FEAR [n.h]

17.

Madison's POV.

"How was the wal-" I said staring at him as he walked through the living room's door, but him slamming the door made me stop talking.

I gasped in my seat as I kept my eyes on him, who glued his eyes to mine with that look on his face I hadn't missed at all. His eyes were almost black, and his hands were folded into fists, pressing so hard that the veins on his arms looked like were about to explode. He took a deep breath and threw his phone into one of the couches, walking towards me at a steady pace.

"You love messing with me, don't you?" He said, and as soon as I opened my mouth to talk, he cut me off, again. "Don't even try it. I told you to not do anything stupid, I went on that stupid walk so I could avoid a situation like this one, and what's the first thing you do?" He asked.

I stared at him in silence, my heart pounding in my chest as I knew what was coming.

"I asked you a question, answer it!" He said, raising his voice at me.

"I just tried to go out so I could look for you, you sai-"

"Bullshit!" He yelled. "You tried to escape; you know how dangerous it is? Not only for you but for all of us! If something happened to you your dad wouldn't blame you at all, he would come for my freaking head first and asked questions second."

"I didn't try to escape Niall, I swear," I told him, trying to keep a calm tone so he wouldn't notice how anxious I actually was. "I was worried, you told me you wouldn't be out for a long time, an hour passed and you were outside still, I-"

"Yeah, worried," He chuckled, running his hands through his hair as he took a few other steps to get closer to the couch. "You are not fooling me Madison, you don't give a fuck about me. You act as you worry, you act like you actually want to know me and shit, but we both know you don't, you do all of that act so your kidnapper won't hurt you, you are scared to death."

He sounded so sure about what he was saying it actually hurt me. It hurt to think that he actually believed that I would act like that, that I would fake everything.

"I'm not faking any of that!" I finally snapped, getting up from the couch and standing on my feet. "And you are not my kidnapper anymore, you are my friend now, you-you protect me, remember?" Don't say it Madison, don't fucking say it. "And I'm not afraid of you."

As I said the last sentence Niall took a sharp breath, taking two big steps and standing almost in front of me, but in a reflex, I took a few steps back, letting my body be guided by the anxiety that was raising in my body.

He looked insane, he looked like that version of himself that even he was afraid of. And I didn't know how to fix this and bring the real Niall back.

"You aren't afraid of me?" He said as I stared at him without blinking at all. "Well, I guess I'll have to remind you that you should be."

As soon as he said those words I tried to run out of the room, passing by him and heading to the stairs, breathing heavily as I heard him walking after me.

"Don't make this worse Madison, come here!" He yelled as soon as I started going up the stairs.

I started running up the stairs and, as I was about to the hallway upstairs, I felt his hand grab my leg, making me lose my balance and fall to the ground and thank God I had good reflex and I reacted putting my hands down because if I hadn't my head could have bumped into one of the steps in a hard way. I hissed at the pain I felt when my body hit the ground, the steps pressed against my body.

Niall grabbed me from the shoulders and made me stand on my feet again, pinning me to the stair railing, making me hiss in pain again as my back hit it as he had almost thrown me into it. I closed my eyes as I saw him getting closer to me, cornering me against the railing and keeping his hold on my arm so I would hold steady.