Midnight Memories

t h i r t y // n i n e

"They witnessed her destruction

Then were left to wonder why

She saw nothing but darkness

Though the stars shone in her eyes

But maybe they'd forgotten

When they failed to see the cracks

That a star's light shines the brightest

When it's starting to collapse."

- Erin Hanson

I sunk down to the concrete, sobs wracking my body. This was it, it was all over. Louis was going to die, for real this time, and then what would happen to the rest of us? We would all die, too. Sloane and his devil spawn Derrick would make sure of it.

I heard the front door open and then slam shut. "Stella, are you okay? Who were you talking to?" It was Niall.

"Louis." I wailed. "He's gone. He's going to go turn himself into them. Derrick, and Sloane, and Tripp."

"What?" Asked Niall. "Are you for real?"

I nodded. "He just told me."

Niall sighed deeply and ran a hand through his unkempt blonde hair. "Fuck."

"Yeah." I looked down and my hands, which were scraped from the rough pavement. "I know."

"What a bloody idiot." Niall grimaced. "As usual, we're going to have to clean up his mess."

"What are you talking about?" I sniffled.

"Get up, come with me, and don't ask questions." Niall demanded.

"What?" I pushed myself up off the ground. "What do you mean? Where are we going?"

"Well right now, to the garage. After that, you'll see." He reached out a hand to help me up off the ground.

"Can I trust you?" I took his hand. "Sometimes i'm not so sure who I can and can't."

"Stella Grace Margarethe Parker. You can trust me with your life, you know that." His hand lingered on mine, for just a second longer than necessary. Normally, I would overlook it, but now Louis' words lay heavily in my mind. Was Niall really going to propose?

"Come on, Stel. We've got to prove to Louis that he can trust us with his life too."

Still hand and hand, Niall punched in the garage code. "We're taking the jeep. Get in."

Too emotionally wrecked to ask questions, I got in the white jeep. The same car, that just about eighteen months ago, I had driven to the Fountainbleu to meet Louis in the middle of a hurricane. That seemed so long ago, it was like a different lifetime. So much had changed since then. I had been so sure that me and Louis were going to spend forever together, but now Niall was proposing and Louis was dying and it was all just too fucking much.