ELEVEN

|chapter song: poison - rita ora |

|dedicated: captivatingeyes - for that hot cover |

ELEVEN

I glanced around the small bakery, my mind frantically taking me places I really didn't want to be. I felt restricted and closed in, and really terrified. My heart was drumming loudly in my ear and at one point I started chanting "oh my god," under my breath continuously.

I didn't notice Link closing the distance between us until he put his hand on my shoulder. He bent himself so he was eye to eye with me. "Orianna, relax," he tried to calm me down but there was no solution to this apart from breaking out of Palmer's Passion.

"Oh my god," I breathed out again, my eyes flickering past Link's shoulder to the locked door behind him.

"What if we kicked it open?"

Link was speaking to me but I paid no attention to him, my mind too busy trying to find a way to open the door. It was only after Link glanced over his shoulder to see where I was looking at, turned back around to face me and snapped his fingers in my face. My head jerked back, the snap making me jump slightly.

"We can't kick it open Ori." Link enlightened me with a roll of his eyes.

"Why not?" I whispered, looking over his shoulder again.

Link stepped in front of me, blocking my view of the door. "It's too strong of a door," he told me.

"No door is stronger than me." I voiced out loud, glancing back at the door.

"That's debatable."

I glared up at his face and noticed the ends of his lips twitching. He was humouring himself, enjoying the situation we were in. Not surprising, since he had me all to himself in his aunt's bakery and everyone knew more than baking could happen in a bakery.

"You're finding this funny!" I exclaimed loudly, throwing my hands up. I turned away from him, infuriated, but I knew well enough to not let my rage through. "You are shitting me right now." I whispered to myself, my eyes trailing around the bakery, trying to find something of use. When I let myself admit there was nothing here, I turned back to Link and opened my mouth to speak.

Link moved so both his hands were back on my shoulders. He pushed me back slightly, my lower back hitting the stool that stood at the end of the counter. Before he could lend me another hand, I cautiously hoisted myself up the stool, making sure the glare of death was still on my face.

"Just to clarify, your muscles are totally fake."

Link's forehead creased into a frown. "Excuse me?"

I pointed at his arms. "They're fake."

Link glanced at his arms, confused at what I was implying until he slowly lifted his head up to meet my scrutinising glare. "Did you seriously just say that?" Link asked, deliberately punctuating each word.

I rolled my eyes at him, not sure whether I was telling myself I was stupid or him. "We need to get out of here. Or else we're going to drive ourselves to the edge." I admitted to him what I was afraid to admit to myself. Being locked inside a small room with Link would have no good outcome - not for me at least.

Link took a step back and crossed his hands in front of him. "What makes you so sure I'm not there yet?"

His words sent chills up my arm and I did well to avert my eyes away from him. A clear clarification that he was at the edge didn't sit well with me, even though I knew all along.

"The fear on your face is priceless." Link commented, all the previous humour in his voice evaporated.

I turned to face him again, "what do you say to someone that is crazy?" I blurted.

Link shrugged, his eyebrow arching upwards. "You first ask them if they are crazy."

I exhaled deeply. "Are you crazy?"

"Yes."

I took in a sharp breath. I swear if this did not pass as crazy talk I didn't know what would. Pun intended. Link continued to stare at my face, not giving away anything. He had himself guarded by a massive brick wall and I had no entry to his thoughts up until he opened his mouth and said something.

"I came back a few months ago, not last week."

The shock that came over me must have clearly registered on my face because it pushed Link to explain further.

"I was watching, or more like observing how everything ended up like after I left. Everyone seems to be the same, their heads down, not asking the relevant questions."

I swallowed down my parched throat audibly, my fingers finding each other quickly and they instantly intertwined. "Why did you leave in the first place?" I asked, aware that I was crossing a line and after that, there would be no ticket for a safe return.

"I did something stupid that lead me to the police," he confessed, pulling up the stool from next to me and he sat down. He had his dark pants tucked into his boots, his causal look almost overthrowing me.

"What did you do?" I questioned, my eyes trained on his boots. I knew all too well that I was rattling the cage of a sleeping snake and soon, Link was going to lash out.

But until then, I was tiptoeing around him and throwing in questions whenever I could.

"What any order grieving person would do," he said back.

