There's the sound of a lock sliding across, clunking into place and followed by the creaking of the hinges.
I opened my eyes, lying on my front with my cheek pressed into the pillow. Fallen steps over closer to me on the bed, glass in one hand and a strip of what I assume are pain killers in the other.
"Fallen?" He knelt down on the floor beside me, placing the water on the carpet before pushing out the tablets from the tin foil.
His name came out so scratchy and sore that I shut my eyes against the pain briefly, opening them again to see Fallen looking at me in sympathy. He dropped the tablets beside the water, standing up and helping me sit up in the bed.
"You're okay." He mumbled repetitively as I moaned in pain, every bone in my body was aching. My eyes catch sight of the grazes and cuts on my arms, still dirty with mud stains reaching up to my elbows.
"Take these." He handed me the tablets again and I threw them into my mouth, swallowing the water afterwards to wash them down. I looked over the room as I do, it's small, cosy and the window outside is still dark and empty.
"What time is it?"
"Around 6, I kept checking on you... but you seemed a little more awake this time." He paused, grabbing the glass from my hand now that I finished it.
"I've got some soup on the stove." Just the thought made me feel queasy. My head shook immediately.
"I'm not hungry,"
Fallen sighed, hardening his look. Like that big brother kind of look that I can barely remember when I was a little kid, but it was definitely one I had received from Jake on numerous occasions.
"Yes, you are. You just think you're not because of the pain. Trust me, I know. You need to eat something." He pulled back the covers and helped me out but the minute that I moved my left leg I gripped hard on Fallen's jumper, twisting it within my fingers waiting for the pain to subside.
"What's wrong?"
"Apart from everything?" He gave me that look again, and I let out the breath I was holding. "My knee."
Telling him didn't change anything though, he continued moving me out of the bed so my feet hit the ground. He pulled up the trouser leg and blew out a breath. I glanced down as well to see my knee swollen and bruised.
"That fall sure did a number on you."
"Yeah...It was going so well up till then." Sarcasm dripped from my tone, cursing when he yanked down the material. His smirk evident on his features when he stood back up before lifting me up and letting me use him as a crutch to hobble out of the room.
There was no sign of Lucas anywhere, it had me a little worried, but he continued to lead me to the table from last night again. It sat in the middle of the kitchen which was only separated from the living area by a long kitchen counter, I sat down on one of the wooden chairs. Keeping my leg as straight as possible to ease the throbbing pain, even then, the ache from my back is still there and if I breathe too deeply my rib hurts just as much too.
I'm just a big ball of injury at this point, I wasn't going to get anywhere quick that's for certain.
I was stuck here whether I liked it or not.
Fallen cracked an ice pack before wrapping it in a small towel, he handed it to me, gesturing to put it on my knee. I placed it on, gritting my teeth as I did.
I didn't know what to feel anymore. And even if I weren't injured, I wouldn't know what to feel about this situation.
How could anybody begin to know?
The silence droned on, the scent of the soup burned my nostrils, my stomach closing up effectively removing any appetite I could possibly have had.
Whilst Fallen cursed from a burn as he was pouring the soup, I looked around more. Even from my vantage point on the chair I could see quite a bit, the dark brown sofa faced a small wood burning stove in the living area. Already prepped ready to be lit, with a stack of pre-cut logs beside it in a basket. The wall wasn't decorated with no plaster on any of the walls in this house from where I could see. Only the stones of the house exposed to the eye, occasionally a simple shelf attached to the wall which he'd clearly done himself.
Books laden each one of the shelves in the room, anything I could think of was there. The closest one to me ranging from fiction, DIY, science, and any other genre of book or textbook. He was formulating his own library.
Everything was neat and well laid out, each item its own place.
The bowl jumped me out of my snooping, the spoon dropped on the table beside it and I just looked at it. My nose scrunching up and my stomach threatening to heave.
"Don't pull that face. We're not going anywhere until you eat it." He pushed the bowl closer to me, I rolled my eyes and picked up the spoon with my spare hand.
Dipping it into the tomato soup and taking a tiny sip, it wasn't until the third spoonful that I actually felt the hunger. It wasn't much but it pushed me to finish the bowl, Fallen glanced up with a small smile from his side of the table as I dropped the spoon into the empty bowl.
