Stuck Here (Ziall)

Chapter 18

(Zayn’s POV)

 

“Do you think we lost him?” Chad asked me while I was trying to focus on the road before me. The glare from the lights of Tanner’s car were no longer blinding me, so I assumed that we did, in fact, lose him. “I think we lost him.” Chad said excitedly. I rolled my eyes at him. I didn’t think he knew exactly how grave the situation was. I was sure that Mr. Tanner had seen me, but not Chad. Chad was behind me in the dark hallway when we encountered that killer. There was no way he could have seen him. Or at least I hoped he didn’t. There was no need to put another person in danger.

I hurried and sped down the road, getting closer and closer to Louis’ house. It was late at night and his parents would definitely question why Chad and I were there, but we all needed to talk. We needed to know what to do next and how to get out of this whole thing unharmed.

I had told Louis to open his back door so that I could pull around the back of his house and hide my car. I wasn’t going to have Tanner get back on our trail and find my car in front of Louis’. No way was I going to put my best friend in danger. I rolled my car silently into the backyard of Louis’ home and saw that the light was on in the kitchen and the back door was cracked open slightly. “Come on.” I urged Chad, shutting off my car and walking up to the door. I peaked in before opening the door. Louis was sitting at his kitchen table, phone in his hands as he was scrolling through some app.

He looked up and his eyes widened. “Zayn, what the hell is going on?” He asked, his voice hushed as to not wake up his parents and sisters who were upstairs asleep. “That call scared the crap out of me. What happened?” He then looked over at Chad who stood awkwardly next to me. “And why is he here?” Louis pointed accusingly.

“I’m helping out!” Chad spoke up. I hushed him and he snapped his mouth shut.

“He’s helping. He knows everything.” I let Louis know. Louis groaned and shook his head back and forth. “He was asking questions and I had to tell him. Louis, the kid is Niall’s best friend.”

“Was. He was Niall’s best friend. Niall is dead. Sometimes I think you forget that.” Louis sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. I was shocked to hear the words come from Louis’ mouth, but it was the truth. Niall was dead. Chad was friendless, and I was chasing after a lost cause. I needed to do something, though. Someone needed to set things straight. I feel like that’s why Niall came to me, because he knew. He knew that I could help him. “Tell me what happened. How the hell does Mr. Tanner know that we think it’s him who killed Niall?”

“We were on our way to the school-” I began. “To talk to Niall and look for that necklace.”

“Mr. Tanner had Niall’s necklace. It was around his neck.” Chad finished what I was about to say in a hurried fashion. I then realized that he was aware of the urgency that we were facing. “H-He had it and Niall would never just give that away. He took it from him when he killed him.” Chad shook terribly and pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes, wiping away the forming tears.

“So now we have something against him.” I said confidently.

“But that’s all you have. Everything else, evidence wise, is all from Niall, someone who doesn’t even exist anymore according to normal people. No one will believe that Niall told you that Mr. Tanner was a creep. I think you should just leave all of this to the police. Give them an anonymous tip about the necklace or something.”