Pride {l.s.}

84- Safe and Sound

The Story So Far:

Zayn and Liam were at the Pulse nightclub in the early morning hours of July 16th, 2016. Cheyenne, Niall, Louis, and Harry are in their apartment, hoping that they're safe and alive.

I wake up when Watson starts barking. I open my eyes right as he leaps off the bed and kicks me with his back legs in the process. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. I quickly stumble out of Zayn and Liam's bed and head out into the hallway. Please tell me they're home. Please let that be them coming through the door. Please let them come home. 

Watson's barks only grow louder as he runs for the front door. I don't hear anyone there. I look over to the couch. Niall and Cheyenne are both awake now and looking at me with the same confusion that I'm having. Harry stands in the kitchen with oven mitts on and flour in his hair. I doubt that he notices because all of us are frozen staring at the door. 

Watson's barks turn into whines as he begins to paw at the door. I feel like he's just a hopeful dog who's wrong at first, but then the lock starts to turn. The door is barely open when we all scramble towards the door. 

Liam walks in first with a tired Zayn who can barely hold himself up. I don't really process their appearances as I run at Zayn and hug him really tight. There's a ramble of words coming out of everyone's mouth. Some are explaining what happened; some are just words of surprise, but everyone seems to be relieved and full of love. 

"I'm so sorry, Louis," Zayn says frantically as he holds me tightly. "There was a lot of stuff going on, and I broke my phone-"

I pull away from Zayn to look right at him. "I'm just glad that you're home."

We all ended up just sitting on the floor by the front door as Liam and Zayn say hi to their Great Dane. Watson runs in a circle to say hi to everyone; his excitement is easily seen from his tail that whips back and forth (it hits our faces every once in a while). Zayn sits next to me, and I lean against him. I see his black eyes and scratches on his hands as if he fell onto the pavement. A part of me was scared that our group would never be complete, but here we all are. Harry wipes tears from his eyes as he sits close to Liam. Cheyenne sits in Niall's lap; she's still so sleepy, but silent tears still roll down her cheeks. 

"Can you please explain what happened?" Niall asks the big question. All of us are dying to know what happened now that we know they're safe. 

Zayn glances at Liam but remains silent. There's a look in eyes that shows fear of everything that happened. 

"We made it out a couple minutes before he came into the club," Liam replies. A quiet feeling falls on everyone, even Watson as he curls up next to Liam. "We were just standing outside when people came running out. We got trampled a little bit. Zayn's phone fell and broke. I must have lost mine somewhere in the mess. We stayed late to help out any way we could. Talked to news reporters, talk to police. Or even making sure all the injured were getting care. There was so much blood..."

Liam has an instinct to save people since he is a firefighter. I now see blood on his white shirt that I didn't notice before. I know that it's not his blood. All I can imagine is Liam carrying a person who was filled with so much fear and pain as Liam did his best to get them help. 

"Did you see him?" Cheyenne asks with a sleepiness in her voice. We all know who she's talking about. The news released that the shooter affiliated with extremist Islamic groups. I know that Zayn must feel tension; there are always accounts of people profiling Middle Eastern looking people as being terrorists. Acts of violence seem to often follow acts of violence even though everyone just wishes for peace. 

Zayn shakes his head. "No, I don't think so. I mean we were buzzed, and our ears were ringing from the music. Even if I did see him, I wouldn't know or remember."

Zayn's voice sounds somber as he leans against Liam. He sounds so tired, not just of tonight but of instances like this. I feel an anger rising in me. There is no doubt in my mind that this was a hate crime. He went into a gay nightclub on Latino night and killed people. There's so much anger over all of this that I just want to do something with it, but I can't. There's no release for the anger of the deaths of 49 people who were either LGBTQ or allies. The injuring of 58 others leaves me frozen with all of this hatred.

But I shouldn't hate. Hate is what drove his actions early this morning. 

"I hate him so much that I just don't know what to do," Harry blurts out exactly what I'm feeling. 

"We can't reply with hatred," I reply quietly. Everyone turns to look at me. "He did this because of hatred. We can't stoup to his level. We have to reply with love, with hope."

"With pride in who we are," Zayn adds on with a small smile towards me. 

"Yeah," I agree with him. I feel a small amount of hope inside of me from his words. "We need to reply with pride."

A/N

Yes, people died. Yes, it was a hate crime/terrorist attack. No, Liam and Zayn did not die. They're close ties to the club that night is for all of us to feel a closer empathy for everyone who was close to people that night. I hope that I did it justice.

xoxo Claire