He got up, grabbing the dish from in front of me before turning around to clean them.
"Where's Lucas?"
He didn't turn around, his hand moving back and forth with the now soapy sponge. "The boyfriend?"
My teeth grit, jaw clenching. "Where is he?"
The sounds of the ceramic bowls were loud in the silence as he dropped them onto the drying rack beside the sink. "In my room."
"Is he okay?" He shrugged his shoulders, wiping his hands with a tea towel when he turned to face me.
"He won't be if he keeps pissing me off. I'm starting to regret bringing him along more and more." He threw the towel over the drying rack, wiping his hands over his jumper anyway and sitting down in front of me.
"I'm sorry... Are we making this too difficult for you?" I sneered at him; he just narrowed his eyes at me.
"Yes actually... Yes, you are."
Suddenly a thump sounded from the rooms behind me, it was so faint that you wouldn't have heard it if you weren't listening. My body froze, tilting my head before I heard another thump.
The rushing of blood pounded on my ears when it continued.
"What have you done to him?" I accused him, switching my head back to glare at him across from me. His hand brought up and waved my stare off of him, shaking his head.
"Nothing, like I said. He's being difficult, he's just handcuffed... there's really no need for him to be making a fuss."
I shake my head at him, lowering my voice. "He's scared... we both are."
It's hard to believe what transpired over the past twenty four hours and the more I sit here and think about it the sudden wave of different emotions flood over me. They're so mixed and strong that it was hard to decipher what was the primary feeling.
I didn't understand what we were doing here, how long we'd be here and even where 'here' was.
My words seemed to hit Fallen in the wrong way, his eyes matching mine in guilt. It only lasted a second before he switched back to normal.
He didn't answer, instead leaning back in his seat and I chew my cheek as I adjusted the ice pack to the outside of my knee. The cold immediately soaking through the material and into my skin, my head turning back behind me but there's no other sounds from Lucas.
I bit my lip in nervousness, taking another glance around the quiet room before returning my gaze to Fallen across from me.
"Why?" I cut through the silence that had ensued, he had been staring off into space stewing over something but narrowed his eyes in that same direction as he spoke.
"Why what?"
"Why am I here? Why now? After all these years?" He turned his head to face me now, bringing his hand up to rub his jaw.
"I held it off as long as I could but... things changed, and you weren't safe with them anymore."
"What does that even mean?" He shrugged in response which only angered me, my back came off the chair as I leant forward to narrow my eyes at him.
"I was fine without you, and you what? came back to stalk me? Kidnap me? threaten to kill my friend! I was safe, THIS is not. I was far from safe the minute you showed up!"
His head immediately starts shaking at me, a hand forming a tight fist on the table in front of me. "You don't know."
I shake my head, "I do know! Things were good for me."
He turned to me, prodding a finger in my direction. His blue eyes lit up as he took in my body that he could see, which only made my wounds hurt more.
"You were stabbed, didn't look like things were under control to me. God...You don't even know how to protect yourself! if you were with me all these years then you would've never gotten hurt."
Who does he think he is? What makes him think he can say this, he doesn't know anything about me.
How could he? He wasn't around, he wasn't anything to me.
He sits back, crossing his arms before dropping his tone into one of distaste. "You don't know how to fight properly, I saw you at that competition and that's not fighting, that's child's play." He stood up from his chair, the scraping from the legs echoed in the room.
"That's why you got stabbed, because you can't handle a real fight, where there are no rules to hide behind." He looked so disappointed in me, like I was still this little kid that he had to look after.
My jaw clenched in anger, tightening the fist I had on the table. "Shut up."
His head shook, leaning flared out hands on the table. His whole body tense and large when his eyes locked with mine in seriousness.
"The people after me, after you... they fight dirty, and they don't care about hurting us."
"There's no one after me!" I shouted at him, but nothing seemed to get through to him. Nothing of what he was saying was actually making any sense to me. He might as well be talking riddles because I couldn't grasp a single thing.
"Why do you think that gang jumped you? I don't see that necklace on you anymore, so I assume they thought it was in there?"
