Stand A Little Too Tall, Say A Little Too Much

*NOTE BEFORE: POINT OF VIEW IS IN THIRD PERSON*

Alex was relieved when the two men finally stopped kicking at his legs and chest. They were a lot stronger than he expected. They walked back to the van, climbed in and then slammed the door shut. Through tear-filled eyes, Alex saw the van drive off. He let all the pain wash over his body; he didn’t have the strength to fight back no matter how much he wanted to. His mind was shouting at him to drag himself up off the floor, get in his car and chase after the van however Alex couldn’t find the motivation to even move his arms. His body felt so weak and drained of energy. He needed someone to comfort him even if it was only for a few hours. Alex attempted to sit up to get his phone out of his pocket but before he could even manage to stay propped up on the cobble, his head fell back down to the floor and he blacked out.

--

“Alex? Alex?” A voice whispered.
Alex’s vision started to slowly focus in and so did the pain at the back of his head.
“W-where am I-I? W-who-” A finger was pressed to his lips.
“It’s Chloe. You’re at Jack’s house.”
Alex took a deep breath before responding.
“S-she’s gone, h-hasn’t she?”
Alex’s vision was starting to become clearer but it was still quite fuzzy. He heard Chloe gulp.
“Y-yes.” she trailed off.
The rising lump in the back of Alex’s throat threatened to break at any minute. Alex could feel his heart tightening by the second. He felt a tear roll down his cheek.
“W-what time is it?” his voice was very shaky.
“It’s 8pm, Alex.”
“S-shouldn’t I b-be getting h-home?”
Chloe sighed. “Alex, when I found you, you were out cold by the side of your car at Justine’s house. I phoned May as there was a missed call from her and explained the situation and she said she’ll be over when she can.”
“B-but I-”
“No buts Alex, you’re staying here for a bit. Justine wouldn’t want me to leave you to fend for yourself especially in the situation right now.”
“I-it was J-Josh…” Alex trailed off and he felt his heart tighten.
Chloe put her hand on Alex’s shoulder and rubbed it slightly.
“Once Josh knows what he’s done wrong, maybe he’ll return with Justine.”
“B-but you d-don’t know that.”
“Maybe not, but you can’t knock yourself down. It wasn’t your fault Alex.”
“I acted like a total dick towards her though. I fucking pushed her away!”
“Alex, calm the fuck down. I smashed Ellie’s face in with the help of Justine so that’s sorted. She won’t bother you again. That Tom guy was someone we met who was with Josh the day we all met in the park. She’s not lying.”
“She wasn’t lying.”
“She still isn’t lying.”
Alex slowly sat up on the sofa, raised his knees up to his chest and placed his head against them.

Chloe walked into the kitchen where Jack was cooking dinner.
“Hey, Jack?” she paused.
Jack looked over at Chloe who was on the verge of crying. He walked over to her side and wrapped his arms around her.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t believe Josh would do such a heartless thing. It’s screwing us all up, I mean Alex is a mess in there.”
“I know how you feel. I mean I only knew her a short time but she seemed so genuine, why would anything like that happen to her?”
“I don’t know. He’s been such a dick ever since he tried to get it on with her.”
“Sometimes I really don’t understand peoples brains. He clearly doesn’t have one.”
“Hmm. I mean, he showed up as the manager at the dancing studio she went to and he almost got her then.”
“What an idiot. What did Alex say to you?”
“He asked where he was and stuff like that and then started blaming himself for what happened. He can’t do that. None of us saw it coming.”
“I know. That Ellie girl didn’t help much really.”
“I think Ellie’s always been like that towards Alex and Justine. I didn’t really pay much attention to it at first, but thinking back to when Layna and I would speak about them, she never really liked it. If it ever cropped up she wouldn’t say much. I reckon she was too jealous and just wanted to destroy everything they had because she’s never had that.”
“I hate the jealous types so much. They’re so bitchy it’s unreal.”
“Me too. I wouldn’t of thought she’d ever have the guts to do it but I guess she did. We got revenge though.”
“What did you do?”
“Me and Justine went round and smashed her face in. I’m sorry but she deserves it, noone messes with a relationship like Justine and Alex’s or ours for example.”
“She had it all coming to her.”
“Indeed. She knows if she ever did anything like that to me, I would kick her head in even if she is a supposed best friend.”
“This is why you’re such a good person.”
“Hmm. I stick up for my friends.”
“I noticed. Anyway, dinner is literally ready now so if you wanna get some plates out and stuff, that would be good.”
“Okay.”
Chloe grabbed some plates from the cupboard and placed them on the table. She then set the knives and forks out neatly.
Chloe walked into the living room and gently shook Alex.
“Hey, Alex, dinner’s ready.”
She heard a grumble tumble out of Alex.
“Come on, you’ve got to eat.” Chloe shook Alex again once more and then headed back to the kitchen.

