MUSIC: Dead To Me - Melanie Martinez (don't play until Ryan's P.O.V)

Amelia above^

/ / / /

Amelia's P.O.V:

/ / / /

It had been a few days since Ryan and I traveled to see his Mum. He'd been AWOL since. It was odd. It wasn't like him. We hadn't argued, we hadn't fought. I didn't do anything that could have embarrassed him. I just sat there, being a perfect girlfriend. After all the questions were asked and answered we sat, we ate, and we chatted briefly. It was only small talk, really. Not that small talk was a bad thing, in fact, it was probably a good thing. Ryan and his Mum wouldn't of been able to jump straight into being the best Mother and Son duo. It just wasn't possible. As much as there weren't any secrets between them, there was still hurt. She had hurt him in the past, and Ryan had, unknowingly, hurt her too.

But they were working on it which was all that mattered.

I had text Ryan, I had called him, but there was no response. I even took it as far as asking Lilly to ask Cindy if she knew why he wasn't responding.

She didn't know.

Apparently all the family had gone home a day or two after Ryan and I visited his Mum. I didn't even get to say goodbye to Summer since Ryan had suddenly disappeared.

Then it happened.

I was sat in my bedroom when a text had come through. My phone was on charge on my desk and I was watching TV.

I'd gotten a new one, finally.

I jumped up, excited, I thought it would have been Ryan.

It wasn't.

It was an anonymous number. Unknown. Blocked. I couldn't ring it, text it back or anything.

All it said were four simple words.

'I know you told.'

That was enough to get my stomach churning and my head spinning.

It was Gilbert. It had to be. No one else would've had a reason to message me something like that. No one else knew. No one else cared enough. I had sat there, and I had stared at the number for ages, before I gave up.

The paranoid thoughts started to creep into my brain; they were trying to make excuses as to why Ryan had gone AWOL so suddenly.

What if Gilbert had done something, said something, hurt someone?

What if Ryan held me accountable for his actions?

But then the rational side of me tried to argue the paranoid side.

Why would he turn on me after so long of knowing? Why would he hate me suddenly when we'd known everything about each other for so long?

Why would he leave when he said he loved me?

I couldn't think of any reasonable excuse. I knew he wasn't hurt or had actually disappeared because Lilly had been talking to Cindy. It hurt me to know that he would disappear on me without so much as a trace.

Of course I could have visited him. I could have gone to his house demanding for him to talk to me.

But Cindy had asked Lilly not to let me.

That meant that Ryan knew the way he was ignoring me would hurt me. He knew it would mess with my head.

So why would he do it?

I sat in my bedroom for days, I was trying to figure out an explanation. I left my room to go down for dinner but even then I wouldn't talk. I'd sit there, thinking, as I spooned food into my mouth. Lilly asked me questions, asked me why he was ignoring me, and I told her the truth.

I didn't know.

The rest of the gang were being weird too. They weren't ignoring me though, they were just being blunt. They were all conveniently busy when I wanted to hang out, and they were all suddenly too immersed in their own lives to hold a text conversation for longer than 5 minutes.

I had started to think i'd done something wrong.

On Sunday I cried.

It was the first time i'd cried throughout the whole thing and it was because I was worried. I was worried and upset that I could have done something to hurt them all bad enough that they didn't want to spend time with me.

I cried because I had wanted to spend my birthday with them. I asked if they were busy on Monday and they all said yes. Everyone except Ryan, since he was ignoring me. He opened the message, he just didn't respond. None of them said anything about it being my birthday, even though we'd all planned to hang out weeks ago.

Even though they all promised they would be there.

Lilly held me whilst I cried. It was the first time I think she'd seen me cry, properly. She was definitely worried when she walked in to put my washing away, to find me bawling. She was definitely shocked when I asked her to stay with me. She didn't say anything, or ask any questions she just let me hug her.

I wished I would of let her see me cry years ago.

I wished i'd done a lot of things differently but I hadn't. I wished i'd fought harder to get Gilbert in trouble when the police found me. I wished I would have told my Dad more about how I felt.

I wished i'd never fell quite so hard for a boy named Ryan Richards.

