Keep You Safe. . .(a One Direction Fanfiction)

Chapter 3: Scars

     The doorbell rang. Jean's here.

     I secured the elastic at the end of the braid I just put in my hair and tossed it over my shoulder. It bounced against my back as I got up from the couch and jogged to the door. I immediately opened it.

     "Angel!" she cheered when she saw me.

    "Jean!" I responded in the same manner.

     She came inside and slipped her shoes off before quickly turning to me.

     "So," she started, clapping her hands together, "I have to leave for my chiropractor appointment in about forty-five minutes, so -"

     "I will show you what I wanted to show you and then you have to go. Got it!" I finished for her, giving her a thumbs-up. We had this discussion earlier. "I'm sure it won't even take that long. Unless it surprises you too much." I forced a chuckle.

     To be honest, I wasn't sure how she will take what I'm about to show her. It was Niall after all, but she was yet to discover that. When she had asked me what was on my mind I had only told her I had something extremely freaky at my house as of two days ago, had a fight with my mom about it, and then she got interested. So I decided to show her, I trusted her enough. Hopefully she'll respond better than how Mom did.

     I walked into the kitchen, she followed a short distance behind me.

     "Right." She answered. "So, what is it that you wanted to show me?" She put her hands on her hips. "Nice braid by the way." She commented.

     "Thanks." I replied as I grabbed a small apple from the basket on the counter. "Anyway, it's downstairs. Follow me." I said as I started for the stairs.

     She was right on my tail as I skipped every other step down to the basement. It was a weird habit of mine, it seemed rare when I would use every step. I stopped her when we both reached the bottom.

     "By the way," I started, "before we go in, I need to warn you. What I am about to show you may be a bit – in fact it will be a bit – freaky. Scary, maybe?" I gestured with my hands, trying to find the right words. "I don't know. But when you see it, you have to promise me NOT to freak out. I mean it, because if you do, things might get out of hand." I warned.

     She looked confused, but she nodded. I was about to turn around when I remembered something else. I looked to her again.

     "Oh, and one more thing." I tossed the apple from one hand to the other. "Remember, this is also a very big secret." I pointed at her. "You cannot tell anybody! Don't even tell your best imaginary friend. You'll see why when we get in there, but seriously, if you tell anyone, I will have to kill you."

     Now she looked at me as if I was kidding, but then she nodded quickly. "Angel, what is said in here, stays in here." She reassured. "You know it's as good as safe with me."

     She probably thought this was all a big joke or something, even though it absolutely wasn't. But, then again, she is Jean, and she is right. Everything is safe with her; I could probably tell her I killed somebody and she would keep it a secret just for me. Either way, I didn't want to push it any further.

     I twirled, continued into the basement, and turned the corner that led to the hallway. The guest room door was dead ahead. I stopped right in front of it. I gently grabbed the handle and turned my head to look at Jean.

     "Ready?" I whispered.

     She looked at me funny again. She rolled her eyes off to the side and back. "Yes?" She responded quietly.