Escaped Criminal (Z.M.)

leather jacket

I squint my eyes-mentally grimacing at the brightness-to the realisation that I had drifted to sleep. For hours I sat there at the front door, waiting. I waited for him to return.

He never did.

I kept telling myself that he would show up any second, but in the end I don't think I even believed my own lies. He wasn't coming anytime soon.

-

"Wake up," a soft voice coos into my ear whilst lightly shaking me. I managed to fall asleep again, but now someone's rudely trying to awaken me.

I try remain still and silent. They couldn't know that I was awake; but maybe I wasn't. Maybe I was still in a dream. I could have sworn I heard his voice.

"Melanie, wake up. I'm back." No, it couldn't be him. "I know you're awake. Your foot keeps kicking at my knee." A lyrical chuckle exits his mouth.

My eyes shoot open, noticing that Zayn is in fact hovering over me, a wide-cheesy grin playing on his face. His eyes are not exactly honey, nor chocolate, but in between. Almost a hazel.

Maybe that's another personality of his. Maybe it means that he's not exactly harsh or as sweet, but he's in between. Like he is yet another person.

"Oh damn," I whine.

I try push myself up, but considering Zayn's in the way, it's a difficult task. Consequently, he ends up tumbling on top of me and we are in a fit of laughter.

"You goose!" He teases me.

I blush, trying to hide it with my hand. We shuffle so that we are sitting with our legs tucked into our chest, side by side, catching our breathes. If this was one of those romantic movies, perhaps his arm would be draping over my shoulder, but this isn't a movie and he isn't. But that didn't matter to me. He was here and that's all I needed.

His breathing was jagged; almost like he had been running a marathon. That's when I remember the news report.

"Where were you?" I inquire trying to act inconspicuous but I notice his facial expression stiffen.

His whole body tenses, his jaw clenched and his fist in a ball, still cradling his legs. He glares at the wall, his eyebrows furrowing.

My hand moves to try soothe him by placing my hand on his shoulder, but he shoos it away. He felt like an entirely different person. What had I don't wrong?

"Was it you?" I whisper. "Did you kill those innocent people?"

His harsh glare turns to focus it towards me. I notice they're incredibly dark. Much darker than his chocolate eyes. "Innocent?" He scoffs. "Far from it."

I gulp the lump that's forming in my throat. "S-so it was you?" I didn't need an answer; I already knew what it was going to be.

"Yes."

He said it as if he had no shame. Like it wasn't that much of a deal. Like he hadn't killed two complete strangers. My blood began to curdle. It made me sick. The whole idea of it just didn't sit nicely.

"Why?" I squeak.

"What is this? Twenty-questions or something?" He scoffs "I did it for your own safety and for the safety or myself. Be grateful you ungrateful bitch." The veins in his neck were prominent, almost popping out.

I didn't want to infuriate Zayn further, because to be frank, he was scaring me. Zayn was in an incredibly aggressive state and that could put my life at risk. You never know when he could snap.