But I had let myself fall and crying was the consequence. I wasn't even angry at him for ignoring me. I was just upset i'd let it go that far.

So with a tear stained pillow I fell asleep on Sunday night, dreading the next day. The day that was meant to be happy but felt like it would be anything but.

/ / / /

I woke up to singing. It was off-key and didn't sound very good. I sat up and rubbed my eyes to find Lilly and my Dad singing Happy Birthday. I wanted to laugh at how stupid they looked. They had silly party hats on and Lilly was holding a muffin with a candle in it. Once they had finished singing I blew out the candle from the blueberry muffin and Lilly gave it to me to eat.

"I know it's not a real cake but we'll do one when we're back, I promise." She said and I nodded.

"It's okay, I don't mind."

My Dad handed me a card in an envelope. I opened it and notes of money fell from it. I smiled slightly.

"Thank you."

"It's alright. Sorry it isn't much." My Dad mumbled. I rolled my eyes. I collected the money from my lap and silently counted it as I did.

"There's just over £200 here Dad, that's a lot. Thank you." I said again.

"It's not a lot, I still have to make up for all the other birthdays." He said and I offered him a small smile.

"Don't worry about it."

My Dad and Lilly hadn't missed my birthdays, as such. They just didn't really make much of an effort. I'd be given a few small gifts, like a bracelet or some new clothes that Lilly had obviously brought without my Dad knowing and that would be that. I wouldn't have a cake. I wouldn't of even been wished Happy Birthday.

That was why I always spent my birthday's out.

"We're really sorry we have to be gone today, but we swear we'll make it up to you when we're back." My Dad said. For once, I actually believed he felt guilty about being busy on my birthday. He had some serious business meetings he couldn't get out of out of town, and Lilly had promised to go with him weeks back without knowing the date.

I wouldn't have minded before, since everyone was supposed to be coming over, but I did feel a bit disappointed that I was going to be spending my birthday alone. I knew they couldn't help it, though.

"It's fine, really. I'm sure i'll see the guys and Cher today or something." I murmured and they nodded. Lilly leant down and gave me a quick hug before she left the room to get her bags. My Dad hovered slightly and before he left leant down and kissed the top of my head quickly.

"Happy Birthday, A." He said and shut my door behind him. I swallowed. The last time he called me A was when I was about 5, before I was taken away. I sighed and looked around my room. I finished my muffin and put my money away somewhere safe. I grabbed my black high waisted shorts and a baby pink long sleeve sweater. I tucked it into my shorts and put on some black socks. I did my make-up as usual and left my hair down.

Pink was becoming more of a thing in my wardrobe.

I still wasn't quite sure how I felt about it even though I was the one that kept buying stuff in that colour.

I dismissed my thoughts and unplugged my phone from its charger. There were no messages. I sighed and went downstairs. I sat on my sofa and put on some TV. I scrolled through my social media and thanked the people that wrote on my timeline on Facebook to wish my happy birthday.

Everyone else knew, why didn't they?

After a few hours of moping around a few knocks sounded at my door. I froze. My heart beat sped up. I was nervous, were they here? Did they really not forget?

I practically skipped to my front door, even thought I secretly knew that it wasn't likely to be them, and more likely to be the postman or something.

What I wasn't expecting to come face to face with was Gilbert.

Not only Gilbert, but Gilbert holding flowers and a card.

/ / / /

RYAN'S P.O.V:

/ / / /

"Okay, he's just knocked on the door now. Go in through the back, now. She won't keep him there for long." Tommy whispered through the phone.

It was the day of the plan. It was happening later then planned for a few reasons. Number one was that it took us a few days to complete the text perfectly. We had to lure Gilbert to Amelia, in some way, and Cher suggested the use of a phone. It would be anonymous, and he wouldn't have been able to trace it back to us. Tommy had brought a cheap £10 phone from Tesco and stuck enough credit on it to send him a text.

We wanted him to know that we knew about everything he had ever done. We wanted him to know that Amelia told us. That way, he would be angry at her and would want to confront her. Once we'd sent the text, Cher's brother managed to get a few people to find out when Gilbert was most likely to approach Amelia. Monday was the day. Amelia's parents were out on a business trip and she was alone.

