Downfall [Punk Niall Horan]

9

The rain pelted down on my bare skin, and the sharp knife drug through my exposed stomach. Pain and outright fear shot spikes into my veins, scarring my heart over each agonizing second that passed. I was so unbelievably scared of what was going to become of me. Hideous thoughts raced around my fuzzy mind, and I couldn't help but think this was all my fault. If I wasn't so stupid and disobeyed my parents rules. If I didn't consume all the alcohol I did that night at the bar I should've never been at. If I wouldn't have ran away from my house. All these if's that I could've stopped from happening.

As the stranger hovered over me with a sinful look on his face, clouded and blurred by my tears, rain, and alcohol, I screamed until my lungs gave out. All I wanted to do was die, and I wished the stranger would just kill me on this muddy ground right now.

The sickening mans knife drug into my jagged stomach further making me wither in agony, digging myself further into the muddy earth. Finally the persons hooded face came into focus, and I screamed when I saw the familiar face. It was Luke, but then it wasn't him at all. His blue eyes morphed into hazel ones. Before I could even drag in a breath to breath the man above me was Ashton, and the next second he was Calum. After them came the hauntingly blue eyes of Niall, and after Niall came the most horrifying image of my father. Screams ripped through my throat until I couldn't see straight, and all that was left of my trachea was raw strips. The memory started to fade out as I fainted into oblivion.

***********

"Tylie!"

I shook my head viciously as I tried to fight off the monsters plaguing my dreams, screaming and thrashing violently. Not only were their ghostly faces haunting me but so were their sickening voices. Please, I begged, please just make it stop. My eyes clenched shut tighter subconsciously trying to block out the visions, and I could fell hot tears staining my cheeks. More screams whipped through my fragile, and I clutched onto whatever could tether me to a sense of safety. Strong hands clutched onto my shaking shoulders, and I tried to push the stranger off of me.

"Tylie!" The loud voice broke me from my trance, and I looked up to meet worried blue eyes. The same eyes that were in my dreams scarring me in the most horrible way possible. Niall lay there quietly now, facing me with his hands on my shivering shoulders. Involuntarily, I flinched away from him and tucked myself into the headboard of the bed, far away from him. I eyed Niall warily, trying to hide my fidgeting hands. He looked taken aback, and was I just imaging this or did he look sympathetic?

Niall reached over slowly to gently trace his thumbs lightly over my cheeks. Only then I realized that I was still crying hot tears from the horrible nightmare that I had grown accustomed to. Except this time Niall, his friends, and my father were the man who stole everything from me. Thinking about it made my lip start to quiver, and I knew I was about to have a panic attack. This only happened when I didn't take my medicine, and that caused me to really blur reality with my dreams that made me feel like I was in that moment again.

Not even giving it a second thought of what would happen, I launched myself into Niall's broad chest. Right now Niall was kind of like my tub of birthday cake ice cream. He was comforting me no matter how bad he was at it or no matter how much he hated me or I hated him. So sue me if I felt like breaking down in my kidnapper's arms, but right now neither of us had a choice in the matter. My lungs were about to collapse and I needed something real to hold onto before I passed out.

It wasn't like he was going to kill me just yet because he needed me. And for right now that was just okay with me, and it would have to do. Plus I wouldn't let Niall kill me because if he did I would haunt him forever. Plain and simple.

Niall's arms wound around my waist cautiously and pulled me into him slowly, as if he didn't know what was going on. I didn't know much of what was going on either. My hands gripped onto his soft shirt so tightly in my fists that I thought it would rip holes in it, and I thought that I never had felt a more soft shirt. Violent sobs racked through my frail body, and I shook like a leaf in the wind in his arms. There was nothing I could do to stop the tears from flowing like the river Nile as much as I wanted to shut them off completely. After going through this every night alone with no one to care about what's haunting you, it felt good for someone to notice there's something hideous plaguing your unconscious mind. That's all I ever wanted in my life these past few years. For someone to notice I was hurting, and to notice I was unhappy.