Dedicated to libitinaa and all the other new active readers who joined recently. Also dedicated to cake_7 because she can relate to Mallory at a deeper level. I am so sorry for your loss. :(

I have said this time and again my dear silent readers, but please leave a comment if you read a chapter. It really means everything to me when you tell me how you feel about the story. :)

• • •

Chapter 24 | When Secrets Come Out

"She dives into oceans to fly, to dreams be carried away by waves and to let sorrow drown."

-MvDarkLight

• • •

They say that fear triggers different response in different people. While for an average person flight or freeze is common, for someone like Andrew, who had been trained to deal with crisis, his first reaction was to fight. After the moment of initial shock wore of years of training kicked in. His brain went into autopilot mode, devising strategies as the old mantra flashed in his mind.

Eliminate the threat.

Almost reflexively he started making his way towards his first enemy. The guy with the gun. His brain couldn't process anything, except the fact that innocents were in danger. And he had to protect them.

In a matter of seconds Andrew was dashing towards the first person, the one who had yelled. Before anyone could even comprehend what was happening he had tackled him to the ground. In one swift motion the ski-mask was gone, followed by collective gasps and his fist collided with the vaguely familiar intruder's face.

Eliminate the threat.

His mind repeated it over and over as he landed another blow, this time on his shoulders as the blue-eyed boy struggled under his grasp. He was vaguely aware of hands trying to pry him off. But no. He couldn't leave just yet. It was Do or Die.

Eliminate the threat.

With utter irritation he shoved his elbow backwards, not losing hold on the enemy. He pushed his attackers who were trying to grab his hands and pull him away.

"It's okay. Leave him." Someone said.

"It was just a joke dude!" Another said.

But he couldn't process anything. The only thing he could think of was that he was attacking the enemy, eliminating the threat. As the blonde grunted in pain, Andrew finally decided to end it all, he lifted the boy's head a little above the ground. If only he could knock him out, he would reach for the gun. He glanced at the weapon lying a couple of feet away. And before others could even realise what he was about to do he-

"NO!" An ear-piercing scream rang through the room. His head sprang in the direction of the voice. Did he know her? His momentary confusion ended as a groan brought him back to his victim. And he was about to complete his job but a hand slapped his face, so hard that for a moment he was dazed.

Than slowly as if in slow motion he looked up, ready to take over what he assumed was next threat. But as he looked up he saw a familiar girl, teary-eyed who was shaking, with anger or fear, he didn't know.

"Stop it! Just stop it for god's sake!" Mallory said shivering, her hands wrapped around her arms holding herself together.

Slowly, Andrew came out of his daze letting the hands pry him off.

"Luke are you alright?" Ben asked helping the apparent intruder get up.

"I guess so." Luke replied getting up and coughing blood. "I am never surprising you ever again." He said rubbing his shoulder.

"He is alright folks!" Ben announced to the audience which were dumbfounded by everything. Slowly the silence ended, the music resumed and people began receding backwards realizing that the drama was all over.

"Do you need a doctor?" One of the 'fake' robbers asked Luke, glaring at Andrew.

"A pain relief spray and a bag of ice would do." Luke said wincing. "By the way, you are remarkable dude!" He exclaimed looking at Andrew.

Andrew looked up, still shocked to silence.

"I mean you almost knocked him off...But what you did was really brave. Stupid, but brave." Ben piped in.

Andrew shrugged.

"And where's Mallory? My knight-in-shining-armor." Luke smirked. "I mean it was awesome. Wasn't it? I bet it hurt, that slap looked painful."

"Not as painful as the punches though." It was Luke's friend.

"Hey! Hey! Pain tolerance characterizes manhood." Luke said with a proud smile. "Now if you'll excuse me I gotta go find an ice pack. And you..." He pointed at Ben. "...better get me some pain meds."

"Are you sure you don't want a doctor?" Andrew whispered.

"Fit as a fiddle." Luke winked.

"Go to the kitchen and get some ice. I'll get you a first-aid box in a minute."

