011.

Hailey’s POV

What woke me up was the sound of something scratching at my door. I sat up in fright as I felt my way around the bed, then to the bedside table until I was able to get what I was looking for, the lamp’s switch, and after successfully turning it on, I glanced around the room, squinting as the golden hue casted by the lamp brightened the once dark space.

But the scratching sound didn’t stop.

Now, it was safe to say that I was immensely scared. My body shook as I slowly got up from bed and tiptoed towards the door. Normally, I knew that I shouldn’t even be going there. Hell, I was in a house full with people I knew nothing about, and people I was sure didn’t like me one bit, and for all I knew, this could be a ploy, a way to get me out of bed, to open this door and only God knows what next was meant to happen.

These thoughts made me halt my movements and with wide eyes, I continued to stare at the thick wooden door as the scratching continued, it even began to grow louder as the seconds passed.

At this point, my heart was in my chest… in my mouth even, and the only thoughts flying through my head were negative ones. My fight or flight instinct kicked in but deep down, I knew that I could only run. I could not fight. I was not experienced and even a trained kid could easily take me out.

A sudden scream tore through my chapped lips when the scratching turned into a bang. Then another, and another. Whoever or whatever was behind my door didn’t stop pounding against it and I on the other hand was too scared to do anything. Hell, I couldn’t even move.

Just when I had begun to hyperventilate, a small voice called out to me. It was surprisingly feminine and sounded almost as scared as I was; “Hailey….” She said, causing my eyes to widen in fear.

“Hailey?” The small feminine voice called out again and this time I blinked in horror. How was that- “…please could you open the door? I'd like to speak to you. It’s Savannah!”

Savannah?

For a moment, I went blank. I couldn’t even remember who the hell Savannah was. It took me a moment to remember the rather harsh young lady I had run into some days ago. The one who showed unadulterated hatred for me and the one who had silently promised to make my life a living hell.

What the fuck was she doing here then? And why does she sound so… soft? I knew her to be someone who was as loud as a banshee, so hearing her talk this way, especially knowing that it was I and not Hades she was talking to, made me curious.

“Hailey?” Her voice called out again, “I know you can hear me and I know that you’re awake, I just need to talk…” her voice trailed off as she choked on her saliva. And then when I thought that that was all, she began to sob. My eyes bulged.

“Can we talk tomorrow?” I shot back, feeling quite uncomfortable. I had hoped that she would listen to me and leave but to my surprise, she didn’t. She remained there as she continued to scratch against the door.

I groaned. “What do you want?”

“To talk!” She shouted back and if I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought that she was harmless and that I could trust her, but I knew better. And I sure as hell didn’t trust her one bit.

While deep down, I knew that I shouldn’t be doing this, especially after seeing the kind of person that she was, I couldn’t help it. Something about her tears called out to me. Maybe it was due to how sad she sounded… or how her voice kept breaking… or just how she refused to leave, but I found myself sympathizing with her. Pity was the only emotion I felt as I walked over to the door and pried it open and once again, I was reminded of how small I was when her full frame towered over me.

“It took you so long.” She muttered as she brushed her way past me into the room.

The light in the room was so dim but it was enough for me to see her tear streaked face. It was enough for me to make out how red and puffy her eyes were and how blotchy her nose was, and worst of all, it was enough for me to see the devilish smirk plastered across her insanely beautiful face.

She sauntered over to me and while I couldn’t really see what she held in one of her hands, the way she smiled at me made me realize that it was something I wouldn’t even want to see. I realized then that I shouldn’t even have opened the door to her in the first place but now, it was too late. I had already done the deed and now, the only thing I should be worried about was how to escape her wrath.

I watched her with eagle eyes as she went over to sit by the bed and with her legs crossed over the other, looking like the perfect depiction of a Barbie doll in her sheer nightie, she looked harmless but I knew that it was a facade, especially as my bedside lamp had managed to shine a not-so-little amount of light to the shiny metallic object in her hands, the one she was trying so hard to hide from me.

“It’s late at night,” I said softly, “what are you doing here?”

“Like I said earlier, I came to talk.” She bit back spitefully, “…to YOU.”

“What about?”

“Hades.” She replied and somehow, something about that one worded response filled me with more than enough fear than I could have imagined. I began to panic and then, my body began to shake with something else, something that was a little bit more than just rage and fear when she eagerly pulled out the shiny object from beneath the sleeve of her silky nightie and I realized that it was a dagger.

“What about him?” I asked, managing to sound in a way that was the complete opposite to how I felt; brave.

“Nothing.” Savannah drawled, “…only that I suspect that you’ve been trying to seduce him ever since you came here.”

“I haven’t!” I matter exasperatedly, “I don't even care about him.”

“So how do we explain why he no longer has my time? How would ‘you’ explain why he appears to be occupied with something every fucking minute of the fucking day and he no longer gives a shit about me… ME, his FIANCÉE!” She snarled, baring her teeth and for the first time since she stepped into this room, I was suddenly reminded of the reason I had promised to be as far away from her as possible. She was devious.

As she continued to shout and scream, raining curses on me and accusing me of ‘snatching’ Hades’ attention from her, I sought means to escape. This girl was obviously bigger than I was, and no one even needed to check us both to know who the stronger one was. She was athletic and had enough muscle mass while I, on the other hand, was nothing but flesh, weak muscles and weak lungs. I shook my head.

“I really have nothing to do with Hades.” I said softly but she wasn’t having any of that.

I watched as she stood up and my heart began to race. When she sauntered over to me whilst twirling the knife in her hands, I knew that I had begun trembling by then, and from the proud smile on her face, I knew that she had seen through my facade, she knew that I was afraid and I hated that.

In the blink of an eye, she grabbed a chunk full of my hair and I winced as the pain shot through my scalp, causing tears to immediately spring into my eyes.

“What are you doing?” I rasped out, almost croaking as she brought the knife to my neck.

Earlier, when I had seen her with it, I felt that she had brought it in order to look mean, to appear scary and I had no idea that she intended to use it until now, now that she had it pressed into my neck so hard that a trail of my blood that begun to seep out of the open cut she had managed to inflict on me.

From the way the wound sizzled, I instantly realized that the blade was either silver or laced with it, and the thought of having her holding something as dangerous as that against me filled me with so much fear, I was certain that I would soon shit my pants.

She was however about to drive it even further into my skin when the door was suddenly pushed open and Hades stepped in. His eyes were wild and angry and when they landed on me, I could swear that I saw fear flash in them for a nanosecond before he clamped it down and growled;

“SAVANNAH!”

Savannah stopped to glare at him. She giggled like a schoolgirl and as if to rile him up even further, she plunged it in, causing me to gargle as blood oozed out of the cut.

Then she let me go, smiling as I fell to the floor, choking in my own blood.