Through the Dark | LT

Chapter 11

I froze in my tracks, my body stiffening at the familiar voice behind me. I slowly turned around to see Zayn a few feet away from me, staring at me with hurt and disbelief in his eyes. We just stared at each other. My eyes began to well up with tears, and Zayn was immediately by my side. He put his arm around me, and we went to go sit on a bench that was along the walkway. As Zayn calmed me down, he turned to me. "Megan... Why are you out right now?" I gaped at Zayn. He knew the answer. He just wanted to ask me. "I... Uh..." Zayn softly put his hand on my knee. "Anything you say to me here stays between us." I looked up at him. "I heard about the pact you and the boys made. It won't stay here." Zayn's eyes stared deeply into mine. "Megan, this has nothing to do with that pact right now. This has to do with a friend helping a friend." He smiled at me, and I smiled back weakly.

The next question he asked was the one that I was trying to avoid. "Were you going to attempt it?" His voice cracked at the end of the sentence, and I looked at my feet. "Megan..." He pleaded for an answer. I hesitated, and then replied, "Y-Yeah..." Zayn stood up and extended his hand to me. "We're gonna go home and we can talk in my room, okay?" I nodded, and Zayn's arm wrapped around my waist comfortingly, in a big brother type of way. He rubbed my side, soothing me as we approached the house.

We entered the living room to see Niall and Harry sitting there, looking tired- but they also looked nervous and attentive. As soon as they heard the door shut, their heads snapped up and they saw me. My eyes met with Harry's, which were puffy and red. His face was tear stained- and then it hit me. They had been crying over me. Harry immediately ran to me, hugging me tightly to him, stray tears running down his cheek. He put one arm around my back as the other held my head in his chest. He said to me softly and weakly, "Meg... Don't scare us like that..." He finally let me go, and he kissed me softly on the forehead. Niall then approached me, and his eyes were bloodshot from crying. His voice said unevenly as he hugged me, "Megan... Thank god you're okay..."

Then another fact hit me. As I stood in the living room with Niall, Harry, and Zayn- where were Liam and Louis? I wandered down the hallway, and I heard the voice of an extremely emotional Louis coming from Liam's room. I stopped dead in my tracks, and listened to Louis' voice.

"Li... If Zayn couldn't find her... I have no idea what I'm gonna do. It's my fault. We got into a huge fight last night. It just makes me so angry..." my heart sank in my chest, but before I could do anything, Louis resumed, "She's so beautiful, and she doesn't see that. She's so talented, and she's oblivious to that, too. She's such an amazing girl, and she doesn't deserve any of this. It just pisses me off that she has to go through this. She doesn't deserve it..." I heard Louis choke, and Liam comforted him. The next words I heard sent chills down my spine.

"Liam... I love her. I always have. If anything happened to her, I would never forgive myself. I'm her big brother figure... I've been an arse lately. If something happened to her, it's my fault..."