Day 3        Charlotte POV            (December 19th 2013)

A little girl is skipping down the street, her lunch box swinging in her left hand. The sun is high up in the sky, the clouds are nowhere to be seen. A bright, eager summer sun is high up above the mountains like a cherry on the perfect sundae. A light breeze floats around, fluttering blades of thin grass. The sweet smell of last night’s rain is fresh on the pavement.

The girl with the purple skirt is on her way home from school. She gets distracted by a prowling cat as it walks by her. It ducks into a big green bush in her front yard. The little girl grins and follows it.

She never notices the rusty red pickup in the driveway.

The kitty runs away as she nears the front porch. The girl gives up her chase and jumps up the three big stairs. She catches a glimpse of herself in a mirror as she walks inside the house. She’s wearing one of her favorite shirts. She smiles into her reflection: satisfied with her day at school. Her teacher Mr. Mellark had paired her and Jasper together in PE. A little girl at recess told her she looked pretty today. A door somewhere in the distance creaks while she fixes her braid by tugging on the end. The little white bow was crooked.

“Where’s your mother?”                                                     

Her father’s voice jerks her head to the kitchen. The smile she was wearing falls from her face. She sees the scary man leaning up against the fridge. He has a half empty glass on the peeling countertop. His daughter didn’t know he was home. If she had, she would have never walked inside.

“She’s not here,” The little girl’s singsong voice answers. But inside her chest her heart is beating nervously.

“Where the hell is she?”                                                                                     

“Gone,” She answers timidly. She crosses her arms over her chest. Glitter from the big pink heart on the shirt sticks to her sweaty skin.

*********************************************************************************************************************

Someone was shaking me awake.

I gasped, opening my eyes wide.

“Charlotte baby,” Niall sighed. He was kneeling in front of me. Both of my wrists were in his strong hands.

I tried to catch my breath. I was so tired; I wanted to close my eyes again. But I didn’t want that dream to continue. Because I knew how it ended. I didn’t want to relive it.

“Are you okay, love?” Louis asked me. My head was pressed up against the side of his leg. I had fallen asleep next to him the night before.

“I’m…” I said with a very forced smile. “I’m just fine.”

Niall’s hands pulled my wrists to him a bit more. I looked down at the blood that stained my fingernails. Then I looked to the ten eyes that were staring at me widely.

I must have appeared insane. Waking up from a bad dream red handed and wide eyed like that, I couldn’t blame them for staring.

I sat up straight. Louis helped me up by bracing the small of my back.

“Really, I’m fine.”

Niall gently set my hands on my lap. I retracted them quickly, fighting the urge to scratch the burning mark under my chin. It was boiling my skin like a hot ember, itching like twenty spider bites.

My boyfriend pulled his sleeve up over his right palm. He used his left hand to brace the back of my neck. He lightly cleaned a trail of wet blood from the underside of my face. I just watched on as he moved from my neck to my upper arm. The others left us. They all just walked a few feet away and started to have some random conversation.

Niall stopped dabbing the underneath of my left wrist. He glanced up at me. “Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked me. His Irish voice was deep and soft.

I gave him a dull shrug. “I don’t know.”

He nodded and went back to cleaning me up.

As my hands became clean Niall looked up at my face. He used the other sleeve, pulling it on his fingers. Then Niall lightly pressed the fabric against his tongue.

“Your lips,” He told me.

I realized that weird iron taste in my mouth. I must have been biting them in my sleep.

He raised his finger to my mouth. I stared into his gorgeous eyes as they stayed intently trained on my lips. Niall’s chest was pressed up against mine. All the other noises in the room grew quiet. The only thing I could hear was my heartbeat fall in sync with his.

The sleeve of his shirt was pulling the stain from my mouth into the fabric. I finally drew Niall’s eyes to mine. They looked at me enchantingly.

His hand fell from my face. It ran down my jaw, along my neck, and then lingered on my chest. His touch gave me goose bumps.

Then Niall kissed me.

All my fears went flying out the window, replaced with a warm fuzzy feeling.

It was short and sweet. He pulled away too soon, leaving me craving more.

