Pet // Completed // Liam Payne AU

28. Forgotten

Chapter Twenty Eight

Forgotten

*****A/N: I think this is probably a little shorter than I originally wanted, but since I'm almost at 100k reads, and since it's been so long, I decided to just go ahead and upload. I'd just like to say that the more votes and comments I get, the more inclined I am to update sooner.  This is not blackmail, this is just how I am as a writer on Wattpad. :)
Love you guys.*****

Sage's POV

My parents had died when I was twelve. They were ran off the road by some ignorant dick. He wasn't drunk, wasn't high. Just was too stubborn to get out of the way. When I was twelve, I was put into the foster system. I'd almost been adopted a few times, but eventually, they found someone else and picked them instead. I remained in my foster home until I was seventeen. I was going to high school under the guise that I wasn't an orphan, that the clothes I wore weren't old hand-me-downs from kids that had found a better life than me. I made friends that didn't really know me, but I didn't care. All that mattered was that I had friends. I ignored their jabs at my clothes, ignored when one of the boys flirted or got too close to me.

    Which was probably why I was still a virgin.

    I didn't think or talk about my parents death, because for a while, it seemed so far away. I put it in the back of my head for so long, I wasn't really able to conceive that it happened. Not until now.

    The ache in my chest was familiar. I was going to be leaving the hospital soon. Niall had set up an apartment for the two of us until something else was figured out. By tomorrow night, I'd be in a whole new bed, in another city.

    But I felt hallow. Liam still was MIA. Niall hadn't even heard from him. I'd started to have nightmares about why he hadn't returned - Klaus and Alicia had killed him even after my efforts to stop them.

    Niall had informed me he caught Liam running down the stairs of the castle with me in his arms - my stomach looked like it had imploded. There was a trial of blood after us, and Liam's face and shirt and pants were smeared with it. After that, Liam had been gone for almost an hour, and when he returned, I wasn't with him. Liam told Niall to take Tanner to the nearest town and rent an apartment. Liam gave him a wad of cash, tied a rope mercilessly to Tanner's wrists, and demanded they leave as soon as possible.

    That was the last Niall claimed to have seen, or heard from Liam.

    The emptiness I felt grew with each day, the peak of it was when Niall was helping me with my release papers. My hands shook wildly and my chest felt tight. Liam's mark on my neck ached constantly.

    The apartment we were staying in was nice. It had three bedrooms. I was about to ask who the third bedroom belonged to when the door opened and Tanner stood nervously in the doorway, wringing out his fingers. I snapped my head to gaze at Niall.

    "You're joking," I spat harshly.

    Niall killed the engine and returned my glare. "Get over it, Sage."

    "I hate him. I refuse to live with him."

    "Then you'll sleep in the car," Niall grumbled as he got out.

    I folded my arms over my chest stubbornly. "Fine."

    I sat alone in Niall's rental car, ignoring the sad look Tanner gave me. Good, he deserved to be sad. Why Niall was treating him so kindly was beyond me. Tanner could be the reason Liam was gone. For all we knew, Liam was hurt, or worse... Whoever had attacked was out to get him more than me, but I just got in the way of things. What if Liam had found someone else? And I wasn't really his mate, it was all just a mistake.

    It didn't take long for Niall to come back out to the car and drag me inside. I was less angry and more just sad now, ignoring Tanner completely when I walked in, sulking to the bedroom Niall motioned to.

    "S-Sage, can we talk?" Tanner said quietly.

    I shook my head. "Not yet."

    "Sage," Niall hissed. "Right now, we're all you have. Just sit down and talk to the poor kid. Just listen to him."

    "He doesn't want me anymore, Niall!" I cried. "He moved on!"

    Niall's hard features softened as he shook his head. "That isn't true, and you know it."

    "Why else wouldn't he have at least contacted us by now? Alicia was right-"

    Tanner snorted at this. "Alicia doesn't have the mental capacity to be right about anything," he said bitterly. "Liam loves you, and nothing can change that."

    "I'm done," I whispered. "I'm just done, okay?"

    I shook myself out of Niall's hold, and he released me automatically. "Are you hungry? We have food-"

    "I'm just going to lay down."

    It had been weeks of living in the apartment before anything new happened. Tanner and I still hadn't talked about what happened, and I still didn't trust him. But we were living together, so we were cordial. Niall's attitude today was different.

    "What're you smiling about?" I mumbled as we ate lunch.

    Niall just shrugged carelessly, innocently. "I just feel like today is going to be a good day, is all. Is that a crime?"

    "No. It's just a little unrealistic."

    Niall shook his head, rolling his eyes at me. "You need to cheer up."

    Tanner finished his bowl of cereal, nodding in agreement with his friend. "Yeah. Things aren't always going to be like this."

    Which is what they were saying since the first day here. That it would get better, and I should be happy. That we had all been through a lot, so the downtime was good for us, healthy even. Yet everyday I felt a little sicker, a little more empty and lost and gray. I was gaining back the weight I had lost living in Liam's pack, which was good, but that didn't cover the scars and bruises I had earned, nor the painful memories.

    Since being completely off of the anxiety medication, I could really see what a difference it made. It also messed up my biological clock, which for some reason still wanted me to sleep more, but I was slowly getting back into the normal routine of getting up and staying up, and falling asleep and staying asleep. But without medication, nothing could hold off the nightmares, nor the anxiety attacks.

    "When someone you love forgets you, then you can say that to me."

"You don't know why he hasn't come. You have to know that he hasn't come back for a reason."

I nodded slowly. "I'm sure there's a reason. And the reason is-"

"What were you going to say about me, love?"