“Is he awake?” Jack dished out the dinner onto each of the plates.
“Not sure, I heard him grumble so possibly.”
“Well, we can start eating and if he doesn’t come in here in a few minutes or so, I’ll go in and wake him up again.”
“Okay.”
Jack finished placing the pots in the sink and walked over to Chloe who was standing in the middle of the kitchen biting her nails. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in close.
“Chloe, are you okay?”
Jack heard her sniffle and she tightened her grip on Jack.
“J-just everything is g-getting on top of me now.”
Jack ran his fingers back and forth through Chloe’s hair. “Things will get better even if it doesn’t seem possible now. Justine may return later on, you may hear from her tomorrow. Who knows?”
“But Jack,” her voice broke and she pressed her head against Jack’s chest. “W-what if she d-doesn’t return? What if this is the e-end of…everything?”
Jack rubbed his hand up and down Chloe’s back in an attempt to comfort her.
“Baby, don’t think like that. You’re only causing yourself more grief.”
“I can’t help it Jack. I really can’t. She was my best friend; I was all she ever had apart from Layna and Ellie until Alex came along. But even then, she still didn’t have many friends.”
“Once we’ve finished dinner, we can go to the police station alright?”
“Okay.” Chloe sniffled again and untangled her arms from around Jack. She placed herself at the dinner table and started to play around with her food on her fork.
Jack spotted Alex by the doorframe confused as to what just happened. Jack shook his head and mouthed, “don’t worry”. They both sat at the table and started to eat.

--

After a long and awkward silence, Alex announced that he was going to bed and went to lie back down on the sofa.
“Alex, there’s a spare room upstairs if you want to sleep in there? I’m sure it’s much comfier too.”
“You sure, Jack?”
“Yeah it’s fine. It won’t be long before we come up to bed anyway.”
“Okay. Night.” Alex headed upstairs and just after his footsteps faded, Chloe spoke up.
“It would be easier to call the police, we can’t both go down the station.”
“Do you want me to call them?”
“If you don’t mind. I’d end up breaking down on the phone to them.”
“Okay. I’ll go do that now and then I’m going to get in bed as I’m shattered.”
“I’ll join you. Today has just been a long day.”
“Indeed. Right, I’ll be back in a second.”
Jack headed out to the hallway and dialled 999. The call connected and the operator answered.
“What service do you require?”
“Police please.”
“Connecting you now, please hold.”
Within seconds, a lady’s voice spoke up. Jack explained the situation and the lady typed out everything Jack mentioned.
“Right, well we’ll try everything we can at the moment and we’ll keep you updated. An officer will be round tomorrow to take any additional information you may have and a witness statement. Is there anything else we can do for you?”
“No thankyou.”
“Try not to worry about the situation for now, we’ll update you tomorrow.”
“Thanks, bye.”
Jack hung up and headed back into the kitchen. Chloe’s head was resting on her arms and light snores were heard. Jack rested his hands on Chloe’s shoulders and gently woke up her.
“Come on, I think we should go to bed.”
She groaned and tried to shake off Jack’s arms however Jack kept a strong grip. He slid Chloe off the chair and pulled her into his chest. Jack kissed her forehead before carrying her out of the kitchen and up to their bedroom. He lay Chloe down on the bed and pulled the duvet over her. Jack removed his jeans and t-shirt, threw them aside on the floor and climbed onto the bed. He pulled the duvet over himself and then cuddled up to Chloe. His eyes soon began to droop and within seconds he fell asleep.

--

Justine came round and her body began to fill up with emotion again. She tried to scream but the tape stuck on her mouth prevented her to. She couldn’t remove the tape either, as her hands were tied together behind her back and she was tied down to a chair. As Justine’s vision focused in, she saw a figure over by the wall. To her surprise, it wasn’t Josh. He had brown spiky hair and was fairly tall. Justine tried to shout but the tape still muffled everything she said. She looked around for an object to use to get anyone’s attention; unfortunately there was nothing. Justine’s heels smashed against the chair legs as she tried to rip herself free.
“It isn’t going to work.” The brown-haired guy spoke. “You’re pretty much stuck here.”
Justine scrunched up her face in disgust. The only way she was gonna get out of this was some serious. Could she fake not being able to breathe? Maybe this guy would then take the tape off of her mouth. At least then she’d be able to shout and scream for help. She rolled her eyes back into her head and pretended to gag. Justine slumped her head forward and heard footsteps coming closer; it was working. She stayed still whilst the figure circled around her. The guy then walked towards the door and shouted down the corridor.
“Josh, I think we’ve got a problem!”
“What, Scott?”
“Come see for yourself.”
Justine heard louder footsteps clomping down the corridor towards the room and then the sound disappeared as Josh stopped outside the room.
“Untie her. She’s coming with me.”
“Alright.”
Scott made his way towards the chair Justine was sitting in and untied her arms, legs and then removed the tape from her mouth. He then proceeded to pick her up over his shoulder and carry her out the room.
“Take her into the other house. Give me 2 seconds and I’ll be there. Wait with her until I get there.”
Scott did as he was told and made his way towards the other house. Josh soon followed after. As soon as Scott was outside the house, he passed Justine over to Josh. Scott opened the door and Josh carried her up a flight of stairs, and then dropped her on the floor. The pain shot through her body.
“Get up. Noone fools me.” He kicked at the back of Justine’s legs.
Justine opened her eyes and as soon as she saw him, her blood started to boil.
“YOU. YOU FUCKING IDIOT. WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DON-” Josh picked her up by the collar, placed his hand around her throat and slammed her weak body up against the wall.
“Don’t you DARE speak to me like that! You will do exactly as I fucking tell you or I will make your life worse than it already is. Are we clear?!”
“Y-yes.” She managed to croak out.
Josh released his hand from Justine’s throat. “Don’t try and escape either or your treatment will be severe.” He laughed and left the room, locking the door behind him. Justine fell to the floor clutching her head. Soon after, a voice was heard from the bed in the corner of the room.
“Are you alright?”