Status: I will try to update as often as possible, it will be updated at least weekly.

The Masked Feelings

Chapter 27: Numb

*** Cristiano's POV ***

I nodded at Sergio as we heard Harry begin chatting to Pilar, Iker and Sara; clueless about our plan. Sergio and I made our way to the door and silently made our way inside the house, checking in every direction to see if anyone was there. No-one was in the hallway so I quietly made my way to a room, a dining room, while Sergio went off into another one. The room only had a table with chairs surrounding it, a TV on top of a cabinet that was the height of my waist and a window with a rug beneath it. My eyes wandered the area and I looked for any signs of Tasha. I walked over to the window, where the rug lay scruffily over the floor. I stared out of the window deep in thought as I studied the area this house was situated in. It was isolated from this angle, nothing for miles. I turned around and saw Sergio in the room opposite the one that I was currently in. I quietly made my way to that room, having to walk slowly to avoid making to much noise on the creaky floor boards. "Found anything?" I whispered to Sergio and shook his head no. We heard voices coming from below us, and we both looked at each other, confirming our thoughts, before running into the dinning room. Unfortunately the floor board betrayed us as we ran over them. I could hear Harry running in our direction but being stopped. We needed to be quick. We were running out of time. My eyes searched the room and fund nothing hinting at a staircase or something.

"Found anything?" Sergio whispered to me and I shook my head 'no'. I walked over to the window again trying to think. Where would Harry hide a stair case? As I reached the window the floor boards creaked and my head snapped down to the rug. Of course! How did I not realise this before? I moved the rug and there was a cut out square with a ring on the corner. I pulled on the ring and the square move up revealing a staircase. Within a few seconds Sergio was already at the bottom of the staircase while I was staring at it while the realization hit me. I was finally going to be reunited with Tash. Even though she was only away from me for 4 days it had felt like an eternity. I then snapped back into reality and followed Sergio down the stairs to a door. We pulled it open and my questions ha been answered. Tasha's head twirled towards me as relief washed over her face. I grinned at her when I realized about the other people in the room. I saw Irina and her dad both glaring at Sergio and I. Sergio immediately ran towards Tasha's dad and tackled him to the ground when I heard running upstairs. I then ran towards Tasha by instinct. I should have gone and dealt with Irina, but I knew that Harry was onto us and I couldn't risk him taking Tasha away from me again. "It's alright Tash. I'm here." I whispered to her and she whimpered in reply. As I removed the rope from her hands, the door swung open, and my eyes locked with the ones that I deeply despised. Harry's.

*** Tasha's POV ***

I glared at Irina and my dad, as they began whispering to each other in hushed voices. I then heard talking upstairs, I could make out Harry's voice and... Sara? Yes, Sara and others. Footsteps followed and they were moving further away from me but then I made out Iker's voice followed by Pilar's. I was about to scream out for them but then a hand was clamped across my mouth swiftly. I tried calling out for them but my voice was muffled into the hand of my father. My breathing got heavy as I tried to breathe in and out of my nose, but not enough oxygen was entering my body. The air was thick and I was gasping for air in my dad's hand, but not finding any. My mind became clouded and I couldn't think clearly. I heard running footsteps upstairs and when my dad's hand removed itself from my mouth I was paralysed. I could hear him and Irina shuffling around the room and talking to each other, but just didn't have enough clarity in my mind to make out what they were saying.My first focus was to breathe properly. I took deep breaths in and out when I heard the door open. My face snapped to the door. Cristiano and Sergio came in through the door. Cristiano's eyes caught mine and he seemed as frozen as I was until he must have realized about everyone else in the room. Sergio then ran towards my father, and then Cristiano ran up behind me and began untying the ropes on my hands. "It's alright Tash. I'm here." He whispered and all I could do was whimper in reply. I could see Irina glaring at me as the rope on my hands fell on the floor. But the door then swung open, revealing Harry who glared at Cristiano with eyes that looked livid.

"Well well. What do we have here?" Harry asked in a bitterly sweet voice. Sergio and my father stopped fighting as everyone in the room remained frozen as Harry drew out his gun and pointed it right at Cristiano. My eyes grew wide. What was he going to do? He wouldn't shoot Cristiano would he? Oh, who am I kidding? Of course he would! Then Iker, Pilar and Sara came running down the stairs. They surrounded Harry and captured him within their hands, as he pulled the trigger off balance. The bullet was no longer going to get Cristiano, it was going to get me. Everything seemed to slow down as the bullet travelled towards me, and I prepared myself for the end. the room fell silent, the only sound that I could hear was my heart racing at one million miles an hour. The bullet came closer and closer to me so I closed my eyes.

I then felt a pain shooting through me. I gasped naturally at the agonizing feeling, starting in my right shoulder then spreading throughout my body. I raised my left hand as it shakily made it's way to my shoulder. It merely brushed it as my whole body tensed at the excruciating amount of pain that the tiny action made. I withdrew my hand quickly and saw my blood covering my finger. When I turned my head to look at my shoulder, my white dress was stained red. The patch seemed to be growing and growing rapidly and my heart raced as I stared at it, I had never been good with blood. Cristiano's hands had wrapped themselves around me at some point, but I couldn't feel them. I had become numb. I could see them around me but I couldn't feel them. Black spots began clouding my vision and I was fighting hard to remain awake. My eyelids felt like the heaviest things in the world as I fought hard to open them again, trying to fight the darkness. But as they closed again, I couldn't reopen them. I felt the darkness pulling me in; and I hesitantly accepted it as the pain slowly began to fade away...
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:O!!! So Tasha has been shot!!! Will she make it??