Through the Dark

Chapter 3

Okay, stay calm, nothing will happen to you.

That's what I told myself as I willed myself to walk out the door and into however many more One Direction fans had arrived.

"I can't, I just can't" I said for the thousandth time as the band started to get agitated.

"There's not really much of a way around it I'm afraid Heather." Louis said trying to reassure me.

"What if there is..." Iris said in a tone that said she'd come up with a plan.

"Well there isn't, is there?" Zayn said.

"Actually, I think there might be." Iris said knowingly.

She linked arms with me and we got up. She led me and the others through a door, and before we went fully in the footsteps following us stopped.

"We can't go in there" protested Louis, "That's the girls' bathroom."

"Do you want to get out or not?" Iris asked, which was met by a mumbled agreement and we carried on walking.

"Ok, so there's a fire exit over there. I think the alarm will go off if we use it but it's our safest route out." Iris took authority and made us follow her towards the exit. I heard her push the handle and suddenly the sound of bells exploded around me.

Luckily Iris still had her arm latched around mine, so when she began to run outside I stumbled along beside her.

I felt the brisk air against my face and we were outside. The ground was uneven and there was an earthy scent, so I guessed the café backed onto a woodland area of some sort.

"That was a great idea Iris." Liam said, and I heard the clap of hands as people high-fived each other.

"We'd better get back onto the main road, it's creepy in here." Iris shuddered and began to pull me away.

"Um, we can't really stay here either but there are too many people around who might notice us." Niall said and I heard the boys step towards us hopefully.

"You could probably come to ours if you'd like, we only live round the corner." Iris sounded excited but I could tell she was trying to keep her voice calm.

That would be weird, having One Direction in our house...

"Could we? It would only be for a little while so we could call someone to come and pick us up." Liam said.

We all agreed it was a good idea and were soon arriving at the house Iris and I shared.

Our parents owned the house but they were always away travelling the world. We got postcards from the various places they'd been, most recently Morocco.

Iris opened the door and I was instantly hit with the smell of home.

I would normally take my sunglasses off when I got home, but people sometimes found the way I 'stare into space' unsettling.

I also didn't like the way people treated me differently when they found out I was blind so I left them on, keeping the façade up.

"Do you mind if I use your loo?" Zayn asked.

"Sure" I replied, "it's the first door on the right at the top of the stairs."

I walked over to the sofa and sat down.

"Do you mind if I make a call to our security? We persuaded them to let us go out by ourselves today. That turned out well." Liam asked.

"Go ahead" Iris answered.

This was really awkward and unbelievable. One Direction. In my house. I'd never been to a concert but I loved their albums and it felt so surreal to have them here.

The awkward part was because of the tangible silence that had fallen across the room.

"So did you buy anything nice today?" Iris asked the boys.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, we bought a few things. A few clothes, things like that." Louis replied.

"Woah, that's so cool! You have a bubble wrap wall!" Niall said excitedly.

I turned my head towards him.

"Yeah, it's fun to pop. You can go ahead if you want." I laughed as I heard the sound of popping.

This was the only wall in the main house with anything like that on it, but the walls in my room had different things to touch and play with from when I was a bit younger. I don't really use them anymore though, I'm too busy listening to the TV and messing with my phone.

"This is such a good idea" Louis said as he joined in with the popping, "are there any more walls like this?"

"Yeah, my room quite a lot of different things like that. Do you want to see?" I asked.

"Yeah sounds cool!" Niall said, and four pairs of feet belonging to him, Iris, Louis and Harry followed me upstairs.

"Wow." I heard Louis say as I opened my door.

"Impressive amount of wall things you've got going on in here." Niall said making Iris and I laugh.

"Do you collect sunglasses or something?" Harry said, referring to the racks of sunglasses I had on my desk.

"Yes, can you leave them where they are please?" I didn't mean to sound snappy, but I liked to know where each of the pairs of sunglasses were.

"Okay" Harry mumbled and I heard him slot a pair back into it's place.

"What are all the bumps on this wall for?" Niall asked.

His voice was coming from the side of my room with a panel that had the Braille alphabet on it attached to the wall.

"I bought that for her." Iris said.

It was true, she had. It was my 13th birthday present.

"Cool" Niall said, asking no more questions about what it was.

I heard the thudding feet of someone running upstairs.

"A car will be coming to pick us up in a few minutes. Thanks for letting us stay here for a bit." Liam said and suddenly there was an awkward silence.

Iris cleared her throat.

"It was very nice meeting you." She said, and stepped in front of me.

Darn it, I think Liam just tried to shake hands with me. Now they'll all think I'm weird.

"Cool Braille wall." Zayn said as he walked into the room.

I could practically hear the penny dropping.

"Are you blind?"