Four days of getting nowhere.
Four days since we started going through the laptop and documents Fallen had swiped all those years ago.
Nothing.
I leant forward, the sting of the scalding water making me hiss before I readjusted the temperature. My knee had improved a lot even if it were still heavily bruised, the swelling had pretty much gone and I could walk on it.
I couldn't see the stab wound but according to Fallen yesterday it was doing better. He said he could see it healing more now.
The entire atmosphere of the cottage has been tense to say the least, Lucas only just got his handcuffs off yesterday and along with it the threat of getting shot.
I could have stayed under this hot water all day, just to avoid the tension outside of this bathroom. But Lucas needed a shower just as much as me now, and I didn't want to make it anymore awkward between the two of us when I told him I took all the hot water.
I rubbed the soap over my entire body, taking in the darkened skin from when I tumbled down the hill. The sweat and dirt mixed in with the water as it ran down my legs into the shower basin.
Once I had washed my hair, biting my lip when I stretched my rib, I switched off the water and stepped out. The whole entire room steamed up and humid, having to wipe away the condensation from the small mirror above the sink.
I really don't want to go back out there, it's too uncomfortable. It all feels endless as well, and it's not exactly the best feeling to consider it possibly lasting forever.
Knowing that Fallen and Lucas waited out in the living room and that Lucas was in desperate need of a wash too, I hurried up. Quickly changing into some more of Fallen's clothes.
I opened the door, stepping out into the hallway and catching sight of the fire going again. It had dropped in temperature again, the heavy frost this morning clung to the windows as I remember the white tint to the glass.
I tugged the jumper closer to my body when I walked into the living area, both their heads lifting up and noting I had finished in the shower.
"Your turn." Lucas nodded at me, dropping the paper in his hands back down to the floor before glancing over at Fallen.
He gave him a tilt of the head to where I was and that seemed like enough allowance for Lucas to stand up and head out.
His shoulder carefully brushed mine and even though I felt the thrumming in my lower belly he didn't pay me any mind and continued on like it never happened.
I unclenched my fists that I didn't even realise I'd done before walking the rest of the way to the sofa and sitting down.
Drawing my bare feet up onto the sofa, knee aching a little but bearable enough to ignore it.
"We're getting nowhere." I turned to Fallen, his fingers rubbing his forehead back and forth to ease the apparent headache.
"At least we're trying." I mumble.
I was leafing through one of the papers, something about their accounts and stuff. And yet nothing seemed out of the ordinary, just basic things going in and out like rent and food leading up to their deaths.
I think my words sounded a little off, like I was insinuating something because I could see Fallen shuffle on his side of the sofa, lifting up his right leg up to look at me more head on.
"You have to know how difficult it was leaving you behind."
"Really?" I said dubiously.
"Do you not remember that phone call? I knew I should have destroyed it immediately, but I was hoping you'd call." I shake my head, refusing to look up at him.
"That phone call was the worst day of my life." I lifted up the paper further, bringing it closer to my face so he couldn't see my jaw working overtime to prevent that wobble in my voice.
"I wasn't upset about our parents; it was leaving you behind... it was the right thing to do and I don't regret it." I cleared my throat in response, daring not to look over at him.
Somehow. That didn't make me feel any better.
"It doesn't matter anymore."
He mumbled an incoherent response, but it didn't matter to me. He picked back up some more notes and rifled through them.
The only thing that seemed to be anything close to relevant was the odd amount of money sent over to a Professor Hale. We don't know who this Professor Hale was or what they were even a professor in, but it was something of interest.
But out of all the pages and pages, it was only that section that had been highlighted. The rest seemed obsolete and useless.
It was beyond frustrating.
I huffed out a heavy breath, leaning across the sofa and picking up the notes beside Fallen. Stacked neatly into a pile of white pages.
"Anything in there?" He shook his head in response.
I lifted up the stack, which is when a small leaflet of sorts fell out from between the pages and into my lap. It was thin, only seeming to be made up of a single piece of card folded over. It had a blue and green styled patterned front with the name of a pharmacy in bold.
BALE VALLEY PHARMACY.
'Here for your every need.'
I tilted my head looking at the card on my lap, hands still clutching the papers in front of me. With narrowed eyes, I dropped the stack of paper to the left of me between Fallen and I.
"What is this?" I lifted it up closer, tilting my head at it.
There's an opening of a door behind us from the hallway, followed shortly by Lucas walking down and back into the living area. I turned briefly to watch him walk in front of me and sit on the wooden chair.
My eyes didn't seem to want to alter their position, staring at the droplets of water still clinging onto the strands of his hair. His eyes seemed much fresher and relieved having taken the time to clean himself.
His stare met mine and I swear I saw the flicker of his mouth. That dimple so close to appearing that it made my stomach clench.
"Medical records for you. Nothing special." I almost forgot I asked Fallen a question, tearing my gaze away from Lucas.
