stand up again but I can barely support my own weight. The chair that's lying on the ground gives me support as I struggle. It's surprising how he gives me time to get back on my feet.

"Yeah beat me black and blue. I'm not going to fight you back. We- we both know what this is about so just get it over with." I breathe in between my words.

Harry laughs sarcastically. His eyes have dimmed and lost color. Except for that nasty bruise around his eye. He's high on something.

"You couldn't even do this sober," I utter in pain, standing toe to toe with him.

"Why did you kill her!?" He screams angrily.

"I didn't do it and you know it! This is about Allison so please just fucking get it over with!" I shout equally as loud before being punched again. Connecting with this hard floor is something that I'm getting used to.

"Do you even love her?" If I'm going to die, I want to go knowing.

"Zayn stop." Louis, who seems to have been hiding in a corner pleads with me.

"Don't speak her name!" Harry kicks me in the stomach, knocking out all the air in my lungs. I curl instinctively and wheeze for even a bit of air.

Another boot to my gut rolls me over one more time. I clutch onto my stomach as I begin to fade.

"By the time I'm done with you, you won't even know what's real and what's your imagination." Harry angrily attacks me again.

"The elevator. I never got a chance to thank you." Her voice distantly sounds.

I need to go away with the fondest memories of her.

With every hit on my body, I block out the pain with a memory.

"I'm too scared Zayn." She clutches onto me as the elevator shakes.

"Please don't leave me." She holds on to me as she lays in my bed.

"Put me to sleep.." Oh how I wish I did more on that night.

"I don't usually dance with strangers. Though I feel like I've seen you before." Same feeling I had when I danced with her at the club.

"Hi, I'm Zayn.. "

"Hi, I'm leaving.."

Holy crap.

ALLIE.

Scared.

I'm scared of him. I'm scared of the person that Harry has become. They say that grief is a one-person journey that cannot be understood by others. Grief changes people. And in a lot of ways, the death of Lilly has changed Harry.

The way he treated me last night, like I'm some kind of whore, that's no way to treat someone you care about. I can't begin to imagine the things that he is doing to Zayn down in that basement. The chaos that can be heard through screams and shouts and thuds and breaking of stuff is driving me absolutely crazy.

Even though I've been forbidden from going down stairs, I couldn't help myself. I had to be sure that Zayn is still alive. As the scuffle went on and groans of pain audible, I couldn't take it anymore. I ran back to my room and left the door unlocked and per Harry's orders.

I've been laying on this bed, thinking of how to tell Harry everything. I have wanted to tell him about Nate but the timing is always wrong. I can't work with timing anymore because people have gotten seriously hurt. My friends have lost someone they love so much. In actual sense, I should be the one getting punished and not Zayn. Although, the evidence pointing at him is pretty convincing.

The door flies open and I instinctively shut my eyes. I am facing the other side so whoever it is didn't notice that I was awake.

His strong scent takes over the whole room and I start to shake from the inside.

"I know you're not asleep," Harry speaks.

I slowly turn my head to his direction because I don't want to get into any trouble with him. The site that meets my eyes makes me gasp in horror. His white T-shirt is covered in blood and so are his hands.

"Harry?" I start.

"Harry what did you do?" My eyes fill up with tears as every possibility goes through my mind.

Did he kill Zayn? Is all that Zayn's blood?

"Don't worry, I haven't killed your precious Zayn," he taunts me then adds, "YET."

"Please don't kill him," I whisper.

"Oh for the love of-" he exhales and walks away to the bathroom.

I'm surprised that he didn't get angry. He takes sometime in the bathroom and comes out all cleaned up with his bloody T-shirt in his hand.

"I'm leaving for a brief meeting. You be a good girl now okay?" He comes closer and my heart beats even faster. I look everywhere else but him.

He grabs my chin softly and turns me to face him. He then plants his lips on mine for a few seconds before walking out and leaving me confused.

"Do not try anything stupid!" He yells from outside.

I need to put an end to all this. The only way I can do it is by telling someone about Nate. At least that way, it might buffer some of Harry's anger towards me once he gets to know.

***

Having made sure that Harry had left and Louis and Lacey were nowhere to be seen, I discreetly made my way around the house to get what I needed before heading to the basement.

I turn the lock and twist the big knob slowly, careful not to make any noise. I use my phone for light in order to guide myself down the steps. It's so quiet and dark and I swear it creeps me out.

Holding my phone up, I illuminate the walls in search of a switch. I find one and flip it, making one bulb light up dimly.

There he is. Head hanging low, hands and legs tied up, looking weak and defeated. I'm not even sure if he's conscious or not.

"Zayn?" I whisper as I get closer. He doesn't respond.

"Zayn!" I whisper-shout as I squat in front of him. Just as I'm about to touch his head, he groans and slowly raises his head.

"Jesus.." I utter in shock.

"Is it that bad?" He breaks a smile even when his face is full of bruises and cuts. He can hardly open his left eye as it is extremely swollen.

"I- I.." I lack words.

"Are you really here or this is just one of my-my hallucinations down here?" He opens and closes his functional eye.

"Here drink this," I open the bottle of water and help him drink from it.

"What have they done to you?" I sob softly.

"Nothing I can't handle." He starts. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I- Uh- I came to talk to you," I begin.

The creaking of the floor above startles me.

" I don't have much time. I know a greater chance is that you are innocent." I declare.

"I know." Zayn quickly answers.

"You do?" I'm confused.

"I know you know that I'm not guilty because you, for a fact are guilty." Zayn clearly states.

His features have changed and I can see the seriousness on his face despite the beating.

"Wh-what?" I stutter.

"See, when Harry started giving me this hell of a beating, it was to get a confession out of me." He stops and releases a painful sigh.

"He also said that I wouldn't be- be able to differentiate what's real and what's not. Turns out that this was a memory-jogging kind of beating."

As Zayn continues, I get more and more confused as to where he is going with this.

"I'll be honest, the moments we've shared you and I, have kept me strong in all this. Memories are what keeps us alive so I heard." He scoffs at the end.

"I know you are the mole Allison." He says in an insisting tone.

I get up and take a step back from him.

"I couldn't quite wrap my head around why you were so familiar. Why I felt like I had met you before." He continues his riddle-like explanation.

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

"How much did he pay you? Is your name even Allison?" He starts to get agitated.

"Zayn, I don't know-"

"Please don't fûcking lie to me. I'm as good as dead anyway. But I'll break it down for you. You are working for Nate Donovan. He's the only person I can link you to, seeing as I met you leaving his house just around the same time that you showed up here with Harry."

"I can explain, please hear me out." I plead with him.

"Tik-tok..." he replies. Shit. I don't have a lot of time.

"I am not working for him. He has been blackmailing me and threatening the people I love. I wanted to tell Harry but-"

"But you couldn't because you traded his information. Still a mole." Zayn sarcastically interrupts me.

"I didn't mean for it to go this far. I thought-"

"You thought that letting me take the fall would solve all your problems. And you'd what, run off to the sunset with Harry?"

"No. That's not it. Zayn you have to believe me." I cry. I can't believe I've lost my only hope to ending all this.

"Get out." He simply orders.

"I can fix this." I can't control my crying.

"Get out!" He yells, making me drop the bottle of water.

I pick it up and run as fast as I can to get away from there. My chest is compressing and I can hardly breathe. The air around me feels hot and my ears are steaming.

It's over. It's over for me.

When I open the door, a set of blue eyes meet mine.

"What the hell?" Louis sternly asks.

An:
Sorry. Writers block is a bitch.

Well? What do y'all think about the chapter?

What will happen next?