39 | 𝓣𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓷

Grayson's POV

"Calm down, she'll be fine." Even Anderson's voice I couldn't stand right now.

"She can get fucking killed in there!" My hands were tangled in my hair, tugging at it every time an image of Sophia dead came into mind.

"But she won't." I know he was trying to help me, but he really wasn't. "If they're not here in three minutes we can go check it out," he suggested. If we wait three minutes it's three more minutes of time Cassius has to kill her. I was angry, fuming. Especially toward Logan. The fucking traitor deserves to die.

Kyle and Jake were here as well, slanting against the outer wall of the school building. Sophia warned us not to go in and we listened, but I'm getting tired of waiting for someone to get hurt.

Just as I went over to the only unlocked door, it got pushed open itself. I stepped back and felt a tad of relief in me as Arabella appeared from the shadows.

She was panting, utterly out of breath and sweaty. Her clothes had dirt on it and it made me wonder what the hell happened in there. "Gray...Grayson," she huffed out. And it was then that I noticed Sophia wasn't behind her.

"Where's Sophia?" I asked without hesitation. "She said she was with you."

Arabella shook her head limply. "She... She was." Was?

"Yeah, but she went back," she continued after I gave her a snappy look.

"Back?" I didn't want to believe it. "Back where? In the building?" Arabella only nodded and I let out a groan of agitation.

"I think she wanted to bring Logan," she admitted. I was exploding with questions and concern. Why didn't they just stick together?

"Why the hell would she do that?" This time it was Anderson doing the interrogation.

"Logan caught us trying to sneak out, he wanted to kill us, but Sophia convinced him to let us go," Arabella explicated. "And, I guess, she wanted to save him from Cassius."

"No one can be 'saved' from Cassius," I muttered lowly. Or else none of us would be here right now. Everyone turned to look at me, I looked away.

Why does Sophia have to be so ignorant, does she have a death wish?

I walked past Arabella to the door, and before they could stop me, I said, "Someone has to get her. It's taking too long and Cassius will find them soon."

"Two minutes, Grayson, then we go." Anderson spoke up anyway. And just as I was about to bite back, a raucous bang vibrated from inside. It was a sound I recognised all too well. The sound of a gun being fired.

Now we can't wait anymore. I swear to God, if Logan dared hurting Sophia...

Arabella knew were Sophia was seen last, so she had the lead, though in my opinion I was way too impatient for the moderate tempo she was running in.

She halted when we rounded another corner, even though no one was there. I would've marked this hall as empty if I hadn't spotted a long figure lying on the floor in the shadows of the lockers. It definitely wasn't Sophia, she was tiny compared to this one.

I was the first one who saw it and stalked closer. The frame was immobile, however it could've been a trick, so I plucked out my gun from my jacket. It was my gun, the one Cassius gave to Sophia to hand it to me.

"Logan," I mumbled out loud. The red liquid was slowly oozing out of him, it's fresh.

"Sophia wouldn't-" I put an end to that remark and said a single name that shut them up.

"Cassius." I looked over my shoulder. Jake and Kyle were beholding the motionless physique at my feet. I almost felt bad for them, they were closer to Logan than I ever was, but I couldn't let pity control my emotions, we had to start acting.

"I'll fucking kill him," was the first thing Jake said, now facing me. The glimmer in his eyes is what we needed. A deadly look that told me he was ready to kill.

"Then let's go find them," I said, my eyes wandering over to Kyle who hasn't opened his mouth since we found Logan. "Come on," I patted his back and he gave a curt nod, his eyes not meeting mine.

"I-I don't understand, Sophia was right here." I finally looked at Arabella again, she was twirling around frantically.

"Maybe she's looking for the exit," I said, hoping to persuade myself as well.

"No, she knows where it is and we would've come across her then," she concluded, and I wished she were wrong, but I knew she had a point.

The awareness brought up slapped me in the face. "Cassius took her," I voiced out my thoughts.

Once again everyone turned to me. "It seems to me he really likes this kidnapping game, huh," Anderson gritted out. I wasn't going to blame or take my anger out on him, but I couldn't help it.

"Two minutes, huh," I mocked Anderson. "She'll be fine? Is that what you said?" He rolled his eyes and put up his hands slightly in defense.

"But where would he take her?" asked Arabella.

I ran my fingers through my hair in exasperation. "I have no fucking clue..."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Sophia's POV

Whining meekly, my head lolled impractically. I had a pounding headache and couldn't remember anything that's happened a few hours ago. My eyes felt heavy and I wanted to rub the sleep out of them, but when I couldn't move my arms, they fluttered open. "What the..." I groused confusedly.

I felt something push inside my skin when I tried pulling my arms away. Ow, what the heck is this? How do I not recall falling aslee-

"Oh my God," I whispered, a new fear growing inside of me. I didn't fall asleep.

He stalks nearer in a predatory manner with a devious smile on his face. I, even after all that, still will not move. The dread consumed me from the inside out.

"Oh, Sophia, did you really think I'd let you go?" he taunts me. "And I told you not to tell Grayson anything, but since you're so disobedient, I have to take you with me."

"Don't... Don't come any closer!" I cry out at last, my lips quivering. He laughs manically.

"But this is all on you, Sophia." I shake my head and wish he'll stop calling me by my name, or any name for that matter. I want him gone, now.

I pinched my eyes closed tightly and jerked my body around. It was no use; my ancles were bound to this stupid chair as well.

Nothing felt real. I knew it wasn't a dream, I remember everything too vividly now that it's all come back, and that part sucks.

He's a few feet away from me and he raises his right arm again.