Once I opened it, I went through the information. My date of birth, blood type. An O+, interesting to know, I guess? I smirked to myself before reading through the rest of it.
My eyebrows scrunched when I read the right-hand side of the card, glancing up in confusion. It didn't look right. Lucas' head lifted up feeling my stare on him, his face forming one of confusion.
"Lucas. Have a look at this." He lifted his head fully, leaning over and taking it from my grasp.
"What am I looking at?" His eyes narrowed whilst looking over the page, his elbows resting on his knees.
I leant forward, tapping my forefinger on the card. "The right-hand side of the card."
I moved back, sitting, and watching him closely. I could tell from the corner of my eye that Fallen was doing just the same.
It seemed to last forever until his eyebrows scrunched together and he met his stare with mine again. Morphing his mouth into that half grimace as he thought it over, glancing back to the page again.
"The vaccination?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
His chin brought into the palm of his hand, rubbing his stubble with it. "shit."
"What?" Fallen leant forward in his seat, hopeful.
"Pull down your jumper." I obliged, pulling down the large neck over my shoulder as he walked over. We looked over the entire of the skin, switching to the other arm and checking there. Nothing.
"What is it?" Fallen spoke sharper but it fell on deaf ears. Lucas and I contemplated it as we looked at each other.
Shock clear through my tone. "Do you think they'd have done that?"
His shoulders lifted, scoffing a little. "How would I know? But it doesn't sound like we can put it past them."
Holy crap.
"Have you figured something out?" Fallen raised his voice again before adding on again when we didn't say anything. "I've looked at that medical record a thousand times and found nothing. I'm sure I would have thought of it by now."
Lucas flipped the card around, handing it to Fallen.
"Look at her vaccination record." Fallen quickly took the card from Lucas, dropping his head down in confusion before lifting it up. His head looking between the two of us in uncertainty.
"Yeah, so? What about it?"
"Her last recorded vaccination on there is the BCG vaccination."
"The tuberculosis one?" Fallen asked.
"Yes."
He still didn't get it, talking slower. "What about it?"
"They switched the use of them before then. Only those considered vulnerable to TB would have been given it."
"It's a bit of a push don't you think? They might have just been more cautious?" Even he didn't sound convinced about his words though, his eyes wavering from ours into nowhere.
"Maybe. But it was the last thing given to her and if people are vaccinated with it, it's usually when they're a baby. On there, it says she was five years old." Lucas smiled, solving his little puzzle.
Fallen glanced down at the page again, his eyes widening.
"Three months before they were murdered." He paused, looking over at me. "Why were you checking her arm?"
"Most people have a small scar from the vaccination, not all but most. Ella doesn't have one on either arm."
"Fallen." His eyes turn to mine, and I gulp having seen the intense expression on his face. "I think they might have put the microchip in me at that doctor's appointment."
He smacked the arm rest beside him in aggravation making both me and Lucas jump.
"Jesus. I knew they were bad, but I didn't think they'd actually chip you like a dog." He spat it out with pure venom, switching his glare to Lucas. "How can we be sure?"
"I think we could use a metal detector. Although I don't think that would be a certainty even then since there might not be enough metal." It was worth a shot though.
"Does that farmer have one?" I piped up, Lucas nodding quickly.
Fallen rubbed his jaw thinking. "I'm not sure... Barely talk to her to be honest."
"Well, we won't be able to tell any other way unless we start digging around in her arm." Lucas spoke which had Fallen standing up, shaking his head.
"No, It's okay... I'll go check, I'm sure I can find something in one of those outhouses of hers."
He started to grab his jacket from the back of the door. Throwing it on and bending down to put on his heavy-duty boots.
Shuffling through another small cupboard beside the door, grabbing his handgun and sliding it into the back of his jean waistband.
"I won't be long." He grunted out, giving us a firm look before he opened the door followed by the slam of it when he exited.
Lucas' head snatched up, eyeing the door. The sounds of Fallen's feet grinding along the path outside the door faded and gone now.
Suddenly he jumped up and walked to the door, opening it and peering out of it.
After a while of seeing and hearing nothing he shut the door again quietly like he didn't want to risk Fallen hearing somehow. He rummaged through the cupboard by the door and pulled out the rucksack.
I sat up in my seat, eyeing him carefully when he shut the door. "What are you doing?"
He didn't say anything, only rushing past me and grabbing water bottles from the kitchen, filling them up and chucking them in the bag. My head twisting around to follow his hurried movements.
He then jogged out and down the hallway, the sound of doors opening and shutting.
My nerves hit a skyrocket, slowly standing up and watching him when he came rushing back in with a tonne of Fallen's medical supplies in his arms.
"Get your shoes and coat on." He dropped the stuff on the counter before starting to ram it into the bottom of the rucksack, his hands shaking slightly as he did so.
