Once Upon a Dream (Niall Horan Fan Fic)

Chapter 24

I snapped out of everything and blinked multiple times, but Niall was gone. The only people in front of me were Ashton and Leah, both looking extremely confused.

"Lauren, are you okay? What just happened?"

"I.. don't know," I said, slightly dazed. "I'm sorry." He helped me to my feet, and put his arm around my waist, guiding me out of the restaurant. Ashton paid for our food on the way out.

As soon as I stepped outside, I was attacked in a mess of sobs from Kenzie. "I'M SO SORRY! I DIDN'T KNOW!" She cried into my shoulder.

"It's okay?" I said, awkwardly patting her back while Ashton still held me.

"Is this a group hug BECAUSE I'M IN!" Calum piled on us, and Luke and Michael were soon to follow.

A snap was heard from in front of us, and I glanced over Michael's head to see Leah, standing with her camera and a smile on her face. "Cute."

I slipped away from Ashton's grip and walked over to take her camera. "I'm so sorry, Leah, did you get any good pictures? I know I screwed things up pretty quick," I sighed.

"I can deal with what I got," she reassured me. I flipped through the photos she got, and I couldn't help but feel embarrassed. I was standing there like a freaking statue while Ashton was actually trying to kiss me. Wow, way to go, Lauren.

I could see Niall's face in my mind when he saw these pictures, and my grip on the camera faltered. Leah shrieked as the camera fell out of my hands, but I caught it at the last second.

"I think you need to go home and relax a bit," she said, taking her camera out of my hands with a frown.

"And that's just what she's doing. Come on, Lauren," Luke gently tugged my arm and pulled me into the car.

"I think I need to be the one sprawled out on all of you this time, Calum," I laughed as we all piled in the car.

"Or me, uh- HELLO! PREGNANT LADY COMIN THROUGH!" Kenzie yelled as she dived in.

"This is gonna be a long drive."

*****

"So let me get this straight, your dad's some evil, psycho guy, and they," Kenzie pointed over to the boys, "are the 'superheroes,'" Kenzie said.

"Well, uh, sure. I guess you could put it like that?" I said as I got out my keys and searched for the right one. We stood huddled up on my front porch. As I distinguished the correct one, I opened the door to find an odd tension in the air. Ignoring it, we all hurried in to escape the cool, evening air.

A scream downstairs is what brought me back to reality.

Calum's face paled, and I watched as everyone's eyes got wider. Michael was the first one to break our stunned silence as he bolted for the basement door and stumbled down the stairs. The first thing I noticed when I reached the bottom of the stairs was that Julia wasn't in her cell. She was standing in the middle of the basement, but nobody was around her, almost as if it was all a joke. I stopped running towards her, cautious of what was going on. Although I stopped, Calum ran straight up to her and threw his arms around her just as Julia screamed, "CALUM DON'T-"

"Well, what do we have here? One, two, three, four, five, FIVE new people! You told them. You betrayed me?" My father stepped out of nowhere.

"I..um.." I stuttered. I slowly backed up, walking closer to Ashton. "Sorry?"

"Hah! Because sorry just fixes everything," he muttered.

"We won't say anything," Michael blurted.

"I'm not that easy to convince," my father said with a firm voice.

"Are you okay; did he hurt you?" I heard Calum whispering to Julia, checking her for any visible bruises or marks. My heart ached at the sight. I had absolutely no idea what happened to Brayden, but the sight of them made the thought of him vanish from my mind.

"Please, Dad, if we were going to do something, we would've done it by now," I stated.

"That's not necessarily true."

"Sir, we weren't planning on making things any more hectic than they same to be. I understand that this business means a lot to you, and our manager agrees that a relationship in the band would draw a lot of attention. If this is what's best for our band, and if this is what's best for your business, we're not going to interfere," Luke said. Well, where in the world did that come from?

"I appreciate your understanding. At least someone here doesn't think of me as an 'evil, psycho guy,'" my father said, giving Kenzie a hard glare.

"W-wait you heard that? Ohhhh crap," Kenzie muttered.

"I hear everything; I know everything. Now if there's any more secrets we're hiding, just let them all out now." Everyone held their breath. "Very well. I'm letting Julia out to roam around the basement; it's ridiculous to keep her in such a confined area if this is how we're going to be living from now on." I choked on my breath as he said "from now on". He continued, "Of course, when I leave, she'll have to go back."

"She's a human being, not a pet," Calum argued.

"I'm smart enough to know that if I'm not around, you'll all try to pull some superhero trick and run off in the sunset. It's not going to work that way."

"But I like sunsets," I heard Ashton whisper next to me. I slightly smiled to myself but continued listening.

"If that's all we need to discuss, I have work to get back to." And with that, my father went back up the stairs. As soon as the door closed, every person in the room rushed to Julia and attacked her in a huge bear hug.

"Why did you scream!?" I asked her as soon as everybody settled down. Tears were evident in her huge, terrified eyes as she slowly raised her clenched hand to point across the room. Darkness is all that I saw.

"Turn on the lights. The lights that reach the entire room," she slowly whispered, taking breaths in between every few words. Everyone tensed as Michael walked over to the light switches. As light was released over the entire basement, gasps fell from everyone's lips, and I physically felt my heart stop beating for a second.

The cells that lined the opposite side of the room weren't empty. They contained people. From neighbors, to family friends, to people I thought just mysteriously disappeared from my life. They all had duck tape covering their mouths, and their sunken faces hinted that they were all in unhealthy conditions. I glanced at just a few of the familiar faces. Macy. A girl about mine and Kenzie's age that  lived in the neighborhood. Although we hardly saw each other in school, the three of us would spend most of the summer together. Whenever I was busy, I would count on Macy to watch over Kenzie and keep her out of trouble. Laney and Lexi. The twins that were always the talk of the school, though I had no idea as to why and how they could possibly end up here. Brayden. Okay, what the hell?

******

OHHHH WUT'S GOIN ON WUT'S GONNA HAPPEN

I D K

IS IT JUST ME OR ARE YOU GUYS DYING FOR SOME LIALL ACTION BC SAME

double update holla I'm pretty proud of myself I kid you not this is a huge accomplishment

but I mean idek what just happened I wasn't planning on throwing that in there but I needed a good way to end it and I figured why not bring in those characters I mentioned like once or twice in the beginning or bring in those characters that I've been meaning to for a while just YAY MORE CHARACTERS

not the best way to introduce them but you know suspense