I lost track of how long I was in here after the medic and other dude left.
Hours maybe?
Days?
The only constant in this metal prison was the plastic water bottle a foot out of my reach, and the apple that complimented it. My stomach yearned for both.
"What do you want from me?!" I yelled aloud, but no one answered.
I felt like sobbing but I had already cried myself dry. All that was left was a tight constricting in my throat. Like someone had it in their hand and was squeezing the life out of me.
Slumping back against the wall I was chained to, I felt my eyes get heavy with sleep.
No, no, no, you can't fall asleep Daytona! Stay awake! Stay awake.
I fought with everything I had, but it wasn't enough, in a matter of seconds I was out.
Large hands grabbed my shoulders and slammed me back into the wall. "For a minute I thought you'd actually starved. Which would be way easier on me, but not as fun."
For however long I was in here, no one came to see me. It didn't matter how loud I screamed, how much I begged, or even how much I threatened Colton, it did no good. Who knew falling asleep was the key to getting him in here.
With rugged blonde hair and stupid green eyes, he could be handsome; that is if handsome also came with sides of psychotic and terrifying. The stupid tattoo is what really tied the whole package together. Only crazy people would tattoo a gun under their eye.
"What do you want from me?" My voice was quiet. Too quiet. It sounded like I had lost all hope. All fight.
"We've been down this path before Daytona." Colton gripped my face tightly in his hand. "I'm going to make you hurt just like I hurt, and then some more of course." He pushed my face away violently causing my head to smack back into the metal wall.
Fuzzy black dots danced across my vision for a minute, but once it was clear, I turned my eyes on him and managed as much strength as I could into my next words, "Once I get out of here, I'm going to kill you."
"That is if you get out of here Daytona." Colton sat down infront of me, drumming his fingers on the floor. "Let's play a little game of would you rather to pass the time okay?"
"Typically people like you don't play games with their prisoners." I forced my voice to remain even all though every fiber in my body was telling me to just let it crack.
"That's where you messed up Daytona. There is no one else like me." In this light, I could finally see him for what he truly was, a disastrous fire. Everything about him was made to lure you in. His eyes, his hair, but when you got to close, he became the most dangerous thing you've ever played with.
"Fine," I gulped, "let's play."
He wore a sinister smirk as he spoke, "Me first. Would you rather not sleep for the next seven days, or not eat."
My heart dropped.
He didn't want to 'play a game' to pass time. He was planning out how he was going to torture me.
"I'm not going to answer." My voice was soft and I cursed myself for seeming weak again.
The smirk never left his face. "Wrong answer."
"What are you going to do to me?" An unknown level of terror washed over me.
"Nothing right now. When the time comes though," he let the end of his sentence hang in the air. "So. Again Daytona. Not eat or not sleep."
"Eat." I whispered.
I hated how quickly he broke the fight in me.
I was supposed to be stronger than this.
Giving up should not be this easy. But as the questions kept firing at me that's all it seemed I was capable of doing.
"Alright Daytona. Last question. Would you rather you die, or live with the guilt of knowing someone else died so you could live."
"I would rather die."
"That can be arranged." He looked up at the ceiling, seeming to contemplate something. "I have a deal for you."
~~~~ð¸~~~~
It seemed like during the game of would you rather, Colton tortured me by doing the opposite of my answer.
For example, I would rather not eat than not sleep. So anytime I would start to doze off, something would happen to keep me up. It would range from a bucket of cold water to the face, to horrible mental torture, to physical hits.
The worst part was probably the constant pain at the nape of my neck. But for the sake of my Jiminy Cricket, I ignored it. Where my foot got shot, became a bothersome throbbing sensation. I must've repeated the phrase 'pain is just a state of mind' so often, that the pain completely dissolved.
'You realize no one is coming for you.'
"Who's there?" The sudden voice caught me of guard and I looked around for the source of the voice frantically.
' If they were really going to come for you, they would've been here by now. Don't you think?'
The voice sounded creepily familiar. "Liar! They will come for me!" My voice was strong, but wobbly.
'Well why haven't they so far? You've been here for a week and a half now. Stuck in this box, not allowed to sleep, not allowed to eat and Logan is probably out there hooking up with that blonde chick.'
"Shut up." I growled, fighting back tears. Where do I know that voice from?
'You can keep running away from the truth Daytona, but face it. Everyone will have a better life with you gone. You've caused so much pain around you. The least you could do to help them is take away the source of all that pain.
'Just think of Cooper for example. The night he died was because of you. You killed Cooper.
'You constantly put Ashton's life in danger by just living in the same house as her. Mason is constantly worried about her. If you were going to disappear, you would take the stress out of Masons life.'
"SHUT UP!" I screamed out, tears falling rapidly down my cheeks. "Stop talking please."
'I can't stop talking Daytona, because I am you. As long as you exist, I will too. The only way to get rid of me is to get rid of you too.'
"Make it stop. Please make it stop." I pulled my knees in to my chest as best as I could. Having my hands restrained made it hard, but it would have to do.
The scrapping of metal on metal snapped my out of my daze and my wild eyes shot up to see Colton standing in the doorway. "I didn't think you could look any worse, but you surprise me every day."
"Who was that girl talking to me?!" I yelled at him.
Colton took a step back, clearly not expecting my outburst.
"You were all by yourself in here and I can tell you, the only other girl in my gang wasn't here to talk to you." He tapped his head, "You're going bonkers Daytona."
"No." My voice was hardly even loud enough for me to hear, but apparently Colton heard me.
