Day 14      Charlotte POV            (December 30th 2013)

I woke up with a gasp. My head flipped up from where it rested against my shoulder as I hurriedly looked around the dark room. My eyes landed on Niall, sitting there watching me worriedly. He must’ve been the one to wake me up from that frigid nightmare.

The ropes around my ankles burned into my skin. I could only image the scars I would walk away with.

“Y’okay?” Niall asked softly to let the others continue sleeping.

“Mhmm,” I hummed dully. I couldn’t remember any details about the dream, just the fact that it had me practically in tears.

I turned my head slightly to still see Niall staring at me. “Dammit, sweets,” He muttered, “I wanna kiss you so badly right now.”

I allowed myself a small smile.

“The feeling’s mutual.”

Niall grinned sheepishly before the color drained from his face. His head dropped to stare at his lap.

“Niall,” I said slowly, “Don’t be so hard on yourself. This isn’t your fault- you know.”

Niall scoffed, “Fucking hell it isn’t, Charlotte. All of this. This is my fault. I planned the trip to Paris. I convinced everyone to come. I asked Paul and the others to stay at home. All of this, all this fucking nightmare, is my fault.”

I fought with the urge to reach out and touch his cheek- to feel his soft, fair skin beneath my cold fingertips.

I watched his back hunch in depression as he wallowed in anger and self-loathing. I had to do something. I had to give the boy a bit of a distraction.

“The first song I ever heard of yours was More Than This,” I said suddenly. Niall tilted his head up for his eyes to meet mine. I continued, “All of the girls at school were talking about you crazy lot. I went home and begged my mom for your album. She gave me some cash and sent me down to Walmart on my little red scooter and a bright yellow helmet.”

Niall smiled.

“I heard later that you’d all be in town soon. I jumped right online to buy tickets and such. I saved all my money for me and my cousin Valerie to go,” I said with a light laugh. I pictured us giggling as we broke into our piggy banks. “Then,” I stopped to breathe, “Then my, my dad came back. And I just… I just didn’t get to go.”

“He wouldn’t let you?” Niall asked.

I nodded slowly.

There was the distant sounds of clattering upstairs and from down below. Wind pounded the sides of the building, giving me the impression of a rain storm.

“Tell me another story,” He asked of me. His darkening blue eyes gazed at me intently, patiently waiting to hear whatever nonsense I had to utter.

“Well,” I said, trying to rack my brain for any good tales, “Erm… Uh… Oh! Have I ever told you about the songs I used to try and write when I was younger?” He shook his head quickly. “Well,” I started, “When I was super little and a total weirdo I had this big blank book from the dollar store. It was just some peach colored thing with a ribbon along the end. I was known for stealing popular song melodies and writing new, pathetic lyrics to replace the original ones. I think the only truly original song I ever wrote was about chores or something… and I kid you not, it was about a minute and a half long. I was so proud of myself.”

“You should show it to me,” Niall said, “We could put it on the next album or something.”

I laughed, “Sure. Let’s see you try and find it. I’ve hidden that old book so well- you could tear our house apart but never run across it.”

Niall raised a single eyebrow. His blonde eyelashes caught the light streaming in through a break in the wood that boards the windows. “I found your old diaries,” He admitted proudly.

My eyes widened. “You WHAT?” I gasped.

“Mhmm,” He hummed, “I found all four of them, actually. Hidden away in some random box in the deep darks of our hallway closet.”

My face was pale. “Did- did you actually, uh, read them?”

“Duh. Of course I read them.”

“Was it really that bad?” I asked.

“No,” He replied honestly, “Most of it was pretty cute, actually. You ranted a lot about the Jonas Brothers and school. A few complaints about your mum, of course. And then there was a bit of rambling of the topic of a mister primary school crush. That stuff was all fun to read.” He stopped abruptly, as if he decided against saying more.

“But…?”

Niall sighed, “But… but some parts were a bit…”

“Pathetic?” I prompted.

“Intense,” He finished swiftly. “No kid should ever live with what you did, lovely.”

“Yeah,” I mumbled, “So I’ve been told.”

It was quiet except for Louis’ loud mouth breathing and Liam’s soft snoring. I closed my eyes gently and fought to ignore the grumbling in my tummy. I was starving. My stomach was cramping miserably.

“Do you ever… miss him?” Niall asked nervously.

I opened my eyes to peer at him curiously. He dropped his blue gaze from my face to stare at my legs.

“Umm,” I said thoughtfully, “No. Not usually. Sometimes… like when I see you and your dad or Emily and hers. But then, then I have to remind myself that my dad wasn’t like that.”

Niall’s strawberry lips pursed thoughtfully.

“You’ll be a great dad,” I said suddenly. I didn’t realize what I had actually meant until Niall broke into the widest grin. “If- if that’s what you want…” I trailed off.

