The Silence That Surrounds

Sophia’s POV:

I didn’t know whether it was ten minutes or hours, I just knew by the time the door opened to my prison I was fairly miserable, stained in tomato broth and having to pee. Having my hair in the stuff made me wish for a shower but I’d be happy simply washing it off in the sink at this point. Anything to get rid of this feeling, anything to be comfortable again. That must have been Harry’s idea and if it was, it certainly worked. I wasn’t taking a chance of insulting them –I needed to play my cards right. It was time to be smart.

Louis, the boy with the blue eyes and sugar brown hair walked in. The hair was neatly clipped, reaching not quite to the back of his shoulders but it seemed to cut down and in so it laid neatly to his neck.

He saw me and stopped dead in his tracks.

“What the bloody hell did you do to piss Harry off?” He asked, coming toward the bed and looking down at me. He wasn’t the least bit amused – which spared the last of my dignity.

“I asked if his last name was asshole. Because that sir, is what he has been. It is what you all thus far have been.” I glared.

“We have our orders Ms. Stone. I apologize if you see them unjust. Now, would you like to go to the bathroom and clean up?” Louis dismissed my rudeness and fished the handcuff key from the front pocket of his jeans.

“Yes, please.” I said, figuring you get more bees with honey then vinegar.

“Alright, I’ll unchain you. Remember, if you try anything you won’t like the consequences and neither will we. You’re on a second strike. One more and you will be put down in the basement. So I suggest you behave yourself.” Louis warned.

I nodded quietly, looking into his cold blues.

He returned my nod in a silent understanding before whistling twice and then an additional four.

Both Niall and Zayn showed up, stepping into the room.

“Niall? Ms. Stone needs a shower, will you see if we have any clothes that will fit her? Zayn? Change the bedding if you would be so kind and I’ll escort her to the bathroom.” Louis ordered dully.

With that he unlocked my handcuffs and allowed me to fully sit up. I groaned in thankfulness, their eyes watching me intently.

With shaky hands I pushed myself up from the bed but instantly collapsed back again. I had been in the one position way too long.

I let out a cry of exclamation as pain shot up my back and wrists.

Louis remained emotionless, waiting patiently for me to regain my balance but not offering to help. I didn’t expect them to but the blank way that they stared unnerved me.

“I-I’m sorry, it hurts.” I stuttered but managed to keep my footing the second time I tried.

Louis reached over and took my arm, taking me from the room and down a door before reaching in and turning on a light.

“I’ll be just outside this door, Ms. Stone. Just remember what I said and behave yourself. I’m entrusting you to get showered and cleaned up. I don’t want to have to come in there and assist you if it’s been observed that you cannot be credible. Am I clear?” He asked me, his eyes flashing with something I couldn’t read. It seemed like a challenge but with these people I couldn’t be sure of anything.

“Yes, sir.” I replied defeated, walking in as the door shut behind me.

The first thing I did was pee. Out of the list of emergencies I knew if I kept holding it I could get an infection. At least it was a small mercy of relief.

The second thing I did was turn on the shower and strip, the bathroom’s appearance was unimportant. I needed to get this stuff off of me. It was staining my skin red and it was sticky.

As the water touched me flesh, it was heaven and I found my tense muscles relax under the hotness, the steam rising in the room quick.

I opened my eyes, glancing down at the blue tile floor and from the one corner there were slightly larger white squares for wall tile. They appeared new and spotless. Whoever these men were, they were clean. There wasn’t one speck of dirt thus far. It was almost meticulous.

I saw the cherry color drain to the floor and down the silver drain. I watched for a good five minutes before it finally seemed I had almost all the soup from my hair and face off. I decided to scrub away anything that might have been left behind and do a quick wash with shampoo and conditioner that had been left on one of the shelves of the shower. It was female and judging by what I know of these men so far – female shampoo don’t seem like their style.

There was a knock on the door before it opened. I had closed the curtain on the shower so I wasn’t worried about them seeing me naked.

“I’ll set some clothes on the counter for you Ms. Stone. Let me know if they fit. I’ll be waiting outside.” Louis said, walking in and then a pause. He was waiting for me to answer.

“A-alright. Thank you, Louis.” I managed to keep my voice from completely wavering. These men frightened me. They’ve done little in the way of anything real violent but the potential was there, I saw that earlier from Harry. It was best to cooperate for now and see if I can’t persuade them to let me go; or at the very least, tell me how much they want and I can ask my father. Surely something reasonable like that would work.

I heard his footsteps retreat again and close the door. It was then I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding.

I made sure the shampoo and conditioner were out of my hair before turning the water off and opening the dark blue curtain. The bathroom was blinding. The white tiled seemed to extend to the walls itself, running down to an even larger tile square. It was done completely in white except for the small blue tiles for the shower.

