I Fell Apart

We walked to the dining hall, and I widened my eyes, staring in awe. It was big and grand and beautiful, definitely suiting the house.

But, it was empty.

I frowned, and my stomach flip-flopped a little.

"Sh-Shannon, there are no other people here yet. Shouldn't we... wait?" He stopped walking, turning to me and holding onto my arm lightly. He looked at me, his eyes soft and quiet.

"I'm afraid I have a confession to make, Rose." My shoulders dropped, and I removed my arm roughly from his hands. I took a step back from him.

"And what would that be?" I asked, feeling my face get warm with anger.

"There are no other guests coming." I turned on my heels and walked away, heading in the direction of where I thought the front door was. "Rose, please wait. You don't understand."

"I'm going home. I shouldn't have come. I don't know why I came." I clenched my fists, ignoring Shannon. Tomo, however, came out of nowhere, placing himself in front of me and holding his hands up to stop me.

"Rose, please. Let's just have dinner. That's all I'm asking." I turned to him, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Screw you. What, did you think I would do? I don't know you, and the very first thing you did to me was lie. I don't have to stay here." All of a sudden, there was a loud bang of thunder, and I jumped a little out of surprise. I scolded myself while Shannon smiled lightly.

"I didn't know how else I would have been able to get you to talk to me."

"What the hell are you talking about, buddy?"

"All you do is stay home-"

"Whoa, what? How the fuck would you know that?" His smile faultered, and he avoided my eyes.

"It doesn't matter." I widened my eyes, turning around quickly, and moving past Tomo.

"Okay, I'm leaving."

"Rose, I'm sorry!"

"Nope. You're weird. I'm leaving. Never talk to me again. Goodbye."

The lights went out.

I gasped.

"Holy shit," I squeaked out. "If anyone touches me, I'll punch them in the fucking face." I put my hands out in front of me, trying to back myself away from where I thought the two men were. But, after a few steps, I backed up into someone. I let out a tiny gasp, but he placed a hand over my mouth.

"Sh, sh, sh," he hushed. I tried to punch him, but he somehow manged to get a hold of both my hands. My back was up against his chest. He held my wrists in one hand and my mouth with another. His face was right up against the side of my head and I could feel his breath on my ear.

"Jared," I heard Shannon's voice growl out. "Get out of here. You're crossing boundaries again. Let her go." It was still pitch black, but I could hear that Shannon was about a couple meters away, probably with Tomo. I had to assume that the man holding me was Jared. My heart raced, and I struggled as hard as I possibly could. I tried to open my mouth to bite him, but he was holding me good and tight.

"Shannon." His voice was cool and cold and smooth and sharp, like a shiny new coin. His breath was as cold as his skin. I shivered through my struggles. "I. Saw. Her. First." His voice was low and edgy. It made me want to shiver again.

"You did not." I could imagine him rolling his eyes to match the tone of his voice. I groaned and rolled my own eyes. Jared chuckled. His laugh was deep and warm, contrasting everything else.

What the fuck is going on? Who the fuck are these people? Why is guy holding me like this? What if I go limp? What if I sneeze on his hand? Fuck this. I wonder if I can kick him in the balls from this angle.

Jared held me tighter.

"I saw her first, Shannon. You know I did." He started moving backwards with me. I started screaming through his hand, struggling hard again.

"If you leave with her-"

"You'll advance the troops? You'll come get her yourself?" He laughed again. "Nah, it's not worth it, Shan."

"She isn't yours!" Shannon shouted, his voice echoing through the halls. It was big and booming like the thunder outside.

"Oh yeah?" Jared's voice mocked. "Well, she isn't yours either. Aren't those your rules? Goodness, I never realized how old you've gotten." He suddenly turned us around, dragging me quicker.

"Don't turn your back on me, Jared!" Shannon's voice boomed.

How could he have seen that?

"We're done here, brother."

BROTHER? My God, this brings a whole new meaning to 'we've had a falling out.'

I screamed again, cursing the three men in the room. Jared starting runnning, and I heard Shannon run as well. Suddenly we were tackled to the ground. Jared grunted and I screeched again. His hands fell and I moved away as quickly as possible.

"Damn it!" he shouted. I heard the two brothers on the ground, punching and growling at each other. I jumped a little when I felt hands on my shoulders, lifting me.

"Tomo?"

"Yes, follow me."

"No!" Jared's voice shouted. I struggled to my feet, taking Tomo's hands.

He ran through the halls as if he could see perfectly fine. I stumbled a lot, putting my trust in Tomo to keep me safe. He opened a door, and went inside, taking me with him. He sat me down on what felt like a couch.

"Are you okay?" I closed my eyes.

"What the fuck is going on?" I heard him sigh.

"That's a long story." There was a loud bang on the door, not like a knock. I jumped again, opening my eyes, but not seeing anything. "And, we don't have the time." The bangs grew louder and faster. Over and over again.

"How much time do we have?"

"Not enough." The banging stopped.