I didn't want to make him confront her, I didn't want to risk her getting hurt but I couldn't sit and watch her be pulled into the life of a gang member.

She was strong, but she wasn't strong enough for that. The life of a gang member would involve hurting people the way she had been hurt and I knew for a fact that she wouldn't have been able to do it. Then she would end up punished, or worse, killed.

I couldn't stand by and watch her accept death in the form of a pathetic man named Gilbert.

We'd been doing our research. He was the leader of a gang, but he wasn't originally. When he had custody of Amelia he was 2nd in charge. Apparently that wasn't enough. He had done whatever it took to take the throne, and that also involved selling out his in command to the rival gangs secretly. By the time people had found out what he had done, he had enough power that they couldn't do anything about it. He thrived on fear of others, but couldn't deal with it himself.

That was why the text worked. We told him we knew everything, we knew what he had done to Amelia, we knew what he had done to the previous leader, and we knew he had killed people. We had witnesses, people that were done with his crap.

He didn't know that we only had Cher's brother's word for it.

The aim of the text was to make him scared. The text would send him into a frenzy. He'd get his people to work out who had sent it but when it would draw up blank he'd start to get worried. Worry always turns to fear.

We knew that Gilbert would take it out on the first person he could blame. That would've been Amelia. She would have had to tell someone what he did. She was the only one that knew about the way he treated her and others that wasn't in the gang.

Hence why he was at her house, knocking on her door.

Derek unlocked the backdoor with a key he had managed to get Lilly to give him a few days ago. He told her he would mow the garden whilst they were gone. She gave him the back door key, since it was the only spare.

We sneaked in and managed to get into the kitchen without anyone noticing. Jade shut the door behind us. She wasn't coming in, but she was on look-out at the back of the house with Jimmy.

I refused to let her come in with us.

Cher put her finger on her lips as we all leant against the wall by the open door. We had to wait for the signal. Gilbert had to enter the house for the plan to work.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I heard Amelia hiss at him. We could hear every word of their conversation. Tommy was still on the phone. He was ready to call the police when needed. Aaron and Cher's brother were scouting the premises for any of Gilbert's men.

"Why, is it wrong for me to be here on such a special day?" Gilbert asked with fake enthusiasm. I winced as he mentioned the fact it was her birthday. None of us had forgotten. I felt bad that it had to happen on her birthday but we didn't have a choice. It was now or never. That was why I ignored her. I knew I would feel too guilty if I spoke to her or saw her. I would have wanted to tell her, and so I had to act like I didn't want to talk to her.

"Yes, yes it is. I don't want you here. You don't deserve to be here." Amelia sneered.

"She still has the door open, but he hasn't come in yet." Tommy whispered through the phone.

"Alright." I mumbled.

"I don't deserve to be here? Oh how I-" Gilbert suddenly stopped talking. We heard him sigh. "Just take the flowers and open the card." He ordered and I heard some rustling which I assumed was him giving the flowers over.

"Fine." Amelia growled. I heard the ripping of the envelope.

"He's inside the house now." Tommy said.

"Alright, tell us when it's safe to move."

"Okay... And-" Tommy dragged out the 'and'. "Safe, go go go, you've got about 30 seconds tops." He ordered and I nodded at Cher and Derek. We sprinted as quietly as possible up the stairs. We stood on the landing and I heard Gilbert stop talking.

"What was that?" He asked sharply.

"I. I don't know." We heard Amelia stutter. There were footsteps and I pushed Derek and Cher into the bathroom. The door was open but I closed it after us and leant against it.

"We're in the bathroom." I informed Tommy.

"Alright, call Jade, she's in the garden and can see what's going on up there." Tommy said. "There's no sign of anyone else here but when he realises someone else is in the house i'm sure they'll be quick to turn up."

"Okay,good luck." I whispered into the phone. I heard footsteps up the stairs.

"You too brother. Go get your girl. I'll be waiting to call the police."

"Thanks man." I thanked. I hung up and quickly called Jade. "He's coming upstairs." I informed her.

"Alright, I can see in the windows once he's upstairs." She said.

