Subconscious

Subconscious Chapter 4 ~ Punishment

ZAYN'S P.O.V

I watched as Niall walked in without a single ounce of joy in his expression. 

"What went wrong?" I asked, walking over to him.

"They wanted me to drop them off at a gas station." He sighed. "But before that they gave me an address... But my GPS crashed and it's not on there anymore. I was so close." 

"Niall!" I yelled, capturing Harry's attention.

"What did he do?" Harry growled.

"I didn't get an address." Niall's face contorted in confusion and sadness as Harry slapped him across the face.

I grabbed Harry's arm, careful not to anger him. "Harry it's fine. We can track their cell phones in the morning. I have the equipment for it and everything."

Harry nodded and brushed past Niall as he made his way to his bedroom. I sat on the couch, motioning for Niall to sit beside me.

"Lilac, it's okay. Harry's just mad that we can't get to her just yet."

"It's my fault." Niall let a tear slip from his eyes, falling one after the other.

"Please don't cry." I begged, wiping his tears with my thumbs. 

"Oh, Zayn." Niall collapsed into my arms, crying softly, careful not to disrupt Harry's sleep. "Harry is gonna kill me, Zayn."

"I'll protect you." I kissed his cheek and sat him up. "Movie marathon?"

"Nah. We can't be tired tomorrow or Harry will definitely kill us." Niall stood up to go to his room. 

I walked into my room and changed into a large tee shirt and boxers before pulling the covers up around me. I snuggled down into the fluffy blanket, my head resting on the soft pillow. Images of the stunned look on Niall's face after getting slapped haunted me. I mustered up the courage to walk into his room. As I stood outside the door to his room, I heard muffled crying. I opened the door a crack and saw Niall, face down in the pillows, the white duvet covering his body, his milky skinned shoulders peeking out from the covers. he rolled over, sensing my presence in his room. He quickly and nervously wiped his tears and sat up, revealing his shirtless torso.

"Can I- Could I lay with you?" I whimpered, sitting on the side of his bed.

"What about Harry?" He murmured, remembering the 5'11" boy's hand on his cheek. 

Niall raised his hand to his own cheek, feeling the stinging skin where Harry had hit him. "Has he ever hit you before, Zayn?" 

I nodded, not wanting to lift up my shirt to show him the bruise on my rib cage from where Harry had punched me about a week prior to him slapping Niall. 

"Where?" Niall's voice sounded extremely defensive. 

I shrugged, refusing to speak about it. Harry demeaned us constantly, but expected us to want to work for him. 

"I'm scared for Megan. I really liked her." Niall whispered, confiding in me. 

"Me too, Nialler. I think we should turn Harry in."

"When he gets out of jail we'd be at the top of his hit list!" Niall's eyes widened at my suggestion.

"Who would help him find us?" I smirked.

"We could charge him with accounts of conspiracy, rape and assault. We could go right now. He's asleep. He wouldn't know we left!" Niall's mood instantly improved.

I grabbed my car keys and quietly exited the flat with Niall behind me. We locked the door and got in the car, careful to avoid turning on the headlights in case Harry saw them. We made our way to the police station and ran inside. Niall jogged up to the secretarial desk and begged for help.

"What's wrong?" The secretary asked, worry spreading over her face.

"We're here to report someone." I said simply.

"Is it for hitting you? Your face is developing a bruise on one side." The lady examined Niall's face. 

"He did this too." I lifted up my shirt, revealing my bruised rib cage.

Her hand flew to cover her mouth as she laid her eyes on the black and blue skin. "Daniel!" She yelled. "Wait over here, boys."

We took a seat and I sang Nothing Like Us by Justin Bieber softly in Niall's ear, knowing how Justin remained a role model of Niall's after all these years. "There's nothing like us, nothing like you and me." 

Niall fell asleep, resting his head on my shoulder by the end of the song. The secretary came back and tapped me on the shoulder and whispered to me. 

"Officer Daniel is ready to see you, boys. He's got blank case files out." Her breath smelled like hot tea. 

I nodded and nudged Niall. "Niall, buddy, we can go report Harry now. There's an officer waiting for us."

He mumbled something, and then his blue eyes shot open. He looked around in confusion, finally recalling his surroundings. He stood up and followed the secretary back to another desk. A kind looking officer sat in a chair behind the desk, tapping a pen on his desk, not noticing our arrival. 

"Hi." Niall greeted the man.

"Sit down please." He smiled at Niall and I, motioning to two chairs in front of his desk. 

We sat down, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze. "I heard what you're here for. I'm here for the details."

"Well, we live with this guy." I started, earning a glare from Niall. "He forced us into it. He wanted our help. We've known him since we were all 17. We used to be in boyband called One Direction. Anyway, he met this girl, Megan Samson. She was really great to him, but one night at a bar he got drunk on whiskey and took her home and you know..." My voice trailed off, unable to say the words.

"He raped her." Niall spat.

"Back in New York, he saw her again one day. He called us, whining how he needed our help. We had no idea how far this would go. He asked us to stay with him, maybe move in for a while. He wanted us to help him find her." I said, my tongue fumbling over the bottled up words.

"He saw her at a cafe this morning and followed her. He said he harassed her. He laughed. Then he went to her friend's house and asked where she was. He found out they were coming here to London so he made us fly over today. We have a big flat here." Niall said.

"He hit us." I mumbled. "He wants to hurt Megan again, and maybe her two friends. We know them really well too. They were in the band with us." 

"He hit me tonight. Slapped me right across my face." Niall turned his face to showcase his nasty bruise.

"So we have 2 charges so far: abuse and rape." The officer looked over us. "Where did he hit you?" He looked at me.

I lifted up my shirt and showed Officer Daniel the large, ugly bruise on rib cage. He gasped and covered his mouth with his hand.

"Don't forget conspiracy." Niall chimed in, his voice sad.

"I need a name and a profile." The man looked at me expectantly. 

"His name is Harold Edward Styles. He's 5'11" and he's got brown curly hair and these bright green eyes and a big butterfly tattoo on his chest. He has his lip pierced and he's tattooed like crazy." I rambled on about Harry, the boy who I had once trusted, confided in, loved and looked up to. 

I felt a chill run up my spine as I remembered all of the times we had together, the five of us. We loved each other so much. We went from the bottom of the stairs to the top of the world.