Taken • cth

thirteen | impasse

Arrow spends the next twelve hours in and out of a drunken daze.

Her head pounds like a bitch, and the huge bruise on her right temple isn't helping. The masked figure that beat her senseless really didn't seem to be bothered by her relentless kicks. She only got flashes of blue and black, with nothing more. She'd probably recognize the guy if he came back though.

Eventually she musters up the strength to crawl on her hands and knees to the right wall, and after only a second of hesitation, knocks three times. "Cal?" She whispers, her voice hoarse.

He responds almost immediately after, with three light knocks from the other side. So they didn't move him after all. "I'm here."

His voice is full of pain, and he's clearly trying to hide it. Arrow bites back on despair. "Let's just knock from now on, ok? Unless it's an emergency." She leans her forehead against the wall, trying to be as quiet as she can. "I don't want anything else to happen to you."

She hears a creak in the wood from the other side, and can almost see him leaning against the opposite wall. He takes a deep breath. "Ok. I love you."

Arrow closes her eyes, and presses her palm against the boards. "I love you too."

After a couple of seconds he knocks twice, two quick raps of his fist, and she mirrors the sound. A single tear runs down her cheek, followed by another, and another. She then sinks to the floor, covering her face with her hands, and starts to pray.

Everything is different now. They're both going to die.

***

"Somethings happened to them, Ashton." Lea says the second she enters the room, slamming the apartment door shut behind her. The curly haired boy leads her into the living room, scratching a hand through his messy hair. They all look like shit. All of them feel like it, too. "This isn't normal at all. The police aren't even helping us anymore."

It's the morning after the party, and there's still no sign of Calum or Arrow. Everyone looked for hours last night with no luck, and the police eventually gave up and said they'd contact them in the morning. The group just left after that, being too exhausted to do anything else, and no call has came. Lea has a feeling they're on their own.

"Well, it's only been like twelve hours. Maybe they both wandered off and passed out somewhere. They could be calling any minute." Ashton says, but his voice screams doubt.

Luke comes out of the bedroom to join them in the kitchen, leaning against the counter. His black hair is tousled, eyeliner smudged all along his face. He's still wearing his outfit from the night before. They all are.

"I don't care, this is Calum and Arrow we're talking about." Lea throws her hands up in the air. "You know they wouldn't do something like that. Something is wrong."

"I agree with Lea." Michael's voice rings through the apartment, and she flinches. She almost completely forgot he was following her. He appears at the kitchen table, taking a seat. He looks about the same as the rest of them. "This isn't normal."

"Then what do you suppose we do about it?" Luke exclaims. "The police aren't going to do shit and we have no idea where they are. We were in a remote place, they didn't have a car, and they won't answer their phones. It's like they just disappeared off the face of the earth."