"Have you got binoculars?" I asked her. How else was she able to see?

"Yep, and i'm sitting in a tree level with the landing window so I can see everything." Jade murmured. I nodded even though she couldn't see me.

"Alright, be safe." I said.

"Will do. You too." She said. I didn't hang up but we stopped talking. The footsteps got louder and stopped outside the bathroom door.

"Where is he?" Gilbert sneered.

"Who? I have no idea what you're talking about! I didn't hear anything!" Amelia exclaimed. There was a slapping noise and I winced. I wanted to punch him so badly.

Cher's hand gripped mine. She was in between me and Derek. I noticed she had hold of his hand too.

"She'll be okay. It's happened before." She whispered to us quietly. It was so quiet that I barely heard her.

"Yeah well that's about to stop." I growled out quietly.

"Don't hit me! I've had enough of you thinking you have the power of everyone because you hit them! You are pathetic!" Amelia roared. I was silently cheering her on in my head. I heard footsteps that moved further away.

"They're heading to her bedroom." Jade informed me.

"They're going to the bedroom." I mouthed to Cher and Derek. They nodded.

"Tell us when we can move." I whispered in the phone to Jade. I had earphones in so that no one else could hear what she was saying.

"Will do."

"-You think you're so high and mighty because you live with your Dad now. You have friend's and a lover boy who knows everything about you. Don't you dare think I don't know that you told him." Gilbert sneered.

"They're right in the bedroom now. Move." Jade instructed. I nodded to Cher and Derek to show that it was time to move.

"Okay, thanks Jade."

"Be safe, Ryan."

"I will. Love you." I whispered.

"Love you too. You can do this." Jade said and hung up. I called Tommy back and he answered breathlessly.

"What's up?" He asked.

"They're in the bedroom now, we're just about to move. Seen anyone?" I asked.

"Yeah, this one guy was hiding out in a black car. Forced him to tell us if there was anyone else around and he said no. He's passed out in his car now. Aaron switched his phone off and made sure it wasn't connected to Gilbert's so that no one else can know he's passed out. That way, no one else can come. I've just switched the camera's on." Tommy explained. We had set up camera's in Amelia's room a few days ago. We assumed it would be where everything would take place and we were right. We needed them for evidence.

"Alright. Thanks. Watch out anyway."

"Will do." He said. We moved from the bathroom door and I opened it. Gilbert's voice got louder. There was another sound of skin on skin contact and I felt my blood boil. It was taking everything in me not to go and murder him.

"I didn't tell him! I don't know what you're on about!" Amelia exclaimed. I knew she was lying. We all did.

"Don't lie to me! I know you Amelia! I brought you up to become the girl you are now, and what do I get? You disrespecting me! Lying to me! Who on earth do you think you are?" He roared at her and I winced.

"Amelia. Amelia Russell. The girl who is not owned by you! I don't owe you anything! I'm getting sick and tired of you acting like you have control over me now! You don't!" Amelia screamed at him and I closed my eyes briefly. We were all lined up against the wall next to the door to her room. It was open, but we just had to wait for the right time to go in there.

"You don't owe me anything?"Gilbert asked. He laughed bitterly. "You owe me two spots in a gang, Amelia! If you're stupid Mum hadn't started to see you again I could have convinced her to stay! To join! But of course you had to ruin that. I get you, I make you join and what do you repay me with? Leaving and telling you're stupid fu*king lover boy about it!" Gilbert shouted. I swallowed.

What a low blow.

"You know what? No. No. No. You don't get to blame this on my Mum, you don't! It's not your place! If she didn't want to join she didn't want to join. You can't force people into joining something they have no heart in! Not everyone is heartless like you, Gilbert." Amelia said. She had started by shouting but by the end of it her voice was quiet and deadly. Gilbert laughed.

"Heartless? You think i'm heartless? So what if I am? Is heartless bringing a stupid little girl with no fight, no confidence, no protection against anyone in to teach her how to protect herself, how to put herself before others because at the end of the day, it's you or them, heartless? Tell me, is it?" He asked her. He sounded hurt but that was the least of my worries.

