Stuck Here (Ziall)

Chapter 10

(Zayn’s POV)

It’s been almost a full year since Niall’s death and for a moment there I thought that I had lost him completely. I found myself a complete mess at the sudden disappearance of him and my heart ached to see him again. My emotions were running rampant and Niall being gone had affected me more than I thought was possible. I was just about to tell him whom I thought had killed him, but he disappeared and my leads on his death vanished along with him.

“Niall, you’ve been gone for six months.” I said in a hushed tone. There were still students in the classroom and me talking to myself would be strange. I looked around to see if anyone was interested in my current position in the class. I watched out for Mr. Tanner as well. I knew he was involved in this whole ordeal some how. I just knew it.

“That’s impossible, Zayn. I was only gone for a couple hours.”

I shook my head in response and Niall frowned. I nodded towards the door. “Come on.” I began walking away and bumped straight into Niall’s old friend, Chad. I never got the chance to talk to him the night of the full moon. Sure, there were several full moons since then, but the event was null due to the fact that Niall was no where to be found. All I got were the other spirits in town, and they didn’t have any information regarding the death of a teenage Irish boy.

“Oh, Zayn!” Chad stumbled back. “Sorry, I left my pen at my desk.” He looked down on his desk that was situated next to Niall’s old desk and picked up the pen he had left.

“Hey, Chad. How are you feeling?” I asked. Niall was pressing at my side. I glanced over at him and he was staring straight at Chad, a smile on his face.

“Tell him that I’m here.” Niall asked of me. I shook my head quickly as to not gather attention from Chad. “Zayn, please. He needs to know.” Niall pleaded.

“I’m doing good. Thanks for asking.” Chad smiled. He pocketed his pen. “Mr. Tanner has helped me a lot. I think he could help you too. I know you didn’t know Niall too well, but well, he really liked you.” Chad blushed. “He really liked you and, uhm, I don’t know. You’ve been acting like you already knew that.” Chad nervously chuckled and turned on his feet. “Sorry. I just…. miss him is all?” He said quickly before walking off and out of the classroom. I watched as he left and then my eyes scanned over to Mr. Tanner. He was watched me closely. It made my skin crawl.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Niall grumbled. “It wouldn’t harm anything.”  

I rolled my eyes. Of course it would harm something. Telling a just now getting better best friend that his friend is actually still around would be detrimental to their recovery. “Niall, drop it.” I hushed. I grabbed my things from my front desk after tapping my fingers on Niall’s old desk. He followed me out of the room and I only looked back to see Mr. Tanner sitting back down at his desk, a scowl on his face.

“Zayn, I’m going stir crazy.” Niall huffed, walking closely behind me. I had been able to center myself over the six months that Niall had been gone. I was stronger now, spiritually and physically, than I was before. I could handle the longer moments with Niall at my side without him completely draining me. “I need to know what happened. Last thing you said was that you thought you knew who killed me.”  Niall pleaded with me and I felt his hand touch my back. I stood still, flashes of Niall’s life passed through my head.

I stumbled forward and held onto the wall for support. “Ngh…” I cringed as a wave of nausea came over me. I thought I had everything under control, but apparently not. I leaned against the lockers and breathed heavily.