Ease the Payne

Why? Who? Ew.

Liam's POV:

"Thank you everybody!" I called out to the crowd of roaring fans before me. I took a last glance at the faces I had been entertaining for the last two hours before turning and running off stage. What a rush, I thought, never gets old. I turned to look at Niall who was running close behind me.

"Did you see those fan projects! I mean how cool was that?!" He was out of breath but still going off enthusiastically about the bright colors that filled the stadium during our performance of Story of My Life. I tried to listen in but instead found myself focusing on the little red dots that speckled the floor. I tried to examine the color to possibly determine where the dots had come from but was pulled back to reality when Niall said my name.

"Yeah the projects where pretty cool." I gave him a smile and let him continue his rambling while I focused down at the dots again. I started to notice that they were getting bigger and more frequent. I started falling behind Niall in pace so that I could look deeper at them. As I looked ahead, I noticed that the dots turned into streaks that led right to our dressing room area. I stopped walking.

"You alright mate?" Niall had turned around and was looking at me with a questioning look on his face, his eyebrows knitted together tightly. I couldn't find the words to tell him what I was seeing so I lifted my arm and pointed out the darkening streaks of red beneath his feet. He looked down and made a disgusted noise before hopping around to avoid them, "UGH it got on me shoes!"

"What do you think it is?" Part of me knew what it was but the other part of me was hoping it was something else. "It goes to our dressing room." I began walking so that I was standing next to Niall. "We should see where it leads."

He looked at me and then back down at the red lines decorating the floor. "What are you, some kind of detective," he scoffed. I rolled my eyes and gave him a shove before following the lines to the door marked Dressing Room. I looked up at him nervously, not sure if I was ready to see what was on the other side of the door. He lifted his hands and moved them as if to tell me to hurry up.

I reached out for the handle and grasped it firmly before pushing down on it and cracking the door open. I was immediately hit with a strange and unfamiliar smell. I looked up once more at Niall, who at this point, had a hand over his mouth to shield from the stench. I focused my attention back on the door and, after exhaling slowly, swung it open.

I couldn't believe my eyes. So many thoughts and questions circled my head. Why? Who? Ew. I was filled with fear and confusion. I heard Niall trying to ask me what I saw but his voice was background noise in my frantic mind. The room started spinning and I became incredibly nauseous. I tried to shut my eyes to push away the image I had just seen but it was burned into my brain. I couldn't scream. The room got dark and I started losing balance. The payne was excruciating, both mentally and physically. I looked once more at the pile of bodies laying on the dressing room floor before hitting the floor myself.