{cover credits to the amazing: @ComfortableShows}
✈︎When Natalie Perez wakes up alone in an abandoned warehouse with no memory, it leaves her questioning who she is, and why she has no memory. She stumbled to a familiar person house and uncovers in...
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"the hardest choices require the strongest wills." -Thanos to Dr. Strange in Avengers: Infinity War ___________________________________________
THE ACHE IN MY back felt familiar. Like the first time I woke up in that abandoned building. The tenseness in my muscles, the tightness in my bones. It felt the same. Except more excruciating. Most likely because a building was dropped on my back not too long ago. My brain pounded against my skull as if it were trying to break free from its imprisonment.
"Nat..Natalie?" A loud voice spoke next to me.
"Stop screaming." I groaned.
"I-I'm not screaming," It took a moment for me to realize Hailiee was whispering, "Are you okay?"
I squinted my eyes at her," Am I okay? I just got a roof dropped onto my back, and now I'm bounded to an uncomfortable chair, and you're asking if I'm okay?"
She sighed, "Sorry. Do you know if they found Caleb?"
"No, Hailiee I was in the same room as you." I replied trying to shift my weight somewhere else other than my lower back.
"I didn't wake up after the bomb went off, I just came to not too long ago." She explained.
"Oh," I uttered, "Well Caleb's a smart boy, he can handle himself. It's us I'm more worried about for the time being."
Hailiee huffed, "Alaina just left."
My head snapped back to her, "What? Well what was she here for? What'd she say? Did she hurt you?"
"Calm down, I was just waking up when she was in here. I didn't wanna let her know I was awake so I tried my best to make it look like I was still knocked out. I couldn't tell but..Natalie, I think she injected you with her serum." Hailiee asserted.
"That's, uh, that's just great." I scoffed, "She's gonna use you to get to me. Smart. Effective."
A beat went by before Hailiee spoke up, "Austin wasn't always like this," Hailiee spoke as she tried to adjust her seating, "A dick I mean."
"Elaborate?" I cocked my head, twisting my wrists to hopefully alleviate some of the pain I was feeling.
"He wasn't always acting weird, you know how he was kinda acting different? How we never really heard anything from him?" She took a deep breath and continued, "He used to be this lively, go happy, go lucky guy where nothing you could say or do could bring him down or hurt him. Him and Joey were practically the same person. They used to be inseparable. Like how you and Caleb are now. Attached to the hip, always worrying about one another. If I didn't know any better, I'd think they had a thing going on."
I recalled what Alaina told me about Austin, but listened to Hailiee's side of his story, "Right after you disappeared, he went missing for about a week and a half. We thought- we assumed it was him grieving you. Cause you guys were together. So we thought nothing of it. When he came back though, it was like he was..different. Like you "dying" or you guys being close never happened. It was almost like he didn't care about you anymore. Soon, he lost interest in the rest of us."
"Skip ahead two months before you come back, he calls me saying he how sorry he is for being such a jerk, and that it was just him processing your "death". Again, I thought nothing of it because it's a pretty valid reason." She pauses to take a breath.
"Then, when that call was finished, from then up until recently, even when you came back, he was himself again. We thought he was finally over you, and he was happy. But-"
"But then he started acting suspicious." I finished her sentence.
"Yeah." Hailiee nodded with her head down.
A few moments of silence passed before I took my turn to speak, "You loved him."
No response.
I turn my head to her, "You did. Didn't you?"
Her head shook slightly as the tears welt up in her eyes, "I didn't love this version of him. I loved him before you did, before he knew he was in love with you. But when you told me you thought you were falling for him, I put all of those feelings aside. Because you're like my little sister."
She sighed, "And I'd do anything to ensure your happiness."
Without anything left to say, I turned my head back to the plain concrete cracked floor with a blank mind and a blank face. Quietness soon overcame the both of us and our discomfort was replaced with sadness for one another. I could feel Hailiee's eyes study me. I didn't have enough energy in me to care. It felt like minutes turned into hours, excruciating ones. My eyes grew weak and the room grew darker as I waited impatiently for someone to tell me what the hell was going on.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't my old team members. How've ya been?" A familiar, dark voice spoke.
"Austin." Hailiee's voice sounded out angelic like.
"Hailiee," He mocked, "Hey..hey."
I looked up and glared deeply at the overpowering male that betrayed my trust so easily, "What do you want?"
"I already got what I want. It's what Alaina wants with you that you should worried about. And trust me," He chuckled while pressing a small knife against my lips, "It's not gonna be good."
When he moved the knife I away, I used the opportunity to spit in his face. His head jerked back at the sudden wet contact. Austin let out a dark chuckle while wiping his face with his shirt. Two moments went by before he aggressively grabbed my neck and pushed me back enough to lift up the two front legs of my chair. I chocked on the air trapped in my throat. I tried to flail my body, but no avail seeing as I'm practically pinned down to the chair. Hailiee's voice screaming for him to stop felt blurred as the room was starting to go dark.
"Enough." A powerful, feminine voice shouted.
Austin ripped his hand away from my throat and my chair slammed back down. I shut my eyes as I gasped for air.
"Natalie, its good to see you again." The woman said.
"Wish I could...say the same...about you, you crazy bitch." I chocked out already knowing it was Alaina's voice.
"I really do with you would not use such..foul words when speaking to me." She replied.
"I can fix that. Say the word and I'll cut off her tongue." Austin offered.
"That will not be necessary." The blonde held up her hand, "Where is he?"
I scrunch my brows waiting her her to say who's she's looking for, "Caleb. You're love. Where is he."
They didn't get him?,"I don't know."
Alaina pushed out her bottom lip, "That's too bad." The woman snapped her fingers and the doors flew open. Two guards threw in a thin man.
