Breaking Hearts Still Looks Pretty Cool

Vision returned in malformed splodges, expanding my blurry view of the room slightly every time I blinked. Then it hit me; there was pain all over my body, permeating every joint and every muscle. I tried to wince, and was almost relieved when I found that I could. At least something worked. The next thing that hit me was the astounding feeling that something was wrong, and terror ripped through me as I remembered what had happened before I tumbled down the stairs.

Well, it would appear that we’re taking you hostage, wouldn’t it?

I gulped, and tried to sit up, intent on finding Annabelle and checking she was ok. Pain slashed at my muscles, and a small groan escaped my lips, but I managed to, and I assessed the room. Annabelle was sat opposite me, apparently asleep, her head drooping forward and resting on her knees. I gasped uncontrollably when I saw her face; it was paler than usual, making her freckles seem more pronounced, and a purple bruise was fully bloomed over her eye, and there was a red scratch all along one cheek.

“Annabelle!” I gasped,

“HEY!” said a voice from vaguely behind me, “they’re awake!”

The voice did not only send fear ripping through my body, but also irritated me beyond measure; I still had the inexplicable feeling of familiarity, that I had heard it somewhere before.

“You were out for a long time, sweetheart,” said another voice, and I didn’t look up fast enough. He grabbed my chin and forced my face upwards to stare into his hostile eyes, “how did you hit your head so hard?”

He laughed raucously, and the others joined in, their footsteps thudding threateningly on the floor as they came to join their peer in tormenting Annabelle and I.

“Why are you doing this?” Annabelle’s screeching voice asked the question that was going through my mind,

They all laughed again. It was a guttural, dark sound that made me cringe visibly. I had never heard anything so ominous.

The largest of the foursome flexed his arm muscles in a terrifying way, and I mentally calculated our distance from the door; at a run we could have made it out, but there were two burly and savage men for each of us, there was no way we would survive.

“We’re hoping your boyfriends will pay out,” the familiar-voiced assailant said; he seemed to do all the talking, he was the brains and spokesperson of the operation.

“You’re doing this...for money?” Annabelle gasped, “But they don’t have any...”

The largest looked towards who seemed to be the leader, and the rest followed suit. “I thought you said they were in a band,” said one belligerently. I tried to find ways to differentiate between my various hostage-takers, but my vision kept blurring, and eventually I gave up trying. I could only focus on the leader I felt so sure I recognised.

“They are,” he assured the rest,

“But,” Annabelle began, “they’re not even famous yet...they’re just supporting right now, they’ve done one independent album, they’re totally new...”

“WHAT?” demanded another, “you said they were a huge band!”

“Yeah, what the fuck man?”

The voices were barely distinguishable.

“Shut up,” I recognised the leader speaking again, addressing Annabelle and not his ‘friends’.

“No,” Annabelle’s lip trembled and I felt the swell of fear on my stomach, “I won’t, why did you lie? Just let us go, you’re wasting your time! They can’t pay you anything!”

“JUST SHUT UP,” he screamed this time, and launched himself at Annabelle. I fruitlessly threw my arms out to try and stop the attack, but I failed completely and ended up falling back onto the hard bus floor.

Annabelle was brave enough to make no sound; but I could hear the faint thuds of physical violence and I knew that bruises were being added to her already alarming collection.

“Stop it!” I cried, mustering all the strength I could to climb to my feet. I threw myself at his black-clad back and attempted in vain to pull his straining arms away from Annabelle’s now crumpled body. It wasn’t long before I felt strong arms pull me away from my waist and physically throw me to the ground. Before long I was faced with a pair of shockingly familiar blue eyes that pierced me.

“Please behave,” he said calmly, “I wouldn’t want to hurt your pretty face,”

Then he kicked me in the side, causing me to spring into the foetus position reflexively.

“Now shut up,” he ordered, “both of you,”

Annabelle crawled to my side, and I saw tears trailing down her broken face. With a shaking hand, I reached out to wipe it away with my thumb.
“What are we going to do?” she whispered, and although I tried to look strong, the fear that dominated her face was in mine too.

“I don’t know,” I whispered back honestly,
“Where are we?” she asked, a new form of panic crossing her features.
I wondered why she thought that I might be the one with the answers.

“I don’t know,” I whispered again, “I don’t even know how long we were out,”

“You were out for ages,” Annabelle sounded even more terrified, if possible, “I was scared that you were...” she barely concealed a sob, “dead...”

The breath caught in my throat. The thought of either Annabelle or I dying was more than I could even bare to think about. Without thinking, my eyes shot to the guns that were tucked into the belts of all four attackers.

“You don’t think that they’ll...” Annabelle trailed off, terrified,
“That they’ll what?”

There was a faint bubble of conversation from the other end of the bus, where they had moved their conversation.

“Mess around with us...or anything?”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, and my voice was sharper than usual due to my fear. I knew what she meant, and the thought of it made me feel physically sick.

“Well why are we here then?” a loud voice exploded from the side of the bus where the impromptu kidnappers meeting was being held.

“Revenge,” said the leader defiantly.

My stomach turned. I remembered where I knew the voice was from now. In fact, I felt stupid for not realising sooner.

“I thought you didn’t know these chicks,” another said, hurrying along parallel to the ringleader, who was power walking frighteningly towards Annabelle and I.

“I know them very well,” he said, pulling off his ski mask.

And then I saw that I was right; it was Matt. Matt had come to take Annabelle and I hostage, to punish the members of the band he had once been a part of.