"No, it's not. But bringing in a little girl, forcing her into doing stuff she doesn't want to, forcing her to be part of a murder, forcing her to be chained up with no proper food for days on end is. Abusing a little girl is, and that's what you don't understand. That's more then heartless. That's being a monster. That's being a murderer. That's being sick in the head." Amelia emphasized. I could see shadows on the wall. She had walked up to him. Close enough to smell his breath. "So do you worse, hit me, break me, I dare you. Because you've already done your worst to me and I don't understand what else you think you can do to me. Nothing, nothing will ever hurt more than what you put me through. This...This is simply babyish." She sneered at him.

"You want me to break you? You want me to hurt you more then what I have? Then I will. You have two choices Amelia. You either come with me, leave your stupid family, friends and stupid lover boy behind and join the gang. I swear that none of them will be in danger if you do. If you don't agree then I will break you. But first, i'll break every single one of them in front of you so that you know what it feels like to be truly broken. I'll show you my worst if you don't agree. If you don't come back to me, i'll make sure they never come back to you." He threatened her. I knew she was thinking it over and I was hoping, praying to god that she wouldn't agree. That she wouldn't be foolish enough to believe his lies.

"You know what Gilbert?" She asked him. He was quiet for a minute. "Fu*k you." Amelia said. There was a grunt and I knew she had hit him.

"Call the police Tommy." I whispered.

"On it." He said and hung up. I went to go in but Derek grabbed my arm.

"Wait." He said. I nodded. There was a flash of movement as Amelia pushed Gilbert around.

One second she was winning.

The next she was loosing.

"You think you can win against me?" He asked her. I saw flashes of them moving. There was a crash and I knew something had broken. "I'm going to destroy you you b*tch!" Gilbert roared. He sounded the angriest he had all night. I heard Amelia whimper and I couldn't wait any longer. I nodded at Cher and Derek and we were moving.

I ran into her room and found Gilbert holding her down on the floor. He was up close with her and I knew he was going to punch her in the face by the fist that was by his side. I ran up to them and just as he turned around at the noise I swung my fist into his face. He faltered slightly and I wasted no time in doing it again. This time, harder.

"Ryan?" I heard Amelia ask but I ignored her. Gilbert was up, and he was ready for a fight. Derek was by my side and by the way Amelia was asking someone to let her go, I knew Cher was with her.

All Cher had to do was make sure Amelia didn't get involved until the police turned up.

"Oh look, lover boy and cousin turned up to play." Gilbert taunted. He already had a bloody nose.

"You can bet your arse we did." Derek grunted and swung for his face. Gilbert blocked it and I took the time to punch him in the stomach. He bent over in pain and Derek kicked him to the floor. He nodded at me and we both grabbed him by the arms. We pulled him up and he fought against us. We had an advantage against him since there were two of us and only one of him.

"No Cher! You don't understand, let me go!" Amelia shouted and I made the mistake of turning around to face her. As my back was turned Gilbert broke out of my hold and punched me. I stumbled slightly but didn't let it stop me.

He only made me madder. I charged towards him and delivered hit after hit as Derek held him against the wall. I was relentless.

"You touch my girl again and I will kill you!" I growled at him angrily. My voice was cold and deadly. He had touched something I loved and he was going to pay. Derek slammed him against the wall and as his head banged against the wall I punched him in the nose again. I heard a crack but punched him again anyway. I knew we had dented the wall but I didn't care.

He managed to escape Derek's hold and hit both of us. Derek tackled him to the ground and they wrestled around. I couldn't do anything to help, I had to wait until Derek pinned him.

"Cher! Let me go! It's too dangerous! Cher!" Amelia screeched. "Ryan! Tell her! Tell her it's too dangerous I need to help!" Amelia called towards me but I made sure not to turn my back away from Derek and Gilbert as they both released hit after hit. "Cher! Ryan! You don't understand! He has a gun!" Amelia screamed out and I froze. I made sure not to let that fact faze me. We had predicted it already. That's why I had one in my pocket too.

