Secrets

Twelve

I didn't want to go to school. I did, though. Niall could tell, but unless I said anything, he wouldn't. It was one of the things that I quickly picked up on between us.

I stared at the school for a few seconds, my backpack on my lap. I had the handle in my grip, but made no move to actually pull on it.

When I thought Niall would be getting annoyed from my behavior, I took a deep breath and went to pull the handle, but Niall stopped me.

"Want breakfast?" He asked randomly, and relief flooded through me. I nodded, relaxing into the seat and releasing the door handle. Niall smiled and pulled out of the lot. "How late do you want to be?"

"As late as you'll let me be," I muttered, glancing at him.

Niall shrugged. "Then we're ditching today."

"Wait, seriously?" I asked. He shrugged again and I smiled. Just the thought of seeing Harry had been making me drag my feet and want to delay as long as possible. "Thank God."

We both started laughing as he continued to drive. It only took about ten minutes to get to the restaurant, and I could have sworn I had seen it before.

"This place is new," I commented.

Niall nodded. "Yeah, it was put up a few months ago."

We got out of the car and the closer we got, the more familiar it seemed. We walked inside and I paused next to him while waiting to get a seat. "Was there another place like this?" I asked.

"No, not really. Why?" Niall turned his most to face me as we took a step closer.

"I feel like I've been here before," I mumbled.

Niall shrugged. "It's probably nothing big. We've been to restaurants like this before, just not one here." I nodded. That's what it had to have been. It had to have been another place.

Niall and I finally got seated and I ordered a soda while Niall ordered coffee, then we looked over the menus. "Mom doesn't know about this, alright?" Niall threatened jokingly.

I raised my hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. No telling mom."

"No telling mom what?" Mom asked, moving to stand besides the table. Niall just started laughing at my shocked expression until I kicked him.

"That was priceless," Niall said as he moved over so she could sit down, attempting to catch his breath still.

I glared at him. "Not funny."

"Oh, completely funny," he countered back as the waitress brought over our drinks.

Mom told her what she wanted before turning to look at me."No school today?"

I shrugged. If Liam and I ever ditched, it would have been World War Three according to Liam. Obviously if she's sitting down to have breakfast with us, she couldn't be too mad.

"I get it. It's has to be a lot for you to take in right now." She tapped her fingers on the table for a second. "So I did a thing," she said finally.

"You did a thing?" Niall questioned, his tone still light from earlier.

I stared at her a little harder. "Like what?"

She took a deep breath. "I reached out to the family that adopted your brother."

I stopped moving. "Wait, what?" I stared at her. She can get a hold of Liam? And she never did before?

"I called them," she admitted, making Niall sit up a little straighter. "And he wants to meet you, specifically."

I saw the way Niall's eyes hardened. "When did you do this?" He asked.

"A few nights ago."

They continued to talk, but I slowly shut out their voices. Liam was real. He wanted to meet me. But... we still wouldn't see each other. It would be like a one time thing. I couldn't just see him once.

I shook my head, getting up and walking towards the bathroom. I pushed open the door and locked it once I was inside. I turned to the sink and gripped it tightly.

I felt like throwing up all of a sudden. I heard someone knock on the door, but I didn't move to open it. My knuckles were white from the grip I had on the sink.

"Louis," Niall called. I took a deep breath and attempted to stand up straight and stop leaning over the sink, but the second I did, my knees buckled.

I looked in the mirror, but I didn't see myself. It took a few seconds for a real image to show, but when it did, it was Liam and Harry.

My eyes widened as I reached one hand out to touch the glass. "Liam? Hazza?" I whispered.

Harry lifted his hand and pressed it where mine was on his side. "Where are you?" He asked.

"I don't... I woke up here and they said I was in a coma for a year. Harry and I hate each other here, Liam and I got separated as kids. I... I miss you." I looked back and forth between them. "I need you guys."

"We'll get you back, Louis," Liam assured me. "I don't know how, but we will."

"I wanna be back now," I begged quietly, looking away. "I don't want to be here."

"Louis," Niall called again from the door, knocking harder on it. I looked to the door, then back to the mirror, but they were gone, and I was only staring at myself.

"No, no," I whispered, pressing my hand harder against the glass. "Liam, don't leave me here."

When they didn't come back a few seconds later, I stumbled away from the sink and back against the other wall. I covered my face and shook my head. "Louis," Niall called again, sounding worried.

I took a deep breath. "I'm fine," I called out, rubbing at my eyes. I let out the breath and stood up fully, not glancing in the mirror again.

I opened the door and walked past Niall without a word, back to the table where Mom was talking to a waitress. I sat down and took a sip of the soda I had ordered, hoping it would somehow distract myself from the whole situation.

"Are you okay?" My mom asked softly, chosing to dismiss the waitress for now. I nodded numbly, chewing on my lip.

"There's..." I paused, trying to find the right words. "A lot of shit is just piling on top of the last thing and it's just a lot to handle right now."

I looked up to see her nodding. "Yeah, I understand that. After we eat, Niall or I'll take you home and you can do whatever, okay?"

I nodded, figuring that if I told her I wasn't hungry for some reason, she'd start to freak out more. The last thing I was trying to do was have her hover over me.

Niall came back a few minutes later. "Let me see your hand," he said as he sat down in his seat.

I gave a confused look while holding out both of them. That's when I noticed the cut across my left hand. "That wasn't-"

They both stared at me for a second. "I didn't do it," I said quickly. The mirror wasn't broken. I saw Liam and Harry. It was not broken. I couldn't have cut my hand. "I promise I-"

"Louis," my mom said quietly. She grabbed my hand that was bleeding and shook her head. "Come on."

She pulled me to my feet and pulled me outside to her car. "I don't know how-"

"You don't just get cut, Louis," she sighed while grabbing a first aide kit. "Especially not this deep."

"I didn't do it. I didn't even touch the mirror," I argued.

"How else would it have gotten cut?" She asked. I sighed, snapping my mouth closed. "You can't go back to this, Louis."

"I'm not," I said helplessly. She had to believe me. "I swear I'm not."

She didn't say anything in response. She finished putting a bandage over my hand. "Lets go eat," she sighed to herself.

Any ideas on what's going on?