Blackout • NH

Chapter 13

"Niall!" I scream. Worried that he may have fallen into a bottomless pit.

I begin to move quite fast to get to the falls, the rest of the group hot on my trail. I get to the wall where the water is running off of and I see an opening. I walk thought it and begin to climb a bit. I climb about 15 feet and I see Niall.

"Niall, why the hell did you leave us!" I yell as the rest of the group makes their way up. He doesn't say anything, he grabs my face and turns it to the left. I am shocked by what I see. It's a cave, full of the same blue crystals from the geode. Niall was right all along.

"Here's the cave. We can begin getting settled for the night!" Niall says. Liam, Elliot and Ellen make their way into the cave looking around.

The cave is like the other one we stayed at however it is about the size of a small gymnasium and all you can see is shimmering blue crystals all over the ceiling, walls and part of the ground. There was tons of light being poured in since you can see through the waterfall on this side.

I pull Niall aside. "This is amazing Niall." I say sincerely, looking at the crystals. I look back at him. He looks at me, the light from the crystals reflecting off of his eyes. He doesn't say anything. He grabs my hand slowly and pulls me to follow him.

He takes me to a spot near one of the bigger crystals and let's go of my hand. He beings to put his backpack down and pulls out his sleeping bag and blanket.

Elliot, Liam and Ellen aren't too far from us, setting their stuff down and getting settled in, chatting about how cool the cave is and how they wish they had a camera so they could take pictures.

I begin to walk towards them when Niall grabs my arm and pulls me towards him. He goes to say something but then shakes his head and looks down at his hands, picking at his nails, avoiding eye contact.

"Do you want to sleep next to me tonight? I mean you don't have to if you don't want to." He says, rushing his words.

"Don't I always sleep next to you when we camp out for the night?" I say with a smile.

"Yeah. You do." He said shyly, looking everywhere but my eyes. I shake my head and open up my backpack and get my sleeping back out. I set it up and look in my backpack for a blanket.

"Fuck." I say, remembering how I gave Ellen my blanket.

"What's the matter?" Niall asked.

"I don't have a blanket. I keep forgetting that I let Ellen have mine." I say.

"You can have my blanket." Niall says, grabbing it and handing it to me.

"No Niall. I am not going to take your blanket. Keep it, I'll be fine. I'll just lay inside my sleeping bag." I say, calmly.

"No Jodie, your back will be hurting tomorrow if you sleep under the sleeping bag blanket with less padding. I insist. Take the blanket." He said, shaking the blanket.

"Niall I'm fine. You'll be cold tonight without that blanket." I tell him.

"So will you if you don't take it." He said smoothly.

"Niall keep it." I say more assertively. I'll be fine.

"Just take the fucking blanket!" He shouts. Causing Liam, Elliot and Ellen to look in our direction.

"You don't need to shout at me Niall! I'm not a child!" I shout back at him.

"You seem to be acting like one!" He yells back.

"You're the one that started this!" I scream, getting even more angry.

"You're the one who decided to be a bitch and not take the fucking blanket when I offered it to you!" He yells. His voice deeper and raspier than usual.

"Who gave you the right to call me a bitch?" I'm furious now. "How about you shut the fuck up and leave me alone Niall. Stop being such an asshole!" I yell getting closer to him.

"Don't fucking yell at me!" He shouts. His face was red and his eyebrows were furrowed and his fists were balled up.

"You are the one that started this!" I scream, moving closer to him so we were chest to chest. He stares me in the eyes. His eyes are as dark as I saw them when he attacked Elliot back at the cave in the desert.

He begins to move towards me, I get into a fighting stance where I'm ready to attack. It's a habit I developed when I took those elite fighting classes. Elliot and Liam begin to pull us apart.

"Guys calm the fuck down!" Elliot shouts. Liam pulling me back off of Niall while Elliot pulls Niall back off of me.

"Yelling isn't going to get you two anywhere!" Elliot continues.

"Well she started it!" Niall begins to say.

"Excuse me but I believe you started this!" I say back.

"I don't care who the fuck started what. If you two don't get your act together now, this group will fall apart and shit will begin to hit the fan. So just stop!" Elliot says in a fatherly tone.

I don't say a word. I grab my sleeping bag and move it next to Ellen. I'm sleeping with the rest of the group tonight. Niall can sleep alone.

Everyone including Niall return to their sleeping bags. Niall lays down with his back facing us. Ellen decides to go to bed since she was tired. Liam and Elliot stay up to play a card game called War.

They had their flashlights laid down on the ground so they could see the cards. I lay down and begin to let my thoughts flow. I stay up for what feels like hours.

Liam and Elliot finally went to sleep. They were snoring. Not to loud though. I was still awake. I feel bad for how today ended. And I feel bad for upsetting Niall. If I would have taken the blanket none of this would have happened. I was cold.

Why did I have to be such a bitch to him. He's done nothing but help me and watch out for me and this is what I did to him in return? I begin to silently cry. This is all my fault.

The light from the moon is bright enough through the falls for me to see. I look over at Niall. He's fast asleep. He seemed to have moved positions so now his feet are towards me and his head is towards the crystal wall.

He left arm is under his head and his right arm lays limp beside him. His body is slightly in a bent position. Probably to keep warm. He looks cold. The blanket he offered me was kicked off and laying to his right.

I get up and grab my sleeping bag and walk over to Niall. I didn't have to worry about being too loud since the falls are a constant noise. A calming noise however.

I lay my stuff down quietly next to Niall, very closely I may add, and grab the blanket off of the ground. I look at Niall. His cheeks are flushed. It looks as if he's been crying. My head begins to hurt even more now.

I begin to cry again. I lift the blanket and lay it over him, sniffling. I then lay next to him. I grab some of the blanket and pull it over me.

I look at Niall who's still asleep and observe him. I take my hand and move his hair out of his face and I caress his flushed cheek. The tears still rolling down my face. I move closer to him. And hesitantly wrap my arm around him, putting my hand on his bicep, and I slowly put my head on his shoulder, taking in his scent.

I look up at him again, and slowly lean in. Kissing his cheek, very close to his mouth. Letting my lips linger there for a couple seconds. The tears are still rolling down my face.

I'm in too deep now. There's no turning back.

"I'm so sorry Niall." I whisper, trying not to let my voice crack. "I always sleep next to you when we camp out. I didn't forget." I continued to whisper. Rubbing my fingers through his hair.

I pull myself even closer to him for warmth and lay my head back on his shoulder and slowly nuzzled it into the crook of his neck. I begin to drift off to sleep.

Right as I begin to lose awareness of the surroundings, I feel an arm pull me close and a pair of lips on my forehead. The last thing I hear is, "Thank you Jodie."