Lost

Chapter 90: "Heartbreaking Realities"

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Zayn woke up at the sound of the door bell ringing. He opened his eyes a wink, trying to figure out his surrounding in the dark. He was lying on the couch and he was home. For a moment he was confused. When did he fly back again? Claire did say she missed him and he was planning to surprise her, but -

The door bell rang again, snapping him out of his thoughts. Heaving a heavy sigh, Zayn sat up groggily. He picked up his phone from the coffee table to check the time. He got the shock of his life to see it was almost midnight! Who would be calling at his door this late on a weeknight?

Bewildered but sleepy, Zayn made his way to the door as the bell rang again.

"'M coming," he mumbled drowsily, turning the light switch on as he passed. The room remained dark, making him sigh. "Power cut."

Zayn peeped through the peephole. It was pitch black. He could barely make out the shadows in the dark driveway. There was no one outside. Confused, Zayn unlocked the door and pulled it open. Cold, harsh winds whooshed past him, taking him by surprise. The wind blew his hair into his eyes, making it difficult to see. For once Zayn was grateful for the darkness. He hadn't dyed his hair back. Even if no one knew him in BlueRiver Dale, getting seen as a blonde could prove problematic. The heavy boughs of the birch tree across the street were swaying in the storm. He thought he could see the shadow of a car parked underneath the tree.

Squinting, Zayn stepped outside and closed the door behind him.

"Hello?" he called out towards the car only to have his voice drowned by the winds.

Zayn caught a movement next to the car. On closer look, he realized it was a person draped in familiar looking clothing of a scarf and long, flowing robes that were billowing in the storm. Convinced that he was imagining things, he fumbled with his phone to turn on the flash.

Zayn gasped at the figure illuminated by the light. Salma looked up from where she was standing by the car with her head resting in the crook of her arm atop the car roof. Her raw eyes a tell tale sign of her distress.

"Bee?!"

Without a thought, Zayn ran down the steps and towards the girl he loved who turned towards him, looking scared and miserable. On instinct, Zayn embraced her. 

 "Bee?! What happened? Tell me, what's going on, Bee –"  

His mouth became dry when the rational part of his mind finally caught up with what he was doing. He stopped trying to draw her closer. Scared of his reaction, Zayn was about to step back only to realize, to his utter shock, that she was not resisting him. No, she was holding on to him. Bunching his shirt in her hands, she seemed to be trying to push into his chest and hide into his embrace. For the briefest instance, his whole body froze as if it had been carved out of solid rock. She was letting him hold her?

Stunned, it took Zayn a while to realize that she was crying. Crying so loudly and so painfully, that not even the howling winds could silence her heartbreaking sobs. The stabbing pain in Zayn's heart snapped him out of his shock. Even if his brain could not comprehend what was going on. His heart remembered. It never lost focus and called him back to his senses.

"Bee! What happened?!You're scaring me!  Bee, Please -"

Zayn cut short abruptly when something else crossed his mind.

But . . . Why me? Zayn thought perplexed. 

He had wronged her. He had single-handedly ruined her life. Why would she run towards the person who had caused her so much pain? Did she forget? Did she really forgive him? Or was it, that she was running away from a monster so much more vicious and bloodthirsty that she was given no choice but to turn to him – the beast who had so mercilessly attacked her in pursuance of his selfish desires.