The Power Within [Narry]

--Chapter 16--

Hii! This chapter's pretty short but *shrugs* what can ye do?

 

After the Dome, Niall walks with Liam back to their now shared room. They slip out of their clothes and exchange them for comfortable sleepwear. Niall jumps onto his new bed and groans loudly into a pillow.

“What's up, bro?” Liam asks as he settles onto his own bed, wondering if Niall's already fed up with this school and wants to go back home.

Niall raises his head up from his pillow and yawns. “Nothing. I just felt like groaning.” And it was the truth. He pauses and wants to tease Liam a bit. He hasn't had the chance to do so because the brunette was MIA for the past millennium. “Problem?”

Liam laughs at the implication. “Not until you meet a nice fellow. When that day comes, then we'll talk. G'night.” With that, Liam tucks himself under the covers and waits for Niall to follow suit before he flicks the lights off.

“G'night Li.” Niall closes his eyes with a small smile on his face because God, he hasn't said that in a long time. He falls asleep as a tingly, peaceful sensation washes over his body.

***

I'm back in Psychology class at the University of London, pure white snow blanketing the landscape outside the class window.

“NIALL HORAN!”

I jump in my seat and spin around to face the teacher. She frowns at me. “Mr. Horan, please pay attention when I do roll call.”

I automatically say,“Sorry ma'am.” This feels like a major case of deja vu and I begin scratching my head to remember this exact day when I suddenly get the feeling that I'm being watched. Unconsciously, I snap my head towards the window because some part of me knows that this feeling isn't just paranoia. A figure dressed in a trench coat and fedora stands under the shadow of a tree in the school parking lot.

He's the same man I saw on the first day back from winter break, before any of this supernatural crap. My eyes narrow at him because even though I can't make out his face, something tells me that he's smiling. At me.

He slowly raises one hand and a snap resounds all around me before everything turns pitch black.

.

.

.

Drip. . . drip. . . drip. I try to turn my head but my whole body seems to be fighting my will. I can't control a single muscle even though every part of me is screaming to just move. It's as though I'm in a stranger's body, but the truth is: I'm not. This is my own flesh, yet I've never felt so disgusted under this skin.

An unintelligible string of whispers vertebrates through the endless void of darkness and I inwardly flinch at the raspy, ominous sound. It picks up in volume until it feels like a thousand people are crowding around me, whispering harshly into my ear.