Victim

The next couple weeks went by unbearably slow for Skye and the band, not only was it slow, but it was very awkward as well. Syn refused to talk to Skye or Matt unless the situation called for it, even then he barely said anything at all. He wouldn't even go near Skye unless it was his day to take her somewhere or if all the guys left at once. Syn spent most of his time in his bedroom playing his guitar and writing music.
Skye hated seeing Syn like this. She knew how much he was hurting about the situation and all she wanted to do was go up and tell him how much she loved him and was sorry, but she couldn't. Matt did everything he could to comfort her. He told her that Syn would be okay and would talk to her soon, but Skye knew he wouldn't. She had called him by his name, his real name, Brian, when she cut it off. He preferred her, and pretty much everyone else to call him Syn. He knew she meant what she said when she called him Brian.
Not only did the two weeks go by slow, they also hadn't had any word from Slade. No new information to go off of. Slade had called them two days after they got to Florida and let them know that they had found out who these men were and were on their trail. The day after he called back and let them know that their apartment was empty, like they had left in a hurry and weren't coming back. This information didn't make Skye feel any more comfortable.
Skye felt like she was trapped here. She wanted to desperately to go out and explore Florida. She wanted to go to the beach and swim, she wanted to have fun with her friends, her protectors. Luckily the house was big and had a nice yard with a swimming pool. However, she was barely even allowed to go into the back yard. This house was super close to any other houses but it wasn't in the middle of nowhere either. Matt didn't want to risk her or them being seen.

