♡Chapter dedicated to Chocolatelover97♡

"It's a thief in the night
To come and grab you.
It can creep up inside you
And consume you." Rhianna

Kayla couldn't stop crying.  

Gut wrenching, heart breaking sobs that filled the air and made the room seem too small. 

"Kay, I know it's hard, but you need to try and calm down, okay? We will get out of this, I swear."

She turned to her brother who had made this ridiculous statement, "how? How are we going to get out of this Ryder?"

The tears were choking her, drowning her in a wave of fear and panic, and she could do nothing to stop the flow, to calm herself down.

They were all going to die in this dingy room.

"I know it's hard," Noah, always the voice of reason, tried to intervene. "But maybe if we just relax and try to keep calm, it won't affect us so much." 

"Were you not listening?" Savannah shouted, her voice cutting the air like a knife, "she's already given us the serum." She glanced down at the spot on her arm where the needle had pierced her skin, a small circle of blood that had clotted over was visible near the top of her shoulder. "It's too late to keep fucking calm Noah."

"She's a psychopath," Ryder added, "did you hear the way she spoke about it? As if it was the love of her fucking life. She's proud of it, she will happily watch us all die in the name of her 'serum'."

"I think the correct term would actually be narcissi-."

"We don't need your fucking smart ass comments right now Noah, unless it's a plan to get us the fuck out of here." Ryder spat before Noah could even finish his sentence.

"I keep thinking of our parents," Aaron muttered sadly, his words dissolving the tension that had been building up between the other two boys. "Do you think they know we're gone yet?"

"That's it, Aaron! I'm sure by now they've realised that we're missing!" Ryder exclaimed, the ghost of a smile creeping onto his face. "They'll go to the police and they will find us. I give it a few hours, tops."

"What if they don't? We all went out. What if they think that we've just gone on a bender? And even if they do realize, how do you think they will find us? Do you even know where we are? A lot of work has gone into her planning this, there's no way we will be easy to find."

"Why are you such a fucking pessimist?" Ryder's excitement at being found disappeared in a flash, replaced by a scowl.

"I’m not a pessimist, I'm just trying to be realistic."

"You better shut that fucking mouth of yours before I shut it for you." Ryder growled, looking pointedly at his sister who was still sobbing. "Do you think they need to hear this? That she needs to hear this?"

Kayla didn't have to look up to know that Ryder was referring to her. Ryder was her protector, that was how it had always been, he shielded her from anything that could possibly hurt her. He was her strength and she was just a weak, little girl.  

Kayla, who still could not accept her father's death, ten years later.

Kayla, who was going to die in this room because she wasn't brave enough to face her darkest fears. 

Kayla, who continued to cry whilst everyone else was managing to have a conversation.

"Will both of you please just calm down," Aaron intervened before Noah could retaliate. "Your anger isn't helping the situation. We need to prepare for what's coming." He took a deep breath before asking, "Ryder, what's your darkest fear?"

Ryder scoffed, "nothing." But everyone saw the flash in his eyes.

Fear.

It was Ryder's denial that finally caused the tears to cease and Kayla to glance up at her brother. She had always looked up to him, believed him to be fearless, but even she had heard the way his voice shook at the word. If he was falling apart, then she would have to find a way to be strong.

"If we know what we're most afraid of, maybe we can be prepared."

"Prepared how?" Savannah questioned.

"Well, isn't it scarier when you don't know what's coming?" Aaron reasoned, although the way his voice trembled revealed his fear. "If we are ready for it, it won't be so bad.

Kayla could see the sense in his words, but that didn't make it easier for her to think rationally. She couldn't even think about what she was most scared of. Right now, she was afraid of everything. This room. That woman. Her imminent death.

"I think if we all just take deep breaths-," Noah began but was once again interrupted by Ryder.

"Are you in on this?"

"What did you just say?" The look on Noah's face would have caused a weaker man to fall to his knees, but not Ryder. He didn't even flinch as Noah stared at him in shock and disgust.