"Oh yes." He walked in closing the door behind him. "Here's a few crackers. I don't want you dying on me just yet." He raised one of them to my mouth and I cautiously took a bite.
They were probably poisoned.
"There not poisoned Daytona." I squinted my eyes at him. Did he just read my thoughts? Or did I say that out loud?
"Eat up. I'll also allow you to sleep. You'll need your strength very soon for the final show." He winked at me but I didn't care.
I ate the rest of the crackers he hand fed me and as soon as the door was closed I hung my head and slept.
If I thought I had bad nightmares before, I was wrong. They were nothing compared to the ones I had now.
For most of the time I was constantly in this black void, surrounded by people screaming. There were no words to them, just screams. When I thought my eardrums were finally about to burst, it all stopped.
I looked up and saw Cooper standing several feet away from me. His face was contorted in pain. "I'm sorry Day. I love you."
Then his eyes widened and he fell backwards.
That's when I realized I wasn't in a black void. I was in a bowl of black water and I was drowning.
I whipped my head up suddenly, causing me to once again smack it on the hard metal wall. This time, I seriously thought that I was going to pass out. One more hit to my head and I was in trouble.
For the first time since I had been kept hold up in here, I almost felt a little bit better. The power nap really helped and the few crackers Colton had fed me seemed to almost help too.
"Just because you gave me food and let me sleep doesn't mean you're off the hook. Got that you prick?" I yelled hoping he could hear me again.
"I told you, your pretty mouth shouldn't have such nasty words coming from it." Colton stood in the doorway, the second door open now too.
Twisting my face into a sneer, I responded, "And why should I care what you say?"
"Because," he started, "I have the keys to those chains keeping you sitting there uncomfortably." Patting his pocket, I could confirm that he did have a set of keys with him. Whether or not they were the ones for my chains continued to remain a mystery.
Several vile comebacks sat at the tip of my tongue, waiting to be released, but I bit them back. I couldn't save Cooper if I was sitting chained to this stupid metal wall.
"Nothing to say?" Colton taunted. His emerald eyes gleamed wide with amusement. He watched me, starring, probably trying to scare me into submission, but I didn't back down either.
I hardened my eyes like I had done plenty of times before with the gang leader in front of me, casting all emotions, aside from my rage, to the farthest parts of my mind. "Don't test me. I'm just holding it all back. Truthfully, I can't tell whether you're lucky that I am, or if it would be more beneficial to your health that I let loose now. The more I hold back, the more dangerous I become."
For the most part he kept his composure, but his hand that rested on the keys twitched slightly.
"Let's go." His smile dropped, sealing away any chance of his true emotions peaking through. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and unlocked my chains, yanking me by my arm up on to my feet.
For being down here for several days, my legs weren't as weary as I had expected. A surge of adrenaline coursed through my veins and once Colton had let go of my arm, I swung with all I had.
My fist connected with his jaw, sending his head whipping around. I didn't even bother to look back. The minute his head snapped to the side, I took off up the stairs. Climbing and crawling to get away from all of this.
I could hear Colton cursing behind me. It only made me run faster.
But Colton was a lot faster and taller than me. He took the stairs two at a time, grabbing my ankle just as I was about to break free, yanking me down closer to him.
The side of my face crashed onto the top step awkwardly, slicing my forehead open. "No! Get off of me!" I flipped onto my back and kicked Colton's gut, pushing him back.
"If you move I will have your brother killed. Got that? He will die for good Daytona and it will all be your fault!"
I struggled as best as I could for a few minutes, but eventually I caved in, ceasing my thrashing.
"Good girl. I swear, you're such a pain sometimes." This time instead of grabbing me by the arm, he grabbed me by the hood and dragged me up the stairs not even giving me a chance to stand.
My mind was at a war with itself. Half of me was screaming to fight back with all I had. I was the champion of fighting. Not only at The Undergrounder, but also at High Rise too. I beat Colton once, I could do it again.
But the other, rational, side of me was screaming back that if I fought back, I risked the chance of Colton harming Cooper, and I was not going to let that happen.
I lost him once, I was not going to loose him again.
"Where are you taking me? Why not just leave me down there to rot?" I asked Colton.
He continued to drag me by the hood even though I was standing up now.
I kept a close eye on the hallways I passed, marking certain objects so I knew my way back from wherever I was going.
"You know Daytona, you have angered quite the number of people, and most of them would give up everything at the chance to get back at you." As we walked to my next place, the lights got darker, casting dark shadows over Colton's face. "Let's see how many I can name. There is my own second in command, Micah, obviously, Jared Lucas, Brody Davidson, that one kid from your high school, oh and how could I forget your father: Danny Adam Lyn."
I remained silent.
Five people I had managed to piss off just this year. I had hurt countless more during my reign of terror, and I'm sure a lot of them still hold a grudge on me to this day.
I was truly a terrible person and I deserved everything I had coming to me.
"So to answer your question Daytona, I offered all of those people a chance to get back at you. Only two of them declined my offer, would you like to know who?"
Did I want to know? Or would I rather just face the consequences of my actions bindly?
"Who declined?" I gave up in trying to seem strong in front of Colton. He knows how weak he makes me, why keep up the front?
"Micah and your father."
Caught off guard, I stopped walking, which wasn't a wise decision on my part. Colton let go of the hood and yanked my hair.
Seriously, what was this dudes obsession with my hair? He was constantly messing and pulling it.
