Collide To The Sound Of Our Heartbeat.

Hannah’s Point of View
I had to do this. I couldn’t just shy away from everything now, now that I was here, especially. I’d come this far, and now I just had to suck it up and pretend that nothing happened.
Let the past be forgotten.
“Just turn in here, this is it,” Sydney mumbled to Gerard, and he did, pulling in smoothly into my parent’s driveway. I brought back so many memories.
“Okay, everyone, get out,” Gerard called, and April slid the door open, everyone piling out. I jumped out last, looking up at the big house. I knew it was empty, because the car wasn’t in the driveway, and wouldn’t be until after New Year. My parents always went away for the Christmas holidays, the most popular being France, in the Alps. They like skiing.
“Get your bags, guys,” I said, pulling mine out from the back doors of the white van, leaving the door open for them.

“Whoa, holy shit, are you two like fucking minted or something?” Frank asked his jaw dropping slightly as I opened the front door. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head.
“Our parents are, I suppose. I’m not. It’s…” I trailed off, not really knowing how to finish the sentence. I just shrugged.
“Whatever. Hannie, where can we sleep, I’m knackered,” Ani asked, rubbing at her eyes, yawning. I nodded, walking up the stairs and leading everyone down a hallway, turning right to where my room was. I opened the door next to my bedroom, revealing a huge guest bedroom with two double beds.
“Uh… Mikey, April, Ani and Bob?” I said, gesturing to the room.
“Fuck me!” Ani cried, her eyes wide, “that room is huge! And so pretty! How many guest rooms do you have?”
“I don’t… know. Quite a few, though we’re all staying in this wing,” I said, pointing to the remaining doors in the hallway, which were about four more.
“Wing? Your house has wings?” Sazzy asked, shocked. I sighed.
“Yeah… my Dad built the house, he has a lot of family so built loads of rooms. He designs hotels and stuff, so he’s used to it,” I explained, messing with the ends of my hair. Sazzy nodded.
“Okay, so there’s the bathroom over there,” I pointed to the en-suite bathroom in the bedroom, as Ani, Bob, April and Mikey trudged in, their eyes widening even more.
“Of course, en-suite,” Bob said, a hint of humour in his tone. I smiled, rolling my eyes.
“Shut up,” I said, letting out a small chuckle.
I showed the room opposite to Sydney and Gerard, which was identical to the other guest room, only smaller as it only had one double bed in there. The room next to it was the same, so Sazzy and Frank had that one. The last two doors were my room, and the final guest room, so I let Ray crash in there.

