Broken Lanterns [ZIAM]

[14] - Late Night Brawl

            Liam has no idea where Zayn ran off to. There are booths and rides around every corner, at least five men’s bathrooms, and tents. Zayn could have ran off to any of these places, and Liam has no idea what to do. He obviously screwed this up. He obviously shouldn’t have said anything that involved the concept of love. Zayn already had trouble with the whole trust thing, and throwing love into the picture made it even harder. Liam hates himself. He can’t believe that he got so caught up in the moment and had to spill his feelings all at that moment. He seriously hates himself.

            With no ideas of where to go or look, Liam just starts running. He yells Zayn’s name and looks from booth to booth. He can’t leave this place separate from Zayn. Then his mum will definitely know that something is going on.

            “Zayn! Zayn!?”

            Liam feels fear and anger and confusion swelling in his chest and he stops running. Tears start to fill his eyes. He decides that if this isn’t working he has to figure something else out. Where would Zayn go?

            “If I were Zayn, where would I run?” Liam asks himself. He looks all around him, into the tents and thinks. He thinks about every single thing that he knows about Zayn and where he goes to feel better.

            And then it hits him.

            Earlier in the evening Zayn had seen an art tent that he had wanted to go into. Liam had promised that they would go before the end of the night. That had to be it. Zayn had to have gone there.

            Liam takes off at a sprint, trying to remember exactly where the small red and white tent had been set up. By the time Liam finds the tent the booths are starting to be shut down and people are leaving. Liam takes a step into the tent timidly.

            “Hello?”

            It’s empty, other than a man and the art of course.

            “I’m sorry, son, the tent is closed now. I’m packing up.”

            “But, I thought my friend would be in here. Have you seen him?” Liam is panicking again, he had almost been sure that Zayn would have come here. “He’s tan skinned? Black hair? Skinny?”

            “Oh, yeah, he was in here a few minutes ago. He met this lad, strong, big, they left together and headed towards the parking lot.”

            Who the hell did Zayn leave the carnival with? What the hell was Zayn even thinking?

            

~

            After Liam had said those words to Zayn, Zayn had run to the art tent. And then, he had met this guy who had heart eyes for Zayn. Now, in all of Zayn’s 17 years he hadn’t understood love, or sex, or any of that. And just for once, Zayn wanted to know what it was really like. If Liam liked Zayn, then Zayn needed to figure out what love really was, what it meant, and how it worked.

            So when the big buff guy asked to take him to get a drink, Zayn said yes. He wasn’t sure why he had said yes, but he had. And now he is sitting in this man’s car, pulling into a bar a few blocks from where the festival had been.

            They walk inside, and the big guy walks up to the bar and orders. Zayn follows timidly. The adrenaline is wearing off. The blood pumping feeling of doing something he shouldn’t be is gone. All that’s left is fear. Zayn knows that this was stupid.

            “I’m sorry I changed my mind,” Zayn says quietly.

            The man laughs, “No you don’t. Have a beer and I think you’ll change your mind.”

            “No, no thanks,” Zayn tries to leave the bar.

            The man grabs his wrist angrily and looks like he’s about to lash out violently, so Zayn does something he had learned from self-defense videos online. He takes the palm of his hand and smashes it into the man’s nose. The man flinches back and screams.

            Zayn runs.

            Zayn just wants to be back with Liam. He shouldn’t have panicked when he said “Love”. He shouldn’t have reacted this way. But this was the only way Zayn knew how to react. Running away, avoiding, and forgetting. Zayn didn’t do well with confrontation and now he had really gotten himself into trouble.

            His feet hurt and he has no idea where he is going. Zayn had never done something this stupid before. He had never lashed out and tried to get laid of all things. He had never smashed somebody’s nose with his palm. And now he is on the side of the road, running in the direction that he thinks will take him back to the festival. But honestly, he has no clue.

           

~

            Liam jumps into the car and starts driving towards town. Maybe if Zayn had gone with a dude they were planning to go eat, or drink, or see a movie? What the hell was happening? This night had gone to shit so fast and Liam couldn’t figure out why this had to happen. He is so confused.

            Liam passes bar after bar, looks into windows of restaurants, trying to figure out where Zayn would have gone.

            Finally, after almost thirty minutes of driving, Liam sees a shadowy figure on the side of the street.

            Liam rolls the window down, “Zayn? Zayn!”

            It is Zayn, and he’s holding his hand and walking funny on one of his legs. Liam jumps out of the car and is about to wrap Zayn up in his arms when Zayn says, “We have to go. I think he’s following me.”

            “What?”

            “I think he’s following me, Liam. Help me. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,”

            They are in front of this small building that has little lanterns hanging in front of the doors and Liam questions whether they should go inside or get back in the car. He doesn’t know which would be safer at this point in time, because apparently someone is following Zayn?

            “Liam! He’s coming!” Zayn looks so scared he’s almost ghost pale.

            “Who???” Liam has never been so disoriented and confused, oh yeah, and scared shitless.

            Suddenly there is a man behind Zayn, and Liam jumps forward in attempt to pull Zayn back to the car. The man swings, and steps into the light of the lanterns. Liam notices his nose is gushing blood.

            “Get in the car!” Liam yells. The man goes after Liam then, swinging his right hand in a fist. On the backswing his elbow catches one of the lanterns and it falls to the ground.

            Shattering into a million different pieces.

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Written by Anonymous43

You all have been asking for it, and the next chapter is finally here! It was beautifully written by a beautiful girl :). What do you all have to say about this chapter? What do you think will happen in the next? Let us know with a comment!

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