Near a window at the very far left of the room was a hamper and chair, a white countertop with a facet in the middle sat at the right corner of the same side of the room. It gave the bathroom a nice touch but the white was hard on the eyes. It was almost as if there was a reason everything in the room was that color of choice.

I looked down at my wrists, they were a deep dark bruise. A mixture of black and blue with a touch of drown mixed in to give a more intense look. I hated that the pain had barely subsided. I don’t think I could be tied down again – not without causing damage to my wrists. I would try to reason this to them.

I got out of the shower carefully, my eyes going to the window but having a feeling that they probably had someone keeping guard outside of it, I didn’t bother. I needed to use my head. I had to keep reminding myself of this. I had to become dad, I needed to follow what he would do in this situation. I could almost hear him…almost.

Another knock.

“You almost done?” Louis asked impatiently as I grabbed the underwear and bra from the counter, throwing them on. They were snug but they fit. I saw the pair of jeans and boys undershirts – I guessed they were Louis’s because the pants were loose fitting by a couple sizes and the shirt by at least three. I felt like a vagabond.

“Y-yes, give me a moment I’m just finishing up. Do you have any socks? My feet are cold.” I asked, although when he didn’t answer back I thought he was just being his silent self and I wasn’t going to get an answer. However when he opened the door, his hand held a clean pair of thick wool socks.

He handed them to me wordlessly, his eyes doing a quick scan to make sure everything was in order. When he was satisfied, he nodded.

“You clean up well, Ms. Stone.” He said but nothing further was communicated.

I murmured a thank you and sat at the chair to put the socks on.

“Louis? My wrists – they’re –“I couldn’t finish my sentence before he followed me over and grasped one of my hands, his eyes intently searching the circular bruises. He probed at one gently before dropping my hand.

“They’re fine Ms. Stone, no damage. Please hurry up though, I have something else I need to be doing.” Louis said, watching me slip the socks on. When that was done I stood up.

He took me by the arm and led me back toward the room again. When I looked in, the bedding had been changed and the stained pillow had been replaced with a fresh one. He let go of my arm, expecting me to go over to the bed and lay down. I literally couldn’t go through the aspect of being trapped for long hours at a time. I needed a break.

“Come.” Louis coaxed, pushing behind my back to get me to move. I stayed where I was, panicking.

“Louis, please, please don’t do this. I can’t be cuffed like that again. I can’t be chained down like some animal!” I pleaded, losing my nerve. This is something father definitely would not have done. Begging was weak but I couldn’t seem to stop.

A small bit of pity almost reached his eyes but before I could blink, it was gone and replaced with annoyance.

“I’m sorry Ms. Stone but my orders were clear.” Louis apologized, although his voice was dead and he seemed like he was anything but.

“Please!” I screamed, my voice causing Harry to come back, I flinched and backed away from them, straight into the closet door.

That’s when my deep blue’s caught the key to my prison. It was still in the lock!

Harry looked at Louis disapprovingly before stepping forward.

“Ms. Stone, get back on the bed, please.” Harry requested calmly, adding the please as an afterthought.

“No! I-I can’t stand being handcuffed, look what they did to my wrists!” I exclaimed, holding them out for Harry to see.

He just looked at them with boredom, reaching up to grab one of them in his grips tightly, squeezing where the sore bruise was.

I groaned and found myself forced toward the bed. I panicked and tried to back up.

“NO!” I screamed, jumping as Louis grabbed my other arm and caught the other hand so they could get me onto the bed.

I saw myself getting closer and reached a full out panic attack, fear was coursing through me and I fought them as hard as I could. I dug my socked feet into the carpet – which only ended with my picking up static electricity. I tried breaking from their grip but in the end I was on my back again and my wrists were forced back into the cuffs. Surprisingly, they didn’t tighten them as hard as Niall had. I had a little slack; not much so I could slip out but enough where they weren’t pinching me.

I calmed some realizing this but it was nothing compared to the sobs that were leaving my mouth out of terror alone.

“We will be back later Ms. Stone.” Harry promised before they took to leave me alone, on the bed and sobbing. I’m surprised with the screaming that they didn’t just gag me…although that appeared to be Niall’s job.

When the door shut and clicked, I just laid there – wondering what was going to happen. Nothing seemed to make much difference where these boys were concerned. They just didn’t seem to care.

“I want to go home.” I said into the empty air, hoping that someone or something somewhere in this universe had heard me.

Notes

Picking up the next few chapters! Escape attempts, the reasoning behind the boys and a lot of other stuff. Enjoy! If you like the story, keep voting. It really means a LOT! Thank you all so much for reading and I really hope you are enjoying this thus far!