I tried jumping in with questions, but he continued before I could, and it only left me seething more.
"They sent them, they knew I'd been in the area and they sent them in for you." He grinds out, jabbing his finger in my direction every so often to enhance his point.
"I had to get you out of there, he got moved up, he knew who you are and where you are. If I didn't get you out then, he would have gotten to you instead. I couldn't wait any longer, especially after you got jumped by that fucking gang." My eyes followed him as he paced, sliding the chair back into place.
My heart's thumping hard in my chest, my skin growing hot.
"I had no choice." He stopped finally, leaning back against the sink, and looking down on me. Arms crossed over his chest.
"It wasn't a choice; you shouldn't have done it Fallen. I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be home, with my family. I'm safest with them... you need to let us go home."
Fallen's head shot up, his fingers rising up from his crossed arms when he shouted at me in irritation. "You're seriously not getting this are you!?"
He scoffed in annoyance, and I grit my teeth hearing it.
"How am I supposed to get anything? You're bringing up stuff I have no clue about and just expecting me to understand when I know nothing! I barely remember anything before mum and dad died. All I've ever really known is Ella Reemer. That's who I am!"
"Elbina-"
I cut him off, raising my voice even more. "It's Ella."
"NO!" He slammed his hand on the table. Fury clouding his features until there was nothing else but that.
"YOU'RE ELBINA! YOU'RE MY SISTER!" The spit flew from his mouth, droplets landed on my face which has me rearing back away from him in response. The ice pack dropped suddenly to the floor when it slipped from my fingers.
I stared at him, there's an enraged look on his face except his eyes held something different that I couldn't make out. His fist still clenched tight on the table between us made me feel uneasy. There was no telling what he could do because what did I really know of him? Nothing, which is what makes this so dangerous.
"You're not anything to me, you've kidnapped us Fallen. You lost the role of my brother when you left me alone when I was five. You changed your number and no matter how many times I tried ringing it, you were never there. Jake was there. He's my brother... You? You're nothing to me."
His eyes hardened, his blue eyes feeling like they were taking on a dark blue rather than the bright lightness that I had seen from him up till now. Fallen's nostrils flared shakily when he struggled to contain himself.
"I gave up so much for you. You have no idea what I've been through to get here."
Maybe I shouldn't be pushing him, but I didn't have any of the answers I wanted and even though I thought I was over the way he dumped me then... Clearly, I wasn't because I couldn't let it go.
"You're right, I have no idea because you were gone. Dead to me. YOU DIDN'T EXIST."
We breathe heavily, the both of us enraged and hurt. I took the silence as a means for this being over, so I stood up, gripping the counter beside me to hold me up. Hobbling my way out of the kitchen trying to find the toilet. I reached the hallway, using the wooden beams as leverage to help me move. The two rooms on the left I assumed were both bedrooms, and I quickly limped further down to the door on the right. It slid open the minute I leaned on it, my battered body almost hitting the floor as a result.
"What are you doing?" Fallen spoke from down the hallway, this weird edge to it that sounded almost guilty.
I bite back at him despite his tone. "I need the toilet. If that's even allowed?"
Fallen sighed. "Do you need any help?"
I didn't respond, giving him one last glare before slamming the door shut behind me. Leaning my head against the door as the shock waves of pain resounded up my arm and around my body.
I was so desperate for the toilet, thankful that the jogging bottoms were loose and easy to lower without too much effort on my behalf.
My head dropped into my hands, tears welling up in my eyes that pooled onto the rough calluses on my skin. I managed to keep the tears silent, I didn't want to appear any weaker to Fallen then I already did.
I'm not sure how long I'd sat there on the toilet, the cold of the seat evident after a while even if I had finished a while ago.
I grabbed some of the toilet roll with my dirty hands, wiping myself and pulling up the joggers. I gripped onto the sink to bring myself up, hovering my left leg off the ground. Flushing the toilet, I manoeuvred my way to the front of the sink. A small mirror above it and I cringe the minute I caught myself in the mirror.
Red puffy eyes and tear tracks that cleared paths down my muddy face. I tilted my head to the side and there was a trickle of stained blood at the left-hand side of my head, matching the multiple cuts and grazes that lined my cheekbones. My right eyebrow cut, surrounded by swellings.
