ANON. || l.s.

Connections²

Way down yonder back
Get my honey come back, sometimes
I wanna rap like that, sometimes
I get a hump in my back, sometimes
I'm going over here, sometimes
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My buzzer was blaring through my bedroom, so I smacked the stupid thing off of my nightstand. With a sad little noise, it went down and gave up. I swear that thing was like those ancient Nokia's. You could run it over with a truck and it still worked. I fell back onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling.

It was a Saturday so I could sleep in, but for the first time in ages, I actually had a full nights sleep without waking up from commotion outside. I guess it had been quiet. It had been almost two weeks now since Ayden became a Missing and luckily, there hadn't been any other Missings or murders. The streets were quiet and I swear, a humble weed rumbling through the streets wouldn't be a surprise right now. It felt nice. It almost felt like three years ago, minus the curfew and the guards patrolling the streets ofcourse.

My sleep rhythm was all sorts of fucked up now, unfortunately. After the fight Liam and I had, we hadn't talked. He wasn't waiting in our usual spot to walk to school and he barely looked at me when we had classes together. That meant that I now had to wake up even earlier so I could walk to school right after the curfew because of the whole "walk in pairs" thing. I figured out if I left at 7 am on the dot, there were barely any patrols on the street. When I did encounter one, I just hid, and I had to say, I became quite good at it. On the way home from school I'd just linger behind existing pairs or groups walking in the same direction. It resulted in some funny looks now and then, but I honestly didn't care anymore. I had to get home somehow right?

The sun was peeking through my stuffy old curtains when I got up and had my morning routine. I had to do our weekly groceries today and on top of that, I had a full day of studying ahead if I wanted to ace English. We were studying Macbeth. Kudos to Shakespeare, that book put my right to sleep.

When I got downstairs, Father was (surprise, surprise) in front of the TV, clutching a beer can. A couple of other empty cans were scattered around him, a smell of alcohol oozing from his spot on the couch. He looked like he hadn't slept all night.
   'Get me some beer will ya, we're almost out.' He was slurring his words a little.
   '...It's 9 am.'
   'What did you say?' He asked, squinting his eyes.
   'Nothing...'
   'Good.' He looked me up and down.
   'Get yourself a Candybar or something too. You look bloody awful.' He chuckled at his own words as if he made a funny joke and directed his attention back to the TV. I glared at the screen where they had some sort of discussion as I stood quietly beside the couch. "Tagging: Helpful or harmful?" the caption read.

   'I would say it is helpful Miranda.' The lady on the screen wore a bright yellow tight dress and looked like she had dipped her head into some cake batter. That's probably why she wouldn't move her facial muscles. Her face would probably crack. 'We see a decrease in Missings since the system was implemented. Tagged kids get monitored, parents get more involved in their education, not to forget, the social prevention it creates.' The other lady hosting the show nodded her head in agreement.
   'Imagine this system out of place...' the cake batter lady continued, '...we would be completely in the dark with who is at risk and with that, who to look out for. Now we know what similarities all the Missings have, why not act on it and provide tools to minimize the risks?'

Father burped and threw his now empty can on the floor. 'I'd tag you good, honey ' He slurred smiling at the screen.

   'Did anything happen tonight?' I asked. I think he forgot I was there because he looked a bit startled before directing his attention back to the screen. 'Nope.' He grabbed another can, popped it open and looked at me again. 'Do you need something or what?'
   'No....Sorry.' I quickly turned around, grabbed a shopping bag and left.

The store was buzzing with people doing their grocery shopping for the week. For a moment I was afraid I would have some trouble getting to the store - Liam and I always went together before - but the streets were filled with people and I actually heard laughter and saw content faces surrounding me. It must've been the sun. I loved the summer. People were, despite all the horrors happening around us, happier and, like, lighter in a way?

I was grabbing a can of peas when I heard someone clearing their throat and I felt a small tapping on my shoulder. When I turned around I was met with familiar big auburn eyes and a cheeky smile.

   'You like playing hard to get, don't you?' He asked in his thick accent. A smile formed on my lips. It was the History guy who was eyefucking me in class.
   'Hi again!' I shrieked, scratching my neck awkwardly. I totally forgot the note he passed me last week. 'Ehm, what's your name again?'
   'Zayn Malik, pleased to meet you, Mr Tomlinson' He offered his hand and I shook it with a grin.
   'Ehm, yeah, I'm sorry about that, I forgot you gave me a note. What did it say?' He joined me while I walked along the aisles.
   'Well, I wanted to chat, so I gave you my cell, but I guess I didn't make a good first impression.' He said jokingly and shrugged.
   'What made you want to chat with me?'

I was curious. was it the "gay thing" he was interested in or the whole desk debacle? Please, let it be the first one.
   'Well...I heard some things...' He wiggled his eyebrows.
   'What things?'
   'I'm just interested to get to know you that's all, no need to get paranoid.' He bumped my shoulder in a playful manner. 'I just thought I was the only one that was like...' He hesitated for a moment, '...different, you know?'

YES. YES. FUCKING, YES.

I felt a blush spreading across my cheeks and chuckled. 'Yeah, this town is a vacuum on its own, isn't it?'
   'Yeah, I guess.'
I placed some ground beef in my cart while he quickly grabbed a big bottle of Vodka from the aisle near mine. He either had a parent like mine or he liked to party.
   'So...would you like to hang out sometime?' He jogged back up to me.
   'You can come to my place, my mother works the nightshift as a guard so she isn't at home in the evening.'
   'Like, you want to hang out after curfew?' I bit my lip. I wanted to hang out with this guy. Hell, I wanted to do more than just chat, it had been a long time since I had a proper shag. I never snuk out before though.

   'Or whatever, during the day is fine by me as well.' He shrugged before adding cheekily: 'not as fun though, probably.' He grinned.
   'Ehh... I guess...yeah sure.'
   'Great!' He turned around and pushed his cart to the checkout. 'Text me!' He added when he walked away. I mentally praised myself: well done, Tommo, you still got it.

It was noon when I arrived back home. I popped the bags on the floor as I heard noises coming towards me. Some cursing was quickly followed by the sound of glass breaking. Father entered the kitchen and stumbled towards me. He stopped at the kitchen counter and with the way he was grabbing the edge, I knew he had trouble balancing. How much did he have to drink?

While I unpacked the groceries he eyed every move I made. When he got even closer to me I smelled the beer and sweat coming off of him. He just stood there, and an unpleasant feeling crept up on me.
   'Where the fuck is my beer?' He slurred his words and some spit left his mouth while he got up in my face. I instantly froze. No. Please no. In despair, I looked at the empty bags in front of me. Did I join Zayn into the liquor aisle? I was talking to him and I went over the list when I left the store. Was it on the list?
   'I- I forgot.' I mumbled. 'I was talking to someone, I must've forgotten.' I wanted to look up but a full force hit me as I fell to the ground.

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You will find out soon about what happened to Louis... But first....:)

Also, Louis met Zayn!! Do you like it? Or not? Let me know!

I see people are beginning to read this story but it's so quiet in the comments haha xD
It's a slow burn, but trust me, it'll get gooddddddd:D

For the ones reading this, thank you so much for sticking with this story! If you like it please vote and comment!

XXX Isa