Panic Room (a.i) On Hold

Chapter 7

(I highly recommend the song Are You Bored Yet? by Wallows for this chapter!)

Ashton's P.O.V

Annabelle pulls me down the dark hallway. I nearly stumble on my own feet and I have no doubt that my upper arms will bruise from how hard she is gripping me. So many thoughts are swirling through my mind.

Where is she taking me? What meeting? Will we get caught?

So much adrenaline is pumping through my veins that I feel as if I'm going to explode. My mind starts to wonder back to that dream that I had. Who was that girl?

The dream felt so real. As if I actually knew that girl and those events actually took place. She seemed to be my fiancée or something. Definitely someone I was involved with. She was gorgeous. Blue hair definitely suits her. Her eyes nearly matched her hair. No wonder dream me liked her so much.

She's not as good as Ky.

I furrow my eyebrows and push away that thought. Where the hell did that come from? I mean yes, Ky is very beautiful but we only met a few weeks ago and we have way more important things to worry about than my stupid feelings. Such as getting the hell out of here.

I try my best to memorize my surroundings. Maybe I can find a way for Ky and I to get out on our own. So far, there have been no obvious ways to escape. It's so dim and Annabelle is going to give me whip lash if she doesn't slow the fuck down.

"Where are we going?" I ask in a low voice, trying to get some answers before we get to our destination.

Annabelle turns her head back momentarily. If I'm not going crazy, which there is a huge possibility that I am, there is guilt in her eyes. "I told you. A meeting."

I sigh, rolling my eyes a bit. "A meeting with who?"

She sighs, her shoulders heaving a bit. Her long, curly brown hair gets in her face and I think for a moment that if she keeps breathing in that deeply, she's gonna swallow her hair. Her gray eyes seem almost black in this lighting. She stops in front of a door, finally answering me.

"You'll just have to find out."

I nod, not having the energy to fight. I'm just hoping that I'm not walking into a trap. I move to open the door, but Annabelle grabs my arm. I look back, guessing that she has something to say.

"I'll be right out here if you need me."

I smile slightly. "You better be. You have to pay me back for nearly giving me whiplash and bruising my arm."

She snorts, punching my arm rather hard. I wince and rub my arm. "Just go get it over with, kid."

I look at her with my eyes narrowed. "You don't look that much older than me."

She grins. "Stop stalling and get in there."

I nod, taking a deep breath. The door in front of me seems really scary, as ridiculous as it sounds. I'm scared because I don't know what's behind it. It could be anything. It could be people actually wanting to help me. Or it could be people trying to murder me. This could all just be another part of Panic Room. How could I know any different?

I finally work up my courage to go through the door. I push it open and am instantly met with yelling. Damn, this door is really thick. I couldn't even hear this yelling even when I was standing just outside of it.

"Do you not understand how important this is, Luke!" A woman yells. She doesn't sound much older than I am.

I walk around the corner and see seven people huddled around a small table that is covered with papers. There's a girl with dyed blonde hair at one end of the table and a tall, lanky blonde boy at the other end. On one side, there's a shorter girl with black hair and icy blue eyes. On the other is a tall boy with black hair with his back facing me. Standing off to the side is an older looking blonde woman. Standing next to her is a young girl with straight brown hair. She looks oddly familiar. And to finish this list, a purple haired boy stands behind the dyed blonde.

"Of course I understand, Mali!" The tall blonde yells back. I'm guessing he's Luke. He runs his hands through his hair, as if to calm himself down. "I'm only saying that we need to take this slow. If we don't-."

The bleached blonde interrupts him. "If we don't get them out now, my brother will kill him! He'll probably keep Kyrelle against her will! For some reason he has an obsession with that poor girl."

I draw closer to the group of people. I am completely unnoticed until I decide to open my big mouth. "What do you mean keep Ky against her will?"

Everyone stops to look at me. I can't tell if they expected me to be here or not. The bleached blonde just looks shocked that I said anything, but the purple haired guy seems almost...happy? to see me here. Luke just seems like I had been there the entire time.

"Good. You're here Ashton," Luke says.

I smirk. "I didn't exactly have a choice." I cross my arms as I look up slightly at the tall blonde.

"You don't have to join us. No one should be forcing you-."

I interrupt him. "I meant that Annabelle dragged me out of bed. I wasn't exactly prepared to be pulled down a dark hallway straight out of a horror film."

Luke's eyebrows furrow. "How do you know about horror films?"

I stop working for a moment. How do I know that?

I shrug. "It just seemed like a good thing to say."

Luke nods, shrugging it off. "Anyways, let me introduce you to everyone. Firstly, I'm Luke Hemmings. The older blonde woman is my mom, Liz. Beside her is my girlfriend Katrina Langston. The black haired girl is Melantha Abernathy, but she prefers to be called Mel. Across from her is her brother Nico. The blonde girl I was arguing with is Mali-Koa Hood, just call her Mali. And behind her is Michael Clifford." He's kind enough to point everyone out for me. Otherwise I would have been lost.

"I would introduce myself, but I'm guessing you already know who I am," I say, grinning.

"It's amazing you can keep a smile throughout all of this," Liz says, her blue eyes softening with sadness.

I smile at her, then turn my attention back to the rest of the group. "So, what's this meeting about, anyways?"

A/N: Sorry for the short hiatus I went on. I had a short time of writer's block, but I am back! I will probably be updating a lot considering that Spring Break has officially started. Thank you for reading!