“HEY GUYS!”

I tilted my head to the side, peaking around Niall’s frizzy blonde hair. Louis was grinning at me excitedly.

“What’s up, Lou?”

Harry sighed, “He has an idea.”

I rolled my eyes tiredly. I wasn’t really in the mood for anything ridiculous or life threatening.

“Don’t give me that look, Charlie Chaplin.” Lou stood up and walked over. “It’s a great idea. And you’re going to want in on it.”

“Well what is it then?” Niall asked him while still gazing at me.

Louis plopped himself down cross-legged next to Liam. “Get your arses over here and I’ll tell ya!”

 *************************************************************************************************************************

Harry POV

We all sat in a circle in the eerie cement room. Our feet were all piled up in knots at the center like spokes on a wheel. Louis was using his imaginary microphone to talk to Charlotte. His lame attempt to lift everyone’s spirits was a game of truth or dare. When none of the dares were working he switched the game to would you rather.

I glanced at my watch as everyone started to lightly laugh at something. It was about eleven in the afternoon. The days in there were so miserably slow.

“Hazza,” Niall prodded me with his elbow. He looked at me hopefully. “It’s your turn.”

I glanced around our sharing circle. These people were utterly pathetic if they thought a silly sleepover game was going to make anything better.

“No thanks,” I muttered. I stood up and left them all sitting there. A gap was left in between Zayn and Nialler.

Louis cleared his throat to bring everyone’s gaze over to him. “Okay then. I guess that means we skip to Liam.”

I blocked them out as they played. I stood by the door, glaring at the gap between the metal and the frame. I got down on my knees and peered into the small space. The only thing I could see was a staircase directly in front of us. Above that was closed off by another door that disappeared into darkness.

I pounded my fist against the metal and huffed.

“…If you had to be put into a movie, would you rather be in the Hunger Games or Snakes on a Plane?” I heard Liam ask.

“The Hunger Games,” Charlotte replied eagerly.

“That was way too fast,” Zayn said of her answer.

I turned around to watch on as Niall went ahead and explained. “She has a thing for Peeta,” He said with a grin.

“Of course I do!” Charlotte giggled.

I smiled a little. We hadn’t heard her laugh like that for days.

Louis cackled, rocking back on the ground. “And you’d want to fight him to the death?”

“No of course not! Peeta would protect me.”

Niall sat up a bit taller as he teasingly went on to teasingly talk about his girlfriend. “You think this is bad? Try bringing up Tom Cruise or Jesse McCartney.”

“Tom Cruise? Isn’t he a bit old for you, Charlotte?” Liam asked.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and fought against a smirk. “Age is nothing but a number, my good friend.”

“We couldn’t even watch Mission Impossible without her squealing every time his face came on the screen,” Niall said. “And then we had to go and watch seven more of his movies in a row.”

“Oh like you were complaining,” Charlotte replied with a wave of her hand. “You absolutely loved Far and Away.”

“I didn’t like the Outsiders, though.”

Charlotte stated matter o’ factly, “We didn’t watch Outsiders that night. Remember?”

“Oh yeah…” Niall stared up at the ceiling and bobbed his head up and down. “Because you had already seen it four times.”

I shook my head. Those two had gotten even closer since the last time I saw them. And they had certainly grown from those first few months together. They knew each other inside and out.

I wanted what they had… I wanted it so damn bad.

“Is it my turn?” Louis asked, changing the subject.

“Nope,” I said. I stood up from my knees and wandered back. “It’s mine.”

Charlotte grinned up at me. She patted the ground beside her.

“Alright then Hazza!” Liam hollered. “Joining in on the fun, are we?”

“If you can’t beat them, join them.”

“That’s the spirit!” Louis said with a crazed smile.

I cracked my neck to the side. “Okay… mine is for Zayn.”

Zayn wiggled his thick brows at me.

“Would you rather…” I stared at the wall and thought about how I was going to finish it up. “Shag Kristin Stewart or Emma Watson?”

“Really?” Charlotte asked me. “We have to go there?”

I ignored her and looked to Zaynster. “Whose it gonna be? Twilight or Hogwarts?”

