Time goes by and I can't control my mind

-Ariana Grande

The next two hours were the hardest hours of my life. I'd tried not to blow up and stay calm because I knew being mad wouldn't help here. She needed me and I didn't know where she was. I didn't know where that stupid motherfucker was keeping her. He would pay for sure, but right now she was my priority.

We hadn't told Bridget because she had an important paper tomorrow and I didn't want her to mess it up. Mason knew, and he'd sounded furious as well as worried on the phone. I'd promised him to keep her safe, and I'd broken that. She wasn't safe. But I was going to find her, under any condition.

"Theo, dude." Dean suddenly came to me. He looked alarmed. "Scott is fifteen minutes away from the outskirts of the town. He saw Noah."

"What?" I got up as fast as lightning. "Where?"

"He's following him. I'm gonna go to the cops right now, okay? Fuck the twenty four hour bullshit. Call Scott and ask him for the location, go with him. I'll call her Uncle as well."

"Okay." I grabbed my jacket, picking up the keys. I looked behind me one last time. "Dean," I waited till his eyes met mine. "Thanks man, I appreciate it."

He waved a hand. "You're my best friend, dude. You would've done the same. And she's my friend as well."

I called Scott on my way, following the directions he'd given me. He'd said that Noah was on foot, so catching up to him would be easy. There was a possibility that he was not going to where Mia was, but deep down I knew he'd want to spend every single moment with her and not waste any time. I knew my angel would be fighting him, but she didn't need to do that alone anymore.

"Theo, he's outside a building. It looks old and rusty. I don't know what it is. He's going inside." Scott mumbled from the other side. "Should I follow him?"

"No, I'm five minutes away. Don't go inside without me. We don't know what he has there." I pressed my foot down on the ignition, urging it to run faster.

Scott was parked a few blocks away from the building. The area was deserted and there were plants and trees everywhere so I didn't think we could be spotted. He got out of the car just as I got out of mine.

"He's been in there for a long time." He said.

"That's the place then." Just looking at the condition of the building, and the thought of her being inside it, scared the fuck out of me.

"Dean called, he's informed the cops. They're on their way I guess. She'll be okay, Theo. She's in there and now we just have to wait for the cops to come in."

"It'll take them half an hour to come here, Scott. I'm not waiting for them."

He grabbed my hand when I walked ahead. "Don't be stupid. We don't know what he's got there, you said so yourself."

"She is in there with him." I hissed out. "I cannot stand here. I need to go in."

"Theo-"

"We don't know what's happening to her in there. I cannot risk it, Scott. I cannot risk her." He must have seen the pleading expression on my face, because he nodded.

And then we both walked in the direction of the building.

There was small door in place of the entrance. I made sure to look if there was someone who could prove to be a threat, but found none. We went inside. The ground floor was dark, wet and smelt awful. I covered my nose using my hand, taking the steps two at a time. Scott followed closely behind me.

I was scared. I didn't show it but I was scared. I didn't want to think of the possibilities of something bad happening to my Mia. But I still couldn't help but think what if I was too late. What if he'd already done something to her?

The first floor consisted of four rooms, each of whose doors were open. She wasn't in any. So we walked upstairs. The second floor looked presentable, the floors were wiped off the mud, the sweet smell of berries lingered in the air. There were four doors as usual, three of them open, the fourth one shut tight.

The door to the shut room opened suddenly and we hid behind a pillar. Noah appeared, looking furious. He was clutching his stomach, muttering profanities under his breath.

Angel.

She was there, I knew it. And I felt myself smirk when I thought of the hell she would have been giving to that asshole. I needed to see her and make sure she was okay. I had to tell her I was here. But before I could do that Noah appeared again, and went inside the room, not bothering to close it.

I motioned for Scott to stay, softly creeping over to the room. I took a deep breath and peeked inside. I saw him sitting on a stool, a plate of food in his hand.

"Fuck you. I don't want to eat that shit." My angel snarled at him. She kicked her leg but he moved away before it could hit his stomach again. Her expression looked furious, she looked like she wanted to rip him apart. "Let me the fuck out!"

I saw the handcuff bounding her wrist to the bed, and I felt myself shake. I clutched the wall to make sure I didn't do anything stupid.

"Baby-"

"Don't fucking call me that!" She shouted. "Only Theo calls me that, do you understand me? Fuck off." I bit back a smile.

I found you, angel. And I'll get you out, I promise.

"I hate you." I sobbed in my hands. My father stood in front me, my mother sitting on the couch. her expression looked pained, she hated seeing me in pain. But my father's face was expressionless like always. "I hate you!" I said more forcefully.

"You don't mean that."

"I mean it!" I shouted. "You took everything away from me. You never let me be happy. You drove away the only guy who protected me from you. I'm sick of hearing you shout at each other everyday. I'm sick of you treating Mom like a bag of shit. I'm sick of you, father. I hate you."

"Hate is a very strong word, Amelia." Father said calmly. He was always calm. That annoyed me a lot. "Everything I've done is to protect you. That guy wasn't right for you."

