You're My Everything

Chapter 30: Stronger

*Third Person*

Police swarm the area as Niall, Louis, and Liam pull Zayn back from the scene.

"They took her! They- they-" He falls to his knees.

Leigh, Jesy, and Jade huddle closely together, heads down. Their arms are around each other, the only people they have left. Katherine Spires congegates with her family.

Kate and Vic look around in shock.

Together, they form a small semi circle around the cluster of policemen and doctors and failed security guards at the top of the hill.

Liz stands slightly in front of Alex, eyes wide. The man looks completely torn and ripped up.

Perrie is nowhere to be found on her wedding day.

"They took her!" Zayn screams. "They put something over my face and the next thing I see is the empty hill! Gone! Perrie is gone... SHE'S GONE-"

"Get ahold of yourself, Zayn. If you wanna ever find out what happened, they will not talk to you like this!" Liam shouts over his voice.

Zayn breathes heavily.

Liz starts to slowly glide numbly towards him.

"Hey-- hey! Where are you going? Liz!" Alex says to the back of Liz's head. She doesn't hear him and continues on her path to Zayn. He's left standing at the bottom of the hill, dust rising up around him from her movement.

"Zayn?" Liz whispers, clutching the ends of her dress. "Can I see you?"

He picks his head up slowly, and then all at once, like ropes that had been pulling his face down had suddenly been severed.

"Yeah?"

She simply hugs him. You can visibly see his body tense. She's not Perrie.

Liz lets him go. "They'll find her. I swear, honest to goodness. She'll come back to us, somehow. She's Perrie, used to be Perrie Edwards. When has Perrie Edwards ever let you down?"

"Never," he breathes, but it's obvious. He doesn't believe her, can't. She's not Perrie. She'll never be right.

"And she's not even Perrie Edwards anymore. She's Perrie Malik. You're hers, and she is yours. If that isn't motivation, I really don't know what is. It isn't like she chose to leave. That means she'll fight to get back! To get you back!"

He looks at her. "I hope..."

"You have to."

"To what?"

"Hope." She adds, "It's the only thing stronger than fear. And that's what this is about, this game we've all been thrown into, fear. This is all about fear, and just how strong you are." Kate throws her fingernails into her forearms to keep from crying. Tears of joy threaten to break through her. Joy because of Liz. Because of hearing her voice. Because of how strong she sounds regardless of lack of use. Joy because of how strong she is, yet again she's here to save them. "So show us, Zayn." Kate thinks: She speaks to him as if there is no one else, none of us. That's how she'll rescue us. Giving us her heart and soul. "Show us just how strong you are. Make it through this. Save her with your solid resolve. Don't fall apart now. She needs you. Show us how strong you are."

The crowd around them is silent; the officers and guards turn to listen to the speech. He gazes up at her like she's an angel. His chocolate eyes are big and puppy-like. He seems so young, innocent, lonely. "But I'm not. I'm not strong. I can't be." He even sounds like a child.

"You are. That's what you don't know, what you don't see. You are strong. Infinitely so. You can make it through this. Hope. Keep it close to you." With that, Liz turns on her heels and walks away. No one sees her for days. Her apartment, empty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When she returns from the unknown, she is different. Changed, aged. She looks better, healthier. She looks as if she's been eating right again, sleeping just a little longer, her facade just a little thicker. She's still the same woman, no doubt, but better. Her sadness and depression is still there, if you care enough to look.

But let me tell you, readers, not many do. Not many dare to look that deep, afraid of what they'll find. You can see it in her eyes, but that's the only place you'll find it. She's fixed herself, again, built herself up over these few days at this place wherever she's gone. She no longer slumps her shoulders or drags her feet, she's strong physically, and to most, emotionally. But not to herself. Still in the early hours of the day, when the city sleeps deepest, she sits awake thinking, hurting, dying. But she's learned, yet again. She won't let anyone see. She's changed for the better. She's here now to help Zayn. He's the one who needs it, and that's the only thing that matters.