Deranged • Ghost N.H. au

Eight

A/n: This chapter will be filled with flashbacks so be sure you pay close attention. :)

Two weeks have passed since I had last seen Niall. The first week, nightmares haunted me during the night. Nightmares about Ethan, nightmares about a faith that I just barely escaped from. I still couldn't fully grasp the fact that if Niall hadn't been there, if Niall  hadn't had some kind of humanity left inside of him, things might've ended up very badly. 

As I was saying, the first week, I felt horrible. I barely got a second of sleep and I didn't eat. All I did was lay on the couch while clutching a pillow to my chest. Niall has not shown himself since I had asked him that question that seemed so simple, so harmless to me.

*Flashback*

"How are you able to touch me? Y-you're a ghost, right? You're d-dead."  

"You should get some sleep, you look exhausted." 

"But.."

"I said, GO TO SLEEP!" 

*End flashback*

I still don't understand why he had lashed out on me like that, it was a simple question, right? Maybe Ethan had been right, maybe he hadn't lied about what he told me about the Horan family. Maybe something really dark had indeed happened inside this house, something too dark for my imagination. 

Maybe I had hurt Niall by asking him about his condition. 

The second week had went by faster than I intended it to, things started to get back on track for me. I had actually found the courage to leave my house and go looking for a job. After a few hours of failed attempts and rudely being turned down, I had managed to indeed, get a job. 

I had to start in two days at a small restaurant called "Bob's Burger". The place was not far from my home, maybe a ten minute drive and the owner had been very nice to me. It didn't took much effort or persuading to actually get my first job. 

And that brings us to today, August 16th, 2014. 

*Earlier that day*

I yawned as I got out of bed, I checked my phone, seeing it was 10.14 am. I had actually got a good eight hours of sleep tonight, eight hours of well deserved sleep. I pulled my black hoodie over my head and put on a pair of green shorts. I stepped in to my pink, fuzzy slippers and made my way downstairs. It had been a while since I really had an appetite and I decided to make some pancakes. 

I entered the kitchen and started to grab all the necessary items to make my mother's famous pancakes. She'd always make them for me before I went to school, I'm happy that she was able to teach me how to make them before she had passed away on that traumatic night.

*Flashback*

Tonight was the night where all the seniors would perform their songs. Our school would do this every year, all the graduated seniors would pick a song to sing, a song that meant a lot to them and sing it on the big stage in front of almost twenty-five hundred parents and students. It was a night I had dreaded for a long time, I even considered to not graduate on purpose so I wouldn't have to sing in front of so many people. 

My parents had always told me I was in the possesion of a beautiful voice, a voice that was meant for thousands of people to hear. But me? I was terrified, I've had stage fright for as long as I could remember. The only people I was comfortable singing in front of, were my parents. 

I had begged them to come see me for weeks, I couldn't do it if they weren't sitting in the front row, I needed to have them by my side. At first, they weren't able to make it, they told me. They both had to work late that particular night. After weeks of begging them to come, they had finally agreed. 

I couldn't be happier, but that happiness was soon ripped to shreds.

It had been ten minutes until I had to go on stage, ten minutes until I had to sing my song when the principal had called me aside. 

"Riley.. I'm afraid I have bad news for you." He spoke, taking off his glasses as he placed a hand on my shoulder. 

*End of flashback*

My parents had been hit by a truck, an immensly big truck that wasn't even supposed to be driving so fast because of it's load. On top of that, the driver had been drinking. 

They were hit and pushed off the road, the truck tumbling over and landing on top of them. The driver had been dead in a matter of seconds, his body was flung through the windshield. But my parents hadn't been so lucky. My parents who never hurt a fly, who had always been kind to everyone around them, they didn't deserve to die like this. 

They had been crushed by the weight of the truck, making their deaths slow and agonizing. I still remember the doctors telling me that not all of their body parts could be identified, I don't think I have ever felt as sick as I did that night.

It was all my fault. I made them come to that stupid performance, I led them straight to their deaths. If it wasn't for me, my parents would still be alive. 

--------------------

After my pancakes were done, I put them on a plate, accidentally breaking one in half in the progress, and grabbed myself a glass of water. I took the plate and my drink to the couch and set it down on the small table in front of me. I was about to take a bite when I noticed a small envelope laying on the doormat. 

Why didn't I see that before? 

I stood up and stopped when I reached the door, bending down and grabbing the small, filthy looking envelope, taking it with me. I sat back down on the couch and turned it over. My name was written on it in a sloppy handwriting. 

Riley

I raised my eyebrows and carefully ripped it open. What was written on the small, old looking piece of paper made my heart beat louder and my blood pump harder.  

"Since the dawn of their excistense, mankind has struggled to answer one simple question. 

Where do we go when we die? 

A man of science, would have you believe that we just become one with the earth, nothing more. But a man of faith, would view things from a much, much different perspective.

But what about those like you and I? We're special, for us, there is no death. This world is our hell. THIS WORLD IS OUR HELL! We don't belong here. I know, I know you can hear me. But now my eyes are wide open and I DON'T FEAR YOU ANYMORE!

I pity you.

It's time for you to go home.

Find me. FIND ME!"

August 16th was the day I received the first letter.

A/n: Hola! 

I'm really hoping you all like the story so far, are there any of you out there who can make edits/covers for Deranged? I'd love you forever!

Don't forget to comment and vote! x