"If you stop walking again, I'll drag you across the floor by your hair. You are seriously testing my patience here." Colton's tone was sharp and hard.
We neared a metal door like the one that was in my room. The only difference was that this one was open. Anyone could freely walk out or in. Something I didn't have the pleasure of having.
"Well, here we are." Colton shoved me into the room and stood in the doorway, blocking my exit.
This room was almost identical to the room I had been held in. Same metal floors, same metal walls. But instead of having four metal walls, this room, had a sheet of reflective glass on two opposite walls, leaving the back and front walls the only ones fully metal. What those two mirrors held behind them, I had no clue. Maybe it was another room Colton used for torturing people, or maybe they weren't rooms at all. Perhaps the mirrors were really just mirrors.
I took one look at myself and almost laughed.
My hair was knotted and ratty looking. My blue eyes were puffy and baggy, a window into the hell I had to endure the past few days. Jordan's hoody and sweats hung off my shoulders and hips more than they had the day he gave them to me. My skin was paler, and my hair was darker. Dirt was caked beneath my nails which were cracked and chipped. The spot where I had cut my forehead had bled down to my temple.
I was a hot mess. Minus the hot and double the mess.
"What's so funny Daytona?" Caught up in my how messy my appearance was, I had forgotten that Colton still stood in the doorway, his emerald gaze scrutinizing everything I did.
I turned towards him, a rare smile still on my face. "Nothing."
His eyes narrowed. "Fine."
The smile fell off my face and I pushed all emotions I had to the back of my mind again, willing myself to become the stone cold emotionless girl I am when I'm around him. "So. What am I doing in here?"
His trademark smile was back on his face as he explained what I was going to do in this room. "Remember the first time we met? Not at the race, but at the Undergrounder. We fought in the ring and you beat me,"
"By the way, how did I do that? Did you go easy on me, or are you really that weak?" It was almost like entering this room gave me a new surge of confidence and strength. I didn't feel like scared or weak like I had been the whole time I've been here. My bite was back and it was stronger than ever.
"Glad to see you're back to your usual self Daytona. You were pretty boring while you were sulking. But to answer your latest question, I didn't hold back, but I'm not that weak either. You caught me off guard is all, and by the time I had recovered, I couldn't catch back up. You should give yourself a pat on the back and consider your fighting advanced.
"Now you are going to put that fighting to good use. I'm going to be sending in the three that accepted my offer one at a time, and you're going to fight them. If you win, well, you win. But if you loose, well then your brother gets a bullet between his eyes."
Cooper.
If I was going to save him, I needed to fight the hardest I had ever fought. Who knows what advantage Colton might give them. He'd do anything to make me pay for hurting his sister.
I might just be fighting for my life soon.
"You should've given me something challenging Colton," I mocked.
He wore a satisfied smirk like a medal. "Don't worry. It will be." Colton walked out and left the door wide open.
It was like he was trying to challenge me. Challenging me to try and escape.
Not that I would have had time. A mere minute had passed before the first person crossed the threshold and closed the door behind him.
My first challenger of the day (night? I honestly had no clue, we never passed a window in our way here) was the pig himself, Brody Davidson.
"So, I'm fighting with you first huh?" I popped my knuckles and shook my hands out. It would be better if I stretched first, but I doubt Brody would let me do so.
"Guess Colton wanted to get the main challenge out of the way first." Brody flexed his muscle as if he actually had some.
I laughed.
A head back, eyes closed, hooting and hollering type of laugh, "Sorry, sorry, but did you just refer to yourself as the main challenge? That door can probably put up more of a fight then you can."
My words angered him. He balled up his fists and let out quick breaths.
"You don't have Logan to hide behind now, so what are you going to do now Daytona?" I could see that Brody believed that the only reason I had been so tough before was because I had a guy to protect me.
Oh boy was he wrong.
"Logan was never the one who protected me. I protected myself. Do you want to know why? Because girls don't need to hide behind guys." I took a daunting step forward, starting to close the space between us. "Girls don't need guys to fight their battles." Another step. "Do you want to know how I know how to fight? I was taught by my brother." Yet another step. "Not because I needed to protect myself, but because I wanted to know how to fight. Because I loved the feeling of people like you cowering beneath me.
"Logan should have never been the one you were worried about. It should have been me all along." I was a few feet away from him now.
The whites of Brody's eyes grew large.
"Are you ready to fight or what?"
His adam apple bobbed up and down and he wiped his palms on his pants. "I- I'm still certain that I can beat you. In- in your current state, you aren't as strong."
I knitted my eyebrows together, drawing strength from my old, old self. "Did you just call me weak?"
He drew his fists up to his face in a fighting stance. "Yes I did."
"Big mistake Brody." In the blink of an eye I closed the distance between us and had him pinned up against the door with a bang. I brought my knee up and slammed it right between his legs.
He crumpled with a groan, "I'm sorry Daytona. I'm sorry please stop! I'll never bother you again."
I lowered myself onto one knee and gripped his face in my hand just as Colton did previously. "Run."
He nodded his head vigorously and pounded on the door yelling, "Let me out!" over and over again.
The door was unlocked and Brody bolted out the door.
It was almost as if I was possessed by the spirit of Old Daytona. My lust for blood and fear was soaring. If Colton dared to show his face now, I couldn't be certain that he would leave with his life intact.
'Yes Daytona. Harness that energy. Let it flow through your veins. Release the monster you've been holding back. Make everyone suffer.'
The stupid voice was back.
