Explosion (noun): a violent shattering or blowing apart of something, as is caused by a bomb.

Now

Montana

The last time I felt this plunge inside me, Calum fell off a bridge. The last time I felt this plunge inside me, I was robbed of something I didn't know I could ever be robbed of, not at that time, not at that age.

"Wha-what do you mean there was an explosion? What type of explosion?" I can't stop my sentences from sounding hysterical even if I wanted them to.

The closest people in my life stare silently as me, their faces strained with a painful emotion. "I cannot give you any more details as of now Ma'am. We need you to get here as soon as possible."

"Okay-Okay, I'll be there soon." The phone slips out of my shaking hand and drops onto my lap, the bright screen staring back at me.

No one seems to be saying anything anytime soon and the fear that's seeping into my veins has me turning to Calum for an explanation. "You knew this was going to happen. You told me to get anything that was important. What is going on?" I sound almost calm and it scares me. My house, I loved that place. I couldn't begin to imagine how much damage must have been done to my things.

Calum takes my hands in his cold ones, looking like he's seen a ghost. "You can't go back there." I do a double take.

"What do you mean I can't go back there? The police were just on the phone." I quickly stand up from the couch like his refusal to let me go is urging me to actually go.

"Montana. You can't go back there because we need to leave the country."

I pause, looking between all three of them. "You're kidding. This is a joke." I laugh and my head spins because there was an explosion at my house and everyone seems pretty fucking calm except me. What if we had been inside the house when it happened? Were any of my neighbors hurt? I swing open the studio door.

"We need to go. This is not a joke." Calum says behind me and I whip around, "Do you understand that right now you make absolutely no sense? It sounds like a big fucking joke to me and I'm going to the police!"

"I can't keep you safe if I tell you. Please let me keep you safe." Calum pleads and I pause outside the door again. He comes to a halt in front of me, towering over me protectively.

"You just got out of the hospital! You can't protect me. And protect me from what?! Why won't anyone tell me anything!" My voice rings through Sierra and Lukes large house and I have the urge to scream.

"You're not letting us tell you why." Luke mutters behind Calum whose standing in the doorway.

I have to tuck my hands under my arms so that I don't punch him in the face. "Did you just hear the phone call I got? There was an explosion, in my house!" I sound ridiculous repeating the same thing over and over, but no one seems to be understanding the severity of what has happened, and even if they do, they aren't letting on.

Luke pushes Calum aside and moves to stand in front of me. "We know. Which is why you can't go back there. You and Calum need to leave as soon as possible. We've already let this go too far. We should have done something when we first found out-I told you we should have done something." Luke glances over at Calum and a meaningful look passes between them. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they look like two idiots spouting absolute crap.

"I can't believe this." I shake my head and turn on my heel, speed walking towards the door. Whatever it is that they seem to be talking in riddles about, they can keep to themselves.

Before I can reach the door, however, arms wrap around my legs and I'm hauled up into the air. "Calum! Put me down!"

"If you go to the police now, they'll arrest you." He asserts in my ear and I stop fighting him almost immediately. "They'll think you had something to do with it and they'll take you in and let me tell you there are hundreds of cameras outside your apartment right at this moment."

Calum carries me back into the studio room and drops onto the couch with me still wrapped in his arms. His limbs wrap around me in a protective manner and I drop my head onto his shoulder instead of asking the things I should ask. The familiar scent and warmth of him tug at my heart.

It starts with a single tear, and then two and then it's an entire floodgate opening. The compressed fear and confusion moves to the surface and the only thing that holds me in place is Calum. He lets me cry, running his fingers through my hair.

"I don't understand what's going on...please," There are tears in Calum's eyes but he blinks them away and clears his throat.

"Promise me you won't freak out?"

"Is it freak out worthy?" I sniffle and Sierra passes me a tissue.

"A bit-" He says wearily. "There...there is someone after us-someone bad. They were mostly after me, and when I gave them what they wanted, they stopped." I hated the way he was using the term they instead of telling me who but I remain silent.

"But now they're back and I don't know why. They want to hurt me so they'll hurt you and I need to keep you safe. We need to leave as soon as possible."

"Who are they?" I ask finally, straightening my spine.