"Yeah, okay. Happy birthday by the way." And with that Luke went inside holding his nose.

After he and his companions were out of earshot, Ben turned back towards his best friend. "Are you okay?"

Mallory nodded, rubbing her arm as if it was cold.

"Should I drop you off to your place or call your mom?"

"No. No. It's okay. Enjoy your party. I just need to...uh...I am going to your room. I just need...um...a break." She smiled reassuringly.

"Are you sure?"

"Hmm." She said and started ascending the stairs. Ben looked after her and was about to follow when a hand stopped him.

"Let me." Andrew said quietly.

Ben looked at him, unsure about the situation. "Are you sure you'll be able to handle it?"

"No." Andrew replied truthfully. "Are you?"

"Honestly? No." Ben sighed. "Just don't ask her a lot of questions. Okay? I will come and check on her in a while."

Andrew nodded.

"Don't leave her alone. I mean it. You don't know..." Ben looked like he wanted to say more but didn't. "Just stay with Mallory."

"Hmm." Andrew said and started towards the staircase, but then he stopped short and turned around. "Ben." He said.

"Yeah?"

With a ghost of a smile, he whispered, "Happy Birthday."

• • •

Mallory sat on the bed with her arms wrapped around her knees. She was shaking all over. All the memories were coming back. It was as if a dam broke, flooding her mind with everything.

All the things that were so carefully hidden at some distant corners were coming back. She was overwhelmed as her mind was flooded with images. She tried to push the invisible walls back up. But her efforts were futile. She felt weak, weak and vulnerable.

As the door of the room opened, she sprang to her feet and looked up. It was Andrew.

"Oh, it's you." She said and flopped on the bed again.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing." He said as he took a seat on the green couch next to bed.

"I am alright." Mallory smiled weakly looking down at her hands.

Andrew sighed.

Then there was silence. As her thoughts reverted back to the dreaded events. She felt constricted. She was being crushed by invisible ropes, making it impossible to breathe. She looked around desperately for a distraction. Anything to keep the memories at bay. And her eyes fell on her sole companion.

"So you were really going to do it?" She found her voice a hoarse whisper, breaking the dreaded silence.

"Do what?"

"You think I don't know?" Mallory scoffed.

"You do?" He sighed.

"You were reaching for the gun. You were planning to kill him Andrew. Do you realise it?!?" She said, her eyes wide.

"You saw it?"

"Hell, I saw it. How couldn't I? You lifted his head to bang it on ground. You were going to knock him out and then kill him."

"I didn't know anyone saw that." He said looking down, an uncomfortable feeling settling down in his stomach. "I didn't mean to. I was just...eliminating the threat. I guess." He shivered. "He was danger. I didn't know, he was..."

"I get it." She finally said. "I know the feeling."

"You do?" He looked up.

"Yeah..."

Andrew nodded and grew silent.

"It happened in a party?" He asked a few minutes later.

"Huh?" Mallory looked up.

"The incident, it happened in someone's birthday party? That's the reason you hate parties, right?"

"It happened on my birthday." She said as a tear slipped down her cheek. "It was my fourteenth birthday."

"Oh." He said lacking words.

"Do you want to know what happened?"

Andrew nodded honestly.

"Fine I'll tell you. You deserve that much. And for the record I believe you."

"Believe me?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You're not Cole. He's dead." She replied. "I recently found out."

"I told you. Didn't I?" He smiled wryly.

"And by the way, just because you are not her brother doesn't mean I believe you were lovers." She said emphasizing the last word. "But you do know her somehow and I can see that you care for her. That is the only reason I am telling you."

"It doesn't matter if you believe me." Andrew shrugged. "Just please tell whatever you know."

Mallory sighed.

Here goes nothing.

Slowly, she felt the memories washing upon her like tides. And she was stuck in a whirlpool. The memories which she had relived hundred of times in nightmares, in daydreams, during panic attacks, counselings and police questioning, all those memories flooded her mind yet again as she prepared to retell her tale.

