Until You Feel It

*~Bill's Point of View~*

I threw the door open and the first thing I saw was Mandy. She was sitting in a chair; her hands tied, tape over her mouth and tears streaming down her face. My eyes widened when I saw her and I quickly crossed the room towards her.

''Mmm! Mmm!'' she sobbed, although it was muffled by the tape over her mouth.

I knelt down in front of her and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into a hug. It felt so good to have her in my arms again and I couldn't believe what an idiot I had been before.

''Mandy, I'm so sorry!'' I said, on the verge of tears. She started to sob, and I pulled away so that I could look into her eyes. I needed to tell her how sorry I was; it couldn't wait until we were out of there.

''I'm so sorry about what I said before, I didn't mean to push you like I did, I shouldn't have questioned how much you love me. Mandy I'm so sorry, please forgive me?'' I said, putting one hand on either side of her face.

''Mmm.'' Mandy sobbed, shaking her head. I was crushed, as far as I could tell; she had just told me that she couldn't forgive me. A light suddenly went on in my head as I realized that she could have meant something else, her message was just blurred by the lack of words.

She cringed slightly as I pulled the tape off of her mouth. She stood up and out of impulse I followed suit. She was looking slightly behind me, her eyes terrified. As I was about to turn and see what she was looking at, she started to speak.

''Bill you n-'' she started but stopped mid sentence.

All of a sudden, the rope around her hands had vanished and she had one hand on either of my shoulders. She pushed me and I stumbled a little as we basically traded places.

I froze and my eyes went wide with terror as I realized what Mandy had been looking at just over my shoulder. Coming at us with a knife in his hand and a wild look on his face was Alex.

Before I had time to react and try to move her out of the way, Alex was right there and his knife vanished into Mandy's back. Her face was wiped of all emotion for a brief second before it contorted into a look of pain. As Alex pulled his knife back, Mandy fell into me and I sank to my knees, cradling her in my arms.

Before I hit the ground, Tom and the others were already running at Alex.

''Oh mein gott! Oh mein gott!'' I repeated, that being the only coherent thing I could think of.

Mandy's face was contorted and she looked in so much pain. The entire right side of her shirt was already covered in blood, the thick red liquid staining the light blue fabric and soaking into my jeans.

I looked up to see Gustav punch Alex in the side of the head, sending him crashing into the wall. Alex bounced off the wall, his shoulder making a sick cracking noise as it collided with the brick, and then collapsed like a rag doll onto the floor.

''Bill,'' Mandy whispered from my arms and I looked down to her, nodding in response as I felt my eyes fill with tears.

''I forgive you, can you forgive me?'' she asked.

''Forgive you? You didn't do anything wrong it was me I sh-'' I started but she placed one hand lightly on my lips, straining desperately to do so.

''Can you forgive me?'' she asked again.

''Yes, I forgive you.'' I told her, my voice coming out as a whisper now.

''I love you.'' she said, brushing my cheek lightly with the tips of her fingers.

''I love you too.'' I responded as the tears that had collected in my eyes started to fall.

She dropped her hand from my face and her eyes fell closed. I looked down at her suddenly motionless form and I was swarmed with disbelief, she wasn't gone, not yet.

I looked back up to my brother and two best friends who were standing there completely frozen.

''Get help!'' I screamed and they seemed to snap out of their trances.

As Tom ran out into the hall I began to sob.

''Eden! Call an ambulance!'' he yelled down the hall.

''Get help.'' I whispered again as I cried.

''We have to stop her bleeding.'' Georg said and then disappeared into the kitchen.

He came back with a few dishtowels in his hands and then knelt down in front of me. He pushed the towels against the spot where the blood was coming from and they were almost instantly soaked.

There were loud hurried footsteps coming down the hall and then Eden appeared in the doorway.

''NO! MANDY!'' she shrieked.

She ran into the room and fell to the floor next to Mandy's head. She moved her hands around Mandy as if she was looking for some kind of 'fix' switch that she could flick and everything would be ok again.

''We have to get her out of here!'' Eden said, tears now streaming down her face.

''Eden we can't move her until the paramedics get here, they'll know what to do.'' Georg told her.

''We have to do something!'' she screamed, starting to sob.

Tom came behind her and pulled her up from the floor. At first she was angry and pounded on his chest with her fists, but then she collapsed into him, sobbing uncontrollably.