I put my feet up on the dashboard, wishing that I had some form of footwear because my nail polish was chipped and gross. Mike and I hadn't really spoken since he told me we'd probably have to drive out of town so he wouldn't come looking for us.

"Try to get some sleep" he told me, reaching to turn on the radio, I grabbed his hand just as it was about to hit the on button, his head snapped my way in confusion and I just shook my head, a silent way of me saying I didn't want any music on. Don't get me wrong I love music but silence is so effortless and enjoyable sometimes. Lost in my thoughts I realized I was still holding his hand, I let it drop and smiled slightly to kind of mask my uncomfortableness with randomly holding his hand for far longer than necessary.

"No its okay, I'm not tired. Besides my house is only fifteen to twenty minutes away" I replied to his gentle command.

"Oh, I'm not taking you home" he said plainly and I didn't know if it was just an immediate reaction, a reflex as such to the past two weeks but panic rose in my throat, choking me, suffocating all the positive energy that was previously overloading my system.

"W-what?" I choked out sitting up straight and turning in my seat to see if I could see anything I recognized in the back window—I couldn't.

"Leda...calm down" he soothed putting his hand on my shoulder, which I swatted away, still panicked "I just don't want him to come after us" he explained. I kept looking at him for a few moments longer, my eyes wide and my lips parted, sucking in a deep breath, waiting for some form of mask to slip from his features and for him to show some sign that he was lying.

That didn't happen though and I realized I was just being an idiot. I nodded slowly, taking in his words and cursing myself for believing he'd ever hurt me. I relaxed in my seat.

An hour later and a half later and the sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon, it felt strange being awake at this time and witnessing the world awake and lit up in all its natural beauty.

"So" I spoke cheerfully breaking the silence "Which do you think your dad will be more bothered about, his car being taken or the fact you've helped me escape?" I smile devilishly at him and he smirked.

"Who fucking cares" he laughed with a shrug. I laughed too, just because I could, just because it felt right, free, light, more myself.

"You know, Vic actually talked for the first time yesterday" Mike's laughter was dying down as he said that.

I immediately gasped, throwing my hand over my mouth.

"Vic!" We both yelled together. He slammed on the break and I was jolted forward, my seatbelt snapped my body backwards and my breath was sucked out of my lungs. None of that mattered though, how could we possibly have forgotten Vic?

"Turn around!" I yelled

"Already on it" he replied just as panicked as I was, putting the car into reverse, looking out of the back window and accelerating so that the car was flying backwards. Abruptly he turned the wheel right and we did a complete U turn, I gripped the seat with both hands, admiring his enthusiasm for going to rescue his brother but not so much admiring his reckless driving.

"Okay, take it easy, Bruce Willis!" I teased, my voice and nervous smile slightly conveying my anxiety.

"Fuck how could I be so stupid. Fuck!" He slammed his hands against the steering wheel; his aggression startled me and I realized how much I'd changed in the last two weeks. I've never been a brave person as such but natural anger (with a valid reason) such as Mike's didn't usually make my heart pound and send alarm bells through my head, I mean, he had every reason to be angry right? But I felt uneasy, like he'd snap any second and harm me. I swallowed hard, hating how weak I'd become.

"It's not your fault" I spoke weakly and bit down hard on my lip, wishing I was stronger or I could at least pretend I was stronger. His jaw was tense and his eyes fixated on the road as if he was willing it to disappear and the house where he'd spent years of torment in to appear right in front of us. "Mike, its okay, we'll fix it" now it was my turn to comfort him, I put my hand on his shoulder and he just looked at me blankly, his eyes wide and wild, as if they didn't belong to him and my heart ached for him. The guilt he must feel.

Luckily we'd only been driving an hour and by the time we got back to the house it was only six am, surely the ogre would still be in bed, right?

I was probably wrong. Very wrong.

We parked down the street just in case, tip-toeing round to the back door my heart pounded and nausea choked me, closing my airways, I tried to tell myself to calm down, to stay calm, but my sweaty palms confirmed that wasn't going to happen any time soon. The back door, very conveniently, was unlocked, Mike went first because he's oh so macho and I'm a fragile flower, ha right.

The house seemed somehow older than when I saw it only two hours ago. Older and taller, the walls seemed to tower higher, looking more off-white and nicotine stained than before. I shuddered, this was the last place I wanted to be.