Somewhere from a lone corner of her mind she felt the guidance counselor's words echo. Talking helps. He would always say.

"We'll see about it." Mallory whispered to herself with a humourless smile.

"What?"

"Nothing." She replied. "So it happened three years ago..." And with that the last of her barriers lifted as she felt herself going back to the day it all started.

• • •

(Three years ago)

"I hate parties." Mallory told her best friend's mother as she zipped up her dress.

"I know sweetie. I am not much of a party person too." Emily's mother said combing Mallory's hair.

"Mom, how much time do you still need?" Emily came in wearing an elegant green dress which went really well with her green eyes.

"She is ready sweetie." Her mother said as Mallory got up from the chair. "You can come in too Ben." She said to Ben who stood shyly in the hallway.

"Marry me you beautiful woman, please." Emily giggled.

"Why would an enchanting beauty like myself marry Shrek's twin?" Mallory said in dismissive tone and laughed.

"Emily? I can't believe you are cheating on me. You said the exact same thing to me a couple of minutes ago!" Ben said in mock-horror.

"No I didn't. Boys are gross." Emily scoffed and winked at Mallory.

"Okay! Enough kids." She said raising her arms to stop them. "Let me click some pictures." She took out her camera.

Click! Click! Click!

And they kept on posing. Finally she said, "Have fun all of you and no fighting you two." She told Emily and Ben while both of them pulled out their tongues.

"Happy Birthday once again." She turned towards Mallory. "I will see you after the party."

Only she didn't. That was the last time they ever saw her.

"Let's do this." Mallory said and reached for the door knob.

As soon as the door opened, loud music greeted them. Descending down the stairs, Mallory felt a bit nervous. While she was at the bottom of the staircase, suddenly the music stopped and she was greeted by a loud chorus singing 'Happy Birthday' followed by applauds and cheers.

Emily giggled as she pushed her best friend forward. She had been planning it for weeks. She smiled as she thought about the amount of convincing it took to have a surprise party at her place, but at the end her parents gave in. And she went on a shopping spree with her mother, making all the arrangements.

Back in the party, Mallory muttered 'Thank you' to every nearest person. And everyone went back to dancing and eating as the party resumed. Emily and Ben joined her as they started dancing to the beats.

And just like that the party went on for hours. They played games, ate snacks, danced and laughed. The whole party went on perfectly much to Emily's delight.

It was 10:00 PM and the crowd was thinning. People were dispersing. Somewhere in between Ben left hurriedly in order to make it before his curfew time. Everything went on smoothly. The party was a huge success and everyone left murmuring about it. When the last of the guests left, Mallory and Emily began cleaning the room. After an hour of filling garbage bags, they finally decided to call it a day.

"It was the most amazing party ever." Mallory shrieked as the duo went to Emily's bedroom.

"I know, right?" Emily replied with equal excitement.

"And you invited so ma-" Mallory began but was cut off.

"Shh..." Emily stopped in her tracks. "I think the front door just opened." She whispered.

"I don't think so." Mallory scrunched up her nose and strained her ears but could only hear silence.

Breathing heavily the two made their way to the bottom of the staircase and peeked out. The door was closed just like they had left. They sighed collectively.

"Em, you need some sleep. You are imagining things!" Mallory said patting her shoulder.

"I could have sworn that I heard something." She said to herself. "But you are probably right." She shrugged. Little did she know that she was wrong, so very wrong.

"Let's go best friend." Mallory said linking her arm.

"Yeah, let's go celebrate the last hour of your fantabulous birthday." Emily winked.

"I don't think 'fantabulous' is a word." Mallory shook her head.

"It means fantastic and fabulous." Emily winked.

"You cannot just make up your own words, Em."

"Just stop it Grammar Nazi!" Emily rolled her eyes as the two girls bickered all the way upto the bedroom.

Everything was fine when they changed and went to bed. It was close to midnight and they were still talking and giggling when suddenly the door of the room opened. The two girls sprang up.

Emily's Dad rushed in his face showing clear signs of panic.

"What happened?" Emily's eyes widened.

