THE B TEAM // Pretty Little Liars #WATTYS2014 #FANFICTION

Chapter 45: Here And Gone

The air around me was smooth, black and dead.

Open your eyes, Alice

It was such bliss to be absolutely nothing. To be moved by nothing and to just feel completely nothing. To be in the midst of life when all you feel is death. The pain had moved just to one big ache and my eyelids were glued to my eyes but I needed to open them. I really needed to open them.

My eyes flicked open.

There was a woman. early 40’s, with her face about an inch away from mine. Deep brown eyes reached towards me.

I screamed, attempting to move away before realising that my limbs were lead. I was on what seemed to be a bed. White mattress, white sheets and three pillows. Then there was the fact that every time I even flinched, pain would rocket through and make me collapse over and over again.

So I just kept on screaming.

Footsteps started to storm around me and in the next second all I could see was Holbrook trying to hold me down. His soft palms pressing against my arms.

“Alice, you are alright. Breathe. It’s just my housekeeper. No one is going to hurt you. Alice please,” he begged, trying gently to hold me down and not hurt me.

Calm down, Alice.

 

I held onto his eyes. My heart rate began to decrease and the rising temperature began to level out. My muscles, that were tensed, began to relax. I was calmer.

I didn’t have to tell Holbrook at all. He noticed the change, sighed in relief and released me slowly. The Housekeeper was standing in the corner, shaking, with a bowl of food in her hands.

Gabriel gave me a weak smile, “Better?”

Breathtaking.

His hair was disturbed and ruffled like he was awake the whole night again. I wanted to run my hands through it. But it was his weak but trusty smile that kept me from screaming. It was soft, comfortable and so so ridiculously familiar.

Then there was his shirt. It seemed I had alerted him halfway through getting ready. The buttons of white shirt were loose and you could see the lean muscle behind it.

He stood up too soon.

He looked down at me for a brief second, his eyes skimming my body. A flash of nervousness. “You need to see a doctor Alice. I know you wouldn’t appreciate me taking you to a hospital but i-“

“Thank you,” I said. He looked at me abruptly surprised. “Thank you for not taking me to the hospital, and thank you..thank you for doing what you did.”

I looked at him honestly. If I had found myself in a hospital I wouldn’t know what I would have done. All my work would’ve gone to waste and it would interest the whole police force. Not just one.