-Esmond-
I blink my eyes open and find Sloane still staring at the door, her eyes fierce and determined, as if to feel my stare, she meets my gaze.
“Do you know you sleep with your mouth open?” I blink at him and yet...a chuckle leaves my lips.
“Why were you watching me sleep?” Sloane shrugs and smirks slightly. 177Please respect copyright.PENANAnT3y3eeDrE
“It was the only pretty thing to look at.” She uses my words against me, and a surprised laugh forces its way out of my throat.
“Aww, you called me pretty.” I tease, poking her shoulder. Sloane scowls and swats my hand away.
“Don’t take it personally, too bad you have the personality of a limp noodle.” I’m about to give a snide remark but the doorknob jingles., Oh fuck, I can’t die here. Sloane's face turns ashen, and she scoots closer to me, arming herself with a metal chair leg. To say she was just a weak violin player would be an understatement. The door flies open, revealing the masked freak. Sir.
“Well, look who it is.” He tsks and takes out a small knife. My eyes widen, and my first instinct is to tug Sloane behind me, but she won’t budge. Idiot. So we sit there, side by side, waiting to see who will die first. Sir comes up to me and panic fills my veins, why the hell did I tell my mom I wouldn’t need self-defense lessons? All those rumors about me being a bad boy are lies, hell, I’ve never even punched somebody! Now is not the time to see if I can.
“I think I’ll start with you, always save the best for last.” He winks at Sloane, and she bares her teeth in return. Her messy hair, bruised face, plain black dress, makes her look more savage than ever. She’s braver than I’ll ever be, brave to stand up to the face of death and spit in his eye. She was right when she says I was hiding like a coward. I was, I am. Screw a plan, that won’t help us now. Rage fills me, rage at everything, myself, for being such a coward. I need to stand up for something in my useless life, if I die while doing it then fine.
“Do it, kill me now, and get it over with.” Sloane's head swivels toward mine and her eyes widen, as if to say, what the heck are you doing?! I ignore her and a plan starts to form in my sorry excuse of a brain. Sir growls and presses the gun up to my temple.
“I’ll kill you slowly instead.” He smiles in sick pleasure. My lungs threaten to collapse with relief as he takes the gun away from my temple. I try to tell Sloane to knock him out while he’s focused on me with my eyes she just stares at Sir in horror. I don’t see the blow coming until it is too late.
I’m thrown into the wall behind me, my face instantly throbbing with pain. Blood shines on my teeth as I bare my teeth in a smile. I have to distract him, I have to give Sloane the chance to knock him out.
“First, I’ll start with your fingers and toes.” The man says, bringing the knife up to my pinky finger. My knees weaken into jelly, and I think I hear Sloane gasp. C’mon, Sloane hit him already. I gasp in pain as the knife begins to cut into the tender flesh of my pinky. Pain laces its way up my arm and when I think he’s gonna cut it off, Sir freezes, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. A breath leaves my lungs as Sloane stands behind Sir holding the chair leg in her shaking hands. Her soft heart-shaped face, looking sharp and angular in the dim yellow light.
“Sloane,” I say, my voice shaking with relief yet wondering what we are going to do now. Escape? But there are about four guys who want us dead. Great, I just have the best luck. Sloane doesn’t put the chair leg down, she stares at the motionless man on the floor. Gingerly I go up to her, despite the pain in my body, and cover her hands with my own. Sloane’s green eyes flicked up to mine, some resemblance of normalcy returning. She looks down at my hands covering her own and her steps back, I let them drop to my sides, dejected.
“What are we going to do now?” She asks, and I run a hand through my hair, trying to get my frayed thoughts in order. My pinky finger rejects the action and I hiss in pain. This snaps Sloane fully to attention, and she tugs at the corner of her black dress. I watch as she tears the corner off in a long strip and brings it up to me.
“I’m going to wrap it, I would have used antiseptic and water to clean it out, but we don’t have any of that stuff right now.” I nod and wince slightly as she ties the band of fabric around my bleeding finger. Sloane's’ hands are cold but firm as she patches me up.
“We have to tie him up,” I say, and she nods, looking for something she could use as rope, an idea forms in my head. Most people like this have handcuffs, right? I search through his pockets and smile at Sloane as I pull them out.
“Seems like he can be of use to us after all.” Sloane nods in relief as I handcuff him and Sloane tears another thick strip of fabric from her dress, exposing her upper thighs. Don’t look, don’t look.
I do end up looking, not for long, though. I’m not that much of a pervert. Sloane comes up and ties it as a gag in his mouth. She wipes her hands on what’s left of her dress.
“Are we going to go out?” I ask, and she takes a deep breath, rummaging through his pockets, my eyes widen in surprise as she takes out his gun. Is she....oh god. I guess there is more to her than I first realized.
“Are you going to shoot him?” I ask, astonished, even more so when she looks like she’s pondering the idea.
“Sloane, you can’t kill him,” I say, and she briefly closes her eyes and lowers the gun. To be honest, it kinda freaks me out how fast she can change from a meek violin-playing girl to a pure badass. Talk about mood shifts. She hands me the man’s knife and my gut twists as I tuck it into the band of my pants, I hate even touching the vile weapon. Any sort of violence makes me sick, even punching somebody is something I hate. The blood,even the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Well...there are exceptions to that last one.
“Let’s go,” Sloane says, and panic fills my veins. I am not ready to die. Not yet. 177Please respect copyright.PENANA3eTQESzjLu
“Let’s plan first,” I say, and she shakes her head, tucking a strand of brown hair behind her ear. 177Please respect copyright.PENANAZdN2XBN5c4
“There is no point, we have no idea what is laying beyond these doors, we don’t know what will we face.” I nod, I guess she has a point. Sloane still grips the chair leg in her hand, as if that’ll do more damage than the gun she has.
“The minute the exit is clear, I want you to run.” is she serious? No way. Not a chance with all the innocent people here.
“And leave all those people? Leave you? No, I’m coming with you.” Gone is the meek girl, and now is replaced with a complicated girl hell-bent on getting out of here alive. Maybe this is who she’s hiding from everyone.
“You won’t survive. So get out while you can.” I shake my head, my mind already made up. 177Please respect copyright.PENANAmT39TuJVzt
“You won’t survive either, so I guess we’ll die together.” I stick out my hand, hoping she’ll take it. Hoping this brave and impulsive girl will take my hand.
“Live or die together.” She says, and I swallow, forcing my eyes to roll and a smirk upon my lips. 177Please respect copyright.PENANAJ5XvhdsGqb
“Oh, I plan on living a longgg life, so don’t fuck it up.” Sloane snorts but takes a deep breath, grips the doorknob, panic claws up my throat, we are gonna die. She lets out a sigh, letting the door click open. Sloane looks at me once, before raising her chin. Even with her tattered dress, bloody and busted face, her red-rimmed eyes, she is still beautiful. Savage and perhaps a little strange but beautiful nonetheless.
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