"Go inside the closet and don't come out no matter what." He locked the door and ushered them towards the closet.

"Daddy, but why?"

"Emily sweetheart, listen to me." He said taking her hand. "No matter what you see or hear, you don't come out. Do you understand? Both of you." He looked at Mallory.

The fear on his face was contagious. Bill Clout wasn't someone who got scared easily. He was an epitome of bravery. He always had a smile on his face and yet you could see the fierceness in his eyes. But as he looked at the two girls, they could see that he was shaking and her eyes held unshed tears.

He leaned towards Emily and kissed her forehead.

"What happened Uncle Bill?" Mallory whispered.

"Please don't ask me any questions Melly." He said as a tear slipped down his cheek. "Just hide in there and don't come out. Not until someone you know asks you to. Can you do that for me?"

The girls nodded.

"Emily dear, I love you. I love you so much. Even though you are not my blood but I have always loved you like a daughter and so did Lena." He said referring to her mother.

"What happened to mom?" She asked her voice cracking.

But he kept silent.

He pushed them towards the closet door. "Come on girls. We don't have a lot of time. Go inside and don't make any noise. Promise me no matter what you see you won't come out."

Mallory and Emily nodded as tears ran down their faces.

Suddenly there were voices outside. The duo shivered as Bill's eyes went wide with horror. Mallory felt sick as her throat was closing up. She gave a small smile to her best friend's father when the door of the closet was shut separating them.

Mallory's heart was beating wildly and she tried to suck in deep breaths but was unable to. The walls of closet were closing in on her and she felt the fear seep in. Oh, she was scared. So very scared.

She heard the door open with a crash and a vivid scream, "Hands up!"

Mallory leaned down to the door which wasn't completely shut but had a crack. Unable to contain her fear she peeped outside shortly followed by Emily. Not knowing was worse than knowing or so they thought. Through the crack they could make out a man in ski-mask who had a gun pointed at Mr. Clout.

"Give me what I am here for and I'll spare you!" The man said.

"Never." Mr. Clout's voice was firm.

"So you are stubborn, huh?" The man said. "Two can play this game." He said and pointed the gun to his knee.

There was a ear-piercing gunshot followed by a loud shriek of pain. She saw in horror as Bill kneeled to the ground clutching his leg. The white carpet was suddenly sprayed with scarlet liquid.

She could feel Emily shaking next to her. But she couldn't find words to console her. Her body froze and she found herself helplessly watching the torture of her best friend's father.

"Would you like to speak now?" The masked man said inching closer to Bill.

"Never." He replied with gritted teeth.

"Ugh...You are really annoying." The masked man said clenching his fist. With one swift motion he removed his ski-mask and threw it across the room. His face was something the two could never forget. He had fair skin and blonde hair. A scar ran down his cheek and his eyes held a glint of anger. Anger like none other.

"Let's do this again." The intruder said. As soon as the words left his mouth two more men entered the room. They weren't wearing any masks. One of the man handed the blonde a twisted knife.

The blonde took it and with one swift motion jabbed it into his victim's shoulder blade. Bill Clout screamed, his voice laced with pure agony as the trio laughed sadistically. He fell down on the carpet his cheek on the floor

"Are you ready to speak now?" The man said sneering as he saw him clutching his shoulder in pain.

He lifted his head an inch and shook his head.

"I gave you many chances." The man said circling Bill's slightly limp form. "But you..." He put his shoe on his cheek.

Emily took in a sharp breath ready to leap out. If it wasn't for Mallory squeezing her hand, she would have jumped out then and there. Mallory turned around to look at her friend who was crying and shaking all over. She stood up in the limited space and hugged her, patting her head when suddenly her eyes fell upon a handy camera sitting on one of the shelves. She immediately let go of Emily and reached for it. Careful, not to be visible she placed it on the floor such that the events outside the closet could be recorded.

Outside, in the room, the blonde man had his gun pointed at Bill's forehead.

"One last chance or I'll blow your brains."

