Panic Room (a.i) On Hold

Chapter 8

Ashton's P.O.V

I cross my arms, trying not to look too expectant. I wanted to know why the hell I was literally dragged here by a girl that is only a few years older than me that insists on calling me "kid". To be here I had to leave Ky, which is something that I'd like to avoid at all costs. Who knows what will happen to here while I'm not there? Calum could come and take her! Sure, I won't be able to do much, but it's the thought that I actually could do something counts, right?

It probably doesn't and I'm thinking way too optimistically. I shake my head, realizing that Luke said something. But, as usual, I was lost in my own head and I'm going to have to make the poor lad repeat himself.

"Sorry, what?" I say.

Luke smiles warmly. "I was only saying, we're trying to rebel against what our families like to call Panic Room."

I raise my eyebrows. "Your families?" I might have put too much emphasis on those words, but I'm way too confused at the moment. Did they really forget that I can't remember anything?

Luke nods. "Yes, we come from the four ruling families of New Australia. We're trying to gain the trust from the leaders of the rebel group called The Reapers. Obviously they don't trust us because of our families, but we're hoping to change their minds."

I feel as if my head starts to spin as I try to wrap my mind around all of this. This has to be at trap, right? I mean, why else would members of the ruling families want to overthrow their own kin? It all makes absolutely no sense. They have all they could ever want. Clothes, food, any luxury they desire. If that dream was real, and that was my memories, Chloe and I were struggling to get by. As well as my mother and siblings.

"Why would you want to do that?" I say after a few moments of silence.

"What?" Luke questions.

His ocean blue eyes meet my hazel ones as I look him in the eye. "Why would you want to throw all of the luxuries that you have away?" I tighten my arms across my chest. "I mean, I'm guessing that if you are caught doing this they'll have you killed for treason?"

I feel as if everyone's eyes in the room widen. At least that's what I see. Everyone looks shocked except for Michael. He's one sketchy boy.

I'm guessing they're all surprised because I know so much about their government when I lost my memories. I'm quite surprised myself, actually.

When no one speaks up, I do. "So, what do you have planned?"

Luke leads me over to the pool table that is covered in papers. I smile at their messiness with such important plans.

"Well, we were thinking that we could start by busting you and Ky out of that awful place," Luke explains.

"And how do you expect to do that?"

"We thought that we could have Jason constantly loop the footage for a while so that we could get you guys in and out easily."

"You do realize that there are cameras everywhere. Probably some that you don't even know about. They could suspect Jason being apart of The Reapers and didn't tell him where all the cameras are," I say. "They could even suspect you guys."

"Do you really think that we haven't thought of that?" Mali looks at me with an expression that could kill. "Do you honestly think we're that stupid?"

I shake my head, completely unfazed by her words. "No, I was just saying that you should consider that as a huge part of your plan. This wouldn't work if we got caught, now would it?"

This silences her, but the angry look on her face tells me that I shouldn't push her any further. I sigh, looking back at Luke. "This plan needs to be foolproof. I can't afford for anything to go wrong."

"You have nothing to lose," Michael speaks up.

I look over to him. "I do. And that's Kyrelle. If anyone deserves to leave here, it's her."

Michael snorts. "You don't have to worry about anything happening to her. Calum has grown weirdly attached to her and won't let anything bad go her way. Even when he puts her in Panic Room he does the least amount of damage possible."

I look at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

Michael laughs dryly. "I think he's in love with her." He pauses. "And I think that in his twisted mind, she loves him back."

I nod. "That makes sense. Why she got the hairbrush and mirror. The only special thing I've gotten is a bandana that Jason gave me a while back." Speaking of the bandana, I take it out of my pocket and tie it around my head. It helps to keep the hair out of my eyes.

Michael smiles. "You could definitely use a good shower and a hairbrush. That little bathroom they give you is doing you no justice."

I grin at him. I like this guy. He doesn't take everything so serious. "I completely agree. Before we get out of here I'm going to look like a very manly girl."

This makes the entire room bust out laughing. I laugh along with them, thankful that I was able to lift the tension in the room.

As the laughter dies down, I finally look over their plans. "Are you for sure on the guard times?"

Michael nods. "Completely. I held a stakeout last night and observed their shifts."

"And they didn't notice you?"

"'Course not," Michael says. "I'm very good at hiding in the shadows. Being invisible. That's how the Hood's want me to be anyways."

Mali's eyes soften and she wraps an arm around his shoulders. "Sorry, Mike," She says in a small voice.

I feel sympathetic toward the crazy haired boy. He doesn't deserve any of this. From what I can tell, he's just a genuinely nice guy that wants to help. I have the feeling, though, that there's a motive behind his helpfulness. Something must've happened to make him want to overthrow the families. I sit down in one of the foldout chairs, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees. I clasp my hands together and look at everyone. Everyone here has a motive on why their doing this. And if I'm going to trust them, I need to know their motivation for this. I need to know their stories.

"So, is it too much to ask why you're all doing this?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" Mali speaks up, finally meeting my eyes once again.

"What I mean is, what caused you all to want to overthrow your own families? There has to be a story behind it all," I respond. "If you really want me to trust you all, tell me your stories."

The room grows quiet, and I fear that no one will tell me anything. Trust goes both ways. But I don't even know who I was before this all happened. With my memories gone, I've started off with a clean slate.

Finally, Michael speaks up.

"Well. . ."

A/N: I will be updating this story a lot considering it's only the first day of Spring Break. Hope you enjoyed!