"I can't. I'll end up hurting the wrong person. The whole reason I'm in this mess is because I don't know how to control myself." I pinched the skin on the back of my hand trying to draw my attention away from the voice.
Footsteps echoed down the hall and the jock who I had beat that one day at the boxing club entered the room.
"I already beat you once. Do you wish to go through that again? I thought Colton said this was going to be challenging." I tilted my head to the side. "You weren't very challenging last time. Why would it be any different this time?"
He sneered at me. "I've been training for a rematch."
"Okay, come on. I'll let you have the first swing. It won't be fair to beat you without letting you hit me first." My voice was cocky and I lowered my hands to my sides.
His eye twitched and I could tell I hit a cord. He barreled towards, fists out ready to swing. He was fighting with his anger and not concentrating on what he was doing. I had seen others fight like this plenty of times. His moves were predictable.
Just like I had thought, he swung with his right arm, but really aiming for anywhere in particular.
I was easily able to dodge it and the rest that followed. In a few minutes he had tired himself out. "You done yet?" I teased. When he didn't answer, I smirked. "My turn."
I finished him off in seconds.
My nerves were on edge when it finally clicked that Jared was the last one I had to face. For some reason, he was the only one who scared me in the slightest. Maybe it's because every time I looked at him and his hideous blue hair, I got flashbacks from the night at Logan's party.
By the time he finally came to the room, I had already got my nerves under control.
"Finally, a place where Logan can't interrupt me." Jared closed the door with a soft click.
For some reason, the energy within the room seemed to change the moment he did that. Did it feel more dangerous? More dark? I couldn't put my finger on it.
"Like I told Brody, I never needed to hide behind Logan. I can take care of you myself." I was confident that I could. Each time we had met, I was at a disadvantage. First time, I was outnumbered and drunk. Second time, I just got done cheering at a game and he also had the element of surprise. But when I defeated him at High Rise, I was ready.
And again, I was ready.
"You seem pretty confident that you can beat me. Would you bet on your brothers life?" He had an evil gleam in his eyes and an evil smirk to match.
Would I bet on my brothers life? There was always the chance that he could overpower me again. If that happened, Cooper was done for.
'If you just quit holding back and let all your rage go, you wouldn't have to hold back. You ran Riverbend's Elite group for a reason. They chose you as their leader because no one could stand against you. If you just. Let. Go.'
The voice was right this time. I wasn't just in Riverbend's Elite, I ran it. And I ran it for a reason. People feared me for a reason. But being that girl came at a cost that I wasn't willing to pay. For this last fight, I was going to have to rely on my new found strength. Strength that ran off of love and concern for my friends. Not the strength that relied on my lust for pain.
I squeezed my hands tightly and faced Jared with my head held high. "Yes."
"May the best fighter win." Then something really unexpected happened.
Jared pulled a switch blade out of his pocket.
I was rooted to my spot. So this is what Colton meant by challenging. He wasn't going to give me a fair fight, and I stupidly just bet my brothers life on this fight.
I swallowed my fear.
Switch blades were something I had dealt with before. It wasn't anything new to me. Both my father and him had held one to my throat before. I could almost call myself an expert in switch blades.
Letting my muscles relax I brought my eyes back up to Jared's. "Is that supposed to scare me?"
His pinky twitched. "You've never been in a fight with a knife before. You should be scared."
"How would you know?" A small smirk played at my lips. "For all you know, I could practice everyday incase a situation like this ever arose."
"You're lying." His voice rose a bit and I knew I had him exactly where I wanted him.
"But you don't know that for certain do you?" He was right of course. I had never fought with a knife, but I knew how to dodge one, and that is all that mattered right now.
Jared twisted the blade in his hand. "Well I guess we will find out which one of us is right, won't we." Then he charged.
He was left handed which meant for the most part I was going to have to move to my left. Once he was about a foot away, I stepped to my left and tucked and rolled. Now I had more open space behind me, making it easier to dodge the blade.
I could feel my heart rate picking up as our cat and mouse chase continued. He would thrust it his hand, I would dodge, and we would repeat it. Thrust, dodge, repeat.
Now I faced the same problem I faced last time: I was running out of breath, while he was still in tip-top shape.
If I wanted to survive, if I wanted Cooper to survive, I was going to have to end this quickly.
To win, I was going to have to disarm him.
"I'll hand it to you Daytona, your stamina has increased since the last time we fought like this. But you never answered the question I asked you that night, are you as dirty as you fight?"
I stopped running. "Why don't you find out, Jared?"
He stopped his running too. "What are you getting at Daytona?"
"I'm just so frustrated. I haven't seen Logan in days. No kissing, no hot make out sessions, nothing. It's just been me, myself, and I." I looked at him through my lashes. "Get my drift?"
His arm wavered, lowering a few inches. "Yeah, I think I do."
I took a step towards him.
He matched me, taking a step back towards the wall.
When I had him fully against the wall, I let my hand trail across his chest. "So tell me, what do you want to do to me." I was disgusted with myself, I hated acting like this, especially with the guy who almost raped me once.
My hand trailed up his left side, and slowly down his arm, inching my way closer and closer to the blade. "Do you want to find out just how dirty I can get?" I whispered in his ear. My fingertips reached his wrist bone. They tenderly brushed against the rough surface of his knuckles. The knuckles of a fighter.
The next thing I knew, Jared had my wrist in his hand and flipped our positions, so now, I was the one pinned against the wall. "Naughty girl."
