Take One Last Breath

..::Hanna’s POV::..

Somebody was beating hammers on my head, all over, as I lay in bed. I swatted them away until I heard Kori groan, “What the fuck was that for,” she managed, and my eyes went wide, and instantly made sure I had all of my clothes on, then checked to see if hers were on as well. Fully clothed, and in the safe zone.

“Somebody was dancing on my head. Whuraredey,” I said, covering my head with a pillow, “gonn’abeatderrasses,” I trailed off, having the urge to throw up.

“I’ll go get you some Tylenol,” she said, and I felt the bed shift as she got up, and her feet tatter along the carpet as she disappeared. I was still trying to register what the fuck was going on and why I was in Kori’s bed, and why I hurt all over, “here,” I heard Kori say as she set a glass down on the nightstand next to me. I pushed myself up in a sitting position and quickly took the pills, already wanting to lie back down and go to sleep.

“Mind telling me what the fuck happened?” I asked, leaning against Kori, resting my cheek on the top of her head.

“Well, after you and Novak came in the house drunk out of your mind and on the edge of passing out, Bam ambushed you, Novak, and Knoxville with paintballs guns. I dragged you up here, and Dunn’s hiding somewhere, I’m sure he’ll show up sooner or later, but I’m betting on later,” processing all of her words was taking me a bit of time, so I just lifted up my shirt to see all of the small and circular bruises.

“The fucker,” I breathed, shaking my head. I pushed myself off the bed, and Kori stood up to help me walk, “What day is it?” I asked as we walked out into the hall.

“Wednesday. You’ve only been asleep for one night,” She informed me, and I stared gaining my memory.

“Oh right. Oh, that reminds me. I’m being forced out to dinner Friday with my family, come with me,” I begged, remembering the horrible invitation I had gotten from my parents.

“Can’t,” she said simply, and I looked at her, taken aback.

“WHY NOT,” I whined, throwing her a puppy dog face.

“Going to Finland tomorrow. I’ve gotta find Austin, bring her back, hang her from a tree, grab a large branch, and swing at her, only hoping there’s good candy in her,” she said deviously. She was still mad at Austin, it seemed.

“Can I play, too, when you’re back?” I asked, “I like piñatas. I also enjoy eating candy,” I informed her, causing her to smirk.

“Fine, Hanna, you can play. Two is better than one. Not so much for Austin, but it will still be funny for us,” she said as we made our way down the stairs. Knoxville was passed out on the ground in front of the main door, a large bandage wrapped around one of his hands. Novak was asleep on the pool table, more liquor bottles surrounding him.

“Where are those paintball guns, again?” I asked Kori, and she grew a smirk on her face.

“Kitchen table,” she told me, and the Tylenol started kicking in. We silently walked to the kitchen, and grabbed the guns from the table, checking the load on them. They were full, “Bam must have reloaded them, and camped out for Dunn,” she told me, and I nodded. We both walked back into the large room, and I stood on the pool table over Novak, while Kori stood over Knoxville.

“Ready?” I mouthed to her, even though the two boys wouldn’t wake up even if you came through the room with a trumpet. She nodded her head at me, and I mouthed a silent ‘three, two, one’ at her, and we raised hell on the two boys. They got up, and started running around, but we chased the two around until our magazines were completely empty.

“What the fuck?” Novak sputtered, rubbing his arms down, and leaning against the couch. Kori and I drowned ourselves in our laughter, and we were on the ground laughing.

..::Bam’s POV::..

I walked down the stairs to hear laughter from Hanna and Kori, and saw Knoxville taking refugee under the pool table. Aside from that, there were paint splatters around the house, causing me to smile. This could only mean one thing, somebody got to the paintball guns I forgot I left on the kitchen table. I smirked as I followed the laughter into the living room, where Novak was leaned over the couch, groaning to himself.

“Good job. Now we have no defense against Dunn when he shows up. On the other hand, this is fucking awesome,” I told Kori and Hanna, not that they were really paying attention to me, “Now who’s packed,” I asked and everybody looked at me.

“We don’t leave until tomorrow,” Kori countered, and I shrugged.

“Yeah, but we leave tomorrow morning. I already bought the plane tickets,” I told them.

“Please, for the love of god, tell me you’re taking Missy. When I crash here, I don’t wanna hear her complaining the whole time,” Hanna begged, and the remembrance of Missy being gone for good made me feel overtly happy.

“Don’t worry about her,” I said with a cheeky smile, “She won’t be coming back….until Monday that is. Sick relative, blah blah blah,” I told them, and Hanna grew a grin on his face.

“So I’ll be here alone?” Hanna asked with a smile the size of Texas.

“With Phil, Ape, and Knoxville, of course. MAYBE EVEN DUNN IF HE DOESN’T SHOW UP. We’ll be gone until we have Austin,” I informed him, and he nodded. Right afterwards, I was knocked to the ground, and was being held in a chokehold.

“Put the paintball guns down and I’ll think about letting you go,” Ryan said from behind me.