“…Hannie?”
I sat up, rubbing my eyes. I looked over at my bedroom door, seeing a tall, towering figure. My eyes flicked over to the alarm clock on my bedside table. 02:47AM.
“Sydney? What the fuck?” I whispered, shuffling around under the bed sheets. She walked over, closing the door quietly behind her. I moved over, letting her get under the covers with me.
“Thanks. I couldn’t sleep,” she said, rubbing at her dishevelled hair.
“Some people can, though,” I grumbled, pushing my hair out of my face.
“Man, it’s too weird. Being back here… isn’t it?” she whispered, looking over at the window, the moonlight bouncing off her features. Her blue eyes looked like they glowed.
“Yeah… it is. Too many memories,” I mumbled, pulling the covers up with me. I moved my knees up, letting my chin rest on them.
“Yeah… hey, remember that time we snuck out of here and went to see Green Day on their Kerplunk tour?” Sydney said her eyes bright and excited. I grinned, nodding.
“Yeah, man. That was… what, three years ago?” I said, grinning and I remembered the memory.
We were only sixteen, and our parents wouldn’t let us see Green Day live. So we saved up, buying tickets of our own and went ourselves. Sydney stayed over at my place, and at around six-ish, we locked my bedroom door, and climbed out my window, driving in Syd’s car to see them. It was amazing. No one even found out.
“Three years ago! It seems like forever ago.”
“Mmm… a lot of stuff’s happened since then,” I replied, shrugging a little. Sydney nodded.
“How are you? I know it’s probably hard being here… with everything that… happened,” Sydney said, placing a hand on my arm. I nodded slowly.
“Yeah… I don’t know… it’s just… I’ve spend so long trying to forget it all, and now I’m here, it’s like I know everything happened, and it wasn’t just a dream. Like it’s all real, and it’s screaming at me in the face.”
Sydney nodded, not saying anything. There was a creak, and a sniff, and from the corner of my eye, I saw another dark figure standing in the doorway.
“Gerard?” Sydney whispered, her head twisting around to see the door.
“Yeah… I thought someone kidnapped you or something,” he whispered back, walking over to us at the bed, sitting with us, stealing some of the duvet. It was like we’d formed a mini- circle.
“What are you guys doing up?” he asked, rubbing his eyes, and then looking at the LCD lights on my alarm clock.
“It’s three in the morning, for the love of god! Why am I up?” he groaned, rubbing at his black hair.
“Go back to bed then, you douche,” Sydney said, shaking her head. Gerard groaned, shrugging.
“Can I smoke in here?” he asked me, fiddling with the pack of smokes in his hand.
“Only if you give me one,” I said, smiling. He grinned back, passing me one with the lighter, as Sydney picked the ashtray up of the nightstand, placing it in the middle of our little circle.
“So… can I know why you’re all edgy about this place?” Gerard asked, passing his pack to Sydney, who put them on the nightstand.
“Uh… it’s… a long story,” I said, placing the cigarette to my lips.
“Well we’ve got about ten hours until everyone else wakes up,” he said, smiling at me. I sighed.
“Well… it started about… two, maybe three years ago. I met this guy… Ben. We started going out and stuff. I really liked him, naturally…” I started; suddenly glad I had the cigarette in my fingers.
“So, what, was he a prick or something?” Gee asked, his eyebrows knitted together.
“Prick is an understatement,” Sydney muttered darkly, her eyes fixed on the ashtray.
“Well… he wanted to sleep with me. I didn’t really want to, because we’d only been going out for about two months. I didn’t love him and all that shit,” I said, continuing my story. Gerard nodded.
“He hit me, because of it. I was a stupid fuck; I took it and didn’t say anything. I didn’t stick up for myself… he made me think that it was my fault, that it was because he loved me so much, and I didn’t love him. He made me think that he hit me because there was something wrong with me, because I didn’t love him as much as he loved me.”
Gerard was shocked. I sighed, dragging on my fag.
“I… whoa, Hannah, I’m really sorry,” he said, his eyes wide and concerned.
“It’s not your fault. It’s mine… anyways… I was kind of trapped in this state of mind, where I just let him do whatever he wanted. He was sly, he’d hit me in places that could be hidden easily. Like my forearms, my collarbone, my back… stomach and chest,” I paused, ashing off my fag.
“I used to ask myself why I didn’t love him, why I couldn’t… bring myself to sleep with him. Then, one day… he raped me…. in the back of an alleyway, the indecent bastard. He just left me there. I was battered and bruised, because he beat me before hand, and I couldn’t move. I was in so much pain… I couldn’t even open my mouth. I was just there, lying in the back of an alleyway, and I thought I was going to die. I found my phone, and I used all the energy I had to ring Sydney. She found me in about ten minutes; I wasn’t far from her place. She saved me.”
No one said anything.
“…I’m sorry,” Gerard mumbled, his cigarette long gone. I shrugged.
“It’s not your fault. It’s mine, if anyone’s.”
“Shut up, Hannie, you prick. It’s not your fault. It’s that fuckers,” Sydney whispered harshly, her eyes gleaming fiercely. I smiled at her. I could never ask for a better friend.
“I love you, Sydney, you bitch.”
“I love you too, whore.”
“Hey, what about me…?” Gerard asked, pouting. Sydney and I giggled quietly.
“I love you, too Gee. Though... probably not as much as Sydney,” I said, a smile to my face. Sydney leant over, pecking him quickly on the lips. He smiled, happier.
“Hannah… if there’s anything I can do for you, I-”
“Thanks, Gee. I know,” I said, happy. He was great; he was one of my best friends. I’m glad that he and Syd hooked up, they deserved one another. He grinned at me.
“Anyways… we better go sleep. I’ll see you latter, Hannie,” he said, getting up off the bed and taking the ashtray with him, placing it back on the nightstand and retrieving his cigs. I nodded, and Sydney hugged me, kissing my forehead.
“Night, Han,” she said, grabbing Gerard's hand. Gee kissed me on the cheek, hugging me.
“Night.”
“Goodnight,” I whispered, and they were gone.