"Like I would even remotely want to look at you, much less relieve any sexual tension I may have. Just the sight of your face makes me want to throw a toaster in the bathtub." I sneered.
He held my two wrists above my head and pinned my body down with his. "You know, it's a shame you bet on your brothers life," Jared slid the tip of the knife up my side, repeating what I had just done to him, "you could have saved him, but yet again, he will die because of you." The tip of the knife now rested under my chin.
'Are you really just going to give up? Your brothers life is riding on the line dummy! There is only one way to save him, release all your anger and don't hold back until this slimy, blue, sleaze bag isn't breathing. Who cares about the aftermath Daytona? You're really going to let yourself and Cooper get killed because you don't want to become the mean girl you once were? Suck it up and save yourself. Save. Cooper.'
Again, the voice was right. Coop's life was on the line and right now I was the only one capable of saving him. If I let all my emotions go, who knows what kind of damage I will cause, but it was worth a shot.
Just like that, I opened the vault in my head where I stored the majority of my negative emotions and let them flow through me. I could feel all the fury, all the suffering, all the pain I had to endure for the last two years run through my veins, setting my blood on fire.
I told Logan once, that if he knew what went on in my head, he'd be scared. Now, if he took a look, he'd be terrified.
Every dark thought I had, every dark emotion I had felt ran through my freely. I was done bottling it up. I was letting it all loose.
"Goodbye, Daytona."
Before Jared could even move his hand, my head was colliding with his nose. During the initial shock, Jared let go of my hands and dropped his blade, which I kicked out of reach. We were going to have a fair fight and see who really was the best.
"I told you, I was confident I would beat you." My whole persona shifted when I broke the dam in my mind. I was darker, meaner, more sinister. Even my voice seemed to change into a low, hard tone.
With the back of his hand, Jared smeared the small stream of blood that started to drip out of his nose. "You haven't beat me yet Daytona. I would hate for you to jinx yourself." The wicked gleam in his eye, matched the one that shone in mine.
I didn't wait for Jared to make the first move, I attacked full on, for the first time in two years, I wasn't going to hold anything back. I was going to show him what the Demon Queen really looked like.
Kicking low, I aimed for his knees, but he jumped back and avoided it. Jared attempted to get a few jabs in, but I narrowly dodged those, leaning back to avoid getting hit.
I went to kick again, this time in his stomach. That one landed and Jared stumbled back a bit, but quickly recovered. He stayed a good ways back, on defense. Moving in closer, I swung with my right and as he dodged, I pivoted on my left foot, sweeping my right leg out and knocking him to the ground. I straddled his hips and sent punch after punch to his face.
Most of the time, I was hitting his forearms which he had up guarding his face, but when my fists started to hit his cheek, I didn't even register the fact that he had wrapped his arms around my waist, flipping us over so now I was the one on the ground.
He got one good hit in on my face, busting my lip before I had threw my knee up into his nether regions.
Every guys main weakness, and they never learn to guard it.
Jared crumpled over the his side, holding his junk and moaning in pain.
I wasted no time and started to kick him with all I had. Never letting up, and never showing mercy. Not even when he had already laid passed out under my feet.
'Reel it back in Daytona. You knocked him out. You beat all three of them, Cooper is still alive for now.'
My head seemed to way nothing on my shoulders anymore it was so light. Dark spots crowded my vision, so I backed myself up onto the nearest wall and sat down.
I was tired, Jared put up a good fight, and that one hit on my face really seemed to do me in. Combined with all the other times I had my skull knocked against something, this break felt well deserved. If what Colton told me was true, I needed my head to be clear for what was about to come.
There was a slow clap from the doorway. I inhaled deeply, trying to gather my patience so I didn't get up and knock his head right off his shoulders.
"What do you want?" I spat out. "Can't I just get a break?"
Colton wore an amused grin on his face like it was his most prized possession. "You look like a mess."
"Yeah well you don't look much better. Is it ugly season already or is the style year round for you?" The cool metal provided my aching muscles some relief, but since he was around again, they were as tense as ever, waiting and ready for him to make a move.
As my eyes were watching for any sudden movement, I saw it again. The twitch. I was getting under his skin, irritating him.
"I know you have better insults than that Daytona. Have I broken you so much that you can't even manage a proper insult?" He leaned against the door frame casually, almost as if he were trying to say that no matter what, he had me trapped.
"Nope. I just don't feel that you are worthy of them. Desk gum like you doesn't deserve to be thrown away by me."
Twitch.
A faint smile almost formed on my lips. Almost.
His smile fell and he stood up straight, "I didn't come here to be belittled by you. I came here to let you know that your boyfriend is here. The grand finale is about to start. Remember, your actions will decide Coopers fate." Then before I could throw curses at him and smack him around, he picked up Jared's unconscious body and walked away.
Logan was here.
My heart was confused, it didn't know how to react. I tried preparing myself for what was to come, but no amount of preparation could help.
I sat in the far corner, eyes closed and head resting against the wall. Soon, I could hear footsteps walk down the hall. Again Colton had left my door open, but I didn't dare run out. One wrong move and that was it. Everything I had been fighting for up until now would be gone. An alien voice in the hostile mansion grated against my ears. "Day? Are you in here?"
Opening my eyes, I watched was Logan's shadow stretched out in front of the door, and when his body finally caught up to it, my heart plummeted.
"Ohmygosh, Daytona are you okay? What happened?" Logan ran up to me and gathered my face in his hands.