Bill raised himself from the floor mustering up all his strength and looked at him in the eye. "By all means do it." His voice came out gruffy and hoarse.

"Any last wishes, old man?" The intruder smirked.

Bill spitted, right on his face.

"Bloody Bastard!" The man yelled and pointing the gun to his chest, he pulled the trigger.

The voice of another gunshot echoed as Bill Clout slumped to the ground, blood gushing out from his entire body. Mallory pressed her palm to her lips trying to control her screams. Tears fell down her cheeks and uncontrollable sobs racked her body

"Search the house. No one makes out alive." He ordered his men and went out leaving behind a writhing body soaking in blood.

• • •

"We waited. We waited for hours for them to find us. You don't know how it feels like to be helpless. We watched the door continuously without blinking, waiting for them to realise that they didn't search that room. Every time we heard a voice we thought that it was them. We had already accepted out death. But they didn't come back."

"They left us behind with Uncle Bill. We saw the life drain out of him, you know. The asshole purposely didn't shoot his head. He wanted him to suffer and we, we witnessed it. He screamed and he screamed until his voice died and his body became lifeless. And we just sat their unable to do anything..." Andrew could see her sobbing as she relived all those memories. "But we made them pay. When the cops found us in the morning we handed over the footage. And we witnessed against them in the court. That's how it all started. They warned us but we didn't listen. We didn't give in..." She had a wry smile, tears still streaming down her face.

"You see, that is why I was watching the door today. I missed it last time. If only we would have checked properly that day, none of that would have happened..." Andrew knew what she was talking was absolutely ridiculous but he didn't correct her. He just sat there listening to her. He had heard the account he so desperately wanted to hear. And now when he knew it he felt physically sick.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door which brought both of them back to reality. For a moment Mallory looked around, evidently confused and then the door knocked again. Andrew saw her eyes widening. As she stood up in the bed.

"No!" She yelled. "Don't open the door."

"What?"

"Don't." She said frantically as she saw him moving towards the door.

"Mallory, relax." Andrew raised his hands. "It's probably just..."

"Tell him, I didn't do it!" Suddenly she blurted out.

"What?" He asked confused.

She jumped down to the floor and clutched his collar. "I d-didn't do it."

"You didn't do what?" He asked but Mallory didn't reply. She pulled her hair and kept on chanting to herself that she didn't do it.

"Mallory, look at me." He lifted her chin upwards. He was vividly aware of the door still knocking as Ben screamed from outside but he chose to ignore it.

Mallory whimpered but looked up. "I am telling the truth I didn't do it."

Andrew shuddered at the pain he could see on her face. But then trying to ignore it he took a deep breath.

"Yes, you did it!" He yelled in her face.

"What?!?" She put her hands on the sides of Andrew's arm and shook him. "I said I didn't do it!" She said adamantly.

Just then the door of the room burst open but the duo paid no attention to it.

"Yes you did it!" Andrew repeated.

"I-I..." She whispered.

"You did it! And I know it." Andrew said. He was using reverse psychology to snap her out of her trance hoping desperately for it to work.

"No. No. No. NO!" She yelled and suddenly went limp.

As Andrew caught her before she could fall down, Ben who stood in the doorway spoke up with fury in his voice. "What the hell was that?"

• • •

✨ Vote, if you think it deserves it. :) ✨

Hi!

Confused by the ending? Don't worry soon the cat would be out of the bag. ;) (I love this idiom :P)

So, this chapter is literally 4000 words, probably the longest one yet. :D I hope you like it. Finally you people know what exactly happened. Stay tuned as much more is about to come!

So that's how it all started. What do you think about Andrew and his behaviour in beginning? Was it justified?

And what do you think happened to Mallory for her to react like she did in the end?

Anyway, my semester exams are coming up so I would be busy for a while. That is why I wanted to update once before the exams. My last exam is on December 12 and after that I have month long holidays. You know what that means? REGULAR UPDATES!

Anyway I'll go now. Gotta study. Hope you enjoyed it.

God bless ya.

Until next time. ❤

-Ridhima😊