I thought he was going to shoot me, but he didn't. Clearly.

His fingers aren't on the trigger. Without warning, he sends me a devious smile, and nothing good ever comes from him. I, in the end, can lift my feet up and take them backwards, but not fast enough. The hard metal of the back of his gun hits me in the head and I suddenly feel dizzy. I stumble around and try to get away from him, but my vision blurs and I feel myself fall.

And here I am, restrained to a wooden chair in aroom where I couldn't see a fly. It was cold, light breezes brushed pat me and goosebumps arose. As I tried making out any shapes in my surroundings, I let out a groan, it was impossible to see.

The creak of a door opening in the silent room made me and my heart jump. A stream of light entered and a silhouette stood in the middle. I cowered away as I wasn't  accustomed to the yellow brightness.

"I see you're awake," the all too familiar voice said in an ominous manner. I couldn't look at him as he ambled in and left the door half-open, just enough light to see everything around me.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Darling," he commented when he saw me glaring at the ropes.

"Don't call me that," I sneered. I'm going to die, I know it, so why not speak my mind? I thought. What's going to change?

He oohed, surprised by my little outburst. "Okay the," he muttered, stepping closer with every word. "What about 'Princess'?"

"Shut up!" My eyes glazed over in an instant. No one is allowed to call me that anymore, not even my parents. Because every time someone would, I'd think about Logan bringing me to all my classes.

"He told me all about you, you know." He chuckled and crouched down to my level. "Before he knew I was 'evil', of course," he added, making ditto marks with his fingers. I didn't want to listen to this torture. Not one word of it. But he resumed.

"He told me how good of a friend you were, and your beauty..." He paused and I felt his gaze burn into my skin. "He wouldn't shut up about how beautiful you are. And he's absolutely right."

I required to kick him but knew I wouldn't succeed with these ropes in place. I needed to find a way to get them off.

He drew out an object from his pocket and forced it into my view, a mirror. I didn't take a chance to wait and shifted my gaze elsewhere. He didn't seem to like that very much. He gripped my chin in a painful hold and left me no choice but to look up.

Our eyes met through the mirror and I couldn't tear my face from his clutch. His signature smirk was in place. "I want to show you something you'd like," he informed.

I thought he was going to poke his eye, but instead he plucked an contacts. When he returned to the mirror, I loured. One of his eyes was now blue. Why did he pretend to have brown eyes? And why did he assume I'd like this?

"My hair colour also isn't this dirty blond, it's black, but I dyed it."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked when he finally let my chin go.

"Because we have the same eye colour, isn't that fantastic?" His childish act made me grimace, I was sure he was Bipolar. In the blink of an eye he'd try to kill me if I'd say anything wrong.

"Why did you do it?" I asked again.

"Curious, aren't we?" he chuckled. "I didn't want people to recognise me. This is a small town, you're everyone's neighbor." I didn't reply after he was done, registering all this information. Though it was useless, I'll be dead in less than an hour.

"Where are we?" I broke the uncomfortable silence that started getting too long.

"The skateboard park," he responded with, and my head flew up. His back was to me, so he didn't see. The skateboard park? Grayson told me something about a park they always went to.

"Why?" I requested, and I think he was getting tired of me playing detective when he growled out.

"Why do you care? You'll be dead in less than an hour." See, I told you. And even though it shouldn't be, I felt a sting. Without knowing it, there was still one little pinch of hope left in me, but that disappeared as soon as he stomped on it.

"It's almost time to go," he said. I opened my mouth to ask, but when I inspected what he was doing I bit my tongue. A scratching noise came from the knife sharpener he was using. Oh God...

After a while of me holding back wasted tears, he straightened his back. "Okay, I'm ready." I wasn't.

He spun around and swiftly sliced through the restraints on my upper body, then my downside. I immediately jumped up but almost collapsed to the ground when my knees buckled. Have I been seated for so long?

He smirked down at me, enjoying the sight of his powerless prey. He grasped my arm in his and I wailed out in pain. There was definitely going to form a bruise. Can a bruise form on a dead person's body? I wondered randomly.

He pulled me with him to the ajar door as if I was on a leash. He yanked me whenever I was too slow for him, giving me a hard time to keep up.

He kicked open the front door of this small and practically empty cottage. This is where he must live, I noted. We went outside and a gush of wind blew right at me, my hair flying in my face.

With the slightly working street lanterns, I could make out most of the park.

I gasped when he pushed me on the cold and dirty ground. My back hit a ramp and I groaned, rubbing my head. "Don't you dare move," he warned me, pointing the sharpened knife right at my throat. I whimpered but nodded rapidly.

I don't know what's going to happen next.

I don't know if anything's going to happen at all.

But I know that it'll be over soon, for me at least.

Somehow, I didn't fear death as much as I think I would. It's because of Logan.

Maybe I'll meet him there.

But maybe I won't.

Is it weird that I feel bad if I die now? Like I'd leave everything behind for Grayson and Bella and Anderson and Kyle and Jake to solve.

And that's the reason I kept fighting.

I still have my parents who love me dearly. My best friends - Bella, Evie, Natalie, Leslie - who'll be waiting for my return on Monday at school. And, lastly, Grayson.

Of course because of Grayson. I'd do anything just to go back to his secret place and get to know him better all day.

I looked around me, spotting Cassius texting someone on his phone. I made a quick plan in my mind which would most-likely fail, but I have to try.

I need to see Grayson again.

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A/N: OH MY GOD, GUYS! The story is almost at its end! I'm so excited for it, stay tuned and please don't give up. All the romance you have been waiting for is definitely coming soon. And it'll be good ;)

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