I let myself enjoy the feeling of his warm hands on my cold face. "I'm fine Logan. Let's not beat around the bush okay?" My voice was dead, shocking even me. My eyes must've been just as dead and as hard, because when I looked him in his eyes, he jerked backward.
"What did he do to you?" Logan whispered. "Fine. If you don't want to beat around the bush I won't." His eyes searched mine, looking for any sign that I hanged my mind. That I wanted him to take my hand and pull me up and take me away from here.
But nothing came.
Because I didn't want him to take my hand and tell me everything was going to be okay. I didn't want him to fill me with hope when I already knew that nothing was going to be alright after today.
"Okay then." He sat down in front of me, all of his features pulled down into a frown. "Several years ago I was hospitalized because of you and your group. There was another bed in my room, but it was constantly empty. Then, one day, Sophia Derry was there. Once she woke up we got to talking. She told me that she has tried to kill herself because a girl at her school told her to. She didn't want to name who it was, scared that if anyone found out and disciplined that girl, she would come after her again, but she described you to me.
"I guess we kind of bonded after that. As we healed, we became friends. I was released before she was, but I still came to the hospital everyday to talk with her. I didn't want her to be alone. When I found out that my parents were transferring me to her school, I ran all the way to the hospital to tell her the good news. To this day, I still remember what happened. I ran into her room and grabbed her by the hand and said, 'Sophia. I'm going to go to Clearwater with you! Isn't this great news! Together we can stand up to our bully and defeat her, and if she tries to hurt you, I'll protect you.'"
He was starring at the ground as he recounted his story of being friends with Sophia Derry. His voice just as flat as mine had been.
Sucking in a deep breath, he continued, "She squeezed my hand and looked me in the eyes, and for the first time I noticed that she had tears in them. 'I'm not going back to Clearwater Logan. My parents are sending me to a mental health hospital where they can cure me of this.' she stared at our hands and whispered, 'I'm leaving today.'
"I couldn't believe that her parents were forcing her to go through with this, so I left. I left her there at the hospital and didn't look back.
"Then when my parents got in the crash and I was back at the hospital, I shared a room with her again. Except she looked different. Her blonde hair was lighter, she was thinner, not that she had been fat before, but her collar bones were more prominent now. Gone were her braces, and she had grown into her freckles, most of them had disappeared only a few were left on her nose. Not only was she strikingly beautiful, the air around her seemed more dangerous. All the nurses and doctors kept referring to her as 'Ms. Derry' instead of Sophia. One night when I couldn't take her silence anymore, I moved the curtain that separated us. 'Sophia? Do you remember me? It's Logan Wylde. What are you doing here? Did she beat you up? Did you relapse?' I kept firing questions at her. She must've gotten fed p with my question because she finally looked at me, and her eyes, her eyes were the coldest thing I had ever seen. Once she looked at me, I actually felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees.
"' Yes I remember you Logan Wylde. You were my best friend. My only friend, and instead of protecting me like you promised, you let those people take me away to an insane asylum. My first few weeks there, all they did was run these awful tests on me, day in, day out. But after a few months, I brother took me away. Said I didn't need to be there. All that place was going to do was make me soft. If I wanted to get better, if I wanted to be able to hurt the person who hurt me, I was going to have to become strong. So I did. I trained, and I trained, and I trained until nobody could defeat me. And now here I am. I tripped down the stairs and broke my elbow. Does that answer your question?'
"She turned away from me again and that's when I realized it. This wasn't the Sophia Derry I had fallen in love with. I had turned my back on that girl."
Logan clenched and unclenched his jaw constantly.
Who knew our lives were so intertwined. But by the way he was looking at me, I could tell this story was far from over.
"Fast forward to the second week of school when I ran into you in the hallway, that wasn't an accident. Everything that day was planned."
Out of everything he had told me so far, this is what caught me by surprise. "Wait, what do you mean 'everything was planned'," I asked.
He caught my eye and I could see all the emotions he was dealing with right now as clearly as the day. "A few weeks before that day, I had gotten a text from Jake saying he was going to be moving back to San Francisco, he found someone who might be able to help with his problem. His problem obviously being Colton constantly threatening his brothers life. Jake said he wanted to meet with me because in return for helping Jake, we needed to do something for him.
"So we met up by the old abandon park. I saw Jake first. He was standing with his back to me, talking to someone with brown hair. I called out to Jake, and when he turned around, that's when I saw them." Again, Logan stopped talking to look at me.
I felt like I knew where he was going with this, but I had to make sure. "Who did you see Logan?"
"I saw Cooper and Mason, talking with Jake. To shorten down this part of the story, basically Cooper was going to try and help get Jake out of the gang safely and keep his brother alive, but in return, the three of us needed to keep an eye on you. If Cooper was going to do this, there was a chance that Colton or one of this dogs would figure out that he was alive and come after you. Should that happen, we needed to keep you safe. If anything happened to you, the deal was off.
"Two weeks went by, and it was hard keeping an eye on you when I only had one class with you. So I organized a way to run into you before second period. I watched you everyday and you always took the same path to physics, so I made sure that I was there that day to run into you. Then I came up with that ridiculous bet just so I could make sure that I could always keep an eye on you."
"But, you said you were doing it because you wanted to get to know me." My eyebrows were knitted together. So not only did he lie to me about knowing my brother, he had been lying to me from the very start.