My deep brown eyes tried to well up again, but I forced down that feeling in my chest and leaned down to wash my hands.
I then started washing my face, the brown colour pooling and diluted with the water as the mud came off my face.
The blood took a little more scrubbing, gritting my teeth when they were sore to the touch. I felt a thousand times better though once I grabbed a small towel to the side and dried off my face. It felt like my pores could actually breathe and my skin felt a lot lighter now that the mud wasn't coating it.
My neck still had stains of dirt, I knew I needed a proper wash but I wasn't sure I would be able to yet. Not with everything happening at the moment, instead I cleaned up my arms all the way up to the sleeves of the t-shirt before trying my best to clean my neck as well.
It was better, but it didn't mean my thoughts had stopped going at a mile a minute.
With that, I knew I couldn't remain hidden in here for long. My hands fumbled with the door handle, and I left the grey tiled bathroom behind me, switching from the smooth stone floor to the green carpet that lined the hallway.
The sounds of quiet crackling coming from the living room again, where I assume the man I still needed answers from sat.
The woodburning stove was lit, causing this ominous orange taint to the room when I turned the corner into the opening of the large room. He was knelt down right in front of the fire, watching it catch trying to make sure it didn't go out.
My feet caused a padding of bare feet across the floor and even though it was nearly silent Fallen still turned his head to look at me.
This time I could see how exhausted he looked, and I thought for a moment when he could have possibly slept in the time frame of the past twenty four hours. He went back to watching the fire in front of him, deciding it was going to catch the rest of the wood and kindling, he sat on the floor with his back against the front of the sofa.
"I'm not trying to fight with you." He paused, eyes unmoving from the fire in front. "I haven't spoken to people a lot over the years, and I've forgotten how to get my words across."
"I know what I want to say but..." His head tilted to look back at me as I leaned against the wooden beam. "I'm trying my hardest."
I wasn't sure whether to believe him, he looked honest enough, vulnerable even before turning back to stare off at the flames in front of him.
"I'm sorry it's had to be like this. I-" Fallen's hand wiping over his bruised jaw from where Lucas punched him. "I thought I could find what they were looking for but... I never did."
"What are they looking for?" My voice lowered, taking on a humming sound that even soothed myself a little.
"Something our parents did, made, which got them killed."
"What?" My hand forming a fist hearing it, gulping away the fear.
"Mum and Dad weren't good, Elbina. They messed up our lives doing what they did." What is he saying?
"What are you talking about?" He sighs loudly, seemingly inching further back against the sofa as he stared off at the fire.
"They worked for the government, a long time before they were even killed. It's why we moved away from London but, they stopped working for them for a reason. They were selfish, they wanted money, like most people. They didn't care how they got it, and I'm still not entirely sure what exactly they were doing but...it wasn't good. It wasn't right, whatever it was." I watch Fallen shake his head more, bringing up a knee so he can wrap an arm around it.
"Do you even know how they died?" I gulp, briefly remembering the short conversation all those years ago. But I didn't really want to know then, and I didn't now.
"A car crash?"
A quiet huff comes from him before he shrugs his shoulders slightly, "Close enough, they were shot whilst driving the car and then it crashed."
"They were murdered." It wasn't a question by me, only a realisation. Why they made me change my name and why I moved so far away. I just remember the drive being so incredibly long that day that I fell asleep for part of it before we even reached June's.
I was shocked when Fallen bristled out his next words. "It's not like they didn't deserve it."
I felt protective of them for some reason, even if I didn't know them. It still felt wrong to hear him say that, like they deserved to die. "Shut up. They were our parents... how can you say that?"
I limped forward a little more, leaning a hand on one of the bookshelves on the wall to my right. Dropping my tone, I spoke again. "At least you actually got to grow up with them."
He scoffed, shaking his head at me. The flames still flickering from the fire and an occasional loud pop would sound. "Believe me. That's the last thing you'd want."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I bristle at his tone of voice.
Fallen's arm brought up to rest on his raised knee, fully turning his head to me in disbelief.
"Oh, come on, You must remember what they did to you. Fuck, even I remember it."
