Finding Elliott [Harry Styles] Completed

Eight.

Liam wanted to remind me of the stark truth when it came to my life, his instructions were clear, he would be taking me out, we were leaving nine am sharp. It had been two weeks since we arrived at this house and when he told me this the night before this was the first time I had seen him since I received my tattoo. Right now we were in the car on the way to whatever destination he had chosen for us. Niall was driving, Bea sat in the front next to him and I was in the back with Liam who had been admiring the black tattoo band on my wrist for at least ten minutes. 

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bea asked as she turned and looked at Liam. 

Liam waved her off before he looked at me, he looked like he was going to say something but he didn't, instead, he turned and looked out of his window leaving me sitting there like an idiot. 

I turned and looked out of my blacked out window, I watched the world passing, time passing by until I started to see things I recognised. I raised an eyebrow as we entered the town I had lived in with my father, my eyes darting around looking at everything like it might be the last ever time I saw it. I was so grateful that I was here seeing all these places I had taken for granted all the years I was here. 

We passed the school I had sent years in, a smile crept on my lips as I remembered a lot of my time had spent there either acting like a spoilt brat, hilariously uncool or deadly serious. The time had passed by but the school still looked the same, old and uninviting yet I knew different, behind the bricks and mortar were some of the best teachers and friendliest students you could ever want to meet. 

"Looking familiar?" Liam asked as we passed by the bus stop I waited at when I got the bus home from school, the green paint chipping away leaving a dirty grey colour for all to see on the roof. 

I nodded, "We're home."

Niall drove the car into the church grounds, I furrowed my brows as I frowned unsure of what we were doing here. I looked at Niall then to Liam as the car stopped, "Take a look around, Niall."

I watched as Niall left the vehicle with Bea before I looked back to Liam, "What's going on?" I asked him as I looked out of his window. There didn't seem to be anything happening that seemed out of the ordinary, a few mourners at graves, nothing that would be worrying. 

Liam looked out the window as Niall looked towards the car, Liam turned to me and nodded before he climbed out of the car, I followed him before we stood together at the side of the car. "You're not going to like it, but you need to see it."

Sometimes he was so cryptic in his words, I didn't want to see anything, not when I was this close to home. Being this close to home made me want to return home, all I wanted to do right now was to walk out of here and return back to my family. I looked towards the exit, the unmanned gate, the open road, the road which would lead me to my home. 

"Elliott?" Liam said my name before placing a hand on my right arm before I turned my head back to him. 

Of course, I couldn't just return home, I didn't even look like me right now. My face had been patched up and my hair was blonde, the tattoos on my skin told a story of another person, not Elliott Cole. Then if I returned I needed to explain where I had been for all these years, where I had been, what I had been doing and who I was with, all things I wasn't ready to talk about yet. As much as it pained me to admit it, Liam had been good to me, he might have made threats but he hadn't hurt me, I mean really hurt me. 

"Okay," I nodded at him managing a smile. 

Liam walked on, my legs started to move to keep up with him, I didn't want him thinking I was going to make a dash. "Do you know why I really saved your life?" He asked me as we walked together, Niall and Bea sat on a bench near the church just watching. 

Turning my attention back to the man next to me, I shrugged my shoulders as an answer to his question. "Because you thought it would be fun?" I made a sarcastic comment as we walked into the graveyard area where the headstones in the close proximity looked old and in dire need of repair. 

"Because," Liam put a hand on my shoulder. "You are not who you think you are. You are much more than Elliott Cole."

I raised my eyebrows as I listened to him but I didn't look at him as I let him lead the way to wherever we were going. "Okay, who exactly am I then?"

Liam took his hand back as we walked around the church towards the fresher looking headstones and even a few open graves which were yet to be used. "You are Elliott Cole, daughter of Terry Cole-"

"I could have told you that," I butted in as I rolled my eyes to myself. 

"Sister to Thomas Cole," he only seemed to be reeling off facts about me. "Daughter of Karen, half-sister to me."

Whipping my head up at him I widened my eyes as I looked him up and down. "What?" I questioned him as I shook my head. "Why would you make that shit up, you don't know shit about me." Although as I stopped I realised he knew my mother's name, her name was Karen. "How do you know my mother's name?"

He sighed as he looked at me, we had stopped outside the church, "As I said, she's also my mum."

My mouth opened as I thought about everything, about how we had ended here, "Where is she?"

Liam smiled, "She's probably at home. It's a Sunday morning so she's most likely prepping for lunch this afternoon."

My heart skipped a little beat, "She's alive?" My voice started to sound like I had something to fight for, something more than how I spoke for the last three years. I was excited to hear that she was alive, she was doing well, she had a normal life right now. "Does she know about me? Does she know I'm with you?"

He looked away from me and looked out over at the distance, "No." He took a couple of steps away from me walking forward on the grass, "Come on."

I walked forward and we walked together until he stopped in front of a gravestone, I turned to look at it and blinked a couple of times as I stared at the writing on the stone. "This is me?" I said as I read it in my head, Elliott Cole, beloved daughter of Terry, cherished sister of Thomas. Adored with all who met her. For she is now flying high with the angels, safe and sound. I looked up at Liam, "Why have you brought me here?"

"To make you see," he told me. "I want you to know that you are dead to these people, that you no longer belong in their world."

My eyes darted around the graveyard, before looking out at the rest of the surrounding area. I swear I was so close to home I could almost smell it, I could smell the sweet, woody fragrance that filled my father's house, the vanilla from the spray in the living room that was on a timer and the beautiful lemon scent that wafted through my little blue. In my mind I could hear my father's voice, you are not safe here, I turned my head to look around almost like I was expecting to see him standing there looking at me but there was no one.

Looking down at the tattoo on my left hand, the roman numerals I realised that no matter what happened now, Liam owned me. Half sibling or not he had every control over my life now and forever. 

Liam put a hand on my arm and started to lead me back to the SUV, I obeyed taking steps to match him before I climbed into the car. Niall and Bea returned to their seats before pulling away from the church grounds. 

I watched out the blacked-out window as we moved away from church, my eyes watching everything that passed by, everything meaning something, everything no longer meaning anything.