The Wrong Direction

Chapter Twelve

A/N: I decided to be extremely helpful and include an amaZAYN picture of Adriana on the sidebar.  Okay, so the picture is really Sarah Hyland, to all you confused little creatures -- wait, I mean people ;]  And it'd probably be a good idea to picture Sarah Hyland with way more messy hair, and probably old, smeared make-up.  The wilderness isn't exactly as glamorous as the red carpet! haha  Or so I've been told . . . .

~~~

Adriana

Chapter Twelve

"Ben!" I screamed.

Without thinking, I raced towards Ben.  He was lying face down on the river's edge.  I grabbed his arms and started to drag him away from the river.  He was pretty heavy.  Somebody needs to lay off the midnight snacks.

"Here, let me help," Liam offered, trying his best to be in charge of the situation.  He really does that too much.  It's starting to seem like a really annoying habit.

"No, I'm fine," I argued.

Apparently it was obvious Ben was too heavy for me to pull on my own.  Niall grabbed me and pulled me to the side, ignoring my angry protests.  Liam yanked Ben onto solid ground like he weighed nothing.  Zayn, on the other hand, was watching the whole scene unfold around him while shaking his head with a horrified look on his face.

"Why would you help him?" Zayn asked crazily.  "He's done so many terrifying things to me!  I don't want him back in my life!"

Liam stopped dragging Ben and looked up at Zayn with raised eyebrows.  "Seriously, Zayn?  Just deal with it.  Ben's a person, not an animal.  You can't just dispose of him, unless you're thinking of turning into a murderer, which would not look good for One Direction's publicity."

Zayn rolled his eyes and slumped back to the ground, burying his face in his hands.  I'm starting to think he does that way too much when he's frustrated.

Deciding to ignore Zayn's weird outburst, I collapsed on my knees beside Ben and started to shake him.  "Ben!  Ben, wake up!"  Ben only remained still.  "Ben!"

Tears were starting to pool in my eyes.  Ben couldn't be dead.  He couldn't be!

"Adriana . . . ." Niall murmured worriedly.

I could feel all of my anger boiling deep inside of me.  This time I stopped trying to hide it.  "Just leave me alone!  I'm fine."

A second later, Niall was beside me.  Before I could react, he wrapped his arms around me again and carried me away from Ben's side.  Why does Niall have to keep doing that?  He's making me want to attack him, and I'm not even a crazy psychotic person!  By the end of the day, that might change though . . . .

"Put me down!"

"If you insist," Niall replied.  I could almost hear the smugness in his tone when he dropped me.

Before I could scramble away from Niall, he squatted down beside me and grabbed my hands and held onto them from behind my back.  Thanks to Niall, I'm really starting to feel like a criminal in a prison.  The worst thing I've ever done in my life is feed my dog chocolate!  I'm a good person.  I don't deserve this.

All I could do was helplessly watch Liam try to help Ben.  It wasn't like he could do much though.

I was surprised when Liam started to pound on Ben's chest with his hands.  What was he trying to do?  Break his ribs?  That's not very helpful in the middle of nowhere, Liam.