Escaped

Chapter 35

Escaped: Chapter 35

I stared at my father, unmoving.

"H-how did you find me?" I whispered.

"It wasn't hard," he said, looking up at me with his eyes. His head was still directed toward the floor by Liam's pistol. "I just followed your friend partway out of the city. It wasn't hard to figure out the rest; this was the only house for miles."

I wasn't sure what to say.

"She really isn't that bright," he continued. "your friend. I tailed her for quite awhile and she didn't even notice."

Anger bubbled up in me. How dare he talk about Gemma that way!

Liam dug the barrel of his gun farther into my father's head.

"Shut up," he snapped.

Then his voice softened but the urgency in it was still present.

"Charlotte, go wake the others," he instructed me.

I nodded and, tearing my eyes from my dad, went back up the stairs.

I knocked on Harry's door first.

He didn't answer so I went in.

"Oh, for the love of God," I cried. "Put some pants on!"

This woke him up.

"Charlotte, what the hell?" He spazzed and grabbed his blanket which he used to cover his lower end.

I didn't remove my hands from my eyes.

"Liam's downstairs. He needs you," I told him.

"It's four o'clock in the bloody morning," he said in protest.

"It's important," I said.

"What's goin' on?" I heard Niall's Irish accent but didn't see him because I still had my eyes covered.

"Harry's scarred me for life," I said.

"Hey," he said and I heard the sound of his belt buckle. "It's not my fault! You just walked right in."

I peeked through my fingers and saw that, to my relief, he was wearing jeans.

"That's only because you could sleep through a hurricane and didn't hear me," I said.

I turned around to see Niall, now joined by Louis and Eleanor, who were chuckling, despite the tired looks on their faces.

"What the hell are you making all this racket for?" Louis said, sleep still in his eyes.

"Go downstairs," I said, getting serious again.

I was surprised at how light things could feel when Liam was in the living room, his gun pointed at my father's head.

I guess I liked it. Even in the grimmest circumstances, they made me laugh.

"And get Pez, Zayn, and Gemma, too," I said.

"Is everything alright?" Eleanor asked me, concerned.

I shook my head.

"Just go down there, okay?"

She nodded and turned to go get the others.

I walked past Niall in the doorway and made my way back down the steps to go join Liam and my dad.