Matching Rings [h.s]

25

Taped on my front door with a little piece of blue tape was a piece of paper— identical to the one Zayn got taped on his door today.

My entire body was frozen, the souls of my shoes feeling like they were superglued to the concrete. My expression was wide as I stared at the paper, I assume the two boys to my left were in the same mindset— neither of them moved or said a word.

The door that we were all staring at then suddenly swung open, causing all three of us to jump back— getting startled. Liam stood at the other side, his eyebrows immediately furrowed when he saw our taken back expressions.

"You alright?" He asks referring to all of us.

"Look." Louis said quietly, pointing at the spot of the door that Liam has yet to see.

Liam cocks his head so that he could see what we were staring at. Once spotting the paper, he steps backwards— almost as if he's being repelled by the object.

"Zayn!" Liam yells into the house, calling for him.

Seconds later, Zayn comes peeking his head from behind the open slit. He straight away he follows our eyes and notices the white item, his eyebrows shoot up and his eyes go wide.

Standing there silently, staring at the unknown white square, we all were thinking the same thing. None of us wanting to come to terms with what we thought the truth of it was.

"M-Maybe it's not what we think..." I mumble. For our sake, I didn't want to assume that this paper was related to the letter from earlier. "Maybe it's just one of those flyers that people leave at your door."

My head was still hazy from the aggression I had bottled up from the police station, I couldn't process everything at the same time.

So I gathered all my courage and grasped the idea in my head that it was just a promotion flyer, I pick up my feet and begin to walk up the porch stairs. Without hesitation I walk right up to the door and snatch the paper from the door.

It's just a flyer, I tell myself.

The paper felt cold in my hands, maybe even a little damp from the foggy outside air. I traced my finger over the edge in anticipation as the boys watched me, none of then saying a word.

A small part of me wanted one of them to tell me to stop, give me a sign so that I didn't have to open and read the note myself. When none of then protested, I began to unfold one section of the letter.

"Wait..." Louis said from the bottom of the steps. I let out a relieved breath by him stopping me. "Should we be touching that? What if there are fingerprints or something?"

"Too late now." Harry says in reply. "She's already touched it."

They all look back to me for me to continue opening the letter, I look back down to my hands. My hands were shaky and sweating. I have the sudden feeling itching at my neck that I was being watched, maybe it was just the nerves of having all four of the boys looking at me— but something told me this was different.

"Can we go inside?" I say, scanning my front yard for anything I might see that catches my attention.

They all quickly agree and the five of us scurry inside through the front door. We naturally make our way to the kitchen and gather around the kitchen island. Harry was next to me and at some point put his hand to rest on my lower back, Louis was next to him and the other two boys were on the opposite side of the counter.

I place the paper half unfolded paper on the counter and we all just sit and stare at it for a minute. Both my palms holding the edge of the counter for leverage beside my hips, my eyes were unable to look away from the paper. my heart pounding, hands shaking, atmosphere heating up, everything felt very odd. I was so unbelievably nervous, we all were.