"What's your favourite sound?" I asked Mitch.

"What even is that question?" He laughed. The last rays of sunlight touched the edges of his face and made his earthly brown eyes shimmer with such radiance the mere image of it warmed my heart.

"Just answer, Grassi" He raised an eyebrow.

"Well... I like when the birds sing or when the leaves brush against each other making that shushing sound" He looked at me. We were having some drinks in the backyard; in a few minutes Ryan would come out and lead us back downstairs. Just three more days Scotty. "What's your favourite sound?"

"The piano" I sighed. "I miss the days were I could just sit in front of it and let my fingers flow with the melody. It's been so long... I fear I've forgotten how it even sounded" I leaned back on my chair.

"You'll play again. I'm sure of it" Mitch smiled at me. The light started to fade away; the sun was setting.

"Do you remem-" I started saying but I was cut off by the sharp sound of an object crashing against a wall. Mitch and I turned around only to find Ryan ducking and evading a chair that was flying through the air. What the hell?

We both stood up and rushed inside the house. I couldn't see anything since the lights were turned off. I pressed myself to the wall and signalled Mitch to follow me, we both tip-toed towards the end of the hall to try and look for Ryan who had just disappeared around the corner. I heard hitting and screaming from only a few metres ahead of us, my heartbeat was so quick that I feared it might leap out of my chest.

We finally reached the end of the hallway which ended with a tall door which I had never opened before. What I found inside caused my blood pressure to rise and my body to freeze. I couldn't believe my eyes, this wasn't supposed to happen.

Alex had Ryan pinned against the wall almost choking him to death while Kirstie was being held on the floor by one of the guards, a gun pointed at her neck. This guard, which I remember being called Matt, yelled commands at Alex and threatened to shoot Kirstie if he didn't let Ryan go. It wasn't much of a choice. Alex slowly backed up and was tackled by another guard. A loud scream escaped his lips when he was shoved to the ground, causing his head to hit the cold surface.

"STOP!" I screamed. Everyone in the room froze and stared at me. Although, Kirstie and Alex barely lifted their heads. They weren't supposed to be here, not today. I tried to walk towards them when another fucking guard stopped me. He had a gun held up at me so I had to step back. Mitch was slowly retreating when the doors closed behind him. We were trapped.

"I'm sorry" Kirstie gasped. My heart broke at the sight of her, so defenceless and vulnerable.

"You little bitch" Ryan spat and glanced at me. "Now that the big family is reunited, let's clear things up shall we?" He spoke as if nothing had happened, as if he knew we couldn't do anything. And he was right. "Tide them up, I'm done with their bullshit"

The guards brought four chairs to the centre of the room and placed each of us in one. I was in the middle with Mitch, Kirstie at my right and Alex next to Mitch at my left. Ryan just stood in front of us, staring with his big deep brown eyes. "So... Who's going to speak up first?"

"Don't hurt them" Mitch blurted out. Ryan laughed and got near him.

"I don't do violence, but things might get rough if you don't cooperate" We were so scared that nobody dared to open their mouths. Ryan got tired of waiting so he took out a gun and pointed it at my face. My heart skipped a beat and my breathing became erratic. I've never been pointed at with a gun before, and believe me when I tell you that it's not a pleasing feeling.

"Okay fine" Kirstie. "We... We just wanted to get them out, Scott made a plan which was very risky and stupid I may tell you but the idea was the keep Mitch safe and basically end you but it clearly didn't work out but please spare Mitch's life he didn't know about this-" Kirstie could've kept rambling if it weren't for Ryan who started laughing.

"Do you have any idea of how many times I've heard you all say: "Keep Mitch safe"? He doesn't deserve what he has and he knows it. Besides, he is safe. All I want for him is to find peace" With that he got the gun out of my face and I began to breath again.

"By killing him" Alex bravely said.

"But peace at last"

"This is not fair. He didn't do anything to you, he doesn't deserve to die. I won't let you kill him to fulfil your ambitious wishes. I won't let you control him or decide what's best for him, you're not his parents and you're definitely not God. You don't get to chose who lives or who dies" I clenched my fists, if saving Mitch meant giving up my life then I would gladly do it. Ryan laughed once again.