"What? No!" He ran back out of the room, and I followed after him when he barged into the first bedroom.
"Lucas!" I shouted.
He pulled out every item of clothes he could, grabbing a change of clothes to last a lifetime.
I tried to stop him getting past me, but he easily bypassed me back out of the door and I quickly chased after him.
"Hurry up!" His voice louder this time as he tilted his head back to mine. The clothes were now being quickly rolled and put in the bag.
This was such a mood change that I couldn't understand who I was looking at right now. "I thought you were on board!"
He turned around, searching the cupboards in the kitchen for cans of food. Grabbing whatever he could and throwing them into the bag as well. His back to me when he scoffed. "You can't be serious! This is mental, Fallen is mental!"
I leant forward onto the counter, pressing my palms into the cold surface. Urging him to listen to me. "You're not thinking clearly." He zipped up the bag, hurrying to the door and pulling on his coat.
He bent down and put on his boots, tying the laces up and ignoring me.
I shook my head; he was acting insane. Quickly I moved around the counter and to the bag. Undoing it and pulling out the stuff, placing it back on the counter again.
His hand wrapped tightly around my wrist before I even heard him come across from the door.
"Stop it!"
I shook my head again at him.
I didn't understand his mood swing. He was helping before; we'd made a breakthrough.
"No Lucas. We need to stay here." I spoke, the authoritarian nature loud and clear.
I tried pulling my wrist out of his hold, twisting harshly but he just grabbed my wrist even tighter with his other hand.
"This is some real-life Stockholm syndrome shit going on here... Jesus ells... He still kidnapped us!" He shouted; my eyes widened taking in his panicked expression.
"To keep us safe!"
He was suddenly around the counter, pressing my back into the worktop as he gripped both my wrists now. Looming over me and breathing heavy through the stress, his chest touching mine.
"Ella... The only real danger I have seen is Fallen." The words were heavy, taking on such a dark tone that I paused. "How do we even know that he isn't the bad guy?"
"I-I don't know." I stuttered. Partly due to the close proximity and the other due to the sudden darkness in Lucas' voice.
"If he comes back and finds that microchip in you... are you sure he won't kill you? Maybe he just needed you here to see if you knew anything."
My head shook on instinct, but it held less gravitas. "No..."
"Your parents were working with these people so why wouldn't Fallen? He'd have the contacts, right?"
"You don't know that." It's a pathetic response but I didn't know what else to say.
"True... but neither of us know that he isn't, and we don't know what actually waits for us out there." His eyes flick to the door, bringing his hands up from my wrists to my arms. Squeezing them more gently now, a pleading look to his expression.
"Ella... all I know is that Fallen is dangerous and he might just have found what he's looking for and once he gets it, he doesn't need you or me." I bit my lip, what if he's right?
But what if he's wrong and we leave here? We leave and we walk right into the hands of these people that want this thing from me?
He senses I'm unsure, squeezing his hands around my arms again so my eyes trail back up to meet his again.
"Please Ella, I can't sit here... risking him coming back and killing you on the spot. At least out there I have more hope than I do right now."
Fallen was dangerous, he wasn't wrong about that.
He'd tried to kill Lucas already.
And this was the perfect chance to escape and get back home.
He released an arm, bringing the fingers of his hand up and running them through the back of my hair. His eyes looked scared, his Adam's apple dipping as he ran his eyes over my entire face. Like he was trying to figure out my thinking and get inside my head.
But my thoughts were so muddled and confused that he wouldn't be able to come up with anything.
Instead, I leaned up, surprising him and myself when I pressed my lips to his. He freezes not expecting it, for a moment I think he doesn't want it.
I go to pull back but as soon as I lighten the pressure his hand at the back of my necks stops me, dragging me closer to him again and responding quickly. His other arm shifting around my waist so he tugs me till every part of my front is in contact with his. It's soft but deep all at the same time, intense and emotional which I'd expect, given the situation.
After a few moments, he pulls back just slightly. His lips just brushing mine still because of how close he is, a rumble of emotions settle in my stomach at the intensity.
His breaths spread warmth over my cheeks, tingling my skin. My own breaths deep, feeling the individual expansions of each of my muscles as I inhale.
"We need a chance and right now... I think this is our best shot." He whispered to me.
I sighed, dropping my head down onto his chest.
I wasn't sure.
He had a point though.
But he's my brother... Who I haven't seen in 13 years...?
Shit, he could be right. My parents weren't who I thought they were so why wouldn't it be the same for Fallen?
At least if we left, we could prevent him from getting us right now. I wasn't even sure who these people were that were supposedly coming after us, surely, I would have seen them by now?
This didn't feel like a good idea at all, but I wasn't about to change his mind. And sticking together right now is my number one priority.
My eyes lift up, matching his green-eyed stare again.
"Okay."
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