Entangled | Zayn Malik

Chapter Ten

I'm awoken by the sound of the front door closing, making that horrible screeching sound. I look up to see Zayn stirring out of his sleep. He yawns and stretches his arms, before his face suddenly drops and he falls silent. His eyes widen and he gets up from the bed and presses his ear to his room door.

"Zayn?" I ask.

What is he doing?

He raises a finger to the air as if to tell me to wait a minute and he continues listening through the door.

"Shit." He mumbles to himself, barely even audible but I hear it.

He backs away from the door and turns to me, "Can we go somewhere?" He asks.

"Where?"

"Anywhere, I just need to get out of here." He looks frantic and I don't want to question him too much.

"Are you still in pain?" I ask.

"The painkillers and sleep helped, it's more of a dull ache now. It's bearable."

I glance at my watch to see how long we were sleeping for, just a couple of hours.

"Okay." I stand up and head for the bedroom door but he steps in front of it, blocking it.

"What are you doing?"

"We need to sneak out." He says.

"Why? Who just came in?"

"It was my uncle."

"What, he doesn't like visitors?" I laugh slightly, then I remember the man who caught me staring at the mansion the other day. He must be his uncle, he definitely doesn't look like he likes visitors.

"Something like that." He says and I nod, not wanting to push it.

He opens the door quietly and tells me to step out of the room. I walk out into the hall and he follows behind me, closing the door carefully behind him. Zayn takes his shoes off and signals me to do the same. As we walk up the hall in our socks, holding our shoes in our hands, I feel like I'm robbing a bank or something.

"Wait," I whisper to Zayn. "How are we gonna get out of here quietly? That door's like a fucking foghorn." I say and he chuckles, covering his mouth to silence himself.

"There's a way out in the laundry." He whispers back.

"Sounds interesting." I say raising my eyebrow, and he shushes me. Well then.

I follow him down another hallway until we reach the last door and he opens it slowly. There's stairs leading down into the room, it must be the basement. We step on to the top of the stairs and put our shoes back on. He then quietly closes the door behind us, surrounding us in darkness.

I take a step forward and I'm now right behind Zayn, our bodies almost touching.

"Is there a light in here?" I ask, slightly beginning to panic.

"No it's busted." He says and my body immediately tenses.

He must feel the tension of my body behind his, because he reaches his hand out behind him and puts it on my forearm. "Here," he says, sliding it down to my hand. "Take my hand." He puts his hand into mine so they're now entangled.

"There's no railing, so just hold on to me." He says.

"Okay." I put my other hand on the bottom of his back, careful not to lean too hard because of his ribs. The other hand is being guided by Zayn as we go step by step down the stairs.

As we get to the bottom of the stairs the room is still complete darkness, although there's a faint light at the far end.

"This way." He says, still holding my hand and guiding me towards the light.

We stop walking and I take a look in front of me. The light is coming from a window, but there's stuff in front of it, blocking it - it looks like a massive chest with an empty bookshelf on top.

"Okay, I need to move this." He says, before he bends down to try and lift it.

"Wait, I'll help." I say, bending down to lift the other end. "You shouldn't be doing this in the first place, you're hurt."

"I can manage." He assures me.

We take an end of the chest each and lift it away from the window. The daylight comes into view and brightens up the room immediately. The window is located at the bottom of the wall and looks big enough for us to climb out of.

He unlocks it and pushes it out, allowing well needed fresh air to travel through the stuffy room.

"You go first." He says, putting his hand on the bottom of my back and gently pushing me forward.

I sit down on the laundry floor and scoot forward to the edge of the window, letting my feet dangle. I push myself forward and my feet hit the grass, and I pull the rest of my body out.

I turn around and wait for Zayn to do the same. He has to go a bit slower due to his ribs but he manages to get out without hurting himself. He closes the window behind him and I take this opportunity to see where we are. We're standing in a grassy lane at the side of the house with a brick wall surrounding it.

Zayn starts walking up the lane and I follow behind him.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"You'll see." He smiles, he does that tongue behind his teeth smile again and I literally have to turn my face away so he doesn't glimpse the stupid smile appearing on my own face.

We walk for a few minutes round the side of the mansion until we're at the back garden. It's absolutely massive. There's miles and miles of grass surrounded by a small forest. We walk through the grass towards the forest and at this moment I'm very thankful that it's daylight. You won't find me traipsing through a forest in the pitch black that's for damn sure.

We enter the forest and Zayn leads the way down a pebbled path. As we're walking - pebbles crunching underfoot - I take in the breathtaking sight around me. I'm not a "nature buff" by any means, but there's just something about being in the open air like this. It's absolutely beautiful. The sky is a piercing shade of blue and there's not a single cloud in the sky. The sun is beating down but a slight breeze lingers in the air, feeling light and refreshing against my skin.

We walk for a few more seconds until a beautiful lake comes into view, glimmering in the sunlight. I stand there in complete silence, watching the endless ripples of the clear, sparkling water go by. The only sounds heard are the distant singing of birds and the water lapping by in small waves. There's a serenity in these surroundings and it makes me feel so relaxed. I turn around to see Zayn looking at me.

"You like?" He asks, smiling.

"This is amazing." I say.

He sits down on a patch of grass and signals for me to sit down beside him. I take a seat next to him and we both just sit in a comfortable silence, enjoying the radiant picture in front of us.

"I come here whenever I just need time to myself." Zayn breaks the silence.

"It relaxes me." He adds.

"That must be amazing, having this right in your back garden."

"It is. It's my little secret," he smiles again, "well, until now." He says, still smiling.

"I'm glad you brought me here." I return the smile.

"I'm glad I did too."