“Yeah,” Niall said. His head shook up and down vigorously. “I want that. I want it- more than anything.”

“With… me?”

Niall leaned forward and I did the same. Our faces were inches away. “Yes,” Niall said surely. His eyes sparkled brightly despite the dreariness of the room. “Someday, Charlotte, I’m gonna marry you. Then we’ll buy the biggest house in Ireland and have puppies and babies everywhere.”

“Three of them,” I added with a smile. “I want three kids.”

Niall beamed. I could smell his familiar scent- it gave me chills. “Whatever you want, my dear.”

“I think we should name the first after Liam,” I said, “If it’s a boy, that is.”

“And we could call the girl Louise,” Niall smirked, “Or Harriet.”

I bit down on my lip to fight a loud laugh. “Oh my god he’d be so excited,” I noted.

“They should go to a private school. I like that idea.”

“We should live on a farm,” I suggested.

“With animals?”

“Of course,” I laughed giddily, “Horses! Sheep! Maybe we could raise chickens… As long as Max left them be, that is. Buble would love to run around and bark at the little lambs.”

“And we could make a pond,” Niall said.

“With fish?” I asked. “You can barely take care of little Nemo at home in his tank!”

“I would be an excellent pond owner,” Niall argued.

We both giggled for a mere minute or two. A few of the boys rustled awake at our obnoxious noises, but they didn’t have the heart or the energy to shush us.

I was the first to catch my breath. I leaned back into my seat and felt the ropes on my ankles burn deeper into my skin. I whimpered lightly- sending Niall dead silent.

“What hurts?” He asked worriedly.

“Nothing,” I lied. Everything hurt. My stomach, my muscles, my ankles, my wrists- every part of me was aching with exhaustion.

Niall frowned.

“How many days?” I asked out of the blue.

Niall blinked. “Um, I’m not sure. You’d have to ask Harry,” He said.

“Fourteen,” Harry’s deep rumbling sounded from somewhere to the left. I tilted my head to glance over towards him and sure enough, there he was, droopy eyed and watching us intently. He had been awake for some time now. “Fourteen days,” He repeated just as dryly.

I nodded- lips pursed tight. It seemed like longer. Maybe even months.

We’d been gone for 14 days.

In his seat beside me Louis stirred. He was sleeping, lightly, but still sleeping. I was glad to hear a soft snore come from Liam, too. They both deserved it. They both needed it. Zayn was probably awake, but he kept his eyes closed. He liked to be kept to his own thoughts.

Harry said it was past two in the morning.

“I doubt anything too exciting will happen in the next few days,” Niall tried to be reassuring. “They’ll probably forget about us until they need another ransom video or something.”

“Let’s hope,” Harry mumbled.

It was exactly then that the door to our little prison flew open wide. Niall’s words were proven precisely wrong. Our captures weren’t about to let us sit still for too long in peace. They wanted to stir the pot.

A tall, lanky man in dark clothes and shoes came parading into the room. He left the door open up behind him, as if saying “Look at all this freedom I have- I can come and go as I please”.

I loathed him.

The man’s face was normal. He looked average. He looked innocent. The smirk he wore gave him a chilling factor that made my hairs stand on end. And the dark, hungry gaze he kept straight on me was enough to send a whimper out from the back of my throat.

“Pretty girl,” He tisked. His lips were thin and pale like the irises of his eyes. “Such a pretty, pretty girl,” He said again. He had an accent. Scottish maybe? By this time Liam and Louis were both conscious. Everyone was watching with held breath as the man sauntered up to stand directly before me. “Such a shame,” The man said to himself. He kneeled in front of me. His smooth shaven face was inches from mine. Strong aftershave wafted up from him like heat in a remote desert.

“Back off,” Niall growled. You could barely make out any words between his gritted teeth.

The man’s intense stare never once faltered. He kept his hungry, pale eyes set on me.

Something seemed all too familiar here.

I startled a bit at the foreign feeling of his palm on my knee. “Such a shame these boys had to drag you into this mess… Ay, sweetheart?”

Niall fought against his restraints. A vein bulged out on his neck. His bright blue eyes were three shades darker and practically popping out of his head.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the dusty colored lips of the man talking to me. He said more words, chilling things, but I didn’t hear any of it. Niall barked at him. Words still weren’t registered. All I did was watch that man’s chapped mouth move about in a way that I knew wasn’t going to end well for me.

There was nothing anyone could do.

“Would you come with me, sweetheart?”

I realized how close that mouth was to my ear. His hot breath numbed the entire left side of my face. I had turned into stone.

I said nothing.

“Please,” Harry croaked, “God no.”

Niall was screaming again.

All I heard was the heavy beating of my heart and the snapping of rope as the bounds on my ankles were cut by the man’s massive hands. My eyelids were heavy and I fought the urge to close them. I wanted to escape. But I didn’t know how. I didn’t know if I could or if I ever would.

I had lost all hope.