Skye woke up early and wanted to go back to sleep, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't. She got up and got dressed before heading downstairs. She passed by Syn's door on the way down. She was surprised to see that it was open and empty. This gave her a spark of hope. As she headed downstairs she could smell something cooking in the kitchen and her stomach growled.
"It smells amazing in here." She said as she entered the kitchen. It was Syn, standing by the stove making breakfast. He didn't even turn to look when she walked in.
The awkward silence radiating between them was enough to make Skye's skin crawl. "What are you making?" She didn't know why she asked. She knew he wouldn't answer. She walked over to him and looked at the pans. He was making scrambled eggs, bacon, and french toast. Her stomach growled even more.
"Looks great too. Mind making that for two?" She asked with a crooked smile. Syn didn't respond, didn't even shake or nod his head.
Skye sighed. "Right, I forgot about the silence treatment." She pushed away from the counter she was leaning on and made her way to the living room. Too no surprise she found the rest of the group sitting and playing video games.
They weren't playing Call of Duty this time, which really surprised her. "What are you guys playing?" She asked as she sat down next to Zacky. He and Matt were the only two that weren't treating her differently. Johnny and Jimmy were still talking to her, just not as much as they use to. Every now and then she would catch them looking at her funny or with dirty looks. She understood why of course, she had broken their best friend's heart.
"It's Super Smash Brothers." Johnny replied, not taking his eyes away from the screen.
"Oh I've heard of this game. It's supposed to be super intense and hard right?" Skye asked slightly excitedly.
"Depends on who you are playing with and how good you are at it." Matt said.
"Yea like me, I kick all their asses." Zacky said with a laugh.
Skye looked at the screen and saw four characters jumping and running around. They were throwing things at each other and pushing each other off the map. It didn't look like it was that hard.
"Looks easy." Skye said.
"Want to play?" Matt asked.
"Yea s-" She was cut off by a plate hovering in front of her face. It was breakfast and it looked delicious. She looked up at Syn who was looking at the screen and took the plate. "Thank you."
After the plate left his hand he turned and made his way upstairs. Everyone watched him leave with shocked looks on their faces.
"Well, I think that was a breakthrough." Zacky said as he looked at Matt.
Matt shrugged. "No, he's still being a dick." He went back to playing his game followed by the rest of the guys.
Skye smiled to herself. To her it was a breakthrough. This was a normal situation, nothing having to do with witness protection, and he had actually acknowledged her existence. She stood up with the plate and headed upstairs. "I'll be right back. Get a controller ready for me."
She stopped in front of Syn's door and knocked. She waited a moment before opening it.
Syn was sitting on his bed eating in front of his laptop. It looked and sounded like he was watching a movie. His eyes looked at Skye for a second and then back at the movie.
"Can I join you?" She asked as she walked to the end of his bed. No response was given back to her. "You know, if you want me to go back downstairs you need to say so, otherwise I'm going to think its okay to sit and eat with you." After a moment of silence, she sat down next to him. She placed the plate on her lap and started eating while watching the movie. He was watching Scream.
Skye looked at Syn and smiled. To her this was a win. Syn had made her breakfast and now they were sitting on his bed eating and watching a movie together. For a second she thought she could see the corner of his mouth twitch into a smile and quickly disappear.
About halfway into the movie they were both finished eating. Syn paused the movie and set the laptop on the bed. He proceeded to grab Skye's plate and stand up. He walked over to the door and stopped to wait for Skye. Reluctantly she stood up and followed him downstairs. Syn washed the dishes off while Skye watched and waited.
When Syn was done he headed back for the stairs. He stopped in the doorway and looked at Skye. He looked her in the eye for a brief moment before looking away. "You should stay down here."
Skye nodded and headed back into the living room. There was a controller waiting for her next to Zacky. She sat down and joined the game. No one asked her about her time with Syn, but she could tell by their looks that they wanted to.
The game was very hard for Skye to play. The guys kept throwing stuff at her and killing her. The only part Skye was good at was running away. Even though she sucked at the game, she was still having fun playing and laughing with the guys. This was the most fun she has had since coming to Florida. It was nice playing games with them. She just wished that Syn would join them and laugh and talk with them. At least he had eaten breakfast with her, and made her breakfast in general, that was a very good sign.
After a few rounds of the game Matt paused it and turned to Skye. “So we are almost out of food. We are going to go to the store in a bit and get some more. Is there anything specific you would like?”
“Can I go? Please. I really need to get out of the house.” She gave Matt puppy dog eyes.
“Not this time. I don’t even think all of us should be going.” Matt said as he eyed each of the guys.
“So Syn is staying then?” Skye asked. If that was the case she was going to try and get him to talk to her.
“Yes he will be staying with you. Since all of us are going we shouldn’t be gone too long.” Matt said. He almost seemed worried about her staying alone with Syn. Every time she did he seemed reluctant to leave the house.
“Okay. No there isn’t anything specific. Thanks though.” Skye was disappointed that she couldn’t go. She found it unfair that the whole band could go, and risk being seen, but she couldn’t go. It didn’t make any sense to her but she dealt with it.
They all decided to play a couple more rounds of the game before leaving. Skye died the most out of all the them and Zacky of course won all the rounds. He was really good at this game. Skye decided that if Syn wasn’t going to talk to her she was going to practice playing this game. When they were finished playing Matt went upstairs and let him know that they were leaving and to tell him to watch Skye.
After they left Skye waited downstairs for Syn but he never came down. She played a couple rounds of the game and then headed upstairs. Standing outside his door she could hear him playing his guitar and humming. He was writing another song. She opened the door and walked a couple feet inside before Syn stopped playing.
“No keep going.” She said with a smile.
Syn sighed. “Look. I don’t want to talk to you. And I don’t want you in here while I’m writing a song okay. I don’t want anyone in here while I am writing a new song. When I’m done I’ll come downstairs and keep you company ok.” He said all of this without looking her in the eye. It made her heart ache.
“Okay.” She said as she left the room, closing the door behind her. She went back downstairs and jumped on the game. After an hour she paused it, she heard a ringing noise from behind her. It was the phone Slade had given her. They were using it as communication between them and Slade. Matt must have accidentally left it there.
Skye got up and walked over to the phone. She hoped that it was Slade, letting her know that the men had been caught, then she could run up to Syn and tell him it was all over and that she loved him. When she picked up the phone her heart started to race. The caller id said it was Slade.
“Please tell me you caught them.” Skye said as she answered the phone. It was silent for a moment before she heard a response.
“Caught who?” A familiar voice replied.
Skye’s heart stopped.
“Oh us. No they didn’t catch us. But we did catch your detective friend. Beat him up real good too.” The man said with a laugh.
Skye ran towards the stairs with the phone still next to her ear.
“Now don’t go telling your friends we called. We don’t want to have to hurt that boyfriend of yours.”
Skye stopped dead in her tracks. How did they know about her and Syn? “What did you say?”
“You heard me. The young man you took the bullet for. He’s your boyfriend right?”
“No.” Skye said hesitantly. She wanted to protect him. She was going to say everything she could to do so.
“Oh that’s a shame. Well if you want him, and all your little friends there to survive, then listen closely.” The man said with a growl.
Skye sighed. “I’m listening.”
“Good. Here is what you are going to do. You are going to leave the safety of that nice house and meet us at our hotel. You are not going to tell them where you are going or when you are even leaving. Would be best to sneak out while they are sleeping.” The man said with a confident tone. He knew she was going to listen.
Skye didn’t know what to say. She could hear the sound of Syn’s guitar stop. He was going to come downstairs. She started to panic. “What’s the address?”
The man gave her the address to the hotel and their room number. “Come alone. From there we are going to take you somewhere, secluded.”
Skye could feel tears come to her eyes. She wiped them away as she heard the sound of Syn’s door open. “Okay I’ll be there tonight after they go to sleep.”
The man cleared his throat. “Remember, if they come of if you tell them anything, we will kill them.” That was the last thing he said before hanging up. Skye quickly put the phone down and the note with the address in her pocket.
Before she knew it Syn was down the stairs and standing behind her. She took a few deep breaths and wiped her tears before turning around. She didn’t want him to suspect anything. She sat down on the couch and started another game. Syn was staring at her and she was worried he would find out.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
Skye was still panicking; she didn’t know what to say. “Yeah I’m fine.”
“Your eyes are red. Were you crying?” He asked with a worried tone.
Skye could tell he didn’t want to talk to her, but his love for her over powered that right now. “I’m fine. Just you ignoring me all the time is getting to me.” She knew she shouldn’t say that, but knew he would believe it.
Syn sighed and looked that the screen to watch her play. “I’m sorry.”
After that the awkward silence returned. Skye was upset over it all. She was scared. When Matt and the guys returned she grew even more worried. Worried that her being worried would make them all suspect something. She wanted to protect them, she would protect them. Only one person needed to get hurt, not all of them.
After they returned Syn rushed back to his room without any word. Skye paused the game and helped them unload the groceries into the fridge and cupboards. Matt left the makings for spaghetti on the counter. He was planning on making it for dinner which was now only a few hours away. When they were done they all returned their attention to the game. Skye kept glancing at the clock to see what time it was. Time was now, for the first time, going fast. Too fast, so fast she wanted to start telling them all thank you and goodbye, but she couldn’t.
After a few hours Matt started making the spaghetti. When he was done everyone came in and grabbed a plate. Skye wanted to spend this last night with all of them, like a little family. “Can we all sit at the table?”
Matt looked at her surprised. “Don’t you want to keep practicing?”
Skye shook her head. “We can play after. I just want us all to spend some time together. Syn too.”
Matt nodded and everyone sat at the table. Skye when to go get Syn. “Hey, will you come eat with us. Please.”
Syn didn’t say anything in response.
“Look I want to spend this time with all of you okay. All of us having a nice dinner. Please Syn, do this for me?” Her voice cracked a little and he looked at her.
“I’ll me you down.”
“Thank you.” Skye said as she rushed downstairs.
They were all sitting at the table eating now. They were laughed and having a good time. Skye stared at Syn the whole time. For the first part of the dinner he was silent. Towards the middle he finally started opening up. He was even talking to Matt again. It warmed Skye’s heart to see them all being friends again. Her heart ached and she could once more feel tears come to her eyes. She finished eating and excused herself.
“Are you okay?” Matt asked. “You wanted us all here and you haven’t said one word.”
“I’m fine. I’m just glad you guys are talking again.” She said with a smile as she looked from Matt to Syn. “I’m just really tired. I’m going to head to bed.”
“Are you sure?” Zacky asked. “We are going to play the game after.”
“Yea I’m sure. Goodnight everyone.” She put her plate in the sink and went to her room. She set her alarm clock for midnight and headed to bed.