"Stay here" Mike whispered as we stepped into the kitchen, his voice wasn't even a whispered, if I wasn't concentrating really hard on him I'd have probably missed what he said. I didn't respond for fear I'd talk too loud but I looked at him confused, head canted, eyebrows furrowed, lips turned slightly southwards. "I can't risk him finding you" he wrapped me in a hug and my stomach flipped a few times, this affection was so foreign and new to me, I wasn't really sure how to handle it. I just nodded, kind of fuzzy from his pure kindness.

And so Mike left me in the kitchen, heading slowly down the hall, I could hear his shallow breaths and my stomach was tied so tightly in knots I thought I'd need to surgery to remove it. I couldn't stand in here doing nothing, I felt useless and in all honesty a little afraid too, a lot afraid actually.

I followed him, being even more quiet than I would have been if Mike had not told me to stay put, not wanting to make Mike angry at me for not listening to him.

I heard groaning from the room. The room! As in the room I was trapped in.

"Vic" Mike whispered shakily, I moved forward quickly and grabbed his hand, looking up at him—my pathetic way of trying to be comforting. He looked in my eyes and went to say something but I shook my head and pointed to the room, gesturing that Vic was more important and he could be mad or disappointed or whatever he wanted to be with me—later.

Mike charged forward swinging the door open.

"Vic!" I heard him exclaim, I ran after him and into the room and gasped at the sight of Vic. He was curled up on the floor, looking tiny and fragile, blood ran from his nose and from what I could see of the right side of his face his right eye was swollen and bruised closed. I threw my hand over my mouth.

"Holy shit" I whispered, just in case I alerted the ogre that we were back. Mike rushed over to him, all rational thoughts aside and rolled him over so he was laid on his back, he groaned in pain but his left eye was wild with movement, flickering from side to side, scanning his surroundings. Mike looked him up and down, I assumed he was checking for any fatal injuries such as stab wounds or gunshot wounds. Luckily, there weren't any.

"Did that bastard do this to you? I'll kill him, I'll fucking kill him" he stood up, his face blood red, he barged me out of the way and stood in the doorway of the room, and started screaming in the direction of the stairs 'Get the fuck down here right now you son of a bitch'. I ran to him, frightened for all of our lives.

"Mike, don't, come on, its not worth it, lets get Vic in the car and just go. Then we don't have to see him ever again, come on think rationally." I pleaded, trying to wrap my arms around him and soothe him the best I could think of. Honestly I've never been good with feelings and emotions and comforting people, the only friend I ever had was Sam and he's a boy, boys hide their emotions and pretend to be happy all of the time so our friendship was as easy as breathing. We spent most of our time either laughing or arguing—but never crying and showing empathy to one another, there was never any need. So I never really formed a sense of how to comfort others, just like how no one ever comforted me. Except that one occasion—which was extremely unorthodox for her—when Lily comforted me.

Thinking of Lily made my heart sink. How was she doing? Did she just carry on with her life after I never came back or was she pulling her hair out over my disappearance? I bet she got over it within minutes.

Mike pushed me away from him, rejecting my 'comfort' —if you could actually call it that—and I slammed hard against the doorframe. I winced.

"Mike, its no use, he went out a half hour ago" Vic choked out trying to sit up, holding his stomach as it protested against his movements. Both Mike and I looked at him, Mike for one reason and I for a another. Either way both our jaws were disconnected from our faces because they'd dropped that far.

Mike rushed over to him, happy his brother finally spoke, the biggest smile on his face and I stayed put, my mouth hanging open as Mike fussed over Vic.

"Where does it hurt?" He asked like a loving mother, I should have smiled at that and I would have except right now I couldn't.

That voice, that sad sorrowful voice.

"My stomach kills, he kicked me in the stomach so much! And my face hurts and I think my hand is broken" Vic spoke slowly.

I tried to block both of their voices, I squeezed my eyes shut too, not wanting to see either of them. I put my hands up to either side of my head and shook it vigorously in denial, oh no, oh fucking no.

That voice. His voice. The faceless, nameless boy from my memories. And everything began to make sense all of a sudden. And everything came down to the fact that I was a bad person.

Notes

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh. College is draining the shit out of me!
So updates will be extremely slow, I have soooooo much homework and I'm exhausted all of the time.

But complaining aside I really enjoyed writing this! And y'all reactions to them leaving Vic behind was the best ever! Hahaha!

Okay so I have lots of ideas for this story. However, I want know what you would like to happen! So just pop a little comment below and tell me what you want to see happen and you never know I may use your idea instead of my own! :)

Thanks for reading <33