Zayn squinted and thought hard. “Umm…”

“Watson,” Louis coughed into his arm.

Zayn rolled his eyes. “Stewart.”

“Oh that’s surprising,” Liam said before pursing his lips thoughtfully.

“You all are such sick boys,” Charlotte muttered.

Louis grinned evilly at her. He was turning the tables. “Charlotte: mine is for you.”

“Oh God no…”

“Are you up for Zac Efron-?”

Charlotte stuffed her face into her hands.

“Or Ryan Gosling?”

She made a groaning noise.

Niall just sat back and giggled.

She peaked up at all of us. Louis was grinning mischievously. A hot blush was working its way to her cheeks.

“Do I have to answer that?”

“Oh please do. I’m very curious,” I told her.

Without looking at Niall she quickly rambled, “Efron.”

“Ohhhh!”

“Shut the hell up, Liam!” Charlotte tried not to laugh.

“How could you say such a perverted thing?” Louis tisked. “Your boyfriend is right there!”

We all laughed hysterically.

“Don’t make me feel bad!” Charlotte looked around at the lot of us.

“What is it Charlotte,” I inquired, leaning towards her. “Was it his killer moves in High School Musical? Did we just discover… dare I say… a turn on??”

Charlotte let out a whinge, “NO HARRY.”

Zayn said, “Looks like you have some competition Niall.” 

Niall draped an arm across her shoulder, leaning back against the wall to show how chill he was. He ran a hand through his hair, and then he kicked one leg over the other. “I don’t have a single thing to worry about.”

Charlotte raised a brow. “And how do you know that?” She cocked her head, not sure what to think.

He looked over at her and winked.

Just to rile him up, she pushed his arm away. As he stared at her she casually said, “I’ve always had a crush on Zac.”

“Always?” He asked.

 Charlotte nodded to Niall. “I think it’s the hair…” She trailed off and looked to Louis. “And he’s such a great actor. Did you see the Lucky One?”

“Excellent film,” Louis said with a bob of his big head.

“And he’s very fit,” I played along to Charlotte’s game.

“Oh God yes.” She bit down on her lower lip. “Those beach pictures on Tumblr? I couldn’t help but stare. He makes me-”

“Okay I get it,” Niall interrupted. He gave her a tired smile.

That was my girl; making him work for it like that. I had hoped my advice would go into play one of those days.

“Can we play something else?” Liam asked. I looked to him with pity. The poor lad was still tied up to that bloody pole.

“Sure thing buddy,” Was Louis’ reply. “Whatcha thinking?”

“Not sure…”

“You can’t just change the game and not have another in mind!”

“Take a chill pill, Lou. We’ll think of something,” Charlotte told him. “Maybe we can-” She trailed off into silence.

We all sat there staring at her.

“Umm, you were-?”

Charlotte interrupted Zayn by pointing to the door. Obviously she was hearing something we weren’t. Her wide eyes darted to the slab of metal.

With my heart racing I glanced behind me. Above Niall’s heavy breaths I could barely catch the clinking of a set of keys.

Someone was coming in.

Niall immediately pulled Charlotte behind him. He gripped her arm briskly as he stood. He kept her kneeling on the ground behind him while he stood in front of her like a wall. Niall stared at the door, his eyes darting over to me and Louis once.

I was on my feet and standing next to Li, my hand clutching that wooden pole.

The door slowly inched open.

Inside the room a big brown bag was slid.

Then the door was quietly closed and locked again.

Liam stared up at me with his brows knitted together.

What the fuck were these people trying to do now?

Without saying a word I went over to the sack. I knelt down to pick it up. It was heavy in my hands. I anxiously unfolded the opening and peered inside.

“What is it, Hazza?” Charlotte asked.

I smiled, letting her know everything was alright. I sat on the ground and flipped the package over. The contents slipped out. A loaf of sliced bread went tumbling out in its plastic bag. There were two plastic reusable water bottles filled to the brim. A wrinkled bag of M&M’s hit the cement with a thud next to a cinched bag of dehydrated apples.

“FOOD!”

I laughed at Louis. But on the inside I was screaming even louder.