"Amelia stay calm! They've got this!" Cher tried to re-assure Amelia but I could tell she was struggling to hold her back. I gulped. It was really hard not to run to her and hold her to me, to tell her that it would be okay. I knew she was hurt, that was another reason why I refused to turn around, I would just want to make sure she was okay.

Gilbert had Derek pinned and as much as Derek was struggling he couldn't move. I went to help but Derek screamed at me.

"Stop! Don't move!" Derek shouted and I stopped in my tracks. I was a few steps away from Gilbert.

"Smart boy." He said with a smirk. He moved off of Derek and I saw the gun in his hand that was pointed at Derek's head.

"No!" Amelia cried and I froze. As Gilbert looked at Derek I grabbed the gun from my pocket and held it behind my back.

"Don't make any rash decisions, Gilbert." I said.

"Or what?" He asked and laughed crazily. "What are you going to do to me, huh?" He asked and I moved the gun further behind my back. I tucked it in my trouser pocket and Amelia stopped shouting which meant she saw it. I put my hands up in surrender.

"Nothing, nothing. Just don't shoot him." I said.

"And why not?" He asked and pushed the gun further into Derek's scalp.

"If you kill me Amelia will never forgive you. She'll have it out for you and will never agree to joining." Derek sprouted suddenly. I was shocked; he had a good point and I was thankful for his quick thinking skills. Gilbert froze and suddenly stood up. He walked a few quick steps towards me and once he was close enough held the gun up to me.

"No one said anything about you though, ay, lover boy?" Gilbert asked. I knew what I needed to do, but Amelia and Cher were directly behind me, so I needed to think rationally.

"No. No they didn't." I said.

"But what will killing him achieve?" Derek asked. He had stood up and was slightly behind Gilbert. Gilbert turned to face him but kept the gun pointed at me as he spoke.

"It will achieve a lot, you see-"

It was my chance.

It was now or never.

I brought my hand up slowly and took a small step forward.

"But how will that make Amelia want to join again?" Derek asked. He knew what I was doing and was keeping Gilbert occupied.

My hand shot out and knocked the gun from Gilbert's. His head snapped to me and I took a step forward and elbowed him in the face.

"Grab the gun!" I shouted at Cher and I saw her let go of Amelia and run for it. It was only a few inches from Gilbert and he could've taken it with his foot if she wasn't quick enough.

Derek punched him in the face and he stumbled back, away from the gun. I used my foot and slid it towards the girls. Derek punched him again and pushed him back up against the wall. He kneed him in the balls and then held him against the wall. I grabbed the gun from my trousers and pointed it at Gilbert. He froze when he spotted it.

I held my hand out and Cher gave me the gun he had before. I held them both up, one in each hand. I took a few steps forward so that I looked intimidating, but I made sure that I was still in view of the door. I heard sirens outside and I smirked.

"Oh, would you look at that." I stated. Gilbert spat and it landed on Derek. Derek went to swing for him but Cher ran and grabbed his arm.

"Let me." She growled. She took a step back then swung her fist back and into his nose. He groaned as another crack sounded. "That's for hurting my best friend." She took a step towards him and I saw her line her knee up with his crutch. She kneed him and he groaned again and went to bend over in pain but Cher and Derek held him upright. "And that's for my brother." She spat. I still had the guns pointing at him, but I knew which one was armed and which one wasn't. I threw his one out of the door but kept mine in my hand. They looked identical from afar.

"You will never get away with this!" He roared and Cher headbutted him. I was shocked and laughed a little bit. I didn't look at Amelia. We all looked rough, but Gilbert looked the worse. His mouth was bleeding from a busted lip, both eyes were swollen and his nose was crooked and dripping blood as if it was a stream.

He deserved it.

I heard the front door open and when I heard footsteps up the stairs I dropped the gun on the floor. I took a few steps back as the police barreled into the room. I heard sobbing from behind me and when I turned around I saw Amelia sitting in the corner, crying. I ran over to her and pulled her into me. She didn't hug me back, but she didn't resist me either.

"You are under arrest for-"

"It's okay." I soothed Amelia over the Police's voice. "It's okay. It's over. He's gone. It's over." I whispered. I ran my hand over her hair and I held her to me. I was panting.

It was true. It was over.

We did it.