Reminded

Chapter One

"Niall?" I called out, suppressing a laugh. I was at the top of our tree house now, and could almost see the whole forest from here. All the leaves were a brilliant green, the trees darkened with age. But right now, I wasn't focused on the trees, really. Niall was about to pop out any second, I knew it.

"Niall?" I called out again. Containing this laugh was almost unbearable. "I know you're here..." I whispered, checking my surroundings.

The tree house was one room, no walls or anything. Their were three openings: the roof had a small latch that could open and close, mostly used for when Niall took me away on nights to watch the stars together when my dad was being his usual self, the huge window I was looking out now, but we had stole curtains to cover it for when it got cold, and the big hole in the middle that had allowed us to enter or exit by climbing up or down the ladder.

Then I saw the blanket pile. Jackpot! Niall always hid there, so I had him cornered. I slowly crept over, careful not to make a sound. I suddenly snatched up the blanket, but I was greeted by some rotten Nando's. Chips? Not very sure.

"Oh, gross..." I whined.

I picked up the mystery mold and tossed it out the window. Where was he? Could he have-

"What in the bloody- Disgusting!" I heard a familiar Irish brogue, just like mine, exclaim.

I let out the laugh, and barely breathing, raced down the ladder to an upset Niall picking the Nando's out of his brunette hair. He had told me it wasn't going to stay long like that, though. He really wanted to bleach it, but he never really told me the reason.

He looked up and gave me a quick smile. "You saw me, didn't you, Madeline?"

"No!" I protested. "It was accident, I swear!"

"Yeah, okay." Niall giggled. "You never had yelled at me for leaving food up there, and you most certainly didn't want to teach me a lesson."

I rolled my eyes, laughing. "Nope. Don't really recall that. You've gone mad, Niall Horan. I'm sure of it."

Niall made a crazy face, opening his eyes all wide and put on a creepily large smile. He put his hands up, almost like a T- Rex, and tilted his head to the side. "Now that you know, you may never leave!" He said in a raspy voice.

He laughed pouncing on me, as I fake screamed. He tickled me screaming, "Ah- heh- ha- ha! Ah- heh- ha- ha!"

When finally settled down, we sat up, watching the clouds. His smiled seemed everlasting. But all of the sudden, it dropped.

"What's wrong?" we asked at the same time.

"Nothing... What' s wrong with you?" Niall said.

"Nothing." I forced my biggest smile, but I could tell he wasn't buying it.

"Look, Mad, if something's wrong with you something's really wrong with me." Niall reasoned. "You've gotta tell me."

"Niall, c'mon. Don't say that. Besides, I told you, nothing's-"

"Your dad." Niall said, not even looking me in the eyes.

Actually for once, no. But I didn't know how to tell him the truth yet. "How'd you know? You're smarter than I thought." I said, trying to lighten up the mood. It didn't work at all.

"What'd he do?" Niall wouldn't just let me change the topic.

Crap. What do I say now? "He came home drunk... and, uh... he told me..." I couldn't think of anything, and knowing the truth made my eyes sting.

Niall grabbed me into his arms. "It's okay. I'll stop." he said. "Please don't cry."

I took a shaky breath, trying to convince myself not to.

Niall looked at me, grabbing me by the shoulders. "I'm gonna use all of my money for getting you outta that house."

"I thought you were gonna use it to finally buy Nialldo's?" I remembered.

"You're importanter." he smiled. I looked into those beautiful blue eyes, and knew he was sincere, even if he didn't use a real word.

"Let's start walking." Niall said. "My mum's trying to get me on that Youtube so someone will sign me, and maybe then we can have money."

I sighed. Niall's parents got divorced about three years ago, when he five. His dad left, knowing his mum would struggle. Niall needed braces when he was leaving, but his dad didn't even care. Because of that, his family couldn't buy anything they didn't truly need.

"Then let's go." I smiled as he helped us both up. "Your mom needs you. And your beautiful voice."

He smiled. "Thank you, M&M." That was his nickname for me, my initials. They stood for Madeline McKennan.

"Anytime, Champ." My nickname for him, since Niall meant Champion in Gaelic.

We walked down the forest path together, hand in hand. But with every step, every smile from Niall, grew an even deeper hatred of myself for not telling him how much time we have left together.