masked

#34

The doorbell finally rang, the thing we had all - subconsciously - been waiting for the whole evening. All the hours of laughter and exchanging dorky jokes vanished in a flash. This was now serious.

My mother had left a little while ago, to join Hannah at my aunt's. We had decided it was the ideal time to carry the plan out. I got up, readying myself and then crossed the room to open the door.

"Hello, Ethan." I found a smile somewhere.

"Good Evening, Willow. I gather that everything is still running smoothly?" He asked with an air of nonchalance although I knew he was nervous from then absence of his huge grin he almost always wore.

"If you're asking if anyone has pulled out, then no. We're ready." I replied hastily.

"Good." He nodded and then we joined Harry and Simon in my living room.

"Ethan!" Simon jumped up and embraced him in a short hug.

Ethan chuckled. "Hello, when are the rest of the boys here?"

"I guess they-", the doorbell rang, cutting me off. "Well, that answers your question."

A second time, I walked to the door to reveal the rest of the boys and Kayleigh. I scanned them and quickly deduced just how nervous everyone was from the shifty glances of unease they shared.

When no-one spoke up, Tobi stepped forward and hugged me quickly. "We're all ready." He confirmed, in short sharp words.

"Then let's do this." I smiled, suddenly feeling confidence as I started to get more and more angry at this guy. Who had made my boyfriend and my friends so miserable. Tonight, we would make sure he would never be able to hold that power again.

-

"Okay," Ethan whispered, "-the bodyguards patrol down the corridor every five minutes, so we approximately have three minutes to get to the staircase."

I nodded, listening attentively. Nothing could go wrong or we were screwed. I took Simon's hand  and he squeezed back tightly, clinging on for dear life.

"Simon, JJ, Josh and I will go up the main staircase and the rest of you take the other which is about here-" he pointed to his blueprint of the building layout.

"Wait," I frowned. "I want to go with Simon."

Ethan shook his head, "Um, Simon doesn't want anything to happen to you Willow."

I turned on Simon, furious. "No way am I leaving you!" I shouted adamantly.

"Willow, there isn't time for this. Please just go with what Ethan says." Simon said gently, taking back my hand.

I was unable to speak, so confused and hurt that Simon didn't think I was capable of handing this. As I looked around, everyone was slightly impatient and restless. I didn't want to cause an argument so I just nodded, my lips firmly set in a straight line. Kayleigh shuffled closer to me and laid her head on my shoulder, it comforted me.

"We take out the guards and then we'll have Eric to ourselves." Ethan finished off, I could see the gleam in his blue eyes even in the dark of the night.

"It's 09:00, let's go."

We got up, separating into two groups but I stayed holding on to Simon. I reached up and kissed him quickly, memorising his face.

"Please be careful." I whispered, tears threatening to fall down my face.

"I'll see you after all of this, that's a promise." He said, his own voice shaking a little.

"I love you." I said quickly.

"I love you too."

Then he was gone, slipping away into the shadows of the night to join the rest of the boys. I gulped back my tears and tried not to wonder if this was the last time I would be seeing him.

We opened the back door with the key card Ethan had gave us and, tentatively entered a long, narrow corridor. I listened hard but there was no disturbance so we made our way down the passage, keeping to the sides and being as quite as humanly possible.

The staircase was to our left and I reached for the handle when I heard short, sharp footsteps and they were coming out way. I heard Tobi curse under his breath and then I was being pulled into a gap that led to another corridor. Someone clamped a hand over my mouth but I knew not to make a sound.

As the footsteps approached, there was shouting too.

"I thought I heard something." A man muttered in a distinctly thick accent.

After a few seconds, footsteps were audible again but this time getting quieter as he left out hiding spot. I let out the breath that I had been keeping in and got to my feet.

"That was too close." Harry whispered, a sense of urgency in his voice.

I nodded until I realised he couldn't see me. "Come on,"

This time, we got to the staircase without any unexpected interruption and started the climb to the top. It was long, winding and extremely exhausting.

Several stops to take in oxygen were made but we finally got to the top. Now we played the waiting game.

"They'll be here soon." Vik murmured from beside me. I could tell he was scared and from the way Kayleigh was clinging onto him told me she was terrified, also.

A few minutes past and the air was becoming heavy with unease, what was taking them so long? I started to pace up and down, biting the skin off of my lip.

"What if they got caught?" Harry suddenly asked, fear was evident in his voice.

"Don't think like that." I replied harshly. But it crossed my mind too, my heart started racing as I imagined the worst. I couldn't push the tears away this time as I whimpered like a small puppy and then curled up. I should have never been separated from him.

"Hey-shh-it's okay." Tobi came over to me and patted my back soothingly.

"Tobi, what if something happened to him?" I sobbed, leaning into his touch.

Tobi didn't answer, confirming my worst thoughts.

My tears stopped when I heard footsteps, a fresh flood of relief washed over me.

"It took you long enough." Tobi sighed, getting up with me.

I eagerly jumped up and turned around the corner when something hit me hard in the stomach. I doubled over in pain, shocking me silent. Another streak of pain flashed down my arm and then I was being shrouded with s fabric and picked up, despite my struggling and frantic kicks. There was pressure over my mouth making it impossible for me to cry for help.

Then I felt a sharp pricking sensation at the back of my neck and everything seemed hazy as my eyes fluttered shut. My last thoughts were filled up with the image of Simon, I was pleading him to come and rescue me.

[a/n]

this is the second to last chapter and i'm feeling really emotional. i just wanna say thank you to you reading this and making me so happy with your votes and comments, this is my one hobby i actually enjoy and it makes me feel good inside, really good.

love you infinitely, mia :-)