Skye awoke to her alarm clock. It was midnight and she quickly turned it off so no one else would wake up. She put on a thin jacket and started writing a note to the guys. She thanked them for everything they have done for her. She thanked them for being her friends, being her family. At the end of the note after she finished thanking each and every one of them, she wrote a small note to Syn.

Brian,
I’m sorry for what I said. I never meant to hurt you. I didn’t mean what I said at all.
I said it to protect you. I didn’t want you, or any of you for that matter
to get hurt because of me. I love you Brian. The time spent with you has
been so amazing for me. I hope I make it through this, and if I do I promise I will
find you, and we can be happy. Thank you for everything Brian, you have no idea how much it means to
me. I really do love you. I hope you can forgive me for what I said and for what I am about to do.

She folded the note and left it on her nightstand. She quietly opened her door and closed it behind her. She tiptoed down the stairs and too the front door. Matt was sitting on the couch in the living room watching a movie. Skye peaked in, it looked like he might have fallen asleep. She quietly opened the door and ran outside, closing the door behind her. She walked till she found a taxi. She got in the car and gave the driver the address.
Matt grew very tired and decided to turn the movie off. He headed for the stairs, checking the front door before going up. He noticed it was unlocked and quickly locked it. As he headed up the stairs to his room he was suddenly struck with a bad feeling. He felt like something was wrong, he wasn’t sure what though. He was just a few feet away from his bedroom door when he realized it. He had locked the door after everyone had gone to bed, and it was just unlocked.
He ran to Skye’s room and opened the door. His stomach dropped when he saw that she wasn’t in bed. Her bed was emptied and made. Then he noticed the note and went to grab it. He read through it quickly before rushing to wake the guys up.
“Everyone! Wake up!” He yelled as he made it into the hallway. He turned on the light and went from door to door, pounding on them and yelling for everyone to wake up. After a moment everyone was standing in the hallway with sleepy looks on their faces.
“What the hell Matt!” Johnny shouted back at him.
Matt held up the note. “Skye is gone.”