I grabbed my lower lip with my teeth, searching for the right words to ask him the next question. "Did you have your closure?"

"For?"

"Your sister."

Link took a while before he answered. "Yeah," he said slowly and in a much lower voice. "But it doesn't help that she's everywhere. Almost as if she's never gone."

I nodded him at him slowly, "I understand and I'm really so-"

"Don't," he interjected quickly. "The last person I want to hear I'm sorry from is the person that caused all of it."

His words struck at my heart, the coldness of it and the lingering truth behind it. Still, I still said it. "I'm sorry."

Link shut up so quickly from his stool, causing it to fly backwards and crash into the side of the counter. The noise of the collision rang loudly in my ear. I scooted backwards, trying to get as much distance between us. I rattled the cage of the snake now and he was awake. "I said don't fucking want to hear it," he sneered in a low, hissing voice and it was so frightening it took the breath right out of me.

"I'm sorry." I whimpered in a small voice, instantly regretting those small two words. Link's wild eyes met mine, a hard and petrifying glare aimed on me.

"Shut the fuck up before I do it for you."

Holy crap. My eyes were wide as it was, and after that sharp bite, they were practically bulging out their sockets.

"If you don't want to talk about it, just so say. No need to get rude." I said in a small voice, hoping that it wouldn't poke the snake once again.

Link stared at me as if I grew another head. "I told you I didn't want to talk about it."

"Yeah but no need to get rude-" I replied back, still talking a small voice. The fear was loud in my own ears and I could just imagine what it sounded to Link. I could just imagine him feeding off my fear, feeding his thrill and lust for vengeance.

"There is a need if you keep talking about it." Link shot back.

I couldn't see myself mustering any other words after that, and decided that for my own good, to just keep my mouth shut.

Link let out a sigh and shook his head. "Can we just talk about something else, something like why you chose to dye your hair?"

I blinked up at him rapidly, wondering if the change of subject was safe enough. I couldn't afford for him to get one more bit angry, and I knew what things would rile him up.

And the reason why I dyed my hair would sure send him on another rage run.

So a smooth lie tumbled out my mouth, "everyone was changing their hair colour so I thought to join." I shrugged casually, my hand subconsciously lifting up and tangling into my hair. I had decided to completely change my look, from a brunette to a blonde, a week after the incident. The drastic change took a while to get used to, with my friends giving me bewildered side glances and my parents wondering if I was going through a phase.

"Did anyone tell you that brown suited you better?" Link asked, his eyes travelled up to my head.

"Yes," I said slowly.

He let out a scoff, his eyes fixed on my hair. "What liars."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "You think the blonde does me good?" I asked him, feeling the ends of my mouth curve up into a smile. Was I fishing for compliments? No. But did I want to hear Link say it? Hell yes.

I just wanted to have some upper hand in this ridiculous game we were playing - if it's even called a game. Ever since he came back, he had me all cornered and caged up, watching my life crack into pieces with no glue to patch it back together.

"What does it matter what I think?" Link asked, dodging the question nicely. I locked away my annoyance and carried on as though his answer didn't bother me.

"It doesn't matter." I told him, picking up my leg and crossing it over the other. I placed my hand on my knee and dropped my chin into my palm.

His lips twitched. "By the looks of it, it does matter."

I shook my head, whilst still keeping it in my palm. "No, I assure you, it doesn't."

"Then why are you trying your best to hide your annoyance?" he asked, his eyes glistening with amusement.

"I don't care whether you like my hair or not!" I blurted out, throwing my hands up in annoyance. I pushed myself off the stool and walked towards the other side of the room. It was getting dark out and we had nothing to contact the outer world with.

Link walked to where he threw his stool before and picked it up carefully. My eyes were trained on his moving body. He picked up the stool and pushed it against the counter only to use it to hoist himself up.

He directed his body around to face me.

"Let's talk about your friends then," he offered, getting comfortable on the counter.

I narrowed my eyes at him from where I stood. I was not going to discuss my friends with Link. For all I knew, he was going to use them as leverage. "We're not going to talk about them."

One of Link's eyebrow arched upwards. "Them? Plural? You have more than one friend?"

I tilted my head to the side, "really?"

"How is Versa holding up? I always liked her."

"Stay away from her Link."

"What?" Link dragged out the word slowly. "You don't think I'll hurt her to get to you, right?"