"I said, are you in on this? Is that why you're so determined that we can't get out?"

"Are you crazy? Do you think I want that shit inside my body? Do you think I want to watch my darkest fears come to life or whatever the hell is about to happen?"

Ryder was silent for a while, clearly mulling over Noah's words and the logic behind them. "How do we know it is though?"

"What?"

"How do we know the serum is inside you?" Ryder asked. Kayla couldn't understand the animosity between the two most important men in her life, she watched Ryder interrogate Noah and couldn't bring herself to step in, even though she knew she should.

"What are you talking about man? You saw-,"

"Actually, we didn't. The lights were off, remember?" Savannah pointed out.

Her words caused a deep silence to descend, suffocating them with the implications.

"The way I see it," Ryder said, "it's possible that they have an inside man. How else would they get the five of us here?"

"Don't be ridiculous Ryder, you've known Noah for years." Aaron asserted, looking away from Kayla when she tried to catch his eye. She was grateful that he had stepped in when she couldn't.

"Always so quick to defend him, aren't you Aaron?" Ryder sneered.

"What's that suppo-," 

"Guys this speculation is getting us nowhere," Savannah had finally had enough of the boys squabbling, "the people in this room are all we have to keep us sane right now. Flinging accusations for nothing is going to get us nowhere."

"You know all about 'flinging accusations', don't you Savannah?"

"That's enough, Ry." Kayla finally found her voice, desperate to stop the situation from escalating any further. If they couldn't trust each other, then they were really screwed.

She also hadn't missed the tears shining in her best friend’s eyes at Ryder's words. They had enough to deal with, without them turning on each other.

Ryder, who seemed to only listen to his sister, finally fell silent, although the look on his face suggested that there was still plenty of things he would like to say.

"So how do we get out?" Aaron asked, breaking the tense silence.

 The answer was both simple and complex and Kayla knew that the others were already aware of it. She struggled to keep her voice from breaking as she uttered the words that would extinguish any flickers of hope that still lingered in the room.

 "We don't."

"We can't give up, guys." Noah insisted, spurred on by Kayla's attempt to be strong even though she was clearly crumpling like a sheet of paper.

"Noah's right." Aaron agreed, his nails digging into the wooden arm of his chair, splinters flaking off and falling to the floor at his feet.

"Of course you think so," Ryder rolled his eyes, the venom in his voice clear.

"What's your problem, man?"

"I know that you're fucking my sister's boyfriend."

Kayla's heart stopped at her brother's words, it wasn't possible, Noah would never do that to her.

"What? No, you wouldn't Noah." But one look at his shame filled face was enough to confirm what Ryder had said.

Her friend and her boyfriend. Together.

She felt the bile rise to her throat before she could stop it, retching over the side of the chair until she was pale and sweat clung to her like a second skin. Her throat burned, her eyes stung and watered and her heart ached, beating with the thought of their betrayal.

Was this part of a hallucination? It had to be. It couldn't be real.

"Kayla, I'm sorr-," Noah attempted but was immediately cut off by Ryder.

"Shut the fuck up."

Kayla looked at Aaron, clearly remembering going to her friend and gushing over the cute things that Noah did for her, telling Aaron how in love she was. Aaron had even helped her plan a two-year anniversary surprise for Noah.

Were they together then? How long had they been seeing each other behind her back?

It wasn't real. It couldn't be. She had always been scared that Noah would cheat on her, but with one of her closest friends? It wasn't possible, it had to be related to the serum currently coursing through her body. She was watching one of her fears come to life, she had to be. That didn't stop the question currently niggling its way into her thoughts, invading her mind, sucking at her common sense, like a leech.

What if it was real?

Everything started clicking into place. The late nights. The missed dates. Ryder's obvious hatred and accusations towards both Aaron and Noah. The way they both refused to look her in the eye. The fact that, even now, Noah appeared to be looking to Aaron for comfort. Instead of her.

"How could-"

But those were the last words she managed to get out before Savannah began to scream, a blood curdling sound that ripped all the tension in the air into pieces.