"Do you guys really think he's innocent? That he didn't just completely neglected the existence of her sister and selfishly denied helping her when he perfectly knew he was his only hope?" Kirstin, Alex and I were taken aback by his statement. Mitch had a sister? What else wasn't he telling me?

"Oh you didn't know" Ryan faked a sad smile. "Why don't you tell them Mitch? Why don't you tell them how your brain cells are the only thing that can possibly cure Tatiana?" I looked at Mitch now. Every muscle of his body was tense, his hands were curled into fists and his nose was flaring. He looked as if he were ready to murder someone. However, his eyes were glossy and I could see the sadness in them.

"I-I-I-Yes. I have a sister, her name is Tatiana and she's fifteen years old. She was the perfect daughter, so humble and kind. Loved and admired by any, everyone knew she was going to make it big" A tear ran down his cheekbone. "A few years ago she got sick, her brain cells started to malfunction and slowly began to destroy themselves. It is a slow process, where you begin to lose brain capacity and you become numb to the outside world. Your senses stop gathering information and you start dying" Mitch wept his tears away with his shoulder.

"When I turned nineteen Ryan found out that my brain had the outstanding capacity to produce new brain cells with an incredible speed. I have more neurones than the average people and they connect pieces of information quicker which allows me to retain any concept, theory or fact easily"

"And after running some tests Ryan came to the conclusion that if we could transplant enough brain cells from my brain to Tatiana's we would be able to cure her..." Every word that slipped from Mitch's lips were like daggers to my chest. He had lied to us, to me. All these months planing and trying to save him from Ryan when in reality we could've played everything cooler and maybe talked our way out of it. But what's done is done and all I had left was to keep on listening.

"All this trouble for a simple cell transplant? Mitch you could've told me! I can't-"

"Let me finish and then you decide. I can feel you judging me" That hurt but not more than the look he gave me. A look of pure fear and heartache. "But the damage was done, Tatiana's illness was too advanced and severe so it would take a several amount of my cells to make the illness go away. The only way to save her was by giving her all my cells, which would end up killing me"

"So you ran away... And you got in that accident and lost your memory" I murmured.

"I did. I thought that if I couldn't remember then I wouldn't be help ful" Mitch looked down at his lap. "You can all judge me now. Come on, tell me how much of a coward I am. Tell me I'm a selfish bastard who doesn't care for others. SAY IT" He started sobbing. "I didn't mean this to happen, I want to help her but I don't want to die. I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I'm not ready" Watching him in that stare broke my heart but I felt betrayed. My mind was swirling in circles. I didn't know what to do. Kirstie and Alex were looking back and forth between Mitch, Ryan and I. All I was doing was staring forward.

"She deserves a great future, she deserves to be the best of bests. Are you going to deny her that? You perfectly know that you're worth nothing, even if you're smart you're a coward and that won't let you grow. So why waste time?" Ryan said. Mitch was shaking his head.

"There has to be another way" He breathed out.

"There's not. You have two choices here: or you willingly come to the hospital with me for the transplant or you refuse and I get you there by force. You decide"

"I won't go" Mitch glared at Ryan.

"Fine, let's do it the hard way" Ryan untied Mitch and grabbed him by his arm and started dragging him to the door. Everything happened so fast I was barely able to register what was going on. Alex jumped back with such force he broke the chair he was sitting on and broke free from the ropes. Kirstie also broke free and with a swift movement of her hand she stabbed one of the guards.

Ryan was caught off guard so in an attempt of dodging a leg of a chair, that Alex graciously had thrown through the air, he lost his grip on Mitch's arm and he was able to ran away. Everything happened so fast.

Alex hitting Ryan square in the jaw, Kirstie electrocuting anyone who got near her and Mitch throwing punches and helping Kirstie. In no time Ryan was laying on the ground in front of me, his face half bruised.

"I don't care what was the objective, but nothing gives you the right to decide whether someone lives or dies" With a final punch Alex knocked out Ryan.

"Call the police. We can tell them how he kept Scott and I hostages and ran tests on me, that will give him plenty of time in jail" Mitch said. Kirstie nodded and went to find a phone, Alex started to tie up the guards and take their weapons away from them.

I felt someone behind me and suddenly my hands were free. Mitch knelt down in front of me and brushed his hand though my cheek. I flinched to the touch so he quickly removed it.

"Scott?" He asked but I didn't answer.
All I was doing was staring forward.