Hypnophobic. 》Ziam AU

5 ➳ Hypnophobic

As I sat down for my first class of the day, my phone began buzzing in my pocket. It was a psychology class and the lecture had about five minutes to begin. A kid named Nick was sitting next to me, relaxed into his chair and scrolling through some app called yik yak.

Buzz.

I reached into my pocket, pulling my phone out, expecting to see Sophia's face appear on my screen, but instead, Niall turned out to be the caller.

I tapped the answer button immediately and held the phone to my ear, "What's up Ni?"

A choked sob came through the speaker and I felt the sudden need to leave.

"Buddy? What's going on? Are you okay?" I asked, sitting up straight and on the edge of my seat.

A rustling noise came through the phone and I heard a scream, then a deeper voice came through the speaker. "He won't come out from under his bed, Liam," my dad sighed over the phone.

A breath that I was unaware I was holding escaped my lips and I stood up and began making my way to the hall.

"Put me on speaker," I said, my father grunting in response. I waited few moments and began to speak again. "Ni? You there?" I asked softly.

"L-liam," came a strangled voice. Then all the sudden he screamed, and I called his name, but my dad just said, "come here right after your classes." And the line went dead.

So worried and scared, I walked back into the classroom and returned to my seat.

As I sat down, a certain raven-haired golden eyed boy off to my left caught my eye, his eyebrow raised a bit in what I assumed was worry.

'You good?' He mouthed from across the room. I nodded and smiled, trying to regain my composure and before I could mouth anything back, the professor spoke up.

"Good afternoon, class. As many of you know, my name is professor Oliver. You may call me that or you may call me sir. Nothing else. Now, this is an English class, so I decided we shall do a writing piece quickly. Should take you no more than five minutes. Write down the quote you live by, I need it dated and with your first and last name at the top," said the man at the front of the room.

He had greying hair gelled back with black framed glasses. He had on tan dress pants with a black button up and a white tie along with shiny black shoes. He looked no older than 43.

The class couldn't be much larger than about 50 people, all of us spread out amongst the classroom, two to a table.

I scribbled down the first few words that came to mind and sat back and watched as my peers finished their writings.

"Aaand," Mr. Oliver said, "Time. Pencils down. Who'd like to share?" He asked. My eyes scanned the students as a single hand was raised in the air, a familiar zap tattoo on the boys arm. "Ah, Mr. Malik. So nice to see you again. Please read your quote aloud to your classmates," the man smiled.

Zayn stood and cleared his throat, head raised a bit from his paper and began to read. "Just close your eyes and enjoy the roller coaster that is life," he said, his eyes intently on me and mine on him.

The professor noticed out little staring contest and spoke up. "And you? What is your name?" He asked, pointing at me.

I tore my eyes from the golden orbs and pointed to myself, questioning if he was talking to me or not.

He nodded.

"Liam Payne."

"And what did you write, Liam Payne?"