"Why? Because he was the only guy who didn't get scared of you?" I raised my chin, my blurry eyes meeting his stark blue ones. "Guess what, Dad, even though he didn't ever give up, you drove him away as well. Why don't you want me to be happy?"

"He wouldn't have made you happy. You deserve more than him."

"Where is the more?" I screamed. "You don't let me go out. You don't let me meet my friends. You don't let me talk to people. You don't even let me go for group studies, Dad. How much do you want to control my life?!"

"You are my daughter-"

"But that doesn't give you the fucking right to control me!" I shouted. I was done. I was so done. "I can't stay here anymore. I hate you. I don't want to even look at you." I sprinted towards the door. I heard his footsteps behind me.

My feet slapped against the wet pavement as I ran away from my house. I deliberately took the route I'd never taken before, so that he couldn't find me. The rain fell down on my face, in my eyes, but I didn't care. I had to get away. I couldn't let him dictate my whole life.

I slept under the bridge for the first time in my life. I draped the hood over my face, my tears mixing with the rain, making it difficult to distinguish between them. I lay down on the cold hard ground, closing my eyes, not knowing when I fell asleep.

The sun was shining bright when I woke up. My clothes had dried a bit, my skin was very dry. I licked my chapped lips, rubbing my nose, regretting my decision already. I got up and hurried towards my house.

The moment I was two blocks away from my house I knew something was wrong. There were police vans everywhere. When I took a closer look, I saw they were parked outside my house. I felt my blood run cold. I ran, faster than I'd ran in my entire life, bursting inside the living room. Mom was sitting on the couch, her feet pulled up, a blanket covering her body. She looked exhausted. A police officer was sitting in front of her.

When she looked up and her eyes met mine, she looked relieved. She got up, letting the blanket fall down, and wrapping her arms around me. "I thought something happened to you."

"Mom, what's going on?"

She sighed. "There's- there's been an accident."

I froze. "What?"

"Your dad was in an accident." My breathing stopped. "He didn't survive it."

I choked a sob, moving away from her, glancing around me. When my mind made sure this was real, it shut down. I slid down to the ground in front of mother, burying my face in my hands and cried, harder than I'd ever cried.

"Baby, shh. It's okay."

"No, it's not. He died because of me. He-"

"No, don't blame yourself. He chose to run after you, instead of giving you your space. It is no one else's fault but his."

"How can you be so calm about this?" I cried out. "How can you say that?"

She didn't say anything, just looked down. "We'd been going through a lot of problems."

"So what? Mom," I blinked back tears. "Mom what- what-"

"Let me in!" I heard a scream. A few seconds later, a man appeared in my house. He was tall, his hair slicked back, his expression furious. When his eyes met my mother's, they softened.

"Honey," He whispered. Mom got up and let him drape his arm around her, sinking in his embrace. I scrambled away, feeling dread appear before my eyes. I grasped for words, none came out. I tried breathing, I couldn't. I felt my life shatter before my eyes. Everything was slipping away from me, everything was ruined.

And I broke.

"Don't fucking touch me, monster!" I screamed when he reached out to grab my hand. He stumbled back at my outburst. "Stay away from me."

"Why the fuck are you behaving like this?" He shouted back. "It's not like you had any connection with your father, Amelia. You hated him."

"You're a murderer." I spat out. "And when I get out of here I'll to to the police and let them handle your punishment."

"You can't do that." He said. "You love me."

"I don't fucking love you!" I shouted. "How many fucking times do you want me to spit it out for you? I do not love you. I love Theo, I'll always love Theo. You're keeping me here against my will. I will never accept you, not after I know your reality. I hate you, Noah. I can never love someone who killed my father."

"I did it for us!" He bellowed.

"No, you did it for your own fucking ego! You hated him because he didn't let us be together. You hated him because he intimidated you. You wanted him gone because he'd hurt your self respect."

"That wasn't the only reason-"

"I love Theo!" I screamed. My throat felt like it had been run down my fucking elephants, but I didn't care. "I love Theo. He is the one who I want to be with. He is the one who's always been there for me and not given up. He doesn't break promises, and he's shown me that. I love him and I'll keep loving him even if you keep me chained. My feelings for him will not go away for a monster like you. And I-" I froze when he reached over to his back pocket and took out a gleaming shiny thing.

A gun.

"He stole you from me." He whispered. "You were mine. You were supposed to remain mine. And he ruined that. He fucking manipulated you. And now he's made you hate me."

"You made me hate you, Noah. He didn't." I kept my voice as soft as possible.

"You know how I felt when I saw you both the first time, kissing and enjoying each other?" He didn't wait for me to respond. "I felt dead inside."

"Noah-"

"No one can have you except me." He pointed the gun at me. I opened my mouth, feeling my lungs expand. My gaze fell over to the door and my eyes met my favorite pair of forest green eyes. Theo was here. And he looked panicked, and scared. I clutched the sheets tightly to prevent my hand from shaking.

"And if I can't have you, he can't as well. No one can."

The ringing sound of a single gunshot registered in my brain.

*