My head shook immediately, I didn't like what he was saying at all. "They didn't do anything."
"They said they were preparing us, so we could protect ourselves in the future but I didn't believe it. They changed the minute they quit their jobs and moved out of London, became cruel. And for you, you didn't get to see a good side to them." Dread filled my body, my hand loosening its grip on the wooden shelf beside me.
"Stop it." He ignored my words, his eyes ablaze with the fire before him.
"You were in that cupboard for three days before I managed to get you out. They were testing your ability to problem solve, seeing if you could self soothe in there." His bitter words curling his lips in a snide remark.
"Stop it!"
"Our so-called dad taught me how to fight dirty the hard way. The punishment for not beating him was getting knocked out, so you can forgive me for finding Lucas a little pathetic." Fallen's words pained and angry which made it all the more likely he was telling the truth which is the last thing I wanted right now.
"STOP!"
"I don't know what dream you're having but our parents were evil bastards and I'm glad they're dead. But it doesn't mean that they can't ruin our lives when they're gone." He leaned forward, picking up the metal prod beside the fire and opened up the glass door. He remained quiet, contemplating his next words but his shoulders sank in defeat. Shutting the glass door after shuffling the wood, eliciting an increased response from the fire.
"They get it easy. They're dead. But they left the fall out for us."
I couldn't listen to this anymore.
My arm wrapped around the wooden beams separating me from the hallway.
I picked up my speed, sniffing away the tears on the back of my hand. Every stumble along the floor hurts.
My shoulder jammed painfully into the first door on the left, twisting the handle and nearly falling in. Tears rolled down my cheeks when I turned the light on by the door, it's an exact replica of the room I was in before except Lucas stared shocked right back at me from the other side of the bed, back leant against the wall.
"Lucas." His name slipped from my lips without thinking.
The minute I saw him, a heavy shuddering breath fell from my lips along with the sobs. Heaving in big gulps of air trying to calm myself as I limped over to him.
"Ella." He looked back at me with utter relief, his voice barely a whisper when he said my name.
His cuffed hands were attached to a short chain connected to the radiator pipe beside him, the bruises and the cuts on his face stark and deep in this light.
My knees sank to the floor in front of him, gulping away the guilt on my chest looking at the state of him.
"What's happening? Are you okay?" I shook my head immediately, analysing every bruise on his face. The more I look, the more I realise how much this was my fault. It was my brother who did this in the end and Lucas was just brought along by mistake. If it weren't for me, he'd be at home out of harm's way right now, safe.
My head dropped onto his chest, his hands lifting so I could get under them.
"I'm sorry." Not that I thought saying it would make up for anything that had happened but I couldn't think of anything else to say.
"What happened? There was shouting, did he hurt you?" His questions fired quickly at me, I didn't answer.
I winced again when I could hear Fallen's footsteps coming down the hallway. Lucas tightened his grip around me, his heart rate increasing even more.
The door squeaked before Fallen's steady authoritative tone spoke up. "Get away from him."
My fists tightened as I grabbed onto his t-shirt, my head shaking in response slowly against this chest.
"Get away from him NOW!" He wasn't messing around.
I refused, fuck him.
I didn't want to hear it.
Nothing he was saying made me understand why we were here and what gave him the right to take us.
Footsteps creaked along the floorboards and I felt Lucas tilt us away from him. Panic edging his voice. "Don't touch her!"
His words fell on deaf ears because I yelped when Fallen grabbed me from around the waist and pulled me away from Lucas. I tried to keep a hold of him but Fallen only dragged me away and every step he tugged me back the more panicked Lucas looked.
Like he'd never see me again once I was out of the room.
"Ella!"
He disappeared from view, and I was pulled down the hall to the second room. Lucas shouting madly from the other, the chaos rising in the house.
Fallen dropped me on the bed, immediately turning around, door handle in his hand.
"Why? It's not like we were going anywhere!"
"Like I said... I don't trust him." He was about to shut the door on me, quickly speaking above the loud bangs that were coming from Lucas down the hall.
"I'll explain this all properly in the morning. I need some fucking sleep." He rolled his eyes, slamming the door before the loud locking sound reverberated.
Lucas became muffled as I heard another door slam, lock turning again.
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