Deception

Chapter 10: Not Alone

Previously in Deception:

I wake in the morning to pounding on the door.

"Jo I swear if it is one of your stupid blonde bitches..." I hear Dominique mumble. Jo doesn't reply, she is probably passed out. The pounding is so loud that I sit up, annoyed, and head towards the door. I open it and my mouth hangs open a bit.

"Niall?" I whisper in confusion. He looks petrified. I quickly push him out into the hallway and shut the door behind me. The look of fear on his face quickly transforms into something...different.

"What's wrong?" I ask. He is breathless, like he ran here from his dorm. He pulls out a bent piece of printed-paper and unfolds it, his eyes leaving mine.

"Who the fuck are you?" he asks.

"What do you mean? Is everything okay Niall?" I ask worriedly.

"When I woke this morning, this was slid under my door." He says. I do not recognize his voice anymore. I snatch the paper from his hands and look down at it, feeling my whole body tense up.

It's a picture, a picture taken more than ten years ago of Ellie and I, the two of us on swings at a park. On the bottom in sloppy handwriting it reads,

"Stay away from Charlie Parker."

I think I begin to have a panic attack because Niall catches my body before I fall to the ground.

Chapter 10:

"Charlie?" he says, but I barely hear him. My senses are too clouded.

"Charlie talk to me." he says, grabbing both of my arms and shaking me.

"I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry." I begin to mumble, squeezing my head to shake my thoughts of Ellie but this time they don't stop. Her freckled nose and piercing blue eyes are in my vision now. I can hear her laugh and it almost sounds real.

"I thought your name was Charlie Wilson." Niall whispers, stepping back from me. I shake my head no. I don't even realize that I am crying until Niall pulls a tissue from his pocket and hands it to me.

I don't want him to know. I don't want him to think of me like that. Because I know what it does to people. Ten years later and people still look at me with pity. I don't deserve the pity. I should have died with Ellie.

"Niall." I breathe, afraid my words might scold him. He doesn't reply, he just looks at me with cold, crystal eyes.

"Look up Charlie Parker on the internet. Than you will know." I whisper, tearing my eyes from him. I begin to worry that this it, that he will call the police and I will be sent back home to a place of misery and regret.

"You wont understand, but I lied for a reason." I say and Niall releases a long withheld breath.

"Lied? You have lied every second you have been with me. To be honest Charlie, maybe you are perfect for Harry." He says, shaking his head at me.

Before I can catch a grip on myself and reply, he is gone.

~

Instead of attempting to fall back asleep, which is pointless because Jo snores like a donkey, I grab my pack of cigarettes and make my way out into the courtyard.

I take a seat on a bench sitting under a blossom tree and light up. I don't even know what time it is exactly but I know it's early, due to the fact that no one is even outside.

"Take me away." I whisper down to my cigarette as I light it. I watch the paper burn and I suck in my addiction with all of my might.

"Smoking is bad for you, you know." I hear someone say. I turn around and see Zayn, wearing sweats and a hoodie with his earphones hanging lose around his neck. I tense up a bit as he takes a seat next to me.