Unusual Reality (One Direction FF)

Chapter 17 - Is It That Chloe Girl?

Niall's P.O.V

Hiding behind a sofa, in the dark, we waited patiently for Zara's arrival. I was getting a bit impatient for the food, but, at the end of the day, it was Zara's party and I was rather excited for her. I saw a crack of light entering the living room and I saw Zara being led into the room. Our eyes had adapted to the dark, so we looked at each other all over the room and smiled. We waited for Zara to come into the middle of the room and sit on the sofa that I was hiding behind, so that we could give her the proper arrival to our family that she deserved.

After a couple of minutes or so, I realised that Zara hadn't sat on the sofa, so, sneakily, I popped my head over the sofa to try to catch a glimpse of Zara's expression. However, when I stood up, she was on the floor and from what I could hear, she was crying. Nobody else realised what was happening and I was getting rather worried.
"Liam, turn the light on!" I exclaimed. I saw a tall figure stand up and walk over to the light switch. Suddenly the room was bursting with light, most of it shining on Zara, as she was sitting right under the chandelier. 

I rushed over to her, as did the other boys. If only Ibrahim was here, he'd know why she was crying. I crouched down and put my arm over her shoulder. She tilted her head on my shoulder, and leaned on it, hiccupping because she had cried so much.

When she eventually calmed down, I asked her what all of the boys wanted to ask, "Why were you crying?"

"I-I jus-t-t had a b-bad experience w-with someon-ne," she stuttered while she was saying this, as if she didn't want to tell us.

A light bulb flashed over Louis' head (not literally), "Is it that Chloe girl?"

I felt Zara bury her head deeper into my arm, nodding in the process.

Before we all exploded with rage, Liam held his hand up, like he wanted us to keep quiet while we still could.

Liam whispered, "What did she do?"

Zara was more confident when she started, "She was covering my eyes with her hand, digging deeper into my eyes as we were walking. I thought she had something nice for me. She opened a door and she then suddenly grabbed my neck and sat me down on a chair. She placed a bucket filled with water and put my head in it, not letting me breathe. I already had a phobia of water then and I don't know who told her about my phobia, but this made it worse."

We all stared at her; she had been through a lot in her short life. How could Chloe do such a thing to her, knowing that she was afraid of water? 

"I'm sorry," Zara suddenly said, waking me up from my thoughts. I looked at her in confusion.

As if Zayn read my mind, he asked, "Why?"

"You guys were planning such a lovely surprise for me and I ruined it," she mumbled, sadly.

I gripped her shoulders as comfort and whispered into her ear, "It's not your fault."

She looked up at me with her large, hazel eyes and smiled, so I did the same. Now that I was quite close to her, I saw the connection between her and Zayn. They had the same eyes, which generally tells the relation of two siblings. 

"LET'S PARTY!" yelled Harry suddenly, trying to cheer us all up.