The Sound of Rain (A Zourry AU)

Prologue.

So actually, this is a story about lesbians that has nothing to do with 1D.. but I am changing it to make it a fanfic. It will always be from Lou's POV unless specified otherwise. It's AU, the boys are all about 16, and yeah. Enjoyyyy.

Prologue.

I hate the sound of rain on my window. The pitter-patter is the most annoying sound I have ever heard. It makes me feel trapped. When I was younger, the rain calmed me. If I were to hear the sound I hate now, it was the most relaxing thing ever. I loved how the rain felt if it were to hit me while I was outside; I couldn't stop the smile that spread over my face. I could stay in the rain for hours, no matter the weather. Now, I despised it. I wished it away when it came. I would do anything to avoid it.

That annoying sound is exactly what I woke up to on March 10 of last year. Maybe that's why I did it. Maybe that was the cause of everything. My irritability for that sound. For whatever reason, when I woke up that morning, I was tired of life. I was tired of school. I was tired of my pathetic friends, and of my parents. I was sick of breathing, of being alive. I didn't want to see the kitchen I would have to walk into to leave my bedroom, nor the face of any other human being. The only thing I wasn't tired of was the black escape behind my closed eyelids. 

I knew I wouldn't be able to just get away from life without death. I wasn't ready to die. I know I probably sound depressed to you, but I am not. I'm not a cutter, or someone who cries a lot, or any of that nonsense. I just so happened to be tired of life on this morning.

 If I couldn't escape life, I decided to start small, with something I could escape. School. I could easily get out of that. My mother wouldn't know, she was already gone for work. My stepfather was most likely still asleep. There was no one for me to hide from. They trusted me to get myself up and be responsible.

 There was only one person I though I could deal with that day. And that was my sister's old friend, Jake. He didn't work that day, so I texted him and asked if he'd want to be my entertainment for the day. He agreed.

 I got up and got ready like I normally would. I put on normal clothes and got my school bag together. I acted like I was going to school. I went out into the living room to leave, and to my surprise, Mark was sitting out there.

 "Do you need a ride to school?" he asked, which was odd.

 "No, that's okay. Thanks for offering, though," I told my stepfather.

 I slipped out the door before he could make further conversation. My bus stop was a few blocks over, so as soon as I knew I was out of eyeshot, I ducked into the bushes and called Jake.

He picked me up within a few minutes, and we went to the next town over. I lived in a pretty small town, so there wasn't much to do. It was small, but it was big enough to get away with things. This wasn't the first time I'd skipped, so I knew how to act. We spent the day together, and at the end of the day, he dropped me off just in time for my bus to stop to let the other kids at my stop off. I waited for them to pass, and then I went home.

 My mom never noticed. Neither did Mark. They weren't big on asking about school, so when I said nothing about it, they didn't think anything of it. They just assumed I didn't care to tell them about it, which was true. I usually didn't want to tell them about my day. Today was no different in their eyes.

 I really liked spending the day away from everything. I liked it so much, that I decided to do it again the next day. It got to the point where I skipped every day that week. Then the next week came, and I did the same thing. And again the week after that. For three weeks, I didn't go to school. Fifteen unexcused absences would now be on my record. Not that I really minded.

 Jake only spent the days with me sometimes, since he had to work. The other days I spent by myself sitting in the woods for hours, or taking pictures of random things that weren't important. One day I met this kid at the park and I spent my day with him. I never saw him after that day.

 No one ever knew. My friends texted me, asking where I was, and I just blew it off. I talked to them sometimes. But I didn't really tell them anything. I stopped using my Facebook except to use it for things like, "I'm watching this movie." My mom and Mark never even guessed. The teachers never tried to contact me. No one seemed to care. It was sort of sad on some level, but it worked out for me overall. If no one cared, there was no way for me to get in trouble. In all honesty, it was a good thing.

 On April 1st, the school noticed that one student had been gone a lot. Louis Tomlinson hadn't been coming to school. He hadn't been unregistered, so he hadn't moved. His parents hadn't called in to explain anything. They decided to investigate.

 On April 1st, the school called my house. They asked my mom if I were ill, to which she responded no. Was there a death in the family, they asked? No, she said. Then why has he not been at school, Mrs. Tomlinson? What are you talking about, my mother asked; he's been at school. He goes everyday.

 No he doesn't, they informed her. He hasn't been to school since March 10th.

 On April 1st, my life changed.

 The cat was out of the bag. They knew. Mom knew, Mark knew, the school knew. I was caught. All the weeks I had been tired of life, all had consequences.

 The yelling started. The threats. The what-have-you-done's. Something had to be done. I couldn't continue to not go to school. I also had to be punished.

 I was grounded. Oh, was I grounded. They took away everything. They took away my phone, my laptop, and my Internet privileges. They took away my clothes, and left me with t-shirts and sweats. I wasn't allowed to leave the house save for school. Mark would now drive me and pick me up. A teacher would meet me at the door to escort me into the building.

 This only made me that much more tired of life.