Hanging

Chapter 2

Run. That's all I could do. Run. I blindingly made my way through the forest, tears streaming down my face, blurring my vision as I looked for a way out. The dark sky seemed to be suffocating me, surrounding me with thick, humid air. I shivered and tried to keep going, but my feet gave in and I fell in the dirt, allowing the creature to have his way with me...

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I woke up screaming, my entire body drenched in sweat as I felt tears drying on my skin. I've had the same dream for months now and I could never seem to get it out of my head. I heard footsteps and I immediately tensed, shutting my eyes as tight as I could before I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Natalia, what's wrong?" I heard a voice whisper and I slowly opened my eyes when I realized who the voice belonged to. I glanced over at the clock to see it was only 2:00 AM and I sighed, feeling horrible for waking Niall.

"I'm so sorry I woke you. Nothing's wrong I swear. I-It was just a nightmare." I muttered, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. 

Niall didn't seem to find that an appropriate answer, though because he climbed into the bed next to me. "Niall I-" He silenced me by putting a finger to his lips and he pulled me in close to his body, resting my head on his chest. I liked the feeling of being close to him so I closed my eyes, allowing myself to drift into a peaceful sleep while Niall ran his fingers through my hair absent-mindedly. The last thing I heard before falling asleep was a beautiful melody tumbling from his lips in the softest of hums.

This was the first time I slept without having a nightmare.

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After showering and getting dressed in more of Niall's clothes, I braided my hair to the side. I wanted to look somewhat decent today since I was going to meet a ton of new people. When I was finished, I gave myself a satisfied nod in my mirror and made my way into Joshua's room to make sure he was getting ready. My thoughts began to wander to last night as I walked down the long hallway to get to my destination. I remembered falling asleep in Niall's warm embrace, but when I woke up, he was gone. It was as if I dreamt the whole thing. I shrugged and walked into my brother's room to find him jumping around wildly, screaming about a bathtub.

My eyes widened and I knelt in front of Josh's tiny form, trying to calm him down. "What is it, bud? What's got you all riled up?" 

His eyes looked into mine and he said in the most serious voice ever, "The bathtub is as big as our old house."

I let my laughter slip through my lips as I fell to my bum on the floor. I didn't even know why it was so funny, but just the way he said it sent me over the edge. After I caught my breath, I finally asked him, "Did you use it yet?" He enthusiastically nodded and tugged on my hand to show me as I bit my lip to keep me from laughing again.

What I saw however, made my jaw drop in utter fascination. The bathtub took up the whole floor and was covered in heavy glass, fish swimming around the outline of it. Basically, the ground was all water with fish inside it swimming happily below my feet and a large bathtub was hiding in the corner with a little latch you open to step inside of it. I've never seen anything like it in my entire life and I couldn't help but freak out too, jumping around and screaming nonsense about a bathtub of all things. I instantly made a vow with myself to bathe in this room from now on.

"Okay, okay. Niall's expecting us in the kitchen, let's try to find it, yeah?" I asked Joshua, smiling from ear to ear. He nodded with his big green eyes and grabbed my hand before we exited the room together.

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Laughing and yelling could be heard from upstairs as Josh and I slowly descended the steps. To say I was nervous was an understatement, I've never been really good at first impressions and in a few seconds, I was about to be swarmed by people I've never met before. I looked at my brother and took a deep breath. "Ready?" I asked him, his eyes shining up at me as he replied, "I hope they're all nice." We walked down the steps and into the kitchen as everyone stopped their conversations to turn and look at us. One pair of eyes I recognized right away and I screamed at the same time she did, both of us meeting for a huge hug.