“I don’t have any, asshole,” I managed to say, but his grip didn’t loosen.

“Bullshit. I’ll feed you to a snake pit if you pull anything once I let you go,” I threatened, and it nearly hurt my throat to laugh. He let me go, and I took a small gasp for breath, and looked back a Ryan.

“Well played, douche bag,” I said before getting up, and then looked back at him again, “now that we have that sorted out, get packed, so we can leave tomorrow. It’s a long flight, and it will be pretty late when we get there. We’ll be going straight to Ville’s. He’ll come and get us, we’ll crash, and we start searching the next day, okay? The Dudesons are gonna join us, just for the cause of making it more fun,” I informed everybody, and another groan escaped Novak’s lips.

..::Austin’s POV::..

“I’ve got a friend coming over tomorrow,” Ville told me as I was curled against him on the couch. We were watching Finnish movies that I couldn’t understand, but Ville was nice enough to put on English subtitles. The subtitles did the movies no justice, though.

“Oh, where is he from?” I asked, leaning my head on his shoulder.

“America. And, uh…he’s bringing some other friends, and they’re staying here. It might be a bit hectic,” he said, and I shrugged it off.

“The last I remembered, a little noise didn’t bother me,” I smirked up at him, and he kissed me on the cheek.

“You know, I’m quite glad I met you,” he smiled down at me, causing me to smile in return.

“Yeah, I’m glad we met, too. I’m also glad we’re having this quiet time, I like it,” I admitted, and he nodded.

“If you want, we can just chill out here tonight. I could go get some good movies, so we don’t have to watch this shit,” he laughed, and I shrugged again.

“Well, that seems great. Let’s do it,” I said, and he started stroking my arm.

“Great. We won’t have any private time until my friend and his posse is gone, though,” he said, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Tell me about this friend,” I said, playing with the sleeve of his shirt.

“Well, he’s insane. His friends are insane. But they’re here on some business. Looking for somebody,” he finished, and what he told me instantly reminded me of Bam. But Bam didn’t like me too much, and Kori hated me now. They wouldn’t come all the way to Finland to find me. They didn’t even know that I was here. I stopped worrying about it, and kissed Ville tenderly. I was starting to get actual feelings for him, I think. Well, I spent half the time high, so I wouldn’t quite know exactly what my feelings were from him. But he was amazing. Nice, charming, genuine, had this hot accent. I loved being here, and I was so happy. Sometimes, I got caught up in how happy I was.

I did miss Kori, though, and it took a lot out of my to resist calling her back, telling her how much I missed her. Tell her where I was so she could come and visit. I missed her, I missed my home, and I missed my father.

The loss of my father, the thing that through me down this down spiral in the first place. One of the reasons I was here was to forget about that. I got up, out of Ville’s arms, without saying a word. I walked into the bathroom, and locked myself in. I looked through the cabinet, looking for the stash of heroine I kept, but it wasn’t there.

“Austine?” Ville’s voice drifted through the door.

“Yeah,” I tried not to sound as frantic as I was, but I was on the verge of freaking out, and tears started building in my eyes.

“What’s wrong,” he asked, and I shook my head as tears started to pour out.

“Noth…ing,” I trailed off, not being able to talk.

“I threw it all out,” he said the words that sent me off the cliff. I shot up, opening up the door.

“Why,” I said. There may have been tears running down my face, but I was angry. No, beyond angry. How could he do this to me? Why would he do this to me.

“It’s getting way out of hand. You’ve become completely dependent on drugs, and you’re going to get sick,” he told me. He attempting to place his hands on my shoulders, but I shoved him away.

“You’re not my father,” I said, but the last word broke in my mouth. I leaned against the wall, and slid down it to sit down, curling up in a ball. I just let myself cry, and it felt damn good. Ville’s arms were around me once more, but this time I didn’t push him away. I let him hold me, because that’s what I needed, “Why did he have to go?” I sobbed. It was the first time I actually cried about losing my father aside from when I had gotten the call.

“I’m sure he loved you Austine, just as you obviously love him. It’s okay to feel sad about this. You don’t have to shove your feelings down. What you’re doing…you’ll end up dead,” he said, coursing my hair back. All I was able to do was shake my head. There was nothing beautiful about me crying. My eyes were red and blotchy, and there was snot running down my down my face. Ville picked me up bridal style, and placed me down on the couch. He returned with a mug of coffee, and a box of tissues. He sat down next to me, and I leaned against him.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without him,” I absent-mindedly said the words I had been subconsciously thinking since I arrived at the house.

“Everything you would have done had he been here. He’s not completely gone, Austin. He’s probably watching you right now,” he told me, and I all of the sudden felt completely guilty.

“Shit,” I breathed out, “I hope not,” I said, and Ville looked at me with a confused look on his face.

“Why not?” he asked, and I shook my head.

“I’ve worked so hard in rehab to get rid of my drug addiction, for years. I was straight, now look at me,” I said, putting my head in my hands.

“I can help you get better, Austin,” he told me, and I scoffed.

“I don’t deserve to get better.”

©Shannon.