Different Worlds // n.h.

chapter thirty-seven // lies.

Niall

I stared at the ceiling, laying in the same spot I had been in for the past few weeks. It felt as though my bed formed an indent where my body lay. Depression hit me like a train; I had quite literally no motivation to do anything, not even get out of bed. But then I was left alone with my thoughts; left to do nothing but wonder what went wrong. It felt like I had cried away all the tears left in my system, so I couldn't do anything but feel empty.

My father wanted me to continue with work, but Kaitlyn was able to convince him to let me rest. But I'm afraid she's letting me rest too long; I haven't seen anyone in the palace in a few weeks, except for when Juliet leaves my meals on the coffee table.

My brain had only one thing on my mind, but it still felt jumbled. All I could think about was her: What happened to her? Where is she now? Is she safe? I was left only to wonder.  But I still had the biggest question lingering in the back of my mind.

Did she really lie to me?

I wanted to speak to her, there was still so much I wanted to ask her, but I didn't have any contact. Every call was sent straight to voicemail.

I looked over at my desk cluttered with ripped notebook paper and unwritten lyrics. I mindlessly walked over and started toying with my favorite pen. I found myself doodling all over the papers, not really thinking about anything at the moment.

It was the first time I hadn't thought about her, but it didn't last long.

I pulled out a notebook, ripped out a new page, and wrote whatever words came to my mind. I needed to get this to her somehow. I needed Grace to know that I'd see her soon. No matter what, I'll find a way to get to her.

A few hours of writing and rewriting had passed and I found myself falling asleep. There was a firm knock on my bedroom door, bringing me back to focus.

"Niall." My dad spoke. "Let me in."

I attempted to clear my throat, but gave up halfway. "I don't want to see you." I spoke in a raspy voice.

He disregarded my wishes and barged in. "I need to speak to you, and I'm not going to take no for an answer."

"What do you want." My patience seemed to grow thinner than paper.

"Don't bring that attitude, Niall. I need to talk to you." He motioned towards the couch he was sitting on. "Please sit down."

"Are you here to convince me that Grace is a horrible person? If so, I'm not hearing it."

"Niall, I know you miss her but—"

"I knew it." I sighed and laid my head back down on the desk.

"Please listen. You don't have to agree with me, but I need you to hear me out." He brought his chair by the desk I was sitting in, waiting for a response from me.

"Go ahead."

"Melody has told me things about her that I think you need to know. I know, you might need space right now, but I think you should hear this."

"Just get it over with, please."

"When Melody was in the interview with Gracey, she seemed very on-edge throughout the whole thing. Of course, that's very normal during an interview, but it was almost to the point where she was suspicious. Finally, when Melody asked her where she worked at that moment, Gracey's face grew red and she seemed to make up an answer. Now, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but she tends to do that a lot, you know, making up answers."

"I do that too. Just because she can't think of an answer doesn't mean she's working for the mafia."

"That's not what I'm saying Niall, I'm just proving my point that she's a liar. She lied about her name and her backstory. We can't even find her residence on palace records, Niall! Don't you realize how dangerous that is?"