Disastrous

Fifty Seven

My entire body was shaking as I ran from my parked car into the police station, dodging an officer walking out of the front doors with his eyes on paperwork. I mumbled a hasty apology and continued my now slow jog, bursting through the doors and running straight to the front desk.

I was out of breath and clutched a hand to my chest, gasping for a couple good seconds to gain more air in my lungs as the man behind the desk eyed me suspiciously.

"Niall Horan" I coughed roughly, patting my chest in hopes of clearing out the ache I felt from running in the cold. "Could you please tell me where he is?" I asked, watching the officer's eyes avert to the side. I followed them and then sprinted down the hall, reading a sign above the double doors reading "holding cells".

The door slammed against the wall as I threw it open, rushing inside. I speed walked past multiple empty cells, the steel bars a barricade that would protect me if any people happened to be inside of them. I passed by a cell with a door, one I knew was presumably the drunk tank and I prayed Niall wasn't in one of those.

When I got to the end I spotted him, and he saw me at the exact same moment.

"Shay." He breathily whispered in bewilderment, freezing on the spot. He was leaning forward against the bars with his arms through them, an icepack clutched in his left palm and pressed against his swollen left eye. The perspiration from the ice was melting, the water dripping down his cheek and swollen red knuckles.

I gasped at the sight of him, my legs continuing to move closer to him nevertheless. His eyes were hard as he stared at me, an unknown emotion hidden deep within his dark blue irises.

"What happened?" I asked quickly, all other thoughts leaving my mind. I gripped his chin lightly without thinking, tilting it to the side and up a bit to examine his wounds. He took the icepack away from his skin so I could see the damage, and gulped steadily as he stared at the ceiling. I could tell he was nervous under my scrutinizing gaze.

The pad of my thumb gently skimmed over the swollen red skin, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth as I concentrated on his light wince from my touch. Niall sighed and gently backed away from me, pulling his arms back through the bars and pressing the melting ice to his face once more.

It scared me how he stayed quiet, unwilling to answer my question or say anything for that matter. I trembled once more, wrapping my limp arms around my body as I stared long and hard at him.

"Niall what-"

The door I had previously came through burst open once again, and I heard the familiar hysteric sobbing I heard on the phone. I turned my back to Niall and gazed down the hall, seeing Arabella being escorted towards us with an officer.

She had makeup smeared across her face as well as tears, her cheeks rosy red and puffed out. I didn't understand what was going on, I didn't even ask Arabella on the phone. When she told me Niall had been arrested and thrown in jail, that was the only thing my brain processed. I didn't seem to think about why she was crying or why she was even with him in the first place.

She skidded to a stop about two feet away from me and I frowned deeply, my brows furrowing as she refused to step any closer. The tension in the air rose drastically and I gulped steadily, my breath picking up and my palms growing sweaty.

"What's going on?" I whispered, my eyes glancing between Niall, the officer, and Arabella. I felt myself tense as she sobbed harder and Niall sighed, shuffling in the cell.

Turning to him as I assumed he was my best bet at getting answers, I glared at him hard. "Tell me right now, Niall. What did you do? Why were you and Arabella together?"