chapter 6

Chapter 21

Ella's POV

The sound of footsteps meets my ears, but in my weakened state, I can't place them nor see them. My vision doesn't want to work but at least I can hear. God help me if it's my kidnapper, is he coming to kill me? At this point, I'm not sure I can care.

A door slowly creeps open. Then footsteps slap loudly against the floor. "Oh my god." Someone says, but I can't match the voice, can't find the ambition to.

Someone touches me, no lifts me up. I can feel arms securely holding me. They're carrying me somewhere. "What did they do to you." They mutter to themself. The door creaks open again and then it is softly shut.

I try to push open my eyes but they're glued shut, not wanting to work. The person carrying me must be strong, where are they taking me? Again, I try to pry open my eyes but to no surprise, they won't budge. My attempts fail each time until finally at once they peak open and blinding light floods in making them snap back shut.

"Ella." The person says, their voice is deep. A male? The next thing I know the sound of a car door opens and I'm lightly being set onto a seat.

"Drive." The same person barks out. The car begins to move immediately. After a couple of seconds, I try to open my eyes again, blinking a few times until my vision focuses. Finally something other than darkness, now I can take in my surroundings while my heart thumps loudly in my chest.

Blonde hair is what I see first, then blue eyes which are staring right into mine. Relief settles in the pit of my stomach, it's not my kidnapper.

"W-Wes." I croak out.

"Shh, you're safe now." He coos taking my hand and squeezing it.

I send him a weak smile, then my worry seems to rise to the surface. "Where's D-Declan? Is he okay?"

A familiar feeling of water builds is my panicky eyes. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.

The sound of my heart echoes in my delicate ears.

"He's fine." I hear him say just barely, his voice soft.

I nod not being able to speak, somethings not right, I don't feel right. There's this spinning in my head, it's dizzying. My hands trembling becomes more prominent, noticeable to the eye. This tightness squeezes at my chest. What is happening to me.

"Hey Ella, are you alright?"

"N—" I try to respond but my voice disappears into a fleeting numbness encasing me up.

"What's happening?" Wes's demands, his voice rising, concern written all over his face. He tries to hold my hands to stop them from trembling but it doesn't work. I can't respond. I'm trapped within myself and can't make it stop.

Before everything leaves me completely I hear, "Hurry up and fucking drive."

Once again I've washed away into nothing but a sightless pit.

I feel like I'm flying. Running down the field with everyone cheering you on is like nothing else. You get this rush that words can't describe. Dribble, cut, run five feet, fake the defender out, and sprint fast.

My heart is pounding, my breathing is heavy. My legs run one foot after the other, eye on the goal. I'm going to score, nothings going to stop me. It's only me and the goalie. Ten more feet, just ten more feet.

I can feel my teammates' presence there if I need them. But I can do this. Almost time, just a couple more feet.

It's time, my leg swings back and my body tilts forward all in one motion. Bam my foot collides with the ball. Now we watch as the air carries the ball to the net. The goalie is in the middle of the goal with her hands up, ready. We all hold our breath as we watch, fingers crossed. The field is silent.

The ball swerves to the corner and the goalie jumps left a second to late. The ball hits the net and cheers immediately fill my ears. The first place I look is to the crowd where my mom and dad are standing. A smile overtakes my face as I see their proud smiles.

My dad yells. "That's my girl." And my mom mouths. "We're so proud of you."

My teammates gather around me sending me high fives saying, "That was killer Ella." "Nice shot." "Good aim."

Joy swells in my stomach. This is the game I love, the people I love.

The referee blows his whistle telling us to get back into positions. In the short silence, you can hear cars passing by, the road is quite close. I switch back to defense because we're already five goals ahead. The other team kicks the ball sending the signal to start.

I get in a ready position so at any minute I can easily start sprinting.

A girl dribbles coming my way down the field. I inch closer but not to close so she can't blow by me. I tilt my body just enough so I can fluctuate my direction. Sensing me creep onto her she passes to a girl on the right.

I jog over to the right but stay back a bit, positioning myself between the girl and the goal, letting my teammate take the lead. My teammate approaches her head on but the girl does a quick cut passing right by her.

Now that she got past my teammate it's my turn. I glance around taking in my surroundings. I jog up keeping my distance watching her steer the ball. She kicks the ball too far ahead when really she should be making small dribbles, it's better for control.

That's a mistake.

Creeping closer she notices me coming up on her and quickly she loses confidence. Her dribbles become weak and impulsive, with no actual direction. One kick too long and the ball flies right past me to no one.

I run to get it but it goes right out of bounds.

Great, the ball is going to go into the road. Knowing it will be my throw in I run to go grab it. The ball rolls into the road, with the adrenaline pumping in my veins I run to go grab so we can start the game back up as soon as possible.

"ELLA NO!"

But it's too late, I'm already on the road about to pick up the ball when I see the car, its feet away from me. The next thing I know is I'm free falling and my knees collide with the cement shooting pain up my left leg, a loud pop meeting my ears. I cry out and the rest of my body smashes onto the road.

Almost instantly my vision blurs and I hear a loud crash. I slowly lift my head to see the car on the side of the road. But what I don't expect is all the blood. Blood is everywhere. Searching to see where the blood is from I find the source.

Air becomes choked in my lungs. Tears flood down my cheeks. I'm sobbing huge sobs, my body convulsing in big quakes.

NO!

My dad lies on the ground lifeless. Then the blackness takes me.