Devastated, his eyes plead with me. "I can't tell you, please try to understand." He wipes at my cheeks with his sleeve.

"No, no I can't understand why you won't tell me. If they're after me, blowing up my house, I think I deserve to know."

"Monti, if it makes you feel any better, I don't know who they are either. I just know the threat that they-" Sierra leans forward from her perch on the coffee table.

"Sierra," Luke interrupts warningly and it's too late because I feel the anger rise up my throat.

"So you're telling me that until this morning, all of you knew about this and didn't think to tell me? That our lives are in actual danger? I'm not going anywhere with you." I scoff and turn away from Calum but he doesn't let go of me. "Montana, stop. You can't hate me right now. Not when all of this is happening."

There is a squeeze in my chest. "You said whoever they are, they wanted to hurt you. Your family..." The world comes to a complete stop and the realization makes me feel like I've been stabbed in the gut.

I turn to Calum again, my eyes widening with fear. "Mali was going to come over..." Sierra gasps after a second and Calum lurches forward, reaching for his phone on the coffee table.

____

An agonizingly long minute passes, my internal organs taking yet another plunge as Calum paces back and forth, listening to his sister's phone ring and ring and ring. What if she was there when whatever it is that had happened, happened?

I stand up and walk towards him, pull him closer to me and wrap my arms around his neck to calm him down. I place my ear on the other side of the phone so I can hear. Calum breathes heavily, his muscles taut with fear.

It rings and rings and rings and then finally, a click. "Calum. I was dreaming of donuts, this better be good." We both sag with relief at the sound of her voice, Calum resting his side against the wall with a cry.

"Where are you?" He asks, rubbing a hand down his face.

"I'm at my hotel room. You just woke me up."

"Listen, Mali, I need you to go back to London." He says into the phone. I don't hear her reply because he kisses my forehead and quickly leaves the room to talk to her in private. Why was he trying to get everyone to leave?

"Why won't you let him tell me what's going on?" I turn to ask Luke and Sierra opens her mouth to reply but stops when Luke stands up.

He walks towards me and before I can process what he's about to do, he pulls me into a hug. Sierra smiles at me over his shoulder, tears pooling in her eyes. My arms go around his waist, "I'm sorry. You and Sierra, you guys didn't need this chaos in your lives. This is all on us."

"Don't say that. I told you to never say that." Sierra says, hurt lacing her voice.

"But it's the truth," Luke pulls away and holds me at arm's length. "In time, you'll understand. But right now, you need to go with it. Okay?"

"I'm not leaving the country, I have work-and, and my house..." Something flickers in his blue eyes but he sets his jaw and nods curtly.

"You don't have to, we'll figure it out but you can't go to the police okay?" Luke let's go of me and runs a hand through his hair again. "I'm gonna go talk to Calum."

Luke leaves the room, leaving me and Sierra to stare at each other across the room. I lean back against the red walls and cross my arms in front of my chest. "What's happening? I woke up this morning and it was a perfectly normal day...and then we get delivered severed fingers and Calum acts like we're criminals on the run and now my fucking house has exploded and apparently if I go to the police I'll be arrested?!" I shake my head with an exhale, wondering if I've woken up today, to begin with.

"The last house they blew up was Anna's." Sierra flinches when she says the name, looking down at her feet and letting her brown hair cover the sides of her face like a curtain.

"Anna? Luke's ex?" I ask bewildered, what did she have to do with any of this? She had passed away from an accident a couple of years ago and we never spoke of her.

"A few months after her funeral, Luke got a call saying that there was an explosion at her house. They put it down to an electrical problem but then Calum received ears the same day."

I feel the bile rise back up my throat. "If they are after Calum, why are they targeting Luke?'

Sierra looks almost terrified to answer and I have an eery feeling that the walls have grown ears. "They are trying to hit Calum where it hurts, even if it means leaving a trail of all the people who were remotely associated with him."

I don't know if it's the confusion that has me changing my mind or if it's because I'm too bravely stupid to feel fear for something I know nothing about, and so I run. I run out of the front door and get into my car, speeding away before anyone can stop me.

A/N:

There is so much that is gonna go down so just hang in there, guys. And I have to say again, Thank you for winning me a Watty, I'm still speechless. I love you.