Broken

||Chapter Twenty||

We walked down the hall sluggishly as Dan held the gun, behind us. While walking down the hall I notice a small mahogany table with a vase of wilted flowers inside of it. Beside the vase, I saw a small knife. Thinking quickly, I looked behind me. Dan had his eyes on me especially, he was too close and keen for me to grab it. I needed this knife for the plan I was steadily building in my head. I walked over to Simon,

"Simon," I whispered inconspicuously, "there's a knife on the table," I subtly nod ahead showing him.

"You want me to distract him?" Simon asked knowingly, his eyes filled with undying determination.

I nodded, glad I didn't have to explain anything further. Before Simon could start distracting, however, Dan spoke up from behind us indignantly, "Hey! No communication!"

Simon seized his chance, turning around and smiling coyly before he spoke, "So Dan what're you gonna do with us?"

Dan's face scrunched up in confusion as he looked at Simon angrily. I wasn't sure where Simon was going with this but he needed to hurry up because we were almost at the table. I tried slowing down as much as possible, Celeste following my lead, slowing down as well. She looked at me with a confused face. I looked ahead and nodded at the table, showing her my objective. A small, knowing smile spread across her face; she saw.

"You know Dan, I always wondered what your full name was," Simon said unceremoniously calm and coy. If he was scared, or even nervous, he wasn't showing it whatsoever.

I glanced behind me briefly to see Dan looking on at Simon, who was a couple of feet behind us. It was now or never, as I neared the table, I quickly, and deftly snatched the knife from beside the vase on the table and shoved it into the waist of my pants. I glanced behind me again to see Dan looking at Simon,

"It's Danvill, what's your angle kid? Turn the f**k around!" He said angrily.

Simon walked back up to me and looked at me expectantly, "Did you get it?" He whispered.

Smiling, I nodded, patting the area where the knife was tucked. Simon, as well as Celeste, looked over smiling accomplished. I looked ahead and saw that we were now nearing a closed door.

"Stop!" Dan commanded, "Turn in here, and don't try anything funny or your all dead." He spat violently, but also with a twinge of paranoia.

My heart was beating out of my chest as I opened the door and looked down into the dark abyss that was the basement. I took the first tentative step and heard the step creak, similarly with the step of both Simon and Celeste, along with Dan. Each step down was filled with more grief than the last. A step further down into uncertainty. I took a deep breath, knowing profoundly that it could very well be my last. As I neared the bottom I looked in terror as I saw Darcie on her knees, her shoulders slumped and her hair covering most of her face. Her arms were stretched behind her, tied, as were her feet. I let out a pained, shaky sigh and I couldn't control myself from running over to her.

"Darcie!" I ran up to her and crouched down next to her, her face lifted and my eyes tore open in shock, her cheeks were a slightly swollen and red, small parts of it bruised purple. She had a cut on the side of her head; the sight of dried blood caked in her hair and down her face indicated to me that it was bleeding. Her cheeks had fresh tears on them probably stinging the cut on her face going down. "Darcie..." I said softer, tears prickled behind my eyes and her tattered appearance.

She remained silent for a beat, then gave me a small, tired smile, her glazed eyes widening slightly, "Amelia..." She said weakly, "you came," her eyes glassed over with fresh sets of tears, threatening to fall. My heart felt as though it was being crushed inside my chest looking at her in this sad, beaten, broken state. It pushed my determination further to free us; more than anything in the world, I wanted to see that beautiful smile on Darcie's face, her crystal blue eyes sparkling with happiness like it used to. Right now her eyes were pale and dreary, light dark circles surrounded her eyes, she looked utterly depressed.

I moved the hair out of her face in a swift, gentle motion and looked her in the eyes as I whispered, "I'll get us out of here OK, I promise,"

That was when she looked behind me and noticed Simon and Celeste. I saw her face fall, and I knew she saw Dan standing there with two guns aiming at us, probably with an impatient expression on his face.

"Alright alright, reunion went on long enough!" His voice boomed in the dark, brooding room, "Get over there," he waved the gun in his right hand, directing us besides some boxes towards the back of the room. He was probably paranoid because it was three of us and one of him, his henchmen were wounded and he had no known way of tying us up without expecting some sort of resistance and revolt against him. The numbers were in our favor, but unfortunately, the weaponry wasn't; apart from the knife, but I needed Dan's guard down and him closer before I strike.

We walked to the back of the room as he demanded and was about to turn around to face him but he stopped us hastily,

"Keep your backs turned!" He yelled. We did as we were told, "no funny business!" He seethed.

I heard his footsteps receding and I subtly glanced around to see him walking towards Darcie. I cursed under my breath as I turned to Simon and Celeste.

"He's going for Darcie," I said gravely. My heart pounding, nervous anxiety made my hands shook. I tuned my ears and listened in to what Dan was saying to her.

"Looks like you guys knew each other," he laughed spitefully, "I should've known, she was too reluctant about this hit,"

"Dan, just stop, it wasn't like that, we only just knew each other recently," Darcie retorted, her voice breaking in fear. It broke my heart.

"Well it doesn't matter now, does it?" He asked rhetorically, "At least you won't die alone you little b***h," Dan said, and the three of us looked around in shock as Dan aimed the gun at Darcie's head. My heart felt as though it has stopped, I couldn't breathe and I couldn't think straight. I pulled myself out of my stationary state, ready to run over, only to see Simon running off, bolting over to Dan.

"Nooooooo!" He yelled, running as fast as he could, but in less than three seconds, Dan had shot him, making him fall flat on his back.

In that moment, it was as if everything was in slow motion. Darcie was screaming, crying out Simon's name, I ran over to Simon, much to Dan's displeasure. He was yelling at me to leave him alone, telling me to go back to where I was. I couldn't, I held Simon's stomach, where the bullet had went through. His blood was covering my hands as I applied as much pressure as I could. He held his wound and coughed, trying to form words but failing

"Simon, no no no no, you have to stay alive OK, for Darcie," I begged, pleaded.

"Leave him alone! He got what he deserved, now get back to the wall before you're next," Dan's voice boomed as he walked over to me.

I looked at Simon, his eyes were glassy and lidded, his breath was getting more shallow and labored as he kept losing blood.

He was going to die if I didn't do something, anything.