"Yeah, well, to be honest, I really didn't actually care about you. Not at first at least. All I cared about was the money that Cooper was giving me and that the deal kept going so Jake could finally leave that stupid gang. The first time I actually acknowledged my feelings for you was at the race. Up until then, you were just a job for me. But now Daytona," he reached his hands out and held mine, "everything I feel for you is real. I love you Daytona and your safety means everything to me."
He dropped my hands and stood up, looking at the ground right in front of his feet.
"But Tanner's life means more. He is the only family I have left, I'm so sorry Daytona. I have to do this."
Colton told me this might happen. I wanted to believe that Logan would choose me, but I wasn't someone you choose over your brother.
Logan pulled out a gun from the back waistband of his pants and clicked off the safety. "I'm sorry Daytona. I love you."
I hopped up with incredible speed and threw myself at Logan, knocking the gun out of his hand.
The gun went sliding across the floor and I ran to it while Logan was on the ground. I picked up and cringed at how it fit perfectly in my hand.
Despite being emotionless two seconds ago, tears pooled in the bottom of my eyes and I bit my bottom lip to keep it from quivering.
"I'm sorry Logan. I really am sorry. I don't, I don't want to do this, but I'm in the same exact boat that you're in. Cooper's life is in danger and this is the only way to save him. I love you so much Logan. You were there for me when no one else was. You saved me from my father, and even from myself a few times. I love you with all my heart, but this is something I need to do." I aimed my shaking hand at Logan.
He made no effort to move, just sat there with a sad smile on his face. "It's okay Daytona. Truthfully I couldn't bring myself to hurt you. I would much rather be on this end than causing you any pain."
Tears flowed freely down my cheeks. "I'm sorry Logan."
I pulled my finger back and felt the gun kickback in my hand. There was no sound from Logan, but when I looked at him, he clutched his side, a red color slowly starting to grow larger and larger.
"Oh god," I cried.
Logan looked down at his side, then back up at me, the same stupid smile still on his face. "I'll always take a bullet for you." He started to cough and I just covered my mouth and ran out of there.
I turned my back on the person I love, just like he did.
"Are you happy now Colton! I just shot my boyfriend, the only person who loved me for me. Now take me to my brother." There were two doors near mine, one on each side. The one on the left clicked, so I headed that way and gently pushed it open.
On the other side of the door was a room that looked like a basic interrogation room you would see in a TV show. There was a metal table and a window. Except, instead of this one reflecting back what was in the room, this one you could see what was in the room I was just in. Meaning that Cooper sat in the matching metal chair and watched everything go down.
"Day?" He questioned me, his eyes full of concern.
"I don't want to talk about it okay? You're safe now and that's all that matters. I've finally got you back Coop." A real smile found its way onto my face as I looked at my older brother.
"Day." Cooper stood up out of his chair.
Then it all happened so quickly.
The guy who was in the corner of the room that I didn't notice, pulled out a gun of his own.
A scream tore out of me and the only thing I could hear was my heart pounding in my ears.
Coopers eyes went wide.
I could see the bullet hole right above his heart from here.
"No! Cooper! No, no,no, no." I ran to his side as he collapsed to the ground. Setting his head in my lap I stroked his hair back out of his face. "Don't leave me Cooper. Please don't leave me. I can't loose you again. I just got you back. Please stay with me!"
He stared up at me, his sea green eyes looking right into mine. Tears gathered in the bottom of them and I broke. My brother never cried.
"Day, I'm scared. I don't want to die. I don't want to leave you again. That was the hardest thing I ever had to do." He coughed and I held his hand. "Please help me. I don't want to go Day. Help me." His hand gripped mine painfully tight, but I didn't say anything.
"It's okay Coop. I've got you. Your little sister has you. You;re going to be okay. Everything will be all right." My vision was blurry with tears and I was sobbing while I was talking to him. "You're going to make it through this. We will go to New York like you always wanted. You'll go to college, find yourself a nice girlfriend and live happily ever after."
A tear slipped down his cheek, and when he talked again, his voice was quiet. "I'll only be happy if you're happy Day. I just want to see you happy again."
His face looked so scared it physically hurt me. "Okay. We go to New York and you and your girlfriend visit me and everyone is happy including me. Is that better Coop?"
A tiny smile was on his face, "Yeah." Then his eyes went wide again and I could see the life trying to leave them. "Day, I've always loved you for you."
His hand went limp in mine.
"No, I love you too Cooper. Please come back. I can't do this without you? How am I supposed to be happy without you here with me? Say something Cooper please!"
I waited for an answer but none came. His skin already started to feel cold against mine and I laid my forehead on his. "Cooper," I cried out again.
I closed my eyes and let my body shake with sobs.
"Day?"
I opened my eyes, expecting to see Cooper smiling at me saying something along the lines of 'Got you pretty good didn't I?'
But no.
He still had the same pained expression on his face as he did thirty seconds ago.
"Oh my god Daytona." A black head of hair ran to me and scooped me up. At first I thought it was Logan, but I shot him. "Let's get you out of here." Jordan was holding me under my arms, but I thrashed around and pulled myself from his grip.
"No I can't leave Cooper here. I can't leave him alone. He's scared to be alone." I laid across his chest and started to cry harder when I didn't feel it rise and fall like it did when we were kids.
"Daytona, I know you don't want to leave him, but we've got to go. If we don't leave now, Colton will kill you. Mason and Jake were able to create a distraction, but we only have a small window of time to get you away."
"Let him kill me then. I can't live without Cooper."
Jordan's arms wrapped around me in a hug. "I know you feel that way, but Cooper would want you to live, he would want you to stay safe and be happy."
