4 4. The Fall

"You don't get it, do you?" Henry asked the girl who sat whining incoherently, clutching a cushion to her chest.

"It's you who doesn't get it!" She complained, pointing an index at Henry.

The red haired boy, who had been listening to their constant bickering for the past half an hour, decided to take it on his own to resolve the issue for them.

Gulping down his drink, he skipped to the whining mess of Rachel Benett, slumped on the couch.

He took her hand in his and rubbed it in an assuring manner.

"Hey," he spoke, voice soft and low, as to convince an obstinate tot ,"Don't worry, okay?" He continued to rub the back of her hand soothingly, "Just as Henry said, our boys have been looking for your bagpack and will find it soon, alright?"

The girl bit her lower lip nervously as uncertainty took over her features.

Feeling his fingers tighten around hers, she sighed deeply and looked him in the eyes as she spoke, "Just because you say, alright."

The boy shook her small hand in his grasp excitedly as a bright smile crept its way to his lips.

Getting up from the kneeling position he was in, Will walked up to Henry and muttered a small 'Sorted', clapping his hands in applause.

Henry nodded at him and directed his gaze towards Archer who looked less like a breathing body and more like a statue carved out of alabaster.

Heck, he would even surpass statues for holding that face.

"We'll take our leave, take care." Henry said as he made his way to the front door, Will following him close behind.

A loud slam was heard as the duo officially departed, leaving Rachel all alone, well, all alone with the blonde guy, boring daggers into her form with that glare.

An awkward silence consumed the both of them as one stood rooted to the ground and the other, slumped on the couch.

"Umm..." Rachel went on aimlessly, fooling herself.

Her voice seemed to have pulled Archer out of whatever trance he was currently in, as he began in a stern voice, "Rachel Benett? Till the time you stay in this house, you're gonna be following certain rules, okay?"

Rachel, who seemed completely fine with the exchange, nodded her head up and down like a bobble-head.

Archer, who seemed ever so slightly nervous, spoke, "You'll get the list of regulations to be followed by tonight. For now, you may go to your room, right there."

Rachel looked in the pointed direction, behind her, to find a wooden door standing ajar, letting the inside be seen to the outer world.

Curiosity got the best of her as she walked straight to her to-be room, leaving a hesitant looking Archer behind.

*****

The sun was already down and the night sky was filled with small twinkling stars. The moon with its borrowed light, stood shining in all its glory.

The cricket began to sing its song, unaware of the inhumane voice trying to keep pace with him somewhere in Archer's apartment.

"Can't hold me down, 'cause you know Imma fighter." Sang Rachel to herself as she danced to the song without a single care or concern in the world, the wires of her earphones dangling across her chest.

The girl shaking her body with full enthusiasm and a smile, brighter than the sun or stars ever will be, adorning her features, was apparently one without family, friends, wealth or a reason to celebrate.

Yet here she was, enjoying the fucked up thing called life to its fullest.

Oh boy!

The irony kills me.

Just in that moment a loud pounding on her door, followed by a familiar voice calling out her name interrupted her, "Rachel?"

The girl in question, too perplexed to answer, began making her way to the door hurriedly.

Tripping on her own feet, she landed face first on the floor making a loud thump that alerted the man on the other side of the door as he barged in the room at once.

Rachel, still sprawled on the ground, groaned in pain and rubbed the tip of her nose that suffered the most in her fall.

"Oh my! Are you alright?" A panicked Archer asked as he tried helping her get up to her feet.

Looking up to him, Rachel smiled like an idiot while holding out a thumbs up.

Archer's eyes widened the instant he saw that countenance.

Grabbing her face with both of his hands, he pulled it closer and continued to examine her face with the same horror that flashed earlier in his eyes.

Rachel, on the other hand, gulped at the proximity. She could have sworn she looked like a beetroot, blushing ten shades of red as Archer took all of his sweet time, gazing at her with wide, panicked eyes.

"Fuck." He breathed out, freeing her face from within his grasp.