"Link-" I started to say before he interrupted with a loud, boisterous chuckle.

"I bet you think I'm crazy!" He said, laughing a knee slapping laugh. I maintained a straight face, not sure whether he was playing me or just pretending to play me when in fact he wasn't playing me.

Confusing as fuck, I know.

"Just leave Versa alone." I muttered, sinking down to the floor and finding strength from the wall to keep me from falling.

"Does she know about the night?" He questioned randomly.

"No she doesn't and I would like to keep it that way." I told him, making sure that the end part stuck in his head like glue. Versa couldn't find out about that night, it would break her more than I broke me.

"Why didn't you tell her?"

I let out a sigh, "she's fragile. You of all people should know that."

Link stayed quiet for a second before he said anything. "That's why I like her." I watched as Link, right before my eyes, went someplace else in his head. He totally forgot about the existence of the world, with his usual pointed glare now staring into nothing.

He shrugged it off with a shake of his head. "Who have you told about that night?" He asked, recovering from where he went earlier.

"Erm--" I started to say, not liking where this was heading. I had a feeling in the pits of my stomach that this conversation was going to turn ugly whichever way we took it.

"I haven't told anybody." I stated.

Link grabbed something from the counter - a napkin - and started folding it into small pieces. "Why not?" he questioned slowly.

I lifted up my shoulder. "Because I was scared?" It came out more like a question than anything else and less convincing than I wanted it to be.

"You should have told the police."

My heart started speeding up, the loud thumps dancing in my throat. "I wouldn't be here if I told them."

"You sure as hell wouldn't be," Link scoffed. He picked up another napkin and started folding that one. His fingers were working quickly and delicately elapsing over the napkin, yet, his mind was back to the night.

"Why do we always talk about the night?" I asked him quietly, a part of me hoping he didn't hear what I asked.

He dropped the napkin and turned his head slightly to face me. "Because it's an unfinished story."

"Every story has an end Link," I said slowly, almost like testing the waters before I took the plunge with my next words "And this one sure as hell came to an end ages ago."

Link looked me straight in the eye. "No crime comes to an end with the criminal still walking a free man."

"Are you ever going to forgive me?"

He didn't answer. And that made it clear for me that there wasn't an end to this. Not ever, not for Link at least.

_

_

_

"I suppose Palmer won't get mad if we eat some of her cakes?"

I glanced over to where Link was seated, on the counter with one leg up and the other dangling down. He looked far from amused and made it clear that the constant ringing of my voice was close to irritating. As the time went by, I was etching further away from him, not realising it at all until my back had hit the wall.

I wasn't all too sure what made me stand on edge all of a sudden, but somehow knowing that I was locked up with Link, with zero chance of escaping truly slapped me awake. This boy really wanted me gone a couple of days ago - in fact, his new moto revolved around making my life hell.

He had his look back on; the loosened Link from before long gone. He hadn't lifted up his head from his knee for minutes now and my eyes kept dropping to his hands. Clenching, then un-clenching, clenching.

My mind kept throwing possible reasons for his behaviour, and one reason kept making rounds in my brain. He's getting angry.

I swallowed down audibly when they unclenched again and this time, Link lifted up his head.

"Can you, for one second, shut the fuck up?"

I further back up against the wall, plastering my back right onto it. My head bobbed rapidly in response.

I was not going to give him any smart mouth.

"Okay." I whispered.

He dropped his head back on his knee and was back to staring at the napkins he had lined up beside him. I didn't know what he found amusing with folding napkins but it seemed to keep his mind at bay and it let me see Link slowly calm himself down. It also averted his attention from me which gave me a chance to think a few things through.

That I should really consider investing in a power bank and not to ever let my phone die on me.

Link lifted his head up and the movement made me snap my head in his direction. I was looking at him, waiting for him to speak. He opened his mouth but closed it shut after.

I raised my eyebrow at him in question which prompted an agitated sigh from him. Finally he spoke. "Can I just ask you one more thing?"

"Sure," I said carefully, unsure what he would shoot my way.

"Where did you go after you hit her?"

The question took me by surprise. So much that it took me a few seconds to stabilise myself. "Home."

"And then?"

"Bed. And then Hell." I took in a deep breath. "And I've been there ever since."