He was right.
Cooper would want me to be happy, so for that reason only, I stood up on my weak legs and followed Jordan out of the building, screwing my eyes shut tightly when we passed the room where Logan was.
My mind was absent as we ran through the halls, and it remained absent when we got outside where Mason and Jake were bent over out of breath.
"Thank god you got her. We've got to move, like now." Mason took my hand and pulled me along with them to Tyler's Jeep.
The Jeep was comfortable, but deep down, it made my heartache. This is the car we took on our weekend vacation, the car we took when we first realized that Micah was following us, and the car that took us to the race where Logan first started to acknowledge his feelings for me.
Just the thought of that alone was enough to bring tears back to my eyes, not that they had really left, but a new, fresh wave of tears arose.
Mason threw me into the back seat and jumped into the passenger while Jake got into the drivers seat leaving Jordan in the back with me. "Come here Daytona," he said, "you're shivering."
I was?
What was even real anymore? My brother who I had fought so hard to protect was, dead?
I shot Logan?
When was I going to wake up from this nightmare?
"Hey, everything will be okay, just rest Daytona. You've been through a lot today." Jordan had his arm around me, and that was the only thing keeping me from shattering to pieces.
Not even thinking twice, I laid my head down on his shoulder and closed my eyes. Sleeping wasn't even an option. I was truthfully to scared to see what I would find if I did. But none-the-less, I let the feeling of us driving calm my erratic nerves.
After awhile, we stopped and Jake parked the car.
"Mas, do you want to go get her stuff," Jake asked.
I opened one eye and noticed we were at my house. "I'll get my own stuff. Jordan, can you come with me? I don't want to be by myself." I squeezed his hand which I didn't even realize that I was holding.
"Yeah of course. Do you still need to pack?"
I shook my head. My bags were hidden behind the bushes where 'no one' would find them.
"No. I packed before Colton took me. By the way, what is today's date?"
All three of the boys looked at each other before Jordan answered me, "It's New Years Eve. You've been missing for four days."
Hm, well that's a lot better than being gone for two and a half weeks. I guess I'm legally an adult now.
"Okay well let's go. I don't want to be in this stupid city any longer." I got out of the car and walked up to the front door.
My knuckles were less than an inch away from the door, but I hesitated. What was I going to tell my mom if I saw her? 'Hey Mom, your son Cooper who you thought was dead, wasn't really dead except now he is because I held his head in my lap when he took his last breath. Oh and I shot my boyfriend.'
Yeah that wasn't going to happen. I was going to have to be short with her. If I stayed for too long, I was going to break down and never leave. But if I stayed, I was still putting her in danger and I couldn't have my mother dying because of me too.
I knocked on the door and waited for it to open, preparing myself to see my moms worried eyes.
I prepared for the wrong person.
"Looks like Colton couldn't kill you after all. I never thought he could. You're stubborn I'll give you that."Â My father stepped aside and allowed me to enter, and surprisingly, he let Jordan in too. "You're mother is upstairs in the room." He reached out to grab my arm, and instead of shrinking back, I grabbed his wrist and twisted it.
"Don't ever touch me again, or I will break your hand. Got that?" I was surprised that I was able to sound so threatening. "Go outside, my bag is behind the left set of bushes and my keys are somewhere around there too. Could you get them for me," I asked Jordan.
He eyed my dad before heading out our backdoor.
Slowly, I climbed the stairs, taking in the feeling of the wood for the last time. When I stood in front of my mothers door, I could hear her crying on the other side, and the last piece of my soul was sucked out of me.
Gently, I pushed open the door. "Mom?"
Immediately, she turned her head towards me. Her jade eyes were bloodshot, making them look more like emeralds and I refrained from slamming the door and hightailing it back to the Jeep. "Baby?" Her melodic voice was torn and worn down from the crying she had been doing.
"Yeah Mom it's me. I just stopped by to get my stuff and to tell you that I love you and I'm sorry for having to leave like this. If I could, I would stay and be your baby forever, but if I do that, I'm only putting you in danger and I can't live with that kind of guilt." I could feel myself inching closer and closer to completely loosing it.
"I know baby, I know." She blew her nose into what appeared to be the thousandth tissue, stood up, and walked towards me. "I love you Daytona, and if you choose to leave, that will not change. I'm sure whatever type of situation you're in, we could get you out of it, but I'm not going to try and sway you." She threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. "I love you and your brother so much baby."
"I know Mama, I know. I love and miss Cooper too." When she let go of me, we both wiped our tears and said our goodbyes.
Walking down these stairs was harder than last time. My feet seemed to be made of cement as I left the last of my family behind me.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, Jordan was already waiting for me. "You ready to go? You know we don't have to do this right?" His blue eyes held a deep amount of concern for me.
"No Jordan, I need to do this." I took one last look up the stairs and walked towards the door. "Let's go."
I threw my stuff into the back of the Vette and climbed into the drivers seat. Jordan got in the passenger seat after alerting Jake and Mason of our plans.
It was time I left this damn city and all the painful memories it held once and for all.
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~UNEDITED~
10,120 words. Can I get an oof?
Honestly I was sobbing while writing this chapter. Did any of you cry?
I'm just going to keep this A/N short because I don't want to get killed by you guys.
If you have any questions message me, I'd be glad to answer them!
Here is Coopers aesthetic that some of you asked for! Get it? The headstone because he's- yeah I'm still not over that one